So I am starting to move up from the entry-level stuff. I have a SMSL DL200 and Wiim mini pro plus. A70pro has been on sale so I figured at least I will have the nice-looking VU meter and the most powerful amp at this price range, and I don’t have to worry about not giving any headphones enough power. I also want to start tradtionally before branching off to tube/amps or products with other features (at the amp level). I amy eventually get the D70 to compelte the stack, but that would be the same price as getting a Dx9. But I decided against the DX9 (very pretty) because

• early bathces of Topping products tend to be iffy (juding my online posts)
• the sales person assured be that Topping has fixed whatever that was giong on wrong with the A70pro in the earlier batches
• the A70pro is actually powerful
• I will have the freedom to mix and match

I decided to hold off getting a matching stack with D70 because:

• from my undersatnidng, quality improvement from upgrading DACs matter a lot less (depending who you talk to), and I can see if the Wiim Pro Plus or the SMSL DL200 as a DAC could do for now (which is part of the experimentation mentioned)
• I wonder if there could be better valued DACs (with more features) – with DSP (e.g., Chord Mojo 2) or whatever.
• Maybe a new cool streaming Dac with a great DAC chip/section comes out and I would want that instead.
• I can always get a d70 eventually.

thoughts？