Have you considered the new Topping A 90D Discrete as @Lothar_Wolf suggests? That’s actually what I’m leaning toward, and is a DAC/AMP, with a nice amp, not simply a DAC.
NOTE: I’m just looking over this stuff, and I think that I misread. @Lothar_Wolf - the A90 Discreet is an AMP only? And you are suggesting that I ALSO buy a Questyle M15 DAC to use with it???
I’m really looking into an integrated solution. I want a one piece DAC/AMP. Maybe the HiFiman is a good solution? Or maybe I need to review the G5 specs again…
What’s the story with the Topping DX7 Pro Plus? Is it not out yet? This looks like it would check the boxes…
Hmmm… just read a review, and it doesn’t have a true balanced amp, although it does have balanced outputs. Drat.
I have the FiiO K9 Pro ESS Dac/Amp and am extremely happy with it. Has the clean THX amp with a good clean dual ES9038 DAC. I don’t have the experience alot of folks on here have, but I moved up from a Zen Dac V2 to the FiiO and it made a world of difference. Has XLR and 4.4 balanced along with SE out, and more inputs than I need (just a PC guy right now). I had narrowed it down to the FiiO and the HifiMan EF400, but went with the FiiO because it had been around longer with alot of solid reviews around the community. I liked the price better on the EF400, but didn’t want to be an early adopter. Happy with my choice for my use case and my HPs (HD6XX, Clear and Chu and CCA CRA IEMs). I’ll also add, it’s not sterile sounding and doesn’t add any warmth to the sound either to my ears, just very clean.
I just checked Amazon and it’s gone up $100 since I bought it, so that may change the value equation.
Thanks for the suggestion. This looks pretty good, FiiO is another brand that I haven’t really used in the past. The Hifiman EF400 gets good reviews, but some say it is quite picky with headphone pairings - including bad with Senn 800s, which I don’t own, but might someday.
The price is still in the ballpark - I was thinking I might have to raise my price bar, and have been looking at the A&K CA1000 again. It’s hard to get all of what I am looking for - either portable or modest sized desktop all-in-one with true balanced.
My one concern with this is the THX amp. Never experienced THX, nor do I know what the AAA-788+ model portends. Will it be too “technical” for my tastes – which include Burr-Brown and the Schiit Lyr3?
I had the same worry about the THX amp, and I came from listening to the Burr Brown warmth with the Zen Dac V2 as well. If you watch some of the reviews on the K9 Pro, they specifically addressed that this implementation of the THX amp doesn’t present as technical as the 789 and One do. I think I watched YouTube reviews from Passion for Sound and DMS that spoke to it if you want an audiophile view, and from my mere mortal viewpoint, it just sounds natural and good. Good luck with your search!
I just pulled the trigger on the FiiO K9 Pro ESS version. If both you and @Lothar_Wolf agree, (especially Lothar) and it seems to have a good trade-in value… well it looks like it checks the boxes for what I needed. Price is OK. The A&K is just too much more, even with the $400 off sale.
There seems to be nothing tubey of adequate power in my price range, and tubes would definitely cut down on moving it around the house or taking it to work or elsewhere. Primarily want something I can use away from my computer and main stack, and that will be a strong step up from the iFi xDSD, which has done good service.
If I decide I don’t like it, I can always put it up for sale and try to find something else. Shame that Topping doesn’t have a fully-balanced Dac/Amp combo in their higher ranges.
You can relax. The FiiO K9 Pro ESS came today. I’ve only had an hour or so with it, but I think I’m pleased with the choice. It is clean and relatively neutral, but I don’t feel that technical dryness that I had feared. Played a smattering of mostly familiar music to test - Trentemoller’s Chameleon, Mercy Mercy Mercy (from Cannonball Adderly Live at the Club) Oye Como Va, - a Tito Puente original version. Some Santana from Blessings and Miracles, the live Tabla Beat Science, and some Parliament/Funkadelic. Oh yes, and a bit of classical guitar - John Williams rendition of Asturias. Enough to know that it images well and sounds good.
