Set up Dac advice

[Goodman]

I am installing a secondary system/ Quad 44-606 Yamaha NS1000. I have an older DAC Shiit Audio Modi about 4 years old cost about 100 Dollars. If I buy a new Dac like a Topping 3 to 400 hundred Dollars, reviewed and recommended by Amir, will I hear a big difference when playing Flac files, or will I just be wasting money?

 

[fieldcar]

Find out for yourself how sensitive you are to THD/SINAD. Take the Klippel listening test below.

I can't make it beyond -39dB, and I get frustrated near the end of the test. This number is directly comparable to the SINAD. I've been perfectly happy with my old AVR that's probably in the 70dB SINAD range.

Listening Test

www.klippel.de

 

[sonitus mirus]

I am installing a secondary system/ Quad 44-606 Yamaha NS1000. I have an older DAC Shiit Audio Modi about 4 years old cost about 100 Dollars. If I buy a new Dac like a Topping 3 to 400 hundred Dollars, reviewed and recommended by Amir, will I hear a big difference when playing Flac files, or will I just be wasting money?

Save your money. You would not even hear a tiny difference unless something is broken.

 

[Dunring]

It depends which Modi you have, the Modi 2 had some bad measurements and upgrading would be worth it. If you need more connectivity or features even a current $99 DAC will be good. If it's the Modi 3 you'll likely not even be able to tell.

 

[sonitus mirus]

It depends which Modi you have, the Modi 2 had some bad measurements and upgrading would be worth it. If you need more connectivity or features even a current $99 DAC will be good. If it's the Modi 3 you'll likely not even be able to tell.

For more information about the Modi 2 and to see a similarly priced recommendation as an alternate:

Budget DAC Review: Schiit Modi 2 ($99)

OK, with my wife out on a trip, I have some time to catch up on my review chores. In this wonderful episode, you are treated to the measurements of the Schiit Modi 2. This guy retails for $99 which fit the budget nicely. It uses the Analog Devices AD 5547 DAC silicon. This is an older DAC...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I still doubt it there would be any meaningful differences in sound unless I am completely misjudging how it will be used.

 

[AnalogSteph]

If the DAC is going to be the only signal source, I would consider bypassing the 44 entirely using a preamp-grade DAC. Perhaps a Topping DX3 Pro+ to avoid breaking the bank. (Even in the best-case scenario of the 500 mV output being used, the Topping should still beat its noise floor by 4 dB.) The 44 is a 40-year-old device that's apparently littered with coupling capacitors and TL071 opamps... given this combination, I don't even need to look at the service manual to suspect that a fair few of these coupling caps have never seen any bias voltage and are likely to be stone dead / leaky nowadays. If my limited experience bridging such candidates is anything to go by, sound quality may be substantially (and in fact, audibly) degraded if the device has never undergone a major revision. (Which would also cost money, for obvious reasons.)

Now I cannot by any means guarantee any kind of earth-shattering differences - you'd just be removing a lot of variables from the equation.