Topping D900 DAC Review

[sunny7day]

Anyone else bought this DAC? What's your experience?

 

[Blockader]

Anyone else bought this DAC? What's your experience?

It's the best DAC I've ever listened to.

The midrange on this DAC is nothing short of ethereal, a liquid, almost holographic presence to vocals that seems to float effortlessly between the speakers, suspended in a velvet-black void of silence. You can tell immediately that this is no off-the-shelf Sabre or Burr-Brown implementation. The proprietary discrete 1-bit delta-sigma module imparts a tonal purity to the mids that multi-bit designs can only dream of, a single-bit elegance that strips away the digital fog and lets the music breathe with an almost analog ease. Female vocals possess an intoxicating bloom, a warmth that caresses the ear without ever veering into syrupy territory. You can practically feel the micro-vibrations of a singer's diaphragm, each subtle inflection rendered with a palpable intimacy that mass-produced silicon simply smears into a flat, lifeless facsimile of music.

The low end is taut, authoritative, and possessed of a visceral slam that belies its composure. There is a wonderful sense of pitch definition that can only come from a ground-up discrete architecture, where every component in the signal path has been hand-selected and voiced as a cohesive whole rather than constrained by whatever compromises a commodity chip dictates. A stand-up bass doesn't merely thump; it breathes, the woody resonance of the body lingering in the room like expensive cologne. Sub-bass extension reaches down into the abyss with an almost seismic gravitas, yet it never oversteps its boundaries or muddies the pristine staging above. You sense the engineers sat in a listening room for months, tuning the noise-shaping topology of that 1-bit modulator until the low frequencies achieved this level of effortless, iron-fisted control.

Up top, the treble walks that razor's edge between resolution and refinement with the confidence of a seasoned tightrope artist. This is where the bespoke delta-sigma conversion truly earns its keep: cymbal shimmer decays into a gossamer trail of harmonics, airy, extended, never brittle, never etched. The single-bit architecture sidesteps the glare and grain that plague conventional multi-bit implementations at the zero-crossing, lending the uppermost octaves a crystalline sparkle utterly free of sibilance. It is as if someone gently lifted a curtain between you and the original master tape. This is not a DAC that reproduces music. It channels it, one perfect bit at a time.

/s

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

It's the best DAC I've ever listened to.

The midrange on this DAC is nothing short of ethereal, a liquid, almost holographic presence to vocals that seems to float effortlessly between the speakers, suspended in a velvet-black void of silence. You can tell immediately that this is no off-the-shelf Sabre or Burr-Brown implementation. The proprietary discrete 1-bit delta-sigma module imparts a tonal purity to the mids that multi-bit designs can only dream of, a single-bit elegance that strips away the digital fog and lets the music breathe with an almost analog ease. Female vocals possess an intoxicating bloom, a warmth that caresses the ear without ever veering into syrupy territory. You can practically feel the micro-vibrations of a singer's diaphragm, each subtle inflection rendered with a palpable intimacy that mass-produced silicon simply smears into a flat, lifeless facsimile of music.

The low end is taut, authoritative, and possessed of a visceral slam that belies its composure. There is a wonderful sense of pitch definition that can only come from a ground-up discrete architecture, where every component in the signal path has been hand-selected and voiced as a cohesive whole rather than constrained by whatever compromises a commodity chip dictates. A stand-up bass doesn't merely thump; it breathes, the woody resonance of the body lingering in the room like expensive cologne. Sub-bass extension reaches down into the abyss with an almost seismic gravitas, yet it never oversteps its boundaries or muddies the pristine staging above. You sense the engineers sat in a listening room for months, tuning the noise-shaping topology of that 1-bit modulator until the low frequencies achieved this level of effortless, iron-fisted control.

Up top, the treble walks that razor's edge between resolution and refinement with the confidence of a seasoned tightrope artist. This is where the bespoke delta-sigma conversion truly earns its keep: cymbal shimmer decays into a gossamer trail of harmonics, airy, extended, never brittle, never etched. The single-bit architecture sidesteps the glare and grain that plague conventional multi-bit implementations at the zero-crossing, lending the uppermost octaves a crystalline sparkle utterly free of sibilance. It is as if someone gently lifted a curtain between you and the original master tape. This is not a DAC that reproduces music. It channels it, one perfect bit at a time.

/s

And the only prescription...is more hyperbole.

 

[Svend P]

Anyone else bought this DAC? What's your experience?

Please read this thread. I don't know why people are not just telling you how misguided you are

How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[sunny7day]

Please read this thread. I don't know why people are not just telling you how misguided you are

How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

www.audiosciencereview.com

if all DACs sounds the same then just get yourself the cheapest one.

