[supersergios]

I was thinking of buying a D90 Topping or a Gustard A22, or a Gustard X26, but they have recommended Bifrost2.

This is the recommendation they have given me to enter to ask here:

I think you should consider other DACs:

1. Bifrost 2 might synergize well with the Maggies. Good strong heft in the lows and warm tonality. Very resolving of fine detail and ambient cues.
2. Convert-2. Even stronger heft and strong attacks without being edgy. Great natural timbre. Wrap around soundstage might play very well with the imaging particularities of the Maggies.
   $ 2400 is very expensive for me now

Both above DACs will have more natural highs than the Gustard A22, A27, and Topping, which could be a blessing with the Maggies depending upon other components. Their strong bass kick will serve the Maggies well.

With the above two DACs, you are more likely be assured that you are not sending money to an evil empire (the quarrel is not with the people, but with the government and its Emperor named Xi) which will probably one day want to own Europe, that is after they have conquered the rest of the Pacific Rim (Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam) and then moved on to India.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with any of that Topping or Gustard garbage, except the A22 does seem interesting with the dual AKM4499. The thing with most Chi-Fi crap, especially those two brands, is that they lose their value quickly. You can't sell it for half the price if you change your mind later. These brands have a strong history of FOTM, when people hop on, or buy because the specs look great at the right price. They then silently get rid of them. New and latest and greatest or bestest measuring doesn't mean anything. Unless you have a Benchmark AHB2, I bet your power amp produces x100 more distortion than those best DACs, and your speakers x10000 more.

P.S. Look what the original poster who reviewed the X26 is using as a DAC now. That will be most telling of everything. I'm just giving you good solid advice and telling you exactly what I would spend MY money on. I'm hitting you with the hammer over the head here because it really does seem you want some sort of validation with your decisions, of which you will get none. You mentioned three DACs. Noneof them is my direct and honest answer to you.

And the same person answers me:

Gungnir Multibit original version (not current A2 one) using only balanced outs. A2 version is cleaner, denser timbre, more resolving, but may be tonally too cool for the Maggies.

Otherwise Bifrost 2 using balanced outs into your AR. If you happen to use SE preamp, then Bifrost SE outputs also sound just as good.

But he has never heard a ToppingD90 that says they already have a good blow under, a lot of sound spatiality. That is why I have some doubts and I appreciate any information and opinion. Thank you very much

 

[supersergios]

I update my question, because I just saw that with “Gungnir_ multibit“ it is worth $ 1300 but it has no possibility of having a remote control of volume, so it is no longer useful to me ..

Now my question remains that of the beginning:
ToopingD90 - Gustard A20 or X22 , or Bifrost_2 ?

Thank you

 

[Licht]

Hi, yes, look
https://www.schiit.com/products/remote-controls (Bifrost 2)

telling if it has volume control, you think it's better than the others for my speakers ..

I have been told that if I take for example the ToppingD90, I will have more 3D music space, but I will not have dynamics and especially nothing serious, even having both subwoofers.

What do you think? thanks for your help

No, that remote you are showing is a remote for amps.
You can see remote for Bifrost 2 on the Bifrost product photo.

Button for volumes in amp is replaced by source selection (you can select direction you move) in Bifrost.
And yes, I own Bifrost 2.

 

[supersergios]

Well, then it does not help me to use it directly, I would need an audio preview. what do you recomend?
I still think of the ToppingD90?

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/topping-d90-review-a-genre-master/

Matrix Audio Element X ($3000) VS Topping D90 ($700)

Besides being a DAC, Element X is also a full-blown streamer, preamp, balanced headphone amp, it is Roon enabled, it has its own MA app on Android and iOS and you can stream your music via Wi-Fi, it has also an internal music player that plays any music format from an external USB drive connected to it. Feature wise, Element X is something else and its much more advanced than anything I’ve tried.

D90 can be also a preamp and has a powerful Bluetooth receiver, its smaller and way cheaper too.

When it comes to music reproduction, they both are more alike than different. Topping worked a lot in making D90 sounding faster, slamming harder and having a wider frequency response. On the other hand, Matrix Audio worked a lot into making their ESS Sabre design natural, musical and full bodied. Both companies knew the shortcomings of their platform and worked hard on improving them to a point of solving those flaws. When an audio source is developed, you have simple targets: make it as resolving as possible and sounding as real as possible and I think that both achieved that.

Besides that, I still feel that D90 has a better depth and holography, I can see deeper into the mix, I can walk by easier around my favorite musicians. I feel an additional layer of air around every note. If I’m switching to speakers the difference becomes even bigger as somehow with D90 I’m listening to music in a bigger hall and everything is just floating easily around me.

