I have the D90 and the D50 in the same system. The difference between the D90 and D50 is far greater than the difference between the SMSL SU-8 and the D50. I see if I can give a more detail review.
I have the D90 and the D50 in the same system. The difference between the D90 and D50 is far greater than the difference between the SMSL SU-8 and the D50. I see if I can give a more detail review.
The reason I got the D50 was to replace the SMSL SU-8 that was malfunctioning and losing the USB connection. The SMSL SU-8 power switch was barely working. There is just small difference between the SMSL SU-8 and the D50 in sound. The D50 has a slightly bigger display and separate power/status button and joystick. As long you do not need a balanced outputs the D50 is a better choice and works very well even with DSD files.
The D90 is a very different beast from the D50 and it easy to hear the difference. When I get a new DAC I first listen to normal speaking dialog recording that has speakers that I know what they sound like in person. You would be surprised that listening to normal dialog you can pick the differences easy. The D90 has a much fuller sound. The D90 sounds like a EQ was applied. The male deep voice just has more body to the sound. Females voices sounds more natural on the D90. The D90 has a softer quality of the sound but still quite detailed and dynamic.
For music the D90 has a more rich bass impact. The dynamic range on the D90 is more intense. The brass still have that bright edgy sound. Overall the D90 sounds more natural than the D50 specially with older recording like the opera,The Flying Dutchman. The D50 works just fine with well made recording and specially with DSD files as well.
The topping ASIO driver seems to work well with my DAW computer and it is a requirement for my very large Kontakt libraries.
I currently have a Topping D50 and am looking to upgrade. I just need a pure DAC and I know the D90 has a lot of bells and whistles. I also understand that an MQA version will be coming out in due course. Some questions:
1. Is the D90 operable in 'pure DAC' mode where everything else is switched off?
Thanks, @Baten. Just need to find a supplier in the UK now. I don't think I'll wait for the MQA version as I'm slowly trying to wean myself off MQA, favouring lossless and Hi-Res FLAC formats.
From the little research that I've done on I2S (or IIS as it is also know), I don't think the electrical signals are compatible. Both devices would need to be I2S compatible, but you would use a regular, high quality, latest implementation of HDMI cable to connect the two. The I2S protocol is completely different to HDMI, but the physical cable is an HDMI cable. The implementation of I2S by PS Audio seems to be the de facto standard for the physical cabling of I2S devices, although there is no universal standards. However, if your two devices mention PS Audio compatibility between your two I2S devices then I believe you just need a good quality HDMI cable.
The caveat here is if the HDMI output on your PC can be configured as an I2S output, which is unlikely. If it's a regular A/V HDMI out then it is not I2S compatible.
Thanks, @Baten. Just need to find a supplier in the UK now. I don't think I'll wait for the MQA version as I'm slowly trying to wean myself off MQA, favouring lossless and Hi-Res FLAC formats.
Does anybody know which specification the IIS-LVDS input on the Topping D90 supports? I'm hoping it supports the PS Audio I2S spec as I would like to connect it to my Cayin N6ii DAP that has an I2S port.
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