[viggen]

Yeah connecting the two using xlr cable. D90 sounds quite transparent and good but a little small as far sound stage is concerned.

i love the way D90 MQA sounds. But, the narrow soundstage does annoy me a bit. Been looking into another DAC but still preferring D90 thus far. Maybe a dual chip D90? Well, that idea is burned to a crips with the AKM factory burnt down. I am now looking into using the I2S input to see whether sound quality could be further improved.

 

[dhc0329]

i love the way D90 MQA sounds. But, the narrow soundstage does annoy me a bit. Been looking into another DAC but still preferring D90 thus far. Maybe a dual chip D90? Well, that idea is burned to a crips with the AKM factory burnt down. I am now looking into using the I2S input to see whether sound quality could be further improved.

I am with you on this so I just ordered Denafrips Venus. I was thinking about Terminator but it is way too big for my taste. Venus is still quite big but I think I can manage. I hope I can at least use A90 with Venus.

 

[viggen]

I am with you on this so I just ordered Denafrips Venus. I was thinking about Terminator but it is way too big for my taste. Venus is still quite big but I think I can manage. I hope I can at least use A90 with Venus.

i went with a similar route, muscian pegasus.

 

[Jon L]

I am now looking into using the I2S input to see whether sound quality could be further improved.

How are you planning to provide I2S input to D90?

 

[viggen]

How are you planning to provide I2S input to D90?

still researching. reading the singer su1 thread now. other option is pink faun.

 

[Josz27]

Topping D90 IIS-LVDS vs USB Interface Sound Quality

I've been doing a bit of testing of the sound quality on the I2S (IIS-LVDS) interface and the USB interface. I used exactly the same music app source (UAPP running on my Cayin N6ii DAP) and I played a set of three songs alternately using each interface a total of four times (= 12 songs per interface). I know the songs well so was looking out for presentation and detail.

The bottom line, to my ears, is this: the I2S interface on the Topping D90 sounds a little better than the USB interface. However, there is a difference in soundstage. The I2S interface sounded more 'in my head' than the USB interface. The USB interface was a little more laid back and further away in its presentation of the soundstage (which is something I do prefer generally).

However, in terms of resolution, clarity and detail of vocals and instruments, the I2S interface was slightly better. The downside of the I2S interface is that you may have to do a bit of menu configuration on the D90 to get it to work with your source. The USB interface was plug and play - I used an Android OTG dongle and a short printer-style USB cable and that combo worked perfectly. In terms of cabling for the I2S interface, I used a standard mini HDMI (DAP end) to HDMI cable (D90 end).

So, in summary, if you want a more laid back presentation with a soundstage that's in front of you then the USB interface may be to your liking. If you want a more 'in your head' presentation that is more vibrant, more forward, with a little more clarity and detail, then the I2S interface may be your preferred option.

Lol I also have experienced different soundstage presentations when using D90, when using OTG with an android phone I also got that forward presentation of soundstage, I don't know there, but here it was like if d90 showed "bigger sounds", Everything was bigger and more forward, it made d90 much more engaging for me, but it sounded polluted as ****, not clean, that could be since I used a cheap OTG, it also happens when I use musicbee with this windows 8,1 laptop, I don't know why , Lol, When using basically any other player with any output( Direct Sound, Asio, Wasapi) I get the "default" stage presentation that is like a more laid back one, has smaller sounds, I only got the "big" presentation when using musicbee in this laptop and when using the OTG, i don't know if these 2 soundstages that I have found are the same 2 different stages that you found, but Seems that D90 can change it's soundstage behaviour/presentation depending on the chain configuration

 

[shafat777]

I have a question for anyone with this DAC or dacs with XLR output...I have 3 amps, LP, gsx-mini, and Feliks Elise. I ahve the Elise connected to the D90 via RCA. Both my LP and Mini uses XLR input. Is there any way i can connect both amps to the XLR output of the D90 at the same time so i can run all 3 amps at the same time? I know i can run both rca + xlr from the D90 simultaneously....but i would like to connect two xlr amps to the d90 at the same time.

 

[viggen]

I have a question for anyone with this DAC or dacs with XLR output...I have 3 amps, LP, gsx-mini, and Feliks Elise. I ahve the Elise connected to the D90 via RCA. Both my LP and Mini uses XLR input. Is there any way i can connect both amps to the XLR output of the D90 at the same time so i can run all 3 amps at the same time? I know i can run both rca + xlr from the D90 simultaneously....but i would like to connect two xlr amps to the d90 at the same time.

https://khozmo.com/index.html

 

[benqvist]

A few days ago I ordered a Topping D90 mqa from Audiophonics and am waiting for it to arrive within short. Since I´ve read many reviews and posts about this dac and that has given me a bit of doubt about one matter. This dac will replace a Hegel Hd25 that I used some years as both dac and preamp to two Hypex monoblocks and I don´t use any headphones in this setting. Will it give me a better sound or any other gain if I also buy the Topping A90 to use as a preamp or will this D90 will do just fine for me? I have recently got access to Tidal that´s the reason that why I sacrifice my dear old Hegel dac

 

[sajunky]

Will it give me a better sound or any other gain if I also buy the Topping A90 to use as a preamp or will this D90 will do just fine for me? I have recently got access to Tidal that´s the reason that why I sacrifice my dear old Hegel dac

A90 will inject ground loops due to the pair of Meanwell SMPS's in incorrect configuration. There are many preamps you can chose from, if you need preamp, even a single-ended Topping L30 which doesn't have such problem and is less expensive. A DAC has standard line outputs. Unless your amp is pumping back a noise and you need a buffer, any additional amplification can only degradate SQ - avoid, unless it has functionality you need, like a volume control.

 

[benqvist]

Thanks a lot. I think that you are right and will do a fresh start off with just the D90 only.

 

[mickerru]

What are the players compatible with d90's i2s input? Looking for options as im interested on i2s. I think the Pi2aes and the Cayin N6ii works. How about the following

Smsl dp5
Cayin IDAP 6

I would be using it as transport for my files on a hardisk

Thanks

 

[jmwant]

Looks like we're going to see a price hike on AKM chip Equipped dacs. Too bad I can't afford to get one now.

https://hifigo.com/blogs/news/disaster-at-akm-factory-affecting-product-prices

 

[Taz777]

What are the players compatible with d90's i2s input? Looking for options as im interested on i2s. I think the Pi2aes and the Cayin N6ii works. How about the following

Smsl dp5
Cayin IDAP 6

I would be using it as transport for my files on a hardisk

Thanks

I amusing the Cayin N6ii DAP as a digital transport with the Topping D90 via I2S. You just have to make a couple of changes to the software-defined pinouts in the D90’s menu. It works perfectly and sounds a little better than using USB. One big benefit you get is that you get a fully MQA unfolded data stream sent from the N6ii to the D90. This means that you don’t really need to buy the MQA version of the D90 if you want MQA.

I play local FLAC files and stream TIDAL and Qobuz from the N6ii to the D90.

One thing you should be aware of is I2S ‘standards’. There mostly aren’t any standards! Many I2S interfaces use PS Audio’s implementation of I2S, many don’t. What I do know is that the N6ii and D90 work over I2S.

 

[bouscadie]

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