TOPPING D90 vs SMSL M400 Comparison Chart

TOPPING D90 DAC

S.M.S.L M400 DAC

Price

$749.99 USD (Standard)

$849.99 USD (MQA)

$859.99 (USD)

Dimensions

1.77 x 8.74 x 6.3 (in)

4.5 x 22.2 x 16 (cm)

8.46 x 1.7 x 8.66 (in)

21.5 x 4.3 x 22 (cm)

Weight

6.6 (lbs)

2.9 (kg)

3.4 (lbs)

1.5 (kg)

D/A Chip

AKM AK4499

AKM AK4499

Inputs

• USB
• IIS LVDS (HDMI)
• Optical
• Coaxial SPDIF
• AES/EBU
• Bluetooth
• MQA (MQA Version only)

• USB
• IIS LVDS (HDMI)
• Optical
• Coaxial
• Bluetooth
• MQA

Outputs

• Balanced XLR
• Single Ended RCA

• XLR
• RCA

Bluetooth

• aptX HD
• LDAC
• 5.0

• aptX HD
• LDAC
• 5.0

USB Interface

• XMOS XU208 (Standard)
• XMOS XU216 (MQA)

XMOS XU216

Sampling Rates

USB: PCM up to 32bit 768kHz / Native DSD up to DSD512 / DSD DoP up to DSD256

IIS: PCM up to 32bit 768kHz / DSD up to DSD512

Coaxial, Optical, AES: PCM up to 24bit 192kHz

USB: PCM up to 44.1bit 768kHz /

DSD 2.8224 to 22.5792MHz

IIS: PCM up to 44.1bit 768kHz /

DSD 2.8224 to 22.5792MHz

Coaxial, Optical, AES: PCM up to 44.1bit 192kHz

Dynamic Range

128 dB

• XLR: 131 dB
• RCA: 125 dB

Influencer Sound Opinion

“D90 is fast, articulate and it hits like a train when it's needed. It doesn’t roll-off sub-bass information and my usual pugilist music as electronica and rock started throwing punches at me, I finally felt a crazy amount of energy and impact. Finally, I can listen to my rock without feeling that something is missing from my music. In this respect, D90 is sounding like a grown-up, balls to the wall DAC with authority has its chin up and knows to impress a music aficionado like myself. Finally, an AKM based DAC with a slam, speed, and impact, the end must be near for sure.”

—Sandu Vitalie, Soundnews.net

“[My] friend who actually records music, he listens to them in live events and he listens to them at home and he said that this this [S.M.S.L. 400] reproduced the music that he heard live closer to the real thing than the other DAC that he had….in the past he cannot listen without a subwoofer, but because there's good bass with this SMSL, he can actually listen even without a subwoofer. The only thing he probably needs to do is probably get a super tweeter for it, because the top end is a bit rolled off with the tiler and given the SMSL is a neutral deck — whatever you have will sound exactly the way it's meant to be. For those of you who want that boosted top end, this is not it; it will reveal exactly what your system is.”

—Thomas & Stereo

Influencer Conclusion

“I am not that easily impressed when it comes to audio sources, I evaluated more than 20 audio sources last year and out of all of those, probably only 3 of them created goosebump moments for me. D90 is sounding easily in the top 3 DACs I tested at my place at any price point. It sounds so familiar and yet so different compared to other delta-sigma designs that I don’t know how to start this evaluation….Any music I would play, D90 would always unfold it like candy in front of me. It grew on me because I can now listen to even too-crowded and up-front music with ease, D90 makes that a lot more approachable, I can chew that pill much easier, I’m again impressed.”

—Sandu Vitalie, Soundnews.net

“My definition of “giant killer” is this: if the overall performance is close enough in every single category, then for me it makes more sense to purchase the less expensive unit. That's why I call it “giant killer” ...that's why giant killers can be a $300 or $1,000 DAC, the price doesn't matter, because if a $300 DAC performance is close enough to a $1,000 DAC, that as far as I'm concerned is called a “giant killer.” This TOPPING D90 is a giant killer.”

—Thomas & Stereo

“If you have decided to go for a neutral-sounding DAC, that's your direction you've decided...I say save up and get this DAC. The reason is because once you get this DAC you no longer need to upgrade, unless you're thinking to skip to the $4,000 - 6,000 area. Your system bottleneck will no longer be the DAC. But, it's very important this has to be your taste, if you like something with a bit more color, then of course you look at the other DACs, but if you want a neutral DAC this is what you get.”

—Thomas & Stereo

Apos Audio Customer Reviews

Take a look at the community reviews: TOPPING D90 DAC

Take a look at the community reviews:  SMSL M400 DAC

If you have any questions, you can start a chat or email us at “contact@apos.audio”