[deleted]

[rice guru]

6 hours ago, Magus said:

Just a quick update -- The Topping DX7 Pro has gotten my attention. Specs look good, reviews look good. Though, I will wait until Massdrop runs a drop on it.

 

In the meantime, I may go ahead and purchase the Elex. I've been curious about Focal headphones for a few years now, figure I should try them out.

 

For the record I'm not cutting into any important funds, just disposable income. I'm hesitant, but figure I may as well treat myself.

 

This, along with a good new mechanical keyboard and a good new display.

Let me look into it cause we are getting into thx AAA technology territory at this price range.

[rice guru]

8 hours ago, Magus said:

Just a quick update -- The Topping DX7 Pro has gotten my attention. Specs look good, reviews look good. Though, I will wait until Massdrop runs a drop on it.

 

In the meantime, I may go ahead and purchase the Elex. I've been curious about Focal headphones for a few years now, figure I should try them out.

 

For the record I'm not cutting into any important funds, just disposable income. I'm hesitant, but figure I may as well treat myself.

 

This, along with a good new mechanical keyboard and a good new display.

Buddy says your much better off getting a geshelli labs stack.  The archel pro 2.5 and the enog pro 2 it's better the the topping. the dx7 isn't that bad the DAC is great but the amp isn't that great

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

10 minutes ago, Magus said:

Are you sure he's considering the DX7 Pro and not the DX7s? Apparently the pro is quite a bit better than the S and fixed some of the issues, and uses a 9038Pro chip rather than the 9038Q2M.

 

Just making sure since I don't hear those kinds of thoughts from anywhere else. The only negative things I see in other threads about it is that you may not want to put really low impedence headphones into it, like IEMs -- but I don't own anything like that and I wouldn't even understand anyone that buys an audiophile setup to drive IEMs honestly...

chips aren't everything especially in a DAC/ AMP it's also the quality of the amp as well as the price of the unit itself is quite a lot for what your are getting. and IEMs you would be surprised gain a decent amount from being powered from a nice amp. the gegelli labs stack is better sounding and better on the wallet but if you insist on the DX7 pro go for it it's your cash your setup

[rice guru]

I discussed with him and he says the pro is much better and has no problems with it.b ut still prefers the geshelli labs stack

 also said "

the pro is great and I would recommend it for other headphones, but the elex can be a tad sensitive to amp output impedance, and with the dx7 pro you would want to use the balanced out to fully take advantage, but the output impedance of ~10 ohms on balanced can potentially mess with the frequency response of the elex. It will work but it is something to take note of"

[Magus]

[deleted]

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

you can bypass the DAC but it's sort ofa waste of money to not use the amp and bypass it at that point might as well get just a DAC. 

living in a RUral area might actually be better for you as there are less people and devices in the area to suck up the power so dont worry about the power delivery for now. 

 but if your gonna bypass the amp you might as well just get a straight up DAC like the D50s that has 2 dac chips unlike the DX7 one for each channel

 

[Magus]

[deleted]

 

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

10 minutes ago, Magus said:

Well it's a small town of 7,000 but I think most would still call that rural. I just don't really trust the quality of the utilities here in Indiana as the infrastructure is generally garbage (they do the bare minimum around here -- much of the infrastructure hasn't seen an ounce of maintainence work in many decades) and brownouts / blackouts are pretty common. That's kinda why I popped the question, I know that the community here doesn't really pay any attention to these kinds of things.

 

True. I just don't know how cheaply Massdrop is going to have the DX7 Pro, for some reason they don't show past prices. If it ends-up being about as much as the DX 50s MSRP I'd probably just get it.

 

What about the DX70? I know it's AKM instead of Sabre for some reason, but if it's a better chip then...

 

I think Topping should really consider releasing a DX50 Pro or something -- put the DAC they have in their DX7 Pro into a standalone DAC, yeah?

 

But yeah I'll consider getting a DX50S and pairing it with a THX789, unless you really think that Geshelli Labs would be better than that.

 

Do external DACs support bitstreaming encoded audio? Because so far I've found trying to bitstream things like DTS to not work. Do they need to be connected over a specific method, like USB, Coax, or Optical? So far I've always used optical. My motherboard doesn't have coaxial output unfortunately.

 

Thanks.

