[mspangl]

Hi guys,

my name is Martin and I have a massive issue, I spend too much on audio gear.

Jokes aside, I absolutely love my Primare SPA23 and my BD32 along with my Tannoy DC1 Sensys and Triangle Altair Nemos but I mostly work during the night and cannot blast speakers since my gf is asleep.

I currently own a Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 Ohms, a Beyerdynamic MMX300 v1 for gaming and a recently purchased Aeon Flow closed v1, which hasn’t even arrived yet, by a well known member it seems here.

Atm I‘m using a SMSL SP200 along with a Topping D10s. Pro-Ject SI RCA interconnects in case anyone cares.
I‘d like to go balanced now and am looking for a new stack or a dac amp. It sounds fine but I also think it‘s improvable. I mostly listen to music while streaming via Tidal.

I‘m either leaning towards the Topping D90 MQA / A90 stack or a DX7 Pro Dac amp and would love to read a couple of different opinions.

A similar stack would be the SMSL SP400 with the SU9 or even the SMSL M400 instead of the D90 perhaps?

I am of course open to other stacks/recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

 

[silent-circuit]

I mean, I have the D90/A90 stack, and yes, it's good, and a ton of power... but it's probably overkill, unless you're planning to get some really difficult to drive headphones in the future. In truth, I'm considering selling mine on as they aren't a major improvement over the Schiit Jotunheim 2 with multibit DAC card. The DX7 Pro will be plenty.

 

[mspangl]

I mean, I have the D90/A90 stack, and yes, it's good, and a ton of power... but it's probably overkill, unless you're planning to get some really difficult to drive headphones in the future. In truth, I'm considering selling mine on as they aren't a major improvement over the Schiit Jotunheim 2 with multibit DAC card. The DX7 Pro will be plenty.

Thanks for your reply!

I even thought about getting the SMSL SP400 / M400 combo which might be even more overkill I guess? I kinda like the design but it seems to be a finger print magnet.
I however have good experience with both brands in terms of build quality. Somehow I just wanna buy "future-proof" ish I guess. The DX7 Pro would however save some $$ for some nice upgrade cables perhaps.

 

[silent-circuit]

Thanks for your reply!

I even thought about getting the SMSL SP400 / M400 combo which might be even more overkill I guess? I kinda like the design but it seems to be a finger print magnet.
I however have good experience with both brands in terms of build quality. Somehow I just wanna buy "future-proof" ish I guess. The DX7 Pro would however save some $$ for some nice upgrade cables perhaps.

I mean, fairly sure SMSL and Topping are just different brands for the same company, so I guess that makes sense. EDIT: Yep. Aoshida brands: Topping, SMSL, Aune, Xduoo, Yaqin, Shanling, Quloo, and others. Don't know if they're separate companies under the same holding company, or really just the same company putting out different branded options.

 

[JHern]

I mean, fairly sure SMSL and Topping are just different brands for the same company, so I guess that makes sense. EDIT: Yep. Aoshida brands: Topping, SMSL, Aune, Xduoo, Yaqin, Shanling, Quloo, and others. Don't know if they're separate companies under the same holding company, or really just the same company putting out different branded options.

I think this is a regional group of state-sponsored enterprises in audio tech, rather than a “company.” China has been organizing start-ups this way across a broad spectrum of commerce. It is different than the private venture capital model in the US, which is more “Wild West” and has less predictable outcomes (both good and bad). Other countries have been doing things in a top-down manner for decades, Finland is a good example of a success story.

 

[EevelutionZ]

The topping stack probably overkill with your current set up so probably just get whichever is cheaper, unless you're planning on upgrade to hard to drive headphone in the future

 

[Moon5123]

Hey man,

In end what did you decided to go with ?

 

[mspangl]

Hey man,

In end what did you decided to go with ?

I went with the iFi NEO iDSD and love it. Sorry for the late reply.