SMSL SU-8 vs Topping DX7s

My Modi Multibit seems to be crapping out and I am looking at replacements. I am wondering if anyone has experienced both of these DACs? I realize the Topping is also a headphone amp, but I am only concerned with the DAC quality of each. The balanced amp is just icing on the cake.

So personally, I think the su8 has more features and if you were going for a dac only, the su8 makes more sense. That being said the dx7 is also very good and I think on a somewhat similar level (except with less features that the su8) but with the added benefit of a headphone amp. I think the Topping D70 is a better quality dac than both, but it is the same price as the dx7 without a headphone amp. I think it depends on your other gear if you actually want to spend that much on an amp

I haven’t heard the multibit, so it’s hard to compare.
From what I’ve heard, I would think the multibit would be better than the SU-8.
I have an SU-8 and it’s an OK DAC, volume control is nice to have, it sounds clean, has some nice features, it’s balanced (if that’s a factor).

I would say it depends on what you like for the multibit vs su8. I personally would prefer the su8 if you like accuracy and transparency, or the multibit if you want a more colored fun sound. I don’t really think they are trying to compete with each other

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I just think there are so many “clean” DAC’s out there, I like the SU-8 and the volume is a nice to have, but after my initial impression swapping back and forth between it and the dual 4490 card in my Jot, there is not enough in it I would justify it over a bunch of other <$200 DAC’s if the features (balanced and volume) weren’t important.

I’m considering picking up an Bifrost 2 Multibit, it’s supposed to be a better multibit implementation than the Jot card or the Modi multibit, but I have a rule about purchases this year…

Well… You could use a new dac lol

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The Modi Multibit has been great. It is actually the first standalone DAC I owned. I also have a Modi 3. I like them both, but I was thinking of trying something different, just to expand my audio knowledge. I was looking at he Bifrost 2 also. I’m toying with the idea of the Yggdrasil GS also for $1600. That could be upgraded later to the latest Yggdrasil with the Analog 2 card upgrade.
I really don’t need to spend that much though. I probably should buy my kids some presents for Christmas.:smile:
One of the reasons I was looking at the DX7s and the SU-8 was for the balanced output. I am planning to add a balanced signal path to my whole rig over time and might as well start at the DAC.

I think you may want to look into the denafrips ares ii, as its an excellent r2r dac that’s balanced that I personally prefer over the Ygg. Can sometimes be had for 700 on massdrop or other sites

The Ares ii was very well received by Next Best Thing Studio as well.

I was really impressed for the price of it, super solid

That looks pretty sweet. I’ll poke around a bit. So far, I’m finding them for just north of $900.

Thanks for the input all!

You can get them through the official distributor Vinshine, in Singapore for ~$770, with 2 or 3 week lead time.
I believe Vinshine is the ONLY authorized re-seller.

Their site says backordered at the moment, but I will keep an eye on it. Thanks!

isnt the modi multibit the same as a r2r? theres the drop airtist, you can find them on ebay for around 300$

The multibit uses a 16 bit DAC chip, and supersampling to increase the bit depth to 18 or 19 bits I’d guess.
R2R’s use actual resistor ladders, the issue with R2R’s is that the required accuracy of the resistors increases exponentially with every additional bit, so even the ones with enough resistors for more bits aren’t much more than 16 or 17 bits accurate.

They both eliminate the high frequency noise that gets introduced by delta sigma dacs and then has to be filtered back out.

I think the drop airist is great for the price, the only downside might be the lack of balanced but personally for me that isn’t an issue

so the resisters are there to reduce noise? i never really understood the resister part lol

The resistors are the DAC.
It’s how all DAC’s originally worked, either RR or R2R configurations
you use input voltage at each of the input pins and a set of voltage dividers to produce a range of output voltages based on which of the input pins are set.
Wikipedia has an OK description. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor_ladder
The issue is that as you increase bit depth the required accuracy of the resistors increases and you can’t buy resistors with that little variance, so at the high end the manufacturers match them by hand which in turn gets very expensive very quickly.

Also not many manufacturers are making r2r designs anymore and some of the best r2r dacs are disappearing off of the market in availability