Source was the iPad Pro (version 1, with lightning port). and Qobuz. Just curious if anybody has noticed any sonic differences between Connection Kit (Camera Kit) version 2 or 3 and Apple vs non Apple. Is it possible for them to show a volume difference?
I took no unboxing photos this time. Miserable rainy day - Amazon dropped it off on my covered side porch, but the rain had come so hard that the outer box had a wet area. The inner box had originally had a strip of air pillows to take up space, but not enough of it - or the weight of the unit was enough to pop the pillows. Fortunately well packed from factory. I need to put on the LRF support. One of my favorite acronyms. “Does it come with LRF support?” I ask? Why yes, yes it does. Times 6 in this case, so you can use the edge stand or not…
Agree. I played with the app on the 1st day in Bluetooth mode, but haven’t used it since. It could be really useful if someday they could do a firmware/app update to allow you to use the eq and other features for all modes though.
A club meeting would be fun. I wonder if there are other members here. I haven’t spent too much time with the unit, although I did apply the LRF support today. I’ve been near binge watching Ted Lasso on Apple TV. Just got through the first season, 12 episodes to go on season 2.
For convenience, the chain for Ted Lasso watching is what’s right at hand by the computer, so it’s been going Macbook Pro Bifrost 2/64 STAX SRM-T1S Nectar Hive
I fell a bit foolish. I just now found the USB-3 port on the “side” of the FiiO K9 Pro ESS. Previously, all I saw was the USB-B. Now I fully understand why when using the side stand, the wires go on the bottom.
I recently got the A90D, and added it to the Denafrips Ares II, and it is simply spectacular. I don’t think I’m ever buying another DAC or AMP after spending a week with this setup. To give background, I’ve had the Topping DX7 Pro and have the Woo WA7 Fireflies 3rd gen. The A90D (with the Ares II) is in another universe. I’ve rolled tubes with some reasonably expensive ones on the Fireflies. WA7 is nowhere near in my view on any dimension. The clarity, detail, soundstage and realism of A90D (+ Ares II) is extraordinary. I thought ZEOS was overstating in his review of A90D, but I agree. A90D is the best I’ve ever heard. (side note, 2021 reissue of LCDX goes with this stack spectacularly).
For any item in an audio chain there is an inflection point where improvements become hard and expensive to obtain. It depends on the technology involved and the intrinsic difficulty in extracting/ reproducing the sounds. So for example turntables, arms, cartridges and phono stages are intrinsically very difficult in that order with many thousands each to be spent on the first three before the gains become marginal and many hundreds on the phono stage. Once you have a good idea where these inflection points are you can aim your system expenditure distribution to give you the best overall sound for the price. There are other factors to lay in particularly with components that usually colour the sound speakers/headphones, phono cartridges and amplifiers can have a synergy or just have a flavour of sound you like better over and above their raw quality. They may also interact better in some forms which is the system synergy.
This gives rise to a few helpful rules.
Use the price/performance ratio for each component to determine where the next spend is best made. $300 spent on an amp from your $100 one may give a much greater improvement than $300 spent to upgrade a DAC. As $300 on headphones to upgrade from $100 will give better returns than the similar amount spent on the amp upgrade.
In reading reviews make sure that the reviewer liked and rated well the equipment you already have at the lower price point. If they hated the headphones you have and love. The more expensive headphones they recommend are unlikely to suit you.
Look for equipment that is often reviewed together or at least at the equipment used by reviewers that liked the item you are considering.
Finally if you have to A B A B etc to decide which is best, existing or new then save your money for another day. Only buy when the difference is clearly better.
Lotta details missing - do you need Bluetooth or not, what are the heaviest headphones you’re hoping to drive with it, do you need it to support microphone input for phone calls etc.
support. One of my favorite acronyms. “Does it come with LRF support?” I ask? Why yes, yes it does. Times 6 in this case, so you can use the edge stand or not…
Bifrost 2/64