Topping D30 Pro vs D90

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3 hours ago, beerandmusic said:

thanks...the link about the 30K dac in comparison to a $800 dac was less helpful....[grin].

It doesn't seem like there is anything that competes with the topping d30 or gustard a18 in that price range for features and components.

The only other dacs in that price range on my short list are the bifrost multibit unison and rme adi-2....i had the bifrost multibit gen5 before and it sounded very nice for the money, but i wanted something that would do native dsd...have been looking for a nice dsd dac under $1k for quite awhile that had galvanic isolation, and have been out of market for a couple years, but back to looking. Seems like $1k will get you quite a bit more today than 2 years ago.....

The D-90 does not appear to have any isolation of its USB input from the rest of the DAC. I only used the D-90 in "DAC mode", with DSD 256 input and it did sound very good using it that way. But one has to remember that "DAC mode" defeats the volume control, so you will need a preamp or integrated amp to pair with it. I found it to be a little lacking in dynamics and presence-which I surmised was due to the rather diminutive power supply, or perhaps the lower current capability of the output stage vs. what my DIY/ESS DAC uses. Of course if one uses it with a good preamp, perhaps the lower output current will be a non-issue.

Still, all that said, for $700 the D-90 is an exceptional DAC. And, because it is in high demand, one can purchase it, try it, and sell it for just a small loss if one feels it is not quite what they are looking for. I just wanted to audition something with the new AKM 4499 chip and direct DSD mode, so I just picked it up, and then sold it after a few weeks.

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@OldBigEars, I have never made any direct comparisons between the D-90 and the Qutest. M y brother owns a Qutest, and I get to hear it when visiting with him, but he lives far away.

My suggestion would be that the Qutest is a great option for those who mostly play PCM material, and the D-90 is a great option for those who mostly are interested in oversampling everything to DSD.

The Qutest also has higher level of build quality, with a nicer case, and is not made in China, and has reliable distribution and warranty service all around the world, so if one cares about those kind of things, the Qutest has an advantage there.

I am not really a fan of external power supplies, but the Qutetst can be improved by adding a really, really good external power supply, where with the D-90 one is limited to the onboard power supply, which is just OK.

They really are very different DACs, and regarding all the above differences, i would expect them to appeal to audiophiles with very different needs.

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1 hour ago, OldBigEars said:

@ Barrows, thanks for more insights.

Just to unpack this...I think you're saying that - if you ignore country of origin, brand, design, service issues [not thatyou should or shouldn't] - then the SQ of the D90 [upsampling nativeDSD 256] is close enough to the Chord Qutest with standard power supply [upsampling PCM] that you would be hard pressed to confirm a preference, without hearing them back to back.

Not meaning to put words in your mouth - just toclarify. I'm thinking about tryinga Qutest todo that direct comparison. Or maybe one of the Denafrips models.

Well, i do care about build quality for example, and I also believe build quality contributes [in most cases] to sound quality, at least in terms of vibration control... So i cannot divorce this factor from my overall assessment.

But, yes, to evaluate these two DACs one would need to hear them side by side. To me the D-90 is not really anything special with PCM, where it becomes a bit special is when one feeds it DSD 256 in its "DAC Mode", where the onboard processing is bypassed. On the other hand, the Qutest is best with PCM input, so these factors are going to matter in the evaluation.

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