Questions

[zag55]

Hi everyone, I wanted some advice. I intend to upgrade my dac. I currently have an Audiolab MDAC with a 9018 dac and a SINAD 101 which they declare. Unfortunately I have a very limited budget, and my choice would be a Topping D10S used with dac 9038, and with higher SINAD. Do you think I do well or is there something else. Thanks

 

[staticV3]

The Topping D10s is a good DAC at ~$100.

Some other options are:
-Topping E30II Lite
-SMSL C100
-SMSL SU-1
-JDS Atom DAC+

However, none of these DACs will give you better sound quality than your MDAC.

If you want to invest in your audio setup, consider new speakers, a measurement microphone, or a hardware DSP instead.

 

[sergeauckland]

Hi everyone, I wanted some advice. I intend to upgrade my dac. I currently have an Audiolab MDAC with a 9018 dac and a SINAD 101 which they declare. Unfortunately I have a very limited budget, and my choice would be a Topping D10S used with dac 9038, and with higher SINAD. Do you think I do well or is there something else. Thanks

It's probably not what you want to hear, but why do you want to upgrade your DAC? What does your current DAC not have?

The 101dB SINAD you have is already massively better than you can hear, so why bother?

Unless your DAC lacks some facilities you need, save your money, buy wine and more music and enjoy it.

S.

 

[zag55]

Is there no difference between the 9018 and the 9038?

 

[DVDdoug]

Is there no difference between the 9018 and the 9038?

There are usually measurable differences but there is RARELY ANY audible defects/or difference with a DAC (in a proper, blind, level-matched ABX Test). If there is a difference it's usually noise (hum, hiss, or whine in the background) but that's coming from the analog electronics or it's getting-into the analog side from the power supply. It's not the DAC chip.

You'll read all kinds of flowery nonsense "audiophile" descriptions of sound, and that's usually because they "don't believe in" blind listening tests. The flowery language is a big red flag. If they aren't talking about real characteristics like noise, distortion, or frequency response, I'd ignore what you read.



...I don't own a separate DAC. There's a DAC built-into my computers, my AVR, my TV, etc. (I had a computer once with a noisy soundcard. I could hear noise through the speakers/headphones when the hard drive was accessed.)

 

[Chrispy]

Is there no difference between the 9018 and the 9038?

You could look at datasheets for them.... https://www.esstech.com/products-overview/digital-to-analog-converters/sabre-audiophile-dacs/

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I had an M-DAC I replaced with a RME ADI-2 Pro. There's one downside - the M-DAC had 2 fiber and 2 copper S/PDIF inputs and the RME doesn't.

I didn't do a level-matched or blind comparison, so any difference I think I could hear are irrelevant.

There were a batch of M-DACs with capacitor problems. It might be worth having a look inside to see if any are leaking.

 

[MarcT]

I had an M-DAC I replaced with a RME ADI-2 Pro. There's one downside - the M-DAC had 2 fiber and 2 copper S/PDIF inputs and the RME doesn't.

I didn't do a level-matched or blind comparison, so any difference I think I could hear are irrelevant.

There were a batch of M-DACs with capacitor problems. It might be worth having a look inside to see if any are leaking.

Just curious, why would a difference you hear be irrelevant to you? If something sounds better to you after multiple switches, why not go with it?

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Just curious, why would a difference you hear be irrelevant to you? If something sounds better to you after multiple switches, why not go with it?

I didn't do multiple switches. I unplugged one and plugged in the other! I wasn't setting out to listen for a difference, but I expected to hear one, because... biases!

I bought for RME for features (an ADC, PEQ etc.) rather than for an audio upgrade from the M-DAC.

 

[zag55]

Thanks for the MaxwellsEq warning. Unfortunately my MDAC was part of that lot, and I have already replaced the leaking capacitors. Returning to the original discussion, I heard a couple of musical pieces on YOUTUBE in my headphones, which compared the two DACs in question And you could hear the difference. Not big differences, but the 9038 is more detailed. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who has this DAC, to make a comparison on my system.