RandomEar
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In recent review threads, I've got the impression that the latest offerings in the DAC & DAC + HP amp category have gotten a bit boring in the technical sense: Most measure exceptionally well, with very few or minor flaws - apart from the occasional trainwreck, which we shall disregard for the purposes of this poll. My impression is that especially chinese manufacturers like Topping, SMSL or Gustard seem to focus mostly on pushing measured performance closer and closer to the boundaries of available analyzers, while increasing prices to go with it. However, improvements seem to have gotten so small, that audible differences are questionable.
From an economic point of view, I understand their strategy: It has worked well for them in recent years and as long as people pay a big premium for +1 dB in SINAD, there's little incentive to change it. However, from the consumer point of view, other aspects may become more important if most available devices are "good enough" in terms of measured specs and have no audible flaws anymore. I know a couple of things I'd like to see instead of a higher THD+N or dynamic range and I'd like to know your opinion on this topic!
Similar thread (but specific to Topping and without a poll):
From an economic point of view, I understand their strategy: It has worked well for them in recent years and as long as people pay a big premium for +1 dB in SINAD, there's little incentive to change it. However, from the consumer point of view, other aspects may become more important if most available devices are "good enough" in terms of measured specs and have no audible flaws anymore. I know a couple of things I'd like to see instead of a higher THD+N or dynamic range and I'd like to know your opinion on this topic!
Similar thread (but specific to Topping and without a poll):
What do you want to see from Topping..?
Given that the guys are pretty active on the forum, seems as good a place as any to suggest future projects that we'd like to see as potential customers... For me, I think one of the things that gets me about Topping is that their form factor varies seemingly at random, meaning it might look a...
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