 

the d70 is a pretty marginal upgrade. from the d50. 

if you want to get into thx amp the smsl sp 200 is an excellent amp with a THX AAA 888 tech on it said to be better than the 789 to my ears hard to dicern the 2 also much cheaper 

and for a DAC we forgot to mention the smsl su  8 an excellent dac with more features and is great Bang for the Buck overall and probably a better alternative to the d50s 

 and for decoding you should use a program with plugins and features to decode such files like foobar 2k

 

[rice guru]

2 minutes ago, Magus said:

Upon reading into it all more -- definitely considering going D50S + THX789... if you think that'd be a good setup.

its not a bad setup but the sp 200 exists at a cheaper price point. 

[rice guru]

also SU 8 not SU * my bad

 https://www.amazon.com/Decoder-SMSL-2ES9038Q2M-768kHz-Balance/dp/B07DQDNF6S

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

Just now, Magus said:

D50s is exactly the same price: https://www.amazon.com/Topping-ES9038Q2M-768kHz-Bluetooth-Decoder/dp/B07VJN11TQ/

 

You'd say the SMSL is better between the two?

 

So a recommendation on your end would be getting an SU-8 + THX AAA-888 to make an SMSL stack, huh? Would this be better for driving the Elex than the Topping solutions?

 

Hmm......

for the amp I would say yes. the smsl su 8 has an insanely good feature set and can do more than the d50s as well as a balanced output which would pair with the thx amps better than the d50s but overall sound between the 2 DACs should be about the same. I say the sp 200 is just a better amp than the dx7 pro overall plus it has near 0 output impedance meaning you can drive even IEMs on the thing or should be able to( even though I know thats not your thing). and having a stack would be more upgradable than the Dx7 pro

[HumdrumPenguin]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:51 PM, Magus said:

I'm looking to upgrade from what I currently have, which is a Magni 3 + Modi 3 Schiit stack. They're decent but I feel that they're not as good as what the hype made me believe them to be.

 

I'm looking for a soundcard or DAC that can do it all, so to speak -- Directly run any format known to man and do it at up to at least 32-bit 384KHz input sample rate.

 

In the past I owned an Oppo HA-2, which I think I actually liked more than the Schiit stack that I have now. I think I like high-end ESS SABRE DACs. Some people say they're too cold and analytical, but I really like that "analytical audio" sound. In fact, I paired it with my Shure SRH940s originally, which was what I considered some of the best sound I've ever had. I like hearing the detail of the highs I suppose -- I am NOT a basshead in the slightest. My listening preferences are probably considered a bit harsh to most people. Honestly I think I may be selling my Schiit stack and HD600s soon, they're a bit too on the warm end for me. The AKG K7XX I have I'll be keeping I think, and of course my Shures.

 

The other thing I didn't like was that the Modi 3 doesn't seem to be able to directly interface with much. It kinda makes me wonder what the point of getting a Modi 3 was over just directly plugging the Magni 3 into the onboard audio RCA jacks. I expected it to be able to decode all kinds of different formats but it's apparently far more basic of an appliance than that.

 

Formats wise, yeah, I go through lots of different audio formats rather casually. I want it to be capable of handing all of the Dolby formats natively for sure -- DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, and DTS-HD. I often playback files that are in sort-of rare to find, like DTS-HD Master Audio. I've also got a fair bit of music saved in FLAC and ALAC formats.

 

In case it's relevant, my main media player is the version of MPC-HC that's actually still being maintained. Stuff like JRiver and iTunes is also on here, but used less frequently. Current motherboard is ASUS Z370-E Gaming, operating system is the latest Windows 10 Enterprise (19H2).

 

Mostly used for playing-back music, anime, and movies -- most common formats for me are FLAC 24, DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, and high-quality AAC.

 

I want something that can handle all formats in Exclusive/WASAPI/Bitstreaming mode.

 

Anyway, just wondering what anyone might think of a potential upgrade. Currently I'm considering the Creative Labs AE-9 as it seems to do all that I want on paper, but I wanted to know if there's possibly anything better around the same price range.

 

Thanks.

So, after reading through it all, the Topping DX7 Pro popped up in my mind. If you want more power than the amp on the unity provide, pair it with a THX 789 from Drop. It's as clear of a setup as you'll get.

