[Marlowe]

My THX is currently scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday. (With regular free shipping that's not bad for Christmas week if it holds; I live in NJ directly across the Hudson from Manhattan, about twenty miles to the NE of MD's NJ warehouse. The package is currently in Pennsylvania, LOL.) I'm currently using a Mimby and Eitr (with CTH and Valhalla 2) and see no desperate need to upgrade to DACs in my price range. (That's a good thing, since after buying the Elex last month and the THX this week, I'll have to wait 2-3 months even for DACs in my sub-$500 fixed income retiree budget.) I'm just curious if anyone sees the D50 or the balanced SU-8 (though consensus seems to be that a balanced input does not really add much or anything to the THX) as upgrades to Mimby/Eitr (I can still use the Eitr with both of them) or merely, as I suspect, sidegrades? (Yeah, I know ASR thinks they are upgrades, but I take their objectivist reviews, witch almost totally ignore actually listening to the gear being reviewed, with a very large grain of salt.)

Luckily for my finances, more interesting upgrade possibilities are still at least a few months away. The balanced Topping D70 (probably $600) looks very intriguing pending (non-ASR) reviews. But I am guessing that the $350 Massdrop Airist R-2R will become available again sometime in the next few months. Those in the community who had the opportunity to listen to prototypes thought it was an upgrade to Mimby. Plus it makes a neat stack with the THX or CTH. It's not balanced, but again that does not really appear to be an issue with the THX.

 

[Zachik]

If it goes live again I might have to give it a try. I’ve been flirting with getting either a rme adi 2 dac or gungir multibit, but maybe the airist would be just as good? Or maybe no different than the mimby? It will be nice when the reviews come in.

I would say the RDAC is better than Mimby and Bimby, and is very close to Gumby. Taking price into account - the RDAC is a steal, IMHO

 

[BrotherKathos]

My THX is currently scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday. (With regular free shipping that's not bad for Christmas week if it holds; I live in NJ directly across the Hudson from Manhattan, about twenty miles to the NE of MD's NJ warehouse. The package is currently in Pennsylvania, LOL.) I'm currently using a Mimby and Eitr (with CTH and Valhalla 2) and see no desperate need to upgrade to DACs in my price range. (That's a good thing, since after buying the Elex last month and the THX this week, I'll have to wait 2-3 months even for DACs in my sub-$500 fixed income retiree budget.) I'm just curious if anyone sees the D50 or the balanced SU-8 (though consensus seems to be that a balanced input does not really add much or anything to the THX) as upgrades to Mimby/Eitr (I can still use the Eitr with both of them) or merely, as I suspect, sidegrades? (Yeah, I know ASR thinks they are upgrades, but I take their objectivist reviews, witch almost totally ignore actually listening to the gear being reviewed, with a very large grain of salt.)

Luckily for my finances, more interesting upgrade possibilities are still at least a few months away. The balanced Topping D50 (probably $600) looks very intriguing pending (non-ASR) reviews. But I am guessing that the $350 Massdrop Airist R-2R will become available again sometime in the next few months. Those in the community who had the opportunity to listen to prototypes thought it was an upgrade to Mimby. Plus it makes a neat stack with the THX or CTH. It's not balanced, but again that does not really appear to be an issue with the THX.

i own d50 and su8 and those are both downgrades vs the mimby eitr stack with my thx. mimby and eitr is just so much smoother deep and spacious compared to those two chifi dacs. I was hoping the d50 would be better since its got those ever so lauded measurements, and its much better aesthetics wise, but the ugly pairing of the mimby eitr with thx just sounds awesome to me with my audeze lcd2c. I’m honestly wondering why I even think f getting another dac. Must be the addiction....

 

[BrotherKathos]

I would say the RDAC is better than Mimby and Bimby, and is very close to Gumby. Taking price into account - the RDAC is a steal, IMHO

how long have you had your rdac and been comparing it to those schiit dacs?

 

[torii]

anyone have thoughts on this dac: https://geshelli.com/enog2-pro
does it work well with THX AAA 789?

 

[Zachik]

how long have you had your rdac and been comparing it to those schiit dacs?

I have had the RDAC since the initial drop started.
Never owned any of the Schiit MB DACs - just A/B'd for a few hours.

 

[BrotherKathos]

I have had the RDAC since the initial drop started.
Never owned any of the Schiit MB DACs - just A/B'd for a few hours.

Hmmm, I think I will try it if the drop comes back and has a reasonable ship date

 

[Marlowe]

i own d50 and su8 and those are both downgrades vs the mimby eitr stack with my thx. mimby and eitr is just so much smoother deep and spacious compared to those two chifi dacs. I was hoping the d50 would be better since its got those ever so lauded measurements, and its much better aesthetics wise, but the ugly pairing of the mimby eitr with thx just sounds awesome to me with my audeze lcd2c. I’m honestly wondering why I even think f getting another dac. Must be the addiction....

Thanks for the reply. BTW, I don't think that the Mimby and Eitr are particularly ugly, just sort of utilitarian. (Though I would probably prefer them in black.) I agree that the D50, at least in pictures, looks much nicer. But since I would still be using the D50 with the Eitr, the mismatch would look worse overall IMO. Of course, I'd do it in a heartbeat if the D50 was a solid upgrade, aesthetics be damned, LOL.

 

[torii]

is there a list of dacs under $350 that shine with this amp?

 

[alphanumerix1]

is there a list of dacs under $350 that shine with this amp?

massdrop variants
schiit
topping
smsl
jds

 

[torii]

i have a topping and gesheli labs dac...looking forward to comparisons when massdrop/fedex deliver it.

 

[alpovs]

To be specific i owned both mimby and bimby at one point and mimby was ok for the price, Bimby was to bright for my taste.

I never had a Bimby but supposedly Mimby and Bimby are identical except Bimby is upgradable.

 

[torii]

if I had to communicate with mimby and bimby my ptsd would end up eliminating both

 

[Fatdoi]

is there a list of dacs under $350 that shine with this amp?

Z reviews once said every Dac sounds the same until he tried over $1k and changed his world... So I think around $300 most are quite similar depending if you want xlr out then the choice becomes smaller

 

[torii]

just for giggles I pull out my msb link dac...I wouldnt kill this 3 decade old champ seeing music recordings hant changed