So you're saying the RCA+XLR out has a separate volume memory than the individual RCA out or XLR out, which have the same memory? But then when you chose RCA+XLR to listen to speakers (all out as you call it?), you still have the headphones playing, no? Plus don't you adjust volume on a per song basis anyway? I guess still somewhat confused as to the advantage, unless again, you are volume matching headphones + speakers for one song.
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Topping D90 Balanced USB DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
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So you're saying the RCA+XLR out has a separate volume memory than the individual RCA out or XLR out, which have the same memory? But then when you chose RCA+XLR to listen to speakers (all out as you call it?), you still have the headphones playing, no? Plus don't you adjust volume on a per song basis anyway? I guess still somewhat confused as to the advantage, unless again, you are volume matching headphones + speakers for one song.
The XLR+RCA has the same vol as RCA or XLR, it's all out(XLR+RCA+Headphone) that has it's own volume memory. And I used in app volume normalization, so I do not adjust every song. If I switch from speaker to headphone, speaker would not get signal, so only headphone plays, I do not need to get up and go to back of my speakers to turn them off. Switching from headphone to speaker does mean headphone still playing, but I can just flip a switch to pre mode or turn it off on front of A90.
I see. Yeah, this won't work with the D90, as it doesn't have a headphone out.
Oh, that's true. Guess XLR to A90 to XLR to speaker is the way to go then
Have you been using the d90+a90(proto) with RCA connections only? or RCA + XLR? Or only with XLR connections?
Please try RCA only and RCA + XLR to see what you can detect via USB connected / disconnected at H Gain.
I am having the similar setup D90 MQA + A90, XLR (Cardas Clear) out to my integrated amp, RCA (van den hul the Source) to A90 , standard USB cable (Ugreen) from music streamer (Auralic Aries Mini), everything is good, no noise even when music is stopped/paused.
My electrical system here is single phase, three-wire (live, neutral and earth) with earth connect to electrical distribution board's earth bar and ground.
To make sure your earthing/grounding is continuous connected and grounded. No floating earth current.
That would most likely work, but I've already bought the 1.5m RCA cable and picked the speakers - RCA only. So I'd need to change up both. Plus, whether now or down the road this RCA noise issue will come up again - either with me or at resale, so I might as well work it out now with John / Topping.
Since you have D90/A90, why don't you connect XLR out from D90 to XLR in A90 for headphone system, then XLR out A90 to your speaker system ?
I bought two pairs of Ugreen XLR 1m cable lately, they are good.
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typericey
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Noticed that you use UGreen USB and XLR cables. Would you recommend them? A bit wary, specially with the XLRs if they are properly soldered, shielded, if it is truly balanced, etc.
I would recommend Ugreen USB cable, as I have bought few of them, including one for car (USB charging cell phone, work flawlessly, exposed to sun heat).
As for XLR cable, not sure how the soldered/shielded, but the appearance look solid and neat. Also I have bought couple of Ugreen SSD case, the are working great too.
Correct. Not that it matters in any way.
Spotify/apple are both highly compressed lossy formats - vastly inferior even to regular CD 16/44.1 and have nothing to do with MQA.
To be honest, you sound rather confused and unnecessarily obsessed with all of this. Bear a couple of things in mind: CD format (44.1 KHz) can reproduce sounds up to 20 KHz, and no human can hear anything higher than that. The idea that 24/192 can sound "better" than 24/96 is completely ludicrous. We cannot hear 21 KHz, let alone 48. Most adults probably can't hear 15.
Second, 16 bits is plenty for nearly all musical output, if not all. All the bit count does is affect the signal to noise ratio, that's it.
24 bits is massive overkill and 32 bits just ridiculous. And moreover, there is no consumer DAC that has more than 21 bits of signal/noise+distortion ratio anyway.
Bro. You made me confused on audio sampling frequency (44.1kHz to 384kHz) vs. listening frequency (20hz - 20kHz).
Audio resolution (bit depth) 16-bit can produce "loudness" dynamic range of 96dB, 24-bit can produce 144dB , which is near current DAC's S/N and as DAC technology development and of course more important is DAC implementation throughout entire circuitry.
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Actually 16-bit with noise-shaped dithering gets you better than 96 dB but that's hardly the point.
The point is there is barely any need for 24 bit as far as listening to music is concerned, and certainly zero need for 32 bit.
Yes, what you say is most likely the case - Red Book 16bit/44.1kHz is mostly all we need and can hear. But there have been some studies that have shown that higher frequencies may contribute, etc. So while I also thing 16/44.1 is probably enough, and the focus should be on finding the best master of a particular track, I'm all for having high-rez music like 24/96 or whatever, because its not hurting in anyway, and can possibly be beneficial.
These are interesting: http://www.aes.org/tmpFiles/elib/20200708/18296.pdf & https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10848570/
So I think it's never a good idea to be so absolute in your thoughts. You can't now 100% by any means.
By that logic 24bit 44.1/48khz is actually useful in ideal situation even if it might be a bit overkill in most other situation. I read that DSD 64 already have 120 db of dynamic range, so anything higher is really pointless?
That's why my music highest resolution purchased is 24-bit 96kHz. I can't distinguish the differences higher than that in my headphone system.
BTW, been out of the audiophile loop for a while. What's the latest on leaving gear on vs. powering it on and off? Do you guys turn off you D90/A90s or better to leave them on all the time (or off once a day at most at night)? @JohnYang1997 ?
hi everyone,
What DAC are you referring to?
I put my D90 on standby mode with Auto Power On. A90 eventually is at Off mode set manually.
One thing to note though, if you are connecting D90 to a digital source eg. network streamer permanently without Auto Sleep, D90 will turn on when power supply trip/resume.
Veri
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I turn it all on and off but I am at my desk only some hours a day or so.
What about stacking a D90/A90? Would it be better to put the A90 on top as it should in theory generate more heat, or doesn't matter? What's the consensus on stacking this duo?
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