tromprof Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 10 minutes ago, Shiva said: what came in first place? The Integra, though the SMSL sounds very good as well. The Benchmark may be showings its age but still more natural sounding than the Topping. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ole Dollar Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Really enjoying this thread as I am curious about other DAC options. I do need to consider MQA as I use Tidal. Things being what they are I am limited in my ability to purchase the more expensive DACs so looking more for good price/performance. Thanks for all the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwn Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Mac Mini to W4S music server to W4S DAC to W4S mAmps, Out a pair of RF-7ii's Just moved to the W4S music server.... It sounds really really really good to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 On 2/11/2021 at 4:14 PM, MyOwn said: Mac Mini to W4S music server to W4S DAC to W4S mAmps, Out a pair of RF-7ii's Just moved to the W4S music server.... It sounds really really really good to me. to me to... thru Heritage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VDS Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 Was the Lampizator in the test? How did it compare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wetowne Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 While we're on the subject of mqa dacs I posted in another thread about making a cheap streamer using a Raspberry Pi and a Dragonfly and how I failed in my attempt because the Dragonfly is not a full hardware mqa "decoder" just a "renderer". Well I'm going to try once more this time using the new Khadas Tone2 Pro Dac and headphone amp that just came out recently. It's 200 dollars and does full hardware decoding of mqa. It should arrive on Sunday from Amazon and we shall see how it goes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Speaking of DACS, just got this one the other day off Ebay. An SMSL SU-8-V2. I have not read of it doing MQA, but when I'm playing MQA music streams on Tidal, the Dac shows 96kh in its little window, so I assume it does. So far, so good. A couple of reviews. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-su-8-version-2-balanced-dac.5433/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbphoto Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 The Tidal app is probably doing the first MQA decoding and sending 88 or 96 PCM to your DAC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 1 hour ago, pbphoto said: The Tidal app is probably doing the first MQA decoding and sending 88 or 96 PCM to your DAC. Yeah, its a bit confusing. Doing a quick google search, I read Tidal's mqa files are typically at 96 kHz. yet further reading says the unfolded files are 192khz. https://www.google.com/search?q=tidal's+mqa+files+bit+rate&source=hp&ei=uCdVYKTrAe2T0PEPx9WnwAQ&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYFU1yFUo-rXdkQuqHxFg2TX1UBKxWSii&oq=tidal's+mqa+files+bit+rate&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyCAghEBYQHRAeOggIABCxAxCDAToLCC4QsQMQxwEQowI6BQguELEDOgUIABCxAzoOCC4QsQMQgwEQxwEQowI6AggAOggILhCxAxCDAToICC4QxwEQrwE6BQgAEMkDOgUIABCSAzoOCC4QsQMQgwEQxwEQrwE6AggmOgQIABAeOgcIABDJAxAeOgYIABAKEB46BAgAEAo6BwgAELEDEAo6DQguELEDEMcBEKMCEAo6BAguEAo6DAguEMcBEK8BEAoQAzoGCAAQDRAeOgYIABAWEB46BQgAEIYDOggIABAIEA0QHjoFCCEQoAE6BQghEKsCUMgRWNNhYINjaANwAHgBgAHHAogBzhmSAQg3LjE4LjEuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXo&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwikp7_qtb3vAhXtCTQIHcfqCUgQ4dUDCAw&uact=5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwn Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Before you buy into MQA Have a look at what Mark is saying. https://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6109 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wetowne Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 19 hours ago, Shiva said: I have not read of it doing MQA, but when I'm playing MQA music streams on Tidal, the Dac shows 96kh in its little window, so I assume it does. If a product is MQA capable I'm sure the manufacturer will say so. They must pay a licensing fee to Meridian Audio to include it in their products. They are not about to keep that a secret. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhing Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 On 3/19/2021 at 3:21 PM, Shiva said: Speaking of DACS, just got this one the other day off Ebay. An SMSL SU-8-V2. I have not read of it doing MQA, but when I'm playing MQA music streams on Tidal, the Dac shows 96kh in its little window, so I assume it does. So far, so good. A couple of reviews. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-su-8-version-2-balanced-dac.5433/ I also have this DAC. It is not MQA-compatible, but it is a very fine DAC nonetheless, especially at its reasonable price. In trying different filter settings and sound settings, I’ve found a combination that works very well in producing a very natural sound through my system. I’ve tried balanced (XLR) and single ended (RCA) outputs and both are great with the balanced outputs sounding best. I am very pleased with the construction of this DAC with its robust power supply and quality components. The chassis is a weighty machined Aluminum enclosure. For streaming, I use a Raspberry Pi 4 in a silent fan-cooled Vilros die-cast Aluminum enclosure running Volumio with a Tidal subscription, and my personal music collection on a LaCie USB 3.0 hard drive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Playing one of the few DVD Audio discs that I have on the Oppo 93. Just a pic of my DAC display showing 192K. Carry on.🤘 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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