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MQA DAC for testing, advice sought

Zombie

Zombie

pfm Member
Decided to buy a cheap MQA DAC for fun. Many opinons about MQA in another thread so which DAC should I buy in the <500 euro bracket?
Looked at audiophonics and these are available:
SMSL M500, SMSL SU-9, Gustard DAC-X16 and Topping D70S (yes, it's 600 euros).
Prob won't hear any difference between them, but which one would you prefer?
Myself I'm leaning towards built-in power supply and if it has funny filter options.
Or the cheaper alternatives?
 
Zombie, misterdog has an x16, and a few other dacs, ask nicely he might loan you it. His smsl400 is his goto dac.
 
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I've the S2 DAC arriving this week, kindly sent by a member on here so I can re-visit MQA and compare it to what I consider stellar masters inc vinyl rips. I wish to keep it for a month or two, if you're not in any rush I'm more than happy to send it on. Where in the EU are you? -- I'm in Portugal.

I'm hoping to drum up several members to compare findings, ideally using the same playlist...
 
Zombie said:
Decided to buy a cheap MQA DAC for fun. Many opinons about MQA in another thread so which DAC should I buy in the <500 euro bracket?
Looked at audiophonics and these are available:
SMSL M500, SMSL SU-9, Gustard DAC-X16 and Topping D70S (yes, it's 600 euros).
Prob won't hear any difference between them, but which one would you prefer?
Myself I'm leaning towards built-in power supply and if it has funny filter options.
Or the cheaper alternatives?
Click to expand...
I bought an Audioquest Dragonfly, mainly because I got a phone with no headphone socket, and it’s a very versatile little thing that’s handy for phone and computer use or you can hook it up to an amp. Very impressed with the sound, but MQAs did nothing for me and this was part of the decision making process that ended in me jumping ship to Qobuz.
 
Warmly recommend an MQA enabled DAC.

Some Masters sound superb, others don't. If you subscribe to Tidal Hifi you may as well.
 
DimitryZ said:
New DACmagic with MQA looks nice and all CA stuff is great
Click to expand...
I have the little DacMagic 100 fed from a SONOS ZP80 cos the analogue out failed, great sounding DAC if a little old in the tooth.

I understand you sent a couple of DACs over from USA to my mate Pedro in Portugal for him to try out MQA - nice one and very generous of you! :)
 
The Khadas looks neat but then a hassle to find a good supply for it. A power bank might work, though.
I couldn't hear any difference between my Quad USB DAC and a 1200 euro DAC so I might not hear any difference with an MQA DAC :)
 
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