Review and Measurements of New Topping D50s DAC

[ripvw]

I listened last night to K.D. Lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel on Amazon HD - the entire album is at 24-bit/192kHz. I varied the volume up and down 10db via either the Atom or the D50S - could not hear a difference through my Etymotic ER4S IEM. I've since reduced the Atom's gain to 12 0'clock and upped the volume on the D50S and will leave it like that for a week and then reverse it again and see if I can tell any long term difference.

I would't bet on it...

 

[maty]

I listened last night to K.D. Lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel on Amazon HD - the entire album is at 24-bit/192kHz.t...

24/192 but the recording is ...

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/79620

DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR8 -0.10 dB -10.92 dB 01 - After the Gold Rush.m4a
DR10 -0.15 dB -13.40 dB 02 - Simple.m4a
DR7 -0.10 dB -10.63 dB 03 - Helpless.m4a
DR10 -0.10 dB -12.42 dB 04 - A Case of You.m4a
DR8 -0.10 dB -12.47 dB 05 - The Valley.m4a
DR7 -0.10 dB -11.45 dB 06 - Hallelujah.m4a
DR9 -0.10 dB -12.28 dB 07 - One Day I Walk.m4a
DR8 -0.10 dB -12.32 dB 08 - Fallen.m4a
DR10 -0.10 dB -13.30 dB 09 - Jericho.m4a
DR8 -0.10 dB -12.43 dB 10 - Bird on a Wire.m4a
DR9 -0.10 dB -13.46 dB 11 - Love Is Everything.m4a
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR9

If you evaluate the quality of a good device use recordings with high DR!

Minutes ago: Love - Forever Changes (1967), Vinyl, Elektra 2012 180g Re, Europe 24/192 FLAC

-> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-are-we-listening-to-right-now.40/post-237030

 

[SoBu]

Don't make the same mistake I did with your D50s:
After using my D50s for about 30 days with it on nearly 24/7 at 60% display brightness, I've noticed significant burn-in on the display. Attached are some pictures of it. It looks much worse in person if you're close to the display, but less noticeable far away as you would expect. It's most noticeable on the bottom bar of the main screen, and when selected items in settings.
If you don't want your display looking like mine, do not leave the device on for long periods of time, or better yet, use the auto off mode of the display setting.




Amazon.ca still has the D50s for 278CAD (210USD) if anyone is interested. That seems to be the normal price according to Keepa. The sale price was 236CAD (178USD) mid September. If you contact the seller directly, I'm pretty certain they will be able to ship you the product direct from China at the same price. They offered to sell me a product I was interested in that wasn't listed on their page because it was a new release.

 

[JoeBanks]

I got my D50s in about a month ago and was listening to it a lot for about a week. I thought the sound was a little fatiguing but thought it sounded so clear and wonderful in most ways that I didn't mind. Now I have hearing damage, validated by a ENT doc. There's ringing in my ears that he says might go away in 4 to 6 months. I don't remember anything else that could have caused it. No loud noises, wasn't playing my music too loud, nothing but the new DAC. It could be a coincidence but I can't see how it is. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

[Berwhale]

Don't make the same mistake I did with your D50s:
After using my D50s for about 30 days with it on nearly 24/7 at 60% display brightness, I've noticed significant burn-in on the display. Attached are some pictures of it. It looks much worse in person if you're close to the display, but less noticeable far away as you would expect. It's most noticeable on the bottom bar of the main screen, and when selected items in settings.
If you don't want your display looking like mine, do not leave the device on for long periods of time, or better yet, use the auto off mode of the display setting.
View attachment 34886View attachment 34887View attachment 34888View attachment 34889
.

Thanks, i've set my screen back to 'Auto'. I'd forgotten that the organic polymers in OLED screens wear out unevenly with a fixed image.

 

[Majestyk]

I got my D50s in about a month ago and was listening to it a lot for about a week. I thought the sound was a little fatiguing but thought it sounded so clear and wonderful in most ways that I didn't mind. Now I have hearing damage, validated by a ENT doc. There's ringing in my ears that he says might go away in 4 to 6 months. I don't remember anything else that could have caused it. No loud noises, wasn't playing my music too loud, nothing but the new DAC. It could be a coincidence but I can't see how it is. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Tinnitus can come about from a multitude of reasons. Loud noise isn't always the trigger. Sometimes it can be medications or neck/shoulder pain. That said, I would take a break from music listening. and maybe consider finding a warmer pair of headphones.

