I’m awaiting delivery of a THX AAA 789 amp and the return of my T50RP MK3 that went in for a little lipo, along with some implants and a few voodoo sessions; Argons. Trève de plaisantries, I also asked for the balanced upgrade (because, why not) but now I need to get a balanced DAC to complete the ensemble. First, I have to confess; DACs doesn’t make me go from 6 to midnight. I watched Zeos review the Enoch2 Pro (by the end of which they elope to Vegas and got married) at 180$US is interesting but is the 789 so revealing that I’ll notice the 200$ DAC (not that higher prices means better). There’s also the Aune x7s that’s is balanced I think. Anyway, what do you think, any suugestions?
Also, can someone explain to me, why 4-pin xlr in the front ant 3-pin in the back? I’m building a headphone cable, do I terminate it with XLR 3 or 4 pin?
I also wait for the 789 and will buy the SMSL SU-8 at the end of august
but I wonder if I use my ifi xDSD occasionly as DAC (because of MQA support, bluetooth) and balanced line out over 3,5mm TRRS (s-balanced as ifi calls it) to a 3,5mm TRRS male to 2,5mm TRRS female adapter I have.
So I would need a cable like 2,5mm TRRS male to 2x 3PIN XLR male
Does this make sense?
If you want very good measured performance at a reasonable price you could get the Topping D70 for a balanced DAC. But objectively speaking, the largest benefit to having a balanced line level (DAC) connection is noise reduction (great for long cable runs). Balanced Headphone amplification will give you maximum power output for compact devices. Some devices may sound better when using balanced, but there’s no guarantee.
That’s right, that’s what was bugging me about the Enog
D70 looks great from what I’m reading but we have a different definition of reasonable price (D70 = 499.99$US / 670.00$CDN)
What about the Massdrop X Grace Design SDAC Balanced? That’s my kind of reasonable, it’s got USB, SPDIF, SE 3.5mm Out and of course, Balanced out and from what I read, its a pretty clean DAC.
The SDACB isn’t out yet so I’d wait for reviews before buying one of those. The D70 was on mass drop earlier for 425. I would have picked it up if I didnt already have an SU-8.
The Grace Design DAC seems like it’s a good budget option. It may be a while before you can get it though. Personally, I don’t like how it doesn’t have an optical input.
I’m wondering the same thing. I listen single ended through an EL Stack and everyone promises less noise when listening balanced but all the recordings I listen to are silent AF through the EL Stack. Maybe I can’t hear the noise? My ears aren’t sensitive enough? or maybe I’m just lucky enough to have wired my RCA’s in such a way that there is no noise.
If your amp is connected to your DAC with 1ft RCA cables, I don’t even think it’s scientifically possible to hear one millisecond of unwanted noise because of these RCA cables in your entire life.
I’m pretty sure Zeos claims that. But there’s no technical reason why that should be case. Also keep in mind balanced line level connections and headphone amplification are two separate things. If a device’s balanced outputs happen to sound better, it’s because it was designed that. I don’t have a balanced setup at the moment, but I will be upgrading after my 789 arrives.