 

[Svend P]

if all DACs sounds the same then just get yourself the cheapest one.

Either you read 547 pages in 1 minute, or you are not here to get any wiser. My vote goes for the latter.

 

[misterdog]

I don't know it just sounds not very good.

Do SMSL have a new discrete DAC coming out I wonder?

 

[sunny7day]

Do SMSL have a new discrete DAC coming out I wonder?

i don't know

 

[misterdog]

i don't know

I've had the SMSL M400 for 18 months and now have the Topping D90 111 discrete. So maybe I could help address your issues.

Just bought this yesterday and it sounds absolute shit.

Maybe if you could

M400

Actually string more than two words together regarding your issues we might have a conversation, though I suspect this is not your intention.

Happy Easter.

 

[Audiowood]

It's the best DAC I've ever listened to.

The midrange on this DAC is nothing short of ethereal, a liquid, almost holographic presence to vocals that seems to float effortlessly between the speakers, suspended in a velvet-black void of silence. You can tell immediately that this is no off-the-shelf Sabre or Burr-Brown implementation. The proprietary discrete 1-bit delta-sigma module imparts a tonal purity to the mids that multi-bit designs can only dream of, a single-bit elegance that strips away the digital fog and lets the music breathe with an almost analog ease. Female vocals possess an intoxicating bloom, a warmth that caresses the ear without ever veering into syrupy territory. You can practically feel the micro-vibrations of a singer's diaphragm, each subtle inflection rendered with a palpable intimacy that mass-produced silicon simply smears into a flat, lifeless facsimile of music.

The low end is taut, authoritative, and possessed of a visceral slam that belies its composure. There is a wonderful sense of pitch definition that can only come from a ground-up discrete architecture, where every component in the signal path has been hand-selected and voiced as a cohesive whole rather than constrained by whatever compromises a commodity chip dictates. A stand-up bass doesn't merely thump; it breathes, the woody resonance of the body lingering in the room like expensive cologne. Sub-bass extension reaches down into the abyss with an almost seismic gravitas, yet it never oversteps its boundaries or muddies the pristine staging above. You sense the engineers sat in a listening room for months, tuning the noise-shaping topology of that 1-bit modulator until the low frequencies achieved this level of effortless, iron-fisted control.

Up top, the treble walks that razor's edge between resolution and refinement with the confidence of a seasoned tightrope artist. This is where the bespoke delta-sigma conversion truly earns its keep: cymbal shimmer decays into a gossamer trail of harmonics, airy, extended, never brittle, never etched. The single-bit architecture sidesteps the glare and grain that plague conventional multi-bit implementations at the zero-crossing, lending the uppermost octaves a crystalline sparkle utterly free of sibilance. It is as if someone gently lifted a curtain between you and the original master tape. This is not a DAC that reproduces music. It channels it, one perfect bit at a time.

/s

HAhaha.. This is what I will get from chatgpt. - Not saying you are using it, I just read alot from chatgpt about gear lately. They all sounded the same - Next I will ask to crtitcise it, - and the AI engine will literally sink thtat D900 into the abyss forever! lol. - of course I know you meant it for fun reading in a sceince forum - I literally burst out in laughter.- Thanks.

 

[nanook]

Next I will ask to crtitcise it, - and the AI engine will literally sink thtat D900 into the abyss forever!

That's actually the most important aspect when using AI. Never ask a question that is suggesting something - the AI will rarely contradict but rather start "pleasing" and follow the direction that you were suggesting in your prompt.
I'm wondering why this habit of the AI still exists. Probably because it costs more resources to give a contradictory answer with a good reasoning.

 

[DrCWO]

It's the best DAC I've ever listened to.

The midrange on this DAC is nothing short of ethereal, a liquid, almost holographic presence to vocals that seems to float effortlessly between the speakers, suspended in a velvet-black void of silence. You can tell immediately that this is no off-the-shelf Sabre or Burr-Brown implementation. The proprietary discrete 1-bit delta-sigma module imparts a tonal purity to the mids that multi-bit designs can only dream of, a single-bit elegance that strips away the digital fog and lets the music breathe with an almost analog ease. Female vocals possess an intoxicating bloom, a warmth that caresses the ear without ever veering into syrupy territory. You can practically feel the micro-vibrations of a singer's diaphragm, each subtle inflection rendered with a palpable intimacy that mass-produced silicon simply smears into a flat, lifeless facsimile of music.

