No optical basically makes this just a match for the Amp. Not much versatility.
These $100-ish DACs if they have optical change the game for ROON users with the Chromecast Audio dongle as media streamers. Pretty awesome.
Chromecast Audio + that Topping E30 is a pretty great media streamer for like $150 clean.
now I hope for the Spark DAC to arrive soonest!
why so intent on the optical? what’s wrong wtih USB?
Be sure to give impressions when it arrives!
I have 3 answers to that question:
Sometimes USB is still a PITA and it’s nice to have an alternative
I run 2 dacs on my main computer setup. Both are fed via optical from the mobo through an optical splitter. The nicer dac is also connected via USB. The PC audio setting defaults to the optical output. I use Audirvana to have Qobuz streaming and local file playback in the same place and have that app set to exclusive output to the USB dac. That way when I’m playing Audirvana in exclusive mode I can still have my web browser open and connected to an audio device. If I come across an embedded video or some other thing in the browser I want to hear, I can just pause Audirvana, push a button on a switcher, and hear that thing. I don’t have to disconnect or close audirvana, refresh the webpage to re-engage the audio device for the browser, then re-engage exclusive mode to restart the music. It’s just pause-switch-listen-switch-unpause.
I’ve recently developed a “portable” rig built around a Topping D10. It drains my phone battery something fierce. It would be nice to switch it out for a DAC that has USB for a laptop and optical or coax to connect a BT receiver to for phone audio.
I will i own the atom amp so ill tell yall about the stack
okay, so it’s a niche case where you like having the option of optical.
and this is using the new XMOS USB setup, which is supposed to solve the USB pains of the past.
lastly, surely there are simple options for a USB switcher too.
but I do understand your complaint…to change anything on your end involves a lot more than it would for most. 
Topping E30.
Like I said, nothing meaningful. The E30 is nice and has some decent features, but I highly doubt it sounds any better than the modi 3. Unless you can hear the reversed polarity the e30 has. 
Not to mention warranty and service after the sale. It would be a decent competitor at $100 (I’d probably gran one at that price), but at $130, one would have to really think about whether or not they need the remote and screen, and if the after sale service risk is worth taking.
Remember, measurements are not everything. Both the e30 and modi 3 measure audibly transparent. At this level of performance, you’re shopping on features and nuances.
that’s funny…since the Modi 3 is badly panned by almost everyone when compared to similarly priced options from others. biggest complaint being the sound suffers from compression…which was a Schiit trait / house sound thing, but one they’re working on fixing.
For the Chromecast Audio dongle to simply be a passthrough, it needs a toslink to mini-toslink cable. It can turn your DAC into a media streamer with no jitter for as high a playback as your DAC can handle, especially if you have Roon. Chromecast Audio Dongle + Topping E30 for ~$150 gives you as good of a media streamer as you can find under…$1K(-ish?) or even more, IMO.
Without an optical in, just limits the DAC’s versatility.
Could roon or Chromecast be better than streaming from an xbox1 or iPad? Would be going into a dac.
Roon is software, Chromecast is hardware…and you can set up a wireless stream of your music (and if you use Tidal or Qobuz, etc) as one big library.
I’m not sure of your set up, but, yeah, I’d assume its better.
Was wondering how the quality of the digital signal was going into the dac mattered i guess and which service would be best. Like would a spotify stream be the same coming from any source/device to a dedicated dac.
Any “house sound” or compression they’re hearing is placebo, or better yet, mental remnants of some of schiit’s products not measuring as well as the chi-fi products, yet not necessarily sounding inferior. The modi 3 is as audibly clean as any well-made $100 dac.
Also, by that way of thinking, the atom dac should get the same panning as it uses the same chip and measures roughly the same.
Atom DAC has already shipped! In fact it was out the door only an hour and a half after I ordered it! 
Topping D10 or the JDS ATOM DAC?
anyone know what chipset they used in the Atom DAC?
D10 is damn fine…but until we have reviews / measurements on the Atom, we can’t say if it’s better or not. the Topping E30 is a very safe bet though, if you can swing the bit extra coin it needs.
