Congrats. Not sure I’d describe the SU9 as “mid-fi” 
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I should re-test with the new Khadas Tone2 Pro…
Edit: if it’s possible, the Tone2 Pro handles this album even worse than iFi. Lots of crackling between tracks. :-\
Interesting. I have the SMSL M500, which I put in the same Pi2AES → [DAC] → Mjolnir 2 that I usually use with my Gungnir Multibit. I think that the M500 shares the same digital guts with the SU9. Didn’t love it in comparison, but I love my Gungnir MB over my Bifrost 2. Now I shall have to test the M500 in the same bedside Ropieee → [DAC] → Jotunheim chain that I normally have my also beloved Bifrost 2 in. And if that doesn’t make me see stars, I’ll try the SU9.
smsl M500 is also my gear. I use it with my iMac and Sennheiser HD700 and I am very pleased with it.
I’d strongly consider the Topping D90. I agree with descriptions of it as neutral but the music, if warm going in, is warm coming out. Neutral shouldn’t be read to mean that warmth and personality is bled out. The improvement over the iFi Zen Dac (not a fortune but a nice DAC) was immediately detectable and a vast improvement for me.
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I fell for the MQA thing and moved my RME ADI 2 DAC to my other place and replaced it with a Topping D90 MQA version. Great DAC. No where near the RME. MQA is overrated.
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I just ordered the pre box s2 digital after catching how sterophile mag rated it in their annual compilation. It really sounds like best price / quality trade off on the market.
Just can’t get myself to pay for a Chord Qutest, which is what I was thinking about.
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I wouldn’t invest too much in MQA , you never know if it will last.
I have a SMSL SU-9 but i have to say if Tidal has the PCm version I play that.
Yeah the RME is much better than these mid-fi MQA dacs
A solution for a problem that never existed… and to make it even worse they started to mess with perfectly fine masters.
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Have you heard them all, and if not then how do you know? Which ones have you heard? Is it better simply because it doesn’t support MQA?
It appears to be quite common nowadays for people to express an opinion about hi-fi gear (and in particular DACs) as part of a bandwagon without actually having heard them.
I am not disputing that the RME is a good (possibly very good) sounding DAC at its price, but I haven’t heard many competitors so could not make such a sweeping statement. Have you?
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Not heard them all snowflake but maybe 50 different brands .Enough to make a reasoned judgment about the RME Dac (I have two of those) in comparison to other dacs , MQA and not.
Number of dacs heard -over 100
I assume that you aren’t using the term “snowflake” in its derogatory sense?
If you are then I find it a little strange. I would have thought that the term “snowflake” was better attributed in its derogatory sense (i.e. someone with "an unwarranted sense of entitlement, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions) to someone with an agenda in respect of MQA.
I have no such agenda. I am ambivalent towards MQA unlike some on here - I am reasonably happy with a lot of the MQA content offered by Tidal, but I would be equally happy if Tidal were to replace its MQA content with high resolution PCM.
Oh, and by the way the term “snowflake” back in the 70s had a very different and rather unpleasant meaning and context. Whatever your intention, I am sure that you did not mean it in that sense.
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I’m very happy with my Matrix-Mini-I Pro 3. I got mine at $899 but now over $1k so I think out pretty far out of the OP’s price range, as is the RME (which would have been my second choice).