I‘m currently running a smsl Sanskrit 10 mk2 with a topping A30 pro. I mostly use DT1990 or LS50 for listening to music.
Is it worth it to upgrade my DAC? What improvements would a better dac offer?
Which price range would make the most sense to upgrade to?
I planned on getting the Topping E50 but I’m afraid that it’s not big enough of a upgrade over my smsl.
Sorry this is a little late but really I don’t think you’ll find significant upgrade till you step up to the $700 range and even then you’d want to look at a different architecture like a BF2 or an R2R DAC. If not you’ll be paying mainly for features.
If you want another DS DAC, you have to get something expensive to see big enough sound quality improvement. Other option would be to try one of the Multi-Bit, R2R or Chord DACs. Bifrost 2, Ares II & Mojo 2 (does not have a dedicated line-out but can be used with external Amps, without double Amping problems) are good options.