Greetings. I started a thread here not long ago in which I asked for advice about changing DACs. As it turned out, in a testament to the depths of my own doofusness, I screwed up and posted a digital question on an analogue thread, much to my unending shame and consternation. Well, since I’ve already been so exposed, I am back to share another head scratching, defies all logic update. I’m not going to try to explain HOW (much less why) it is I started out asking a question about one set of possible changes, taking in the various responses, and then doing something completely different, I’m just going to tell you what I did and what happened. I ended up replacing a PS Audio Directstream DAC which is as big and heavy as many power amps with a slightly used (still had the plastic on the screen) little black box thingy called the Topping D90SE. In my years in this hobby I have read about MANY more “draw dropping” experiences than I have actually experienced, but this was definitely one of those experiences. Yeah, I’m talking a literal “whoa, Dude, do you hear that?” jaw dropping, let’s-listen-to-another-song-and-another-song and another-source-and-another source kind of experience. One forum reader rather calmly and matter of factly told me that it would be hard to imagine a DAC that both measures and sounds as bad as the PS Audio, and now I know exactly what he was talking about. No wonder I’ve been so frustrated with digital audio. To say that the difference is not subtle is a gross understatement. This is kind of a cheap shot, but I’m kind of worried about Paul McGowans’ hearing. And, to be sure, this little Topping is far from the best DAC that can be had these days. What it does for me though is it puts my ripped CD collection on a level of listenability that approaches decent fidelity for general listening in between the evenings that I sit down with a stack of vinyl for some serious listening. I even find myself grabbing the remote and turning up my background listening because it sounds good enough to no longer just be background. And that’s pretty cool. What is better about the Topping? In a word, everything. Imaging, sound staging, richness, fullness, harmonics, details, everything. Like listening to music instead of listening to the radio. So, there you have it. Thanks again for those who gave opinions. In some roundabout way it led me to where I am.
