Interesting new USB DAC from Topping.
Performance-wise it looks like it beats all HAT DACs and could work well with Raspberry pi4? Price $99 or 99 Euro.
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I am running this DAC now using Volumio with RPI 3B+
I was pretty disappointed in this DAC originally. Compared to all my other DACS (centrance, musical fidelity, korg) it was lifeless sounding, with deficient bottom end and limited dynamics.
For me, I found it really requires a great TUBE preamp to sound decent. Or a tube buffer if not using a tube preamp.
Sorry to hear that the D10s isn’t living up to your expectations. Is it OK with the RPI 3? I might have expected the odd pop or breakup in the sound since the RPI 3 doesn’t have the I/O bandwidth to manage the Ethernet and USB simultaneously (might be OK with WiFi?). Hence my comment about using RPI 4 where this limitation doesn’t exist.
The D10s looks as if it should be very neutral as regards sound quality, with very low distortion. The issues of ESS9038 intermod distortion have been dealt with. (The solution to this problem was published by the small startup Chinese company Soncoz in the ASR web pages). There are now a few comments on the ASR webpage review from people who have bought the D10s.
You could try a true A/B comparison with your other DACs, level matched. And of course with someone else doing the switching so that you do not know which DAC is engaged. The D10s has coax and Toslink O/Ps which could be used to drive another DAC in this comparison process.
Some people also suggest that very clean power supplies are needed to get the best out of USB powered DACs. Perhaps a clean switch mode power supply may be an improvement over the RPI power supply but the silly prices for some linear supplies aren’t generally warranted (in some cases you could buy a DAC with built in power supply for less!).
But if it’s working well for you with a tube preamp that’s great. A very small amount of 2nd harmonic distortion from tubes can often make very neutral electronics sound very sweet.