Pi 4b and dac recommendation

[Miss Sissy Princess]

When comparing 40-pin HAT DACs to the new crop of USB ones, is one better than the other?  Last time I looked into it the HATs were preferred and gave superior performance.  It looks like this may have changed and the USB DACs are now better?  

I was looking at the Topping D10 as I can’t imagine what I would need a remote control for - I just use the Moode web UI with constant signal output and I have an IR blaster to control the volume directly on my amp.

I don't have such a 40 pin hat, so I can't really compare the output of such a device with the DACs I have. What I would check is what  chip used to transform the digital input into an audio signal and look around for a newer/higher quality one. Maybe the easiest way is to register at ASR and ask those guys about their opinion. 

On the other side, the Topping D10 looks good, and according to ASR it is a well designed device: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum...-dac.2470/

Just to be clear, the Topping D10 has been discontinued and replaced by the Topping D10s, which significantly outperforms the earlier D10:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum...iew.14859/

If you really have your heart set on a Topping D10, I'll happily trade you mine for a Topping D10s.