The low end is taut, authoritative, and possessed of a visceral slam that belies its composure. There is a wonderful sense of pitch definition that can only come from a ground-up discrete architecture, where every component in the signal path has been hand-selected and voiced as a cohesive whole rather than constrained by whatever compromises a commodity chip dictates. A stand-up bass doesn't merely thump; it breathes, the woody resonance of the body lingering in the room like expensive cologne. Sub-bass extension reaches down into the abyss with an almost seismic gravitas, yet it never oversteps its boundaries or muddies the pristine staging above. You sense the engineers sat in a listening room for months, tuning the noise-shaping topology of that 1-bit modulator until the low frequencies achieved this level of effortless, iron-fisted control.

Up top, the treble walks that razor's edge between resolution and refinement with the confidence of a seasoned tightrope artist. This is where the bespoke delta-sigma conversion truly earns its keep: cymbal shimmer decays into a gossamer trail of harmonics, airy, extended, never brittle, never etched. The single-bit architecture sidesteps the glare and grain that plague conventional multi-bit implementations at the zero-crossing, lending the uppermost octaves a crystalline sparkle utterly free of sibilance. It is as if someone gently lifted a curtain between you and the original master tape. This is not a DAC that reproduces music. It channels it, one perfect bit at a time.

To me, that sounds like marketing phrases from ChatGpt.

 

[VientoB]

if all DACs sounds the same then just get yourself the cheapest one.

Or the one you like the look of, with the features you want, that you are happy to pay for.

 

[nanook]

To me, that sounds like marketing phrases from ChatGpt.

To me too, but you will have to do quite some "prompting" in order to get such elaborated, well worded bull....

@Blockader: May I ask how you "generated" this text - or did you indeed take the effort to write this without AI?

Appreciated, cheers!

 

[Blockader]

To me too, but you will have to do quite some "prompting" in order to get such elaborated, well worded bull....

@Blockader: May I ask how you "generated" this text - or did you indeed take the effort to write this without AI?

Appreciated, cheers!

I wrote three short paragraphs myself, one each for treble, mids, and bass, describing sound quality of the dac with flowery words. Then I asked Claude to rewrite them in the voice of a pretentious 60 year old audiophile who's convinced he has golden ears, instructing it to attribute every sonic quality to made up mumbo jumbo about DAC architecture advancements and to lean on far more flowery language than I did use.

 

[nanook]

))))))

 

[manisandher]

It is as if someone gently lifted a curtain between you and the original master tape.

Love it!

 

[Roland68]

if all DACs sounds the same then just get yourself the cheapest one.

Certainly, not all DACs sound the same, but if you understand what a DAC's job is (and what it absolutely shouldn't do), then any DAC that deviates tonally should be considered defective.

Incidentally, many of my friends and acquaintances are now using an SMSL D1, just like I am at my own workplace. And that's despite the fact that we all previously used DACs costing thousands of euros and could continue to do so.

Try doing a true blind comparison, with equal levels, between your devices, and perhaps also with a D1, where you don't know which device is playing.
Perhaps you'll then identify where the real problem lies.

 

[DrCWO]

Try doing a true blind comparison, with equal levels, between your devices

I recently did between an RME ADI-2/4 Pro and a DIY R2R NOS Dac based on TDA1541. Perfectly level matched the TDA delivered a somehow blurred response. No more depth and with and treble unpleasant. But the DIY guy claimed it is better. Probably because he loves this sound.
So my believe is you must have listened to transparent sound to really understand the difference. I accept that people like the sound of their creations but there is a big audible difference between SOTA and anything else.
Nevertheless I accept personal taste and people having fun with it. What I don't like is when they act like they're preaching and claiming something is better when it definitely isn't. Why do you so rarely hear "I subjectively prefer this," which I wouldn't have a problem accepting? I don't understand it, because transparency is the only measurably valid measure.

 

[Roland68]

I recently did between an RME ADI-2/4 Pro and a DIY R2R NOS Dac based on TDA1541. Perfectly level matched the TDA delivered a somehow blurred response. No more depth and with and treble unpleasant. But the DIY guy claimed it is better. Probably because he loves this sound.
So my believe is you must have listened to transparent sound to really understand the difference. I accept that people like the sound of their creations but there is a big audible difference between SOTA and anything else.
Nevertheless I accept personal taste and people having fun with it. What I don't like is when they act like they're preaching and claiming something is better when it definitely isn't. Why do you so rarely hear "I subjectively prefer this," which I wouldn't have a problem accepting? I don't understand it, because transparency is the only measurably valid measure.

I haven't been able to get along with any of these TDA1541-based DACs so far. I always found the sound somewhat diffuse, and acoustic instruments never sounded truly authentic.

I still regularly listen to music on John Westlake's Dacmagic 1, which is over 30 years old and based on the TDA1305.