 

[AresHarvest]

Tinnitus can come about from a multitude of reasons. Loud noise isn't always the trigger. Sometimes it can be medications or neck/shoulder pain. That said, I would take a break from music listening. and maybe consider finding a warmer pair of headphones.

TMJ, too. I haven't collected evidence to back my opinion with, mostly because I'm not qualified to do so, but given how common each of these afflictions are, I'll bet there's a considerable number of people affected by this combo who don't realize that their tinnitus symptoms can be helped by treating the TMJ. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3129953/

 

[cap1980]

Have announced topping d90
http://www.tpdz.net/news_detail/newsId=95.html

 

[AudioJunky]

@AudioJunky @daftcombo @Julf
Amir reviewed the Schiit Sys (here) which is just a switch (between two inputs) and a (decent Japanese) pot and it impacts THD+N measures.
Probably going all digital is better (it depends on DAC I suppose) and it's what I do.

I'd never expect much from a passive preamp, especially from schiit. There's probably a $5 pot in it. There's a reason potentiometers are cheap and stepped attenuators are not. I'd love to see measurements from a device using a stepped attenuator (preferably a ladder design) or even the $30 fixed unbalanced attenuators. I don't believe there has been any?

 

[mkawa]

this seems like the perfect companior for the smsl sp200 thx that amir just reviewed. thoughts? (yes, it isn't balanced.. that's a thing..)

 

[zermak]

@AudioJunky
There is a teardown of that (here). It's an ALPS potentiomenter.

EDIT

this seems like the perfect companior for the smsl sp200 thx that amir just reviewed. thoughts? (yes, it isn't balanced.. that's a thing..)

Go digital

 

[mkawa]

the schiit passive preamp is literally just an alps09 in a huge box.

the nobsound "hifi" with the rk27 on amazon is the much better buy.

 

[digitalfrost]

You ever heard about an edit button?

 

[daftcombo]

this seems like the perfect companior for the smsl sp200 thx that amir just reviewed. thoughts? (yes, it isn't balanced.. that's a thing..)

You need a balanced DAC, like the Grace Design Balanced Dac:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...asurements-of-grace-design-balanced-dac.8201/

 

[Berwhale]

You need a balanced DAC, like the Grace Design Balanced Dac:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...asurements-of-grace-design-balanced-dac.8201/

The SP200 has both balanced and unbalanced inputs. If the D50s with unbalanced connections measures better than the SDAC with balanced connections, why would you buy the SDAC? (assume that there are no other requirements for unbalanced e.g. ground loop issues)

 

[daftcombo]

The SP200 has both balanced and unbalanced inputs. If the D50s with unbalanced connections measures better than the SDAC with balanced connections, why would you buy the SDAC? (assume that there are no other requirements for unbalanced e.g. ground loop issues)

If you plan to use unbalanced input, the much cheaper JDS Lab Atom will be good enough.

 

[guyinoz]

I got the topping d50s with the external power supply. Sounds better than the bluesound node2i. Still exploring the filters

But it’s coax input is not working. Possibly not worth sending back over this as optical in is working, seems this was an issue in d50 as well.

 

[daftcombo]

But it’s coax input is not working. Possibly not worth sending back over this as optical in is working, seems this was an issue in d50 as well.

Weird. Can it be possible that they failed making a working coaxial input again?

 

[guyinoz]

Weird. Can it be possible that they failed making a working coaxial input again?

Seems like it, very strange though!

 

[ElNino]

Tinnitus can come about from a multitude of reasons. Loud noise isn't always the trigger. Sometimes it can be medications or neck/shoulder pain. That said, I would take a break from music listening. and maybe consider finding a warmer pair of headphones.

Medication can be a big one... PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra have been linked to tinnitus and hearing loss in some cases. Dental work can be another one. Drilling especially on your back molars exposes your ears to very high sound levels at a narrow pitch. I wish there was some way for dentists to mitigate this. The tinnitus in my right ear was almost certainly caused by endodontic work.