Hi Volumio Community!
Sorry if this is not the right place for such a question, but as i am sure many of you use DAC in their system, i’ll figure i’ll ask your opinion
My Setup:
Amp Rega Brio 6th generation
CD Player Rega Apollo
Speakers Tannoy M20 Gold MKII
Synology DS218 to store CD RIPs (mostly FLAC 16/44 and 24/96)
Raspberry Pi3B with Volumio 3 (connected to the Amp through Jack)
I want to buy a DAC, to insert between my Amp and my Volumio Pi3 (with USB), and get the most from my HiRes music.
As i am on a budget, i have my eyes on 3 options:
CAMBRIDGE AUDIO DACMAGIC 100
IFI AUDIO ZEN DAC V2
TOPPING E30
Any opinion on which one i should get?
Thanks for the feedback!
A used Rega DAC-R maybe since you have a Rega amplifier? Ok, no DSD support - but works well up to 192 khz. (Important to buy the DAC-R version with the upgraded USB input and not the older DAC model)
Hi and thanks for the reply
Yes, REGA DAC-R seems a great product, but it might be out of my budget (200€ max)
Anyway, It does not seem to be sold anymore
Upon reading some reviews, it seems that the Topping E50 is the best in its category (better than the E30) and for the price range, below 200€.
I might go for it
@Wheaten Haha, indeed
Well i’m just looking for DAC capabilities between my Amp and Volumio (Nice to have : MQA and DSD)
No need for Pre-amp for Headphones or Active speakers
The digital display of the E50 is also a plus
My vote for topping DAC, i had dx3 and now E30+L30 combo to drive my headphones and the sound quality is just great, even more so now with the invidual devices than the combo model.
Just take anything that checks the two boxes below :
it is in your budget ;
it does have the features you need.
If it is decently made and designed, I am convinced that you will have hard times trying to tell them apart soundwise…
If you want to make a difference, change headphone or speakers…
If I consider your setup I would say that the real weak point so far is the connection to the power amp through the jack output of the pi3. I don’t have a pi3,. I have a pi4. But the jack output of the pi4 is really horrible
So here’s my suggestion : go for a GPIO DAC card for the pi3. You can find one with ESS 9038 chip and RAC output for about 70 to 80€.
My guess is that you’d have some hard times to tell them apart from one of those DAC’s you’re looking for.
Me I have a pi4 running Volumio/moOde/rAudio. The pi4 has a AK4493 powered DAC with RCA outputs and headphone jack plug. I am listening to my music through the included jack. And I must say that I am not overly convinved that the sound is that worse than played over my dedicated DAC (Aune x8) and headphone amp (Aune X7s). Sure they produce much louder music but we’re talking volume levels no one puses probably because they’re too loud.
You’re right i probably won’t see much differences in the end
But I don’t want to go for a SBC DAC (like hifiberry) in case one day I want to try some MQA/DSD files
And I know that my weak link is the jack output I wanted to try out Volumio first about its usability, and then to buy a DAC that fits.
Non of the above DACs recomended will make much difference. DACs is like splitting hairs in this price range. The most musical DAC I’d recommend is the Chord 2Qute. You can buy 2nd hand off eBay £400, 500 pounds. I’m currently Using the Chord and find it superb with Allo Digione Signature Pi4 and the Shanti Power supply. Using Pathos Logos MK2 amplifier. DACMagic is rubbish, Topping E30 basic rubbish again, IFI Zen sounds like a BS node 2i boring. For scale & rhythm get the Chord and thank me later.
Agree, all pretty similar around the $200-500 price bracket, comes down to features, connectivity etc. I have a ifi Zen DAC V1 at the desktop, going to a 789 headphone amp and think it’s still great, probably a different kind of sound to topping but similar enough (subjective to the type of chipset and if you like smooth or critical listening - the rest of your gear would make more of a difference).
I’ve got an adi 2 fs I bought off a mate, highly recommend but not cheap if you had to buy new. May be worth checking out the used market, a few of the DAC Magics don’t really tick all the boxes for the price. Bonus if you can get a remote for flexibility (I needed Vol control and a remote as my DAC is connected to monitors.
Everyone, thanks for the feedback
Eventually, i received my Topping E50, plugged in to my PI3b via USB and to my Amp via RCA.
Everything works (MQA, DSD, Flac, etc…) but
It feels like there is huge losses along the line : Sound seems very flat (although quite detailled), Dynamic and Depth very poor compare to regular CDs (Rega Apollo) and i have to push my Amp volume to around 75-80percent to have a decent sound
With the CD Player i barely reach the 15-20percent volume
Overall, the sound seem quite “thick”, muffled (i don’t know if it makes sense)
The DAC shows the right format, PCM 96.0 for a MQA 32/96kHz file, DSD 5.64 for a 1/5.64Mhz file
Input shows USB
Display shows a -30dB on the screen.
DAC is well detected by Volumio, DSD as DSD Direct and everything else is default
Any insights on this?
Could it come from the USB 2 port of the PI3b?
Put the E50 in DAC mode, currently you’re running it as pre-amp.
Set the playback mixer in volumio to none.
Disable plugins that interfere with the audio path like fusion DSP.
