[zeusthunderbolt]

In the market for a budget standalone DAC and I figured that the SMSL 1955+ or the Topping D20 would suffice. Now, I don't know much about the components under their respective hoods, therefore I'm in need of some Head-FI enlightenment.
 
Feel free to recommend other standalone DACs for about $150 or less.
 
Source - iMac 2011, a combination of 320kbps and FLAC files.
 
Oh and by the way, I highly recommend the SMSL SAPIII. I decided to take a chance with it and I've been using for about a month now with my DT880 Pro 250 and it sounds amazing for the price.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMSL-sApIII-High-impedance-Professional-TUBE-headphone-amplifier-BB-OPA2604-/300892972226?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item460e9e64c2

 

[tripath1]

I have not heard the Topping D20, so can not comment on that.
 
The SMSL SD-1955+ sounds amazing if you swap the op amps. The op amps are all in sockets, so this is easy to do and various forums have images showing how this is done.
 
The JRC5532 which is used as the final op-amp output stage sounds strange and distant.
 
The best combination I found was to replace the two AD275s with four lots of AD744s on two "brown dog" adapters, and then to replace the JRC5532 with two AD627s on a single "brown dog" adapter.
 
The resulting sound is very clear, very transparent, solid bass, detailed and slightly valve sounding. The combination works well with acoustic, vocal, classical, dance and electronic music.
 
The "brown dogs" are small PCBs which allow two single opamps to be put into a socket designed for a dual op amp.
 
I have a colleague who has also tried two AD746s in place of the AD275s and then as above replacing the JRC5532 with two AD627s on a "brown dog" adapter. The AD746 is the dual version of the AD744.
 
With the modified SMSL SD-1955+, I have now reached final level of my mods and am very happy with the detailed sound, and have been listening to lots of music for last month and pleased with results.

 

[zeusthunderbolt]

Cheers for replying back but I've already ordered the Maverick Tubemagic D2 with the GE 5670 Tube and the OPA627. Hopefully it will turn out great.

 

[tripath1]

I meant two OPA627 in the last post (not AD) as the final differential amplifier that I used on the SMSL SD1955+.
 
I looked at the website for the Maverick Tubemagic D2, and it also looks to be a good DAC. It also has the AD1955 DAC chip, which from my experience is very detailed. The combination with the OPA627 will give a sound that is clear, with smooth and tight bass and not overly bright. I found that the OPA627 gives a sound that you can listen to for hours and hours without getting any listener fatigue. It works well at both low volumes where you don't want to loose detail, and high volumes where you want to retain clarity and precision.
 
I was interested to see that the Maverick Tubemagic D2 has two sets of outputs one before the valve pre amp and one after. It would be interesting to hear how they compare, and if the tube preamp output works well for all types of music. I'm interested to know if a tube amp works well with electronic, dance and ambient electronic music.
 
Anyway it looks like a very good product.