I currently am using my Micca Origen G2 as a DAC into my Topping A50, and am looking to upgrade. The E30 and the D50s are the 2 big ones I’m looking at, though I also have eyed the SMSL SU-8. I’m really open to anything around the 250 range and below, lets say max 300. I want something that doesn’t fuck up the sound (aka plays it as it is but doesn’t have to be pure neutral), that would work for listening to music, gaming, and maybe some light video editing. A remote would be great so that I could use it for my TV should I want to move it off my desk, and hopefully is future proof for at least a few years (for either passive speakers, as a dac for a power amp, or a desktop dac over time. it will start as my main dac for my pc setup). Appreciate the help.
I mean personally I would just say go with the e30 here, it’s really solid, would have the features you would want. The d50s is a marginal upgrade imo, not really worth it but it is a bit more refined sounding
I would say the same.
The d50 can be it a tick to analytical for you,so you habe wrote you don‘t want this.
And the E30 have remote control.
Sick. Have you ever heard the SU-8?
I used to have one, pretty nice dac for what it had, that would be my pick if you needed balanced imo, but it sounds like you don’t unless I’m missing anything
Yeah, I’ve been flip flopping between the 2, but have pretty much landed on the E30. Unless I find something non-topping that I really like.
Yeah, at least at this point, unless I get powered speakers with XLR, and the Edifiers I want eventually are RCA, and so is the A50 despite having a balanced out. I don’t think the A50 would benefit from receiving from a balanced dac through RCA, would it?
Yeah in that case I would say grab the e30, as imo to get a real significant jump you would be in the 700ish range for a dac that would make a sizable upgrade imo
I see. Unless those filters on the SU-8 are really worth it, or the A50 will benefit from receiving balanced even through RCA, it’s gonna be the E30 > the SU-8 then.
So the e30 has dac filters on there as well, but the su8 has sound modes that adjust harmonic distortion that are pretty neat which do let you tweak the sound to a noticeable amount, I don’t know if I would say it’s a huge selling point for the price to performance.
The a50 has no balanced in so not much to worry about there
If you are curious about what I feel about the e30, I made a few posts in the e30 thread
Awesome, let me go read those then. And it is like I thought, you need balanced in in order to benefit from an actual balanced dac.
Indeed. So the a50 isn’t really a truly balanced amp and the balanced out is more for convenience (but I still recommend you use the balanced out)
I heard from another poster that using unbalanced headphones through a balanced out was bad for them, which I thought was weird? Also, thanks for all your help, its been really helpful in grabbing my shit over time!
That is true, as if you aren’t using a balanced cable on the headphones (and the headphone can be balanced in the first place), you can short out the headphone amp and damage it and your headphones. It’s ok to take a pair of balanced headphones and convert them to single ended, but do not try and adapt a balanced output of an amp to single ended
So, what about using a balanced cable on an unbalanced set of cans? Same issue?
So you can turn a headphone into balanced if it has removable cables going to both headphone cups (most of the time, depends on the model) and you rewire it with a balanced cable. So like with a 4xx, all you do is grab a balanced cable and swap out the older cable, and bam, you have a balanced headphone. With something like a fidelio x2, it cannot become balanced because the headphones are not wired internally for a balanced connection, so therefore you cannot run it balanced without messing something up or doing heavy mods to it
very interesting, so when I snag 4XX’s (those are almost definitely my next purchase with the e30), snag a balanced cable? I did not know that, good to know!
You already have the A50. so you have to get the D50. They would stack perfectly! imagine that! perfectly stacked and matched! I love stacks
That’s why the D50s is tempting, lmao. I did look at the measurements for the e30, and it is slightly less width wise and slightly longer length wise, not enough to be annoying thankfully.
Yes, a cheaper one will work just fine like this
https://www.amazon.com/NewFantasia-Balanced-Compatible-Hifiman-Headphones/dp/B07WMPNFS8/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=hifiman+2.5+mm+balanced+cable&qid=1590194464&sr=8-4
(make sure you check if your 4xx is 2.5mm or 3.5mm on the cups first)