Only sometimes I felt that maybe Element X offered a tiny bit more resolution especially in the highest registers but only when listening to high-end material and top-notch recordings. Otherwise, that thought will never appear in my mind.

I was quite stunned to find that D90 has such a clean and detailed performance, from the lowest bass to the highest treble, everything was there in spades and nothing would hide away from it.

 

[Licht]

How about Bifrost 2 AND Freya S (or Freya + if you prefer option for tubes) preamp?

 

[Licht]

I am now using Schiit Yggdrasil + Schiit Freya + Schiit Vidars (two) + Magnepan 1.7 in main system,
and Bifrost 2 + Yamaha A-S2100 + Magnepan MMG for living room and love both.

 

[supersergios]

eps, the new remote control for Bifrost 2 is diferent,
control for volume:

 

[Licht]

eps, the new remote control for Bifrost 2 is diferent,
control for volume:

Have you seen this?
And I've ordered Bifrost 2 last month and it was the same as the product photo and the photo of my remote I uploaded above.

 

[supersergios]

Ok
Freya S preamplifier (or Freya + if Iprefer the option for tubes), more money, ufffff
OK, I will study it. Thank you.

But what results do you think I will have with the ToppingD90? According to that review, it surpasses the Matrix. Can I trust it will sound good (for the Maggies)?

 

[Ripper2860]

[edit] Ooops. I see the BF2 remote pic has already been posted ...


Arrrgh. ASR.

 

[MrPretty]

Hi, yes, look
https://www.schiit.com/products/remote-controls (Bifrost 2)

telling if it has volume control, you think it's better than the others for my speakers ..

I have been told that if I take for example the ToppingD90, I will have more 3D music space, but I will not have dynamics and especially nothing serious, even having both subwoofers.

What do you think? thanks for your help

Edit: you guys beat me to it.

 

[supersergios]

[edit] Ooops. I see the BF2 remote pic has already been posted ...
Arrrgh. ASR.

Yes, no have a volume:

 

[supersergios]

Edit: you guys beat me to it.

I don't understand, all help is welcome

 

[Licht]

Don’t you believe me?
The photo on the remote page is for preamp.
Can’t you see the option for the type?

There are three different remote for preamp/integrated-amp/DAC.

They have different buttons for different functions.
See the pictographs in the remote with Bifrost.

 

[motberg]

I don't understand, all help is welcome

Note that some DAC's volume controls are software based... iiuc the original digital signal is usually oversampled, then the modified signal is adjusted to lower the volume. It seems the D90 may be software volume control. I had a Topping D70, which I think was software vol. control, and I considered the vol. control pretty weak.. I preferred any of my preamps (including a SAGA+) to the D70 internal vol. control. D70 had a nice sound, good tonality, space and very black background - - but very limited dynamics, things like piano key strikes and snare hits did not translate well, to me the entire sound-field sounded like it was run through a nice soft-knee compressor..

I also have a Topping D50 - (I think it is on your ASR list), D50 I thought had very nice vocals but acoustic guitar had a plastic sheen and electric bass lacked tone, form and dynamics. Cymbals were OK, detailed but kind of artificial. Altogether I guess OK for the money. I use the D50 for my 2 cheap subs, vol. control with Schiit Sys and 45hz low pass filter with MiniDSP-HD.

I also had a Gustard A20H - pretty nice all around and this has a standard relay vol. control which I though was very good (tried XLR out to power amp for speakers), though not as refined as my Audio-GD C-2 preamp or detailed as my Lightspeed passive preamp... but it was good enough that I think many people would find it more than acceptable. The digital filters did not have a very wide range to my ears, but iirc you could select the filters from the remote while the music is playing. The default filter worked best in my setup.

The D90 review looks interesting and the reviewer noted the dynamics is greatly improved over the D70... You may be able to find some comparisons of the AK44xx house sound to the Schiit Multibit - my guess from what I am reading is the Multibit Bifrost may be more organic compared to a standard AK (smooth?) presentation. Maybe a more important consideration is the Schiit Unison USB vs. XMOS in the D90. Unison is getting good reviews from what I read so far.

I am not sure, but my guess is Maggies could possibly benefit from a standard active preamp with gain (depends on your amp) or a well made integrated amp in the chain (DAC-> Integrated Amp, vol. control at the amp).

Anyway, hope that info helps a bit... I am thinking Maggies are fairly particular to matching equipment, so probably a good idea to purchase with the option to easily return the piece if it turns out to be a very bad match for your preferences.