Drop + Grace Design Standard DAC Balanced Reviews | Drop

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Drop + Grace Design Standard DAC Balanced

Jul 24, 2019

Verified Buyer

Cheap, clean, and simple.

Update 3, three months in (final): Three Months in and the SDAC-B gets regular use. It still feeds the LCX via the balanced XLR, but now it also feeds a LOXJIE P20 via the single-ended TRS-to-RCA. It is a wonderful little DAC which thankfully does not produce a fatiguing sound. It still keeps its 5 star rating. In the three months I've had it I've used it on Windows 10, macOS 10.14 & 10.15, Ubuntu Linux 18.04 (with both kernel 4.18 and 5.0 ), and most recently on a Raspberry Pi 4B with the current latest RoPieeeXL image (v374). All using Roon, and I can safely say that it works everywhere with zero problems. 384kHz 24bit? No problem. DSD256 in DoP mode? No problem. Software volume control? Works like a charm everywhere. This little guy is all you need if you want a basic, yet fully functional, balanced DAC. It fits anywhere, makes no noise, and generates little to no heat. The perfect companion for any amplifier that can take XLR or RCA. For all my gushing <3 for the unit, if I had to nitpick, I'd say my biggest complaint is the lack of a hardware power switch. It isn't like it is a huge drain, but the only wan to power the unit down is to unplug it (or connect it to a system that powers off USB on shutdown, or through something like a Schitty Wyrd with its dedicated power switch). Call me old fashioned, but I rather like to turn my gear off completely when I'm not using it. If a version2 was ever to be made, I've three suggestions.

I'd highly recommend making it use the same physical footprint as the rest of the high end Drop gear (like the Airist), so that it stacks properly. While I do like that it is super tiny, that fact also means that it has to use a 3.5mm TRS for the single ended, and a 3.5mm TS for the SP/DIF, both of which kinda suck.
Add a power switch that interrupts the 5v from USB (in a safe way). Vampire drain is stupid. Lets be able to turn it off completely.
Add some visual indicators for the bit depth, sample rate, and input type. Don't need screen, just some simple LED, light pipes, and silk screening. It is done elsewhere, and it'd be a sweet finishing touch on this unit (and the Airist, but that is a different subject). It requires a smidgen more board footprint and some gpio from the XMOS.

Original: The SDAC-B arrived earlier today, so this is just preliminary... not that I expect much to change. I've been using the SDAC-B on the LCX+SDAC, doing A/B testing with the builtin SDAC. Sound quality is about what I expect from SDAC in general. In PCM mode I can't really tell the difference between the two. That said, the SDAC-B supports DSD256 in DoP mode, which gives the ability to apply filters... and makes it sound a shade better. The single button works as expected, same with the physical usb mode switch. This thing is tiny, like insanely small compared to all the DAC and AMP on my desk. This has basically the same sonic signature as the original SDAC, just with XLR out and extra features. All the original SDAC reviews still apply there. The balanced connection does bring higher VRMS, and makes my AMP happier than running single-ended SDAC. I've zero complaints at this price point. $150 for a clean sounding differential balanced DAC (not dual mono)? Worth it. If you're on a budget and want balanced this is absolutely what you want. Update 1: Audio Science Review gives this a SINAD score of 102; this is reasonable but not amazing. You'd have to really ramp the volume to catch noise or distortion. For the price, and balanced, it totally works for me.

Update 2: This thing is tiny. It gets lost in the stack. Still sounds fine, it just blends in with everything else.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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Mark_M

236

Jul 24, 2019

FayneI'm considering ordering this DAC cause I just placed my order for the THX 789. However my Fiio K3 uses the same DAC chip. I could just use the line out on my Fiio K3 to the 789. Aside from the balance out what would be the benefit to buying this DAC?

Jul 24, 2019

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Fayne

2586

Jul 24, 2019

Mark_MThe only things you get with the SDAC-B over the Fiio K3 are balanced audio and 4.3VRMS. Everything else is more or less the same if you ignore the AMP portion of the Fiio, the line section only being 1.9VRMS. A higher volts root mean square means your AMP will generally be louder, and produce potentially slight performance gains. Nothing major gain wise, but definitely a higher top end in loudness and the ability to run them cables longer. I'd still suggest the DAC with the 789. They pair nicely for that clean objective sound, and you don't have to eeeeeever worry about shorting your DAC or AMP if the TRS line out from the Fiio gets pulled while active. If you're looking for cheeeeeeap and fairly good XLR cables, checkout the Stage Right XLR/Microphone stuff from Monoprice. I've got ~30 of them, all been treating me good. Edit: If you're not cash strapped, there are better (more feature-rich) DACs on the market. The Topping D70 for example. But all you really buy there is higher top-end DSD and PCM, display, better single-ended ports, and possibly better SINAD (definition). I for one cannot tell the difference between 384kHz and 768kHz playback, nor can I ear-hole grok the difference between DSD256 and DSD512. Hell, 192kHz vs 384kHz is pretty impossible to distinguish.

(Edited)

Jul 24, 2019

Mark_M

236

Jul 24, 2019

FayneSo basically it would be better to go with this DAC than use the one in my Fiio K3. One thing I noticed about the Fiio K3 line out is that it's controlled by the volume knob. Wouldn't that make it a pre-out? Those XLR cables seem nice. I'd only need the 1.5ft length if the DAC is sitting on top of the amp.

Jul 24, 2019

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Fayne

2586

Jul 24, 2019

Mark_MThey are using a potentiometer and ADC based volume controller. Without looking at a teardown, I'm guessing they have it between the DAC chip output and the op-amps. Yeah, preamp would be a good description.

Jul 24, 2019

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Tup3x

100

Jul 30, 2019

FayneBit unfortunate that SoundBlasterX G6 would be better product for those who do not need/use balanced. Superior features and actually better SINAD while being cheaper. I guess the DAC chip (which is no match for higher end chips) is the bottleneck here since the implementations seems great.

Jul 30, 2019

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labjr

Jul 30, 2019

FayneI'm gonna wait for the Balanced Khadas Tone Board. I prefer the sound of ESS DAC.

(Edited)

Jul 30, 2019

Fayne

2586

Jul 30, 2019

Tup3xThere are a whole host of single-ended DAC and Interface on the market that are cheaper with generally better SINAD. They're easier to design seeing they have less inherent noise in the design to deal with. For balanced though, this is nearly a steal. It is rather difficult to find good balanced line-level DAC that support DSD for the cheaps. You can easily get PCM only interfaces like the UMC202HD from Behringer which are close to half the price of the SDAC-B and only a point or two off on the SINAD, but that just ain't the same even if they are fairly decent interfaces. And yes, if you want a better balanced DAC chipset with a good implementation, it'll cost you, even for the cheapish stuff like the Topping D70. As an entry to the balanced game the SDAC-B is pretty awesome, imho.

Jul 30, 2019

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