Humble DAC review ToppingD30pro , Mojo2 and Schiit Bifrost 2/64

These are just my opinion of these DACs as I’m not a professional reviewer.

I spent the last two months with these to get as good of an idea as I can of how they sound and what they do.

I’ll try and keep it short.

Short version is that I didn’t really like any.
Not saying they weren’t ok. But that’s it. Some were just ok.
This as always is only my opinion


Topping D30pro :

I actually think I liked the ToppingD30 pro the most.
Call me crazy but it shared a bit of the Cirrus DNA timbre in my Marantz DAC.
It was a bit rolled off and didn’t have weight to it.
Reminded me a lot of the AQ cobalt actually.
It had a wide soundstage.
Good timbre, but little weight to the instruments.
Doesn’t surprise me with the portable crappy components it uses.


Mojo2:

Good reverb and ambience in this one.
Rolled off a bit
Timbre was meh
Narrower soundstage than the topping
Slow attack
Weight was a bit better than the topping
EQ was pretty cool. Sounded really good on the lower freq, but on the mid and up the EQ sounded a bit artificial for lack of better explanation.
yeah it’s more neutral than the first one , but I preferred the first one for it’s crazy deep soundstage, which was most likely added as an effect.
Meh

Schiit Bifrost 2/64 : ( spent a bit over a week with this one)

Sharp and bright. Is someone at Schiit losing their hearing in the high freq?? Lol. ( that’s a joke fellas )
Fatiguing and that comes from someone who generally likes bright.
Good texture , very different compared to SD DACs
Ambience was good but tough to tell with it being so sharp and bright
The sound wasn’t cohesive. I think that’s because of the increased sharpness or treble. I could be wrong.
That one I didn’t need to keep on for a long time to know I didn’t like it at all.
And yes I left it on for days to burn in.



Returned them all.

that’s all folks!

my opinion as always. I’m just a nobody on a forum with ears

 

Thanks for the reviews! You should consider starting off by reading this thread, and it would also be helpful for others if you include a little more information about the rest of your chain, maybe some of the music you used to compare the DACs, and maybe even a little more about your listening preferences.

 

Sure !

pardon for that


Whenever I review something for myself I do so in a very very anal manner. Just my personality.

my chain is

MacBook Pro
DAC
Benchmark LA4 pre
Benchmark AHB2
Proac DT8 speakers

I level match everything first to my reference DAC ( Marantz HD DAC1). Not that it’s the best DAC in the world but I haven’t heard anything yet that beats it to my 40+ musician ears ( not bragging at all there, but I know what instruments sound like ).

I listen to a lot of classical for timbre. As well as some Jazz.
Opera for soundstage . It really gives you a good reference for pinpoint imaging and soundstage.
Also Decca recordings are very good for soundstage and imaging. Which I listen to

i listen to some Rock and maybe some pop as well. Some Rock is good to see how well bass is reproduced.

but I take alot of time when reviewing things.


Also here is a reference of an in room freq response at my listening spot.

this should help alot as well for people to see how my system behaves in room

 

Thank you kind sir.

it does help having played music for a cool 40+ years.
Again I really am not bragging at all. It’s just a credential I have which I think might be important for timbre at least.
Oh and the speed of the LA4 preamp. For some reason other amps I tried didn’t have the proper ‘ speed’. I know that sounds weird , but it’s true.
Maybe it’s called timing in the audio world.

oh I forgot to add this.

ok this is crazy and my gf can attest to my insanity. Lol


I’ll also go into other rooms to hear the music to see if it sounds like a piano or violins are playing in the room the music is coming from.
My gf has a ball when I’ll sit there and listen to the system and say “ something isn’t right”
And she goes, “ does that mean the mic is gonna come out now and the laser?”
Lol
And we both laugh.

Cause I usually grab my laser and make sure the speakers haven’t moved.
I know I’m a bit nuts.


I’ve been in this house for around 5 months so I’m still learning the room, to make some adjustments to treatment and fine tune placement.