[rice guru]

5 minutes ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

So, after reading through it all, the Topping DX7 Pro popped up in my mind. If you want more power than the amp on the unity provide, pair it with a THX 789 from Drop. It's as clear of a setup as you'll get.

why pair a DAC/amp with another AMP?  seems likea waste of cash

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

2 minutes ago, rice guru said:

why pair a DAC/amp with another AMP?  seems likea waste of cash

 

That's why I mentioned "IF" he needs power, than he gets more power out of the 789. Chances are he won't need it, but I can't assume anything. I just thought that the 9038 Pro would be a good dac chipset to use from the DX7 Pro. I can't think of other cheaper options right now.

Edited January 5, 2020 by HumdrumPenguin

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

Just now, HumdrumPenguin said:

That's why I mentioned "IF" he needs power, than he gets more power out of the 789. Chances are he won't need it, but I can't assume anything.

no hes going with an elex.  we have come sown to the SU 8 or D50s for a DAC, and a smsl sp 200 which should match the dex7 pro if not be a better setup

[HumdrumPenguin]

6 minutes ago, rice guru said:

no hes going with an elex.  we have come sown to the SU 8 or D50s for a DAC, and a smsl sp 200 which should match the dex7 pro if not be a better setup

The DX7 Pro has the better DAC if compared to the SU8 and D50s. The SP200 and the Drop 789 are pretty much the same really, but there have been a few reports of SP200 unities having channel imbalance. Magus said he wanted the best, so I gave him the best without any nuts recommendations.

[rice guru]

9 minutes ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

The DX7 Pro has the better DAC if compared to the SU8 and D50s. The SP200 and the Drop 789 are pretty much the same really, but there have been a few reports of SP200 unities having channel imbalance. Magus said he wanted the best, so I gave him the best without any nuts recommendations.

well if he really wants anything close to the best and ADI 2 and a RNHP would be a better  cleaner combo. and the DX7 pro is only marginally better than the d50s or SU 8 to the point where most cant tell the difference unless you were really looking for one

[HumdrumPenguin]

18 minutes ago, Magus said:

Read the entire thread if you can, we've gone through quite a lot of options at this point, the DX7 Pro included.

 

I think we concluded that the DX7 Pro's included amplifier isn't adequate, especially for the Elex, and that the D50S would be a more rational choice among topping's lineup since the standalone DAC has one 9038Q2M per-channel rather than (I assume) a single 9038Pro for both channels, and you don't have to waste money on the included amp. My research tells me that the 9038Pro is a better chip than the 9038Q2M but I do not know by how much nor do I know how much having one chip per channel affects the final result either. I'm not an audio scientist or anything, so yeah.

 

What's stronger, Ultra Instinct Goku, or SSB + Kaioken x20 Vegito? Hahaha.

 

Ultimately we led into thinking of the SMSL SU-8 + THX AAA-888 instead. I feel like we may be splitting hairs at this point and am deliberating on the options. I've consulted SBAF forums as well to see what they have to say on the subject too, since I do want to get as much input as possible before making a thousand-dollar decision.

If you can live with an AKM based DAC, then the Monolith Desktop Headphone Amplificer and DAC with THX AAA Technology (apparently that's the actual name) might be a good choice. Fully balanced with 2x 4493 chipsets, they may be oh so slightly warmer then Sabre DACs. It is MUCH harder to tell DACs apart, so I don't see this being a problem. You still get transparent THX sound out of it. Just don't go pairing it with another DAC even though it has the inputs, because it will make a weird digital>analog>digital>analog conversion between the outside dac and the internal one before the final signal output.

[Magus]

[deleted]

[rice guru]

12 minutes ago, HumdrumPenguin said:

If you can live with an AKM based DAC, then the Monolith Desktop Headphone Amplificer and DAC with THX AAA Technology (apparently that's the actual name) might be a good choice. Fully balanced with 2x 4493 chipsets, they may be oh so slightly warmer then Sabre DACs. It is MUCH harder to tell DACs apart, so I don't see this being a problem. You still get transparent THX sound out of it. Just don't go pairing it with another DAC even though it has the inputs, because it will make a weird digital>analog>digital>analog conversion between the outside dac and the internal one before the final signal output.

I aggree with this it's a decent setup. if you want a slightly better sound and upgradability for the future the sp200 and SU8 is the better option. if you want more dsp features but not really up gradable the monolith is the way to go.