Review and Measurements of New Topping D50s DAC

[digitalfrost]

Nice catch. I did some mastering work and 0.2dB difference is audible if over a large enough frequency band. 7.5% would be 0.62dB, so I'm not surprised.

 

[BogdanR]

Oh Ive read them both. I have also seen other measurements including the Topping P50 (Youtube them if you are interested) Besides that I did make my own experiences with USB power and I agree its better to use a wall charger (not a ****** one though) than a USB Port. And yes for the money I spend, I Do have the peace of mind, that Im not wasting my 250 dollar DAC with a 1 dollar wall charger. Guess you cant say the same

Apart of your money, you’re not wasting anything. In terms of USB ports they can provide good power too and it is less dependent on the motherboard than on the computer’s PSU and in how much load is on every voltage rail as people mostly pay attention on the overall wattage and not on how much amps are individually available on each rail. If you had issues with the power of your USB ports, maybe rethink a bit the PSU and the case’s grounding.

As for DACs, the vast majority of them, at least the well designed ones, will have a voltage regulator stage capable of taking care, within limits of course, of any overvoltage or ripples or “noisy” power. I don’t have a schematic of the D50s but my old Arcam rDAC for instance can be fed with anything from 5V to 12V. Its internal voltage regulator stage cuts the PSU voltage to 5V. Here’s a link to the service manual if in doubt :Service Manual

Needless to say when the 6V PSU gave up the ghost, I grabbed a 7.5V industrial one available from our electronics lab and I used it on the rDAC with no issues for the past 4 years. We buy them PSUs in bulk, it must have been probably around $5-ish Canadian?

So I don’t put much stock on these stories of linear PSU’s or batteries making any audible difference on DACs because in any properly engineered DAC they should not. If we’re talking about low voltage input devices like phono preamps, then an argument can perhaps be made, even though there’s very little a decent adequate switching PSU and proper grounding can’t solve there as well. And a decent low voltage low amps PSU nowadays should be inexpensive as that’s not much to it and it’s technology is well understood.

 

[Gradius]

I found that using an Apple brick vs. motherboard USB took away some of the electrical noises I was hearing at boot-up and mouse movement with my D50s. Easy fix and worth it.

It's called two things:

- EMI, or ElectroMagnetic Interference, or Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI), and
- Ground Loop (aka a plague).

 

[Gradius]

I checked the current draw with a USB meter and never saw it draw more than 350mA current.

Good to know, so is perfectly inside the USB2 power specification.

As for battery as power supply, a cheap solution would be this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000189523121.html

 

[Snafu]

Before i got separate PSU for D50s i used powerbank. I had 10k mAh one and it lasted almost whole day so i recommend 15-20k mAh.

There was no audible difference between working wall psu, powerbank and actual PSU. Wall psu is on all the time and D50s starts when you start pc, with or without listening it, powerbank needs to be reloaded daily so for me last one is easiest to use since i can turn it on with rest of the system.

I got this PSU as 5V/2A-version (or 3A can't remember):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zerozone...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

[Toku]

I have lately had some dropouts between ASUS360 WIN10 laptop and (USB) D50S when using Tidal. Music just stops but time runs in Tidal app.

Tidal log gives "AUDCLNT_E_BUFFER_SIZE_ERROR"

I have tried adjusting buffer size from Topping win10 interface and made a factory reset for D50s. No help so far, any ideas ?

Thanks

I read your post over and over again.
The ASUS360 WIN10 laptop you use has many variations and I didn't know what was used for the CPU chip.
However, I think that all CPUs have low processing power and are high load when playing digital audio. If the condition persists, the PC switches to power saving mode to save battery power.
As a result, I think there is a dropout in the playback music.
Once, switch the power options as follows and test.

From the Control Panel, go to "Hardware and Sound" >> "Power Options" and open "Select or Customize Power Plan".

I think the current settings are probably "balanced (recommended)".
Switch this to "high performance".

Check if dropouts occur in this state.

 

[Snafu]

Thanks for the reply @Toku. When listening tidal laptop is usually all the time plugged in. These happened with battery too.
I contacted tidal and they were looking something in their end and there haven't been any problems since last post.

This Asus UX360CA has M3, ssd and 3200 x 1800 touch screen, i didn't want high power version because i don't need it and battery life is better like this (+better display).

