Thanks for the review.
The output impedance has nothing to do with the TPA6120A2, but rather with the overall circuitry of the HPA circuit.
I think they're calling it a gaming product due to the combination of aesthetics and the microphone in along with the headphone out, allowing you to use a headset mic combo for voice chat in games - something most desktop DACs do not have. IMO for most people gaming on desktop PC that mic in is going to be more relevant and useful than virtual 7.1 surround.
Out of interest what would you like to see “improved”
Since a high-quality AK4493SEQ stereo DAC chip is used, it probably won't be a 7.1 device.
He was probably referring to the fact that many TPA6120A2 implementations strictly follow TI guideline that say to keep output resistors not less than 10 ohms for stability. Topping showed us that it can be finely engineered to achieve fantastic performance with very low output impedance, so measuring the value on this device can be an indicator if amp section is finely tuned or just a mere application of TI blueprint.
What does K7 bring that I won't get with say a Topping E2x2 interface (slightly cheaper I believe)?
Probably nothing if you are interested in music production. For gaming, this allows connection of headsets or Mics with 3,5 mm plugs.
That would rather depend if you play multiplayer games and need to shout obscenities at some random unknown person out on the internet.
Of course, but most of "Gamer" targeted gear is typically aimed at people playing competitive multiplayer.
Optical and BT input for starters.
For gamers that don't use Virtual 7.1 Surround then yes it doesn't matter, but for those that use it and know it works for them then it wouldn't be a gaming DAC for them. Virtual Surround is a bit quirky though, for instance out of all the options I've tried only Creative Soundblaster SBX works for me so it's bit of a stab in the dark trying Virtual Surround designed by another company that you're not sure will work for you or not (they should provide demo samples really - audio files with the processing already baked in so you can see if their solution works for you before you buy the DAC). Just for me, a DAC has to have the Virtual Surround option to even be called a gaming DAC, it's a minimum requirement for me.
For sure some people can detect accurate front & back & hence depth (3D) when using Virtual Surround in headphones, and indeed the key to it is that the DAC must appear as a 7.1 multichannel device to the OS so that the game also sees it a 7.1 multichannel device and outputs sound in that format to each speaker - the DAC then uses whatever HRTF algorithms to apply to the different input channels so that these HRTF differences can be baked down into the 2 channel sound, so for sure this can genuinely work for some people - it works for me for instance but only with the Creative Soundblaster SBX version thus far, and I've tried a few different options from competitors. Whatever happens though it's absolutely imperative that the DAC has the ability to appear as a 7.1 device to the OS as otherwise it's all just "faked" from the ground up because the game can't output 7.1 in that case. Some games do the virtual surround processing themselves though and then mix it down to 2 channel, so for those games then you can just use any DAC you like, doesn't even need to be a gaming DAC. So it's all a question of understanding how Virtual 7.1 surround works and in the specific games you play.
www.audiosciencereview.com
Somehow I doubt that.
It has a mic. input, so there is an ADC…(chip?)