Thanks again, looks like tidal is back to normal

 

[mykeldg]

i used a powerbank just to test and it did sound different. I don't know which one is better but thru the power bank, it sounds warmer, focused. Via a phone charger it seems its brighter and more lively. I preferred the latter even though the powerbank should technically be the the superior / cleaner power.

 

[ninetylol]

i used a powerbank just to test and it did sound different. I don't know which one is better but thru the power bank, it sounds warmer, focused. Via a phone charger it seems its brighter and more lively. I preferred the latter even though the powerbank should technically be the the superior / cleaner power.

Distortion often is recognized as in more detailed because sounds sound louder as they really are if they are dietorted. So it could be but I doubt you can hear the difference, maybe only if your non powerbank power source is really bad.

 

[mykeldg]

Distortion often is recognized as in more detailed because sounds sound louder as they really are if they are dietorted. So it could be but I doubt you can hear the difference, maybe only if your non powerbank power source is really bad.

my suspicion too. I have a modi multibit that measures poorly and it does sound much sharper and muddier at the same time!

 

[AudioJunky]

Just posting my burn in on my D50s. Had it since July. Pretty sure it was always on lowest brightness and auto off. The COAX looks better, which is probably what burned in though it still looks "off". I rarely look at the display and it's far from the listening position so not sure how long ago this occurred.

 

[BogdanR]

You should see the screen on my old E17 which has no auto off whatsoever. It is terrible. I’m not sure why they insist on using these... I’d be fine with a simple illuminated liquid crystal thing.

 

[Gradius]

You should see the screen on my old E17 which has no auto off whatsoever. It is terrible. I’m not sure why they insist on using these... I’d be fine with a simple illuminated liquid crystal thing.

It's called Planned Obsolescence.

Guess is time to see LCD options for this unit.

Someone opened their D50s? Which OLED uses? model? brand? etc?

Or have any service manual for this unit (would be much better).

 

[Gradius]

The OLED size on the unit is 0.96 inches (24.384mm) ? I have found a lot of 0.95 (24.13mm).

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000521964776.html

Edit:

Have found 0.96:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32896971385.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32643950109.html

 

[BogdanR]

I’m not even sure I want a display if I’m honest. A simple switched input with tiny LED witnesses would be enough. And perhaps an LED array of some sort to indicate operating bitrates/ modes. I like my old Arcam rDAC in this respect: simple and understated.

 

[jxs226]

I received a D50s via Drop last week and had a chance to use it for the first time yesterday, however, the unit failed to power up when connected either to my Macbook Pro via the supplied USB cable or to a 5V power supply. I promptly emailed Drop yesterday and still awaiting a response. Very disappointing all around.

 

[Timbo2]

I received a D50s via Drop last week and had a chance to use it for the first time yesterday, however, the unit failed to power up when connected either to my Macbook Pro via the supplied USB cable or to a 5V power supply. I promptly emailed Drop yesterday and still awaiting a response. Very disappointing all around.

I was part of the same "drop". Sorry to read about your troubles. To be clear it isn't powered by the USB port. It has to get power from the 5V line. It comes with a power cord, but no power supply. You have use your own USB power supply. Long shot - you need to plug it into 5V AND press the power button to get it to turn on.

 

[jxs226]

Thank you, Timbo2. I guess I misunderstood Amir's original post?

"For my testing, I just used the round 5 volt cable to USB that Topping provided. I simply plugged that into one of my USB 2.0 on my desktop workstation."

I was part of the same "drop". Sorry to read about your troubles. To be clear it isn't powered by the USB port. It has to get power from the 5V line. It comes with a power cord, but no power supply. You have use your own USB power supply. Long shot - you need to plug it into 5V AND press the power button to get it to turn on.

 

[ninetylol]

Usb is 5 volts too, although a separate wall charger is probably better quality power.

 

[Timbo2]

Thank you, Timbo2. I guess I misunderstood Amir's original post?

"For my testing, I just used the round 5 volt cable to USB that Topping provided. I simply plugged that into one of my USB 2.0 on my desktop workstation."

Try using any 5V USB charger you have for a phone. It doesn't take much current so even a very old one from the early days of the USB 2.0 standard will work.