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Review and Measurements of New Topping D50s DAC

BDWoody

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USB compared to Coaxial has low performance in SQ. You have to invest to USB to Coaxial to get better performance from D50s.

No...really... You don't...

That's just a lot of nonsense...
 

BDWoody

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Ohhh yessssss , sorry i didnot want to hurt you. Have you listen to coaxial of d50s?

Indeed I have.

Can you explain in any technical sense how or why it sounds so much better?
 

sotiridaf

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I will do an MRI brain scan and tell you the THD of my brain , the output resistance of brain cells , the FR of my accoustic chambers ok?
 

BDWoody

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I will do an MRI brain scan and tell you the THD of my brain , the output resistance of brain cells , the FR of my accoustic chambers ok?

That's what I figured...

This is an Audio Science site...being asked to support uncontrolled subjective claims isn't an attack, it's trying to figure out what you are talking about.

These are digital sources. One set of 1's and 0's should be the same as the other, no? Unless you had a faulty cable or unit, there shouldn't be a difference. No need to get a converter...
 

Veri

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This is an Audio Science site...being asked to support uncontrolled subjective claims isn't an attack, it's trying to figure out what you are talking about.
These are digital sources. One set of 1's and 0's should be the same as the other, no? Unless you had a faulty cable or unit, there shouldn't be a difference. No need to get a converter...
Exactly. If you go post on an audio science forum and then feel personally attacked for being questioned about your "findings" about digital data, you're in the wrong place.
 

TomB19

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Digital sources do not mean perfect sources. I've had resampling hurt sq as much as problems in the analog domain.

In this case, it seems unlikely a USB to coaxial conversion would bear Fruit. If it does, topping is not doing their job properly but if someone were to test this thesis, it might be interesting.
 

Gradius

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USB to coaxial are limited to just 96kHz @ 24-bit.

They HARDLY can support 192kHz @ 24-bit.

In other words, what's the point to have a 768kHz @ 32-bit, and DSD512, DAC in first place ?
 

altefrau

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Today I received the Topping D50s.

Honestly, I can't discern any noticeable difference to the onboard sound of my - admittedly higher end - mainboard, ever so slightly. Both are fed through an headphone amp and into a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-1990.

I downloaded all sorts of files, streamed Tidal and Spotify - nothing.


--> Do you guys really hear a difference or can one just measure it? (honest question)
 

BDWoody

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Today I received the Topping D50s.

Honestly, I can't discern any noticeable difference to the onboard sound of my - admittedly higher end - mainboard, ever so slightly. Both are fed through an headphone amp and into a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-1990.

I downloaded all sorts of files, streamed Tidal and Spotify - nothing.


--> Do you guys really hear a difference or can one just measure it? (honest question)

You can trust your ears... It takes a pretty broken DAC to have any easily noticeable differences between them.

Once you've got competence, you can assume effective transparency.
 

TomB19

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Even the guys who say they can tell a difference between decent DACs indicate it's only some they can tell the difference between, they have to find just the right song, and then they have to find just the right nuance. From there, they can localize that nuance with both DACs and be pretty sure they can tell the difference.

Opinions on the difference between decent DACs vary from approximately zero to zero.
 

GeorgeWalk

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USB compared to Coaxial has low performance in SQ. You have to invest to USB to Coaxial to get better performance from D50s.

So for me , this dac is NOT recommended for USB as input.

I have this DAC and I have used all the inputs. USB has great performance and it is superb. Did you even read Amir's review? He did it with USB.
 

Gradius

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I downloaded all sorts of files, streamed Tidal and Spotify - nothing.

--> Do you guys really hear a difference or can one just measure it? (honest question)

You can only compare with high quality files (WAV, FLAC and DSD), at least 44.1kHz and 16-bit (HQ files is better).

From my modded Asus STX, and now modded D50s, yes, I can still find some "new" instruments (and nuances) I haven't never hear before.

This was enough to make me happy. Of course, I changed more than just the OP-Amps on D50s.

When I play DSD files the difference is easy to spot.
 

Gradius

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FYI, the unit uses a lot crystals (clocks), 5 in fact:

Master clocks:
45.1584MHz (the unit has just a 45.158MHz)
49.152MHz

Used by XMOS: 24MHz

Used by 2x ESS: 100MHz

Used by Bluetooth: 26MHz (I see no point to change this one).

You can change them with TCXO (higher precision)... if you want of course.
 

JohnYang1997

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FYI, the unit uses a lot crystals (clocks), 5 in fact:

Master clocks:
45.1584MHz (the unit has just a 45.158MHz)
49.152MHz

Used by XMOS: 24MHz

Used by 2x ESS: 100MHz

Used by Bluetooth: 26MHz (I see no point to change this one).

You can change them with TCXO (higher precision)... if you want of course.
There's only one for ESS. It's shared.
 

maxxevv

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You can only compare with high quality files (WAV, FLAC and DSD), at least 44.1kHz and 16-bit (HQ files is better).

From my modded Asus STX, and now modded D50s, yes, I can still find some "new" instruments (and nuances) I haven't never hear before.

This was enough to make me happy. Of course, I changed more than just the OP-Amps on D50s.

When I play DSD files the difference is easy to spot.

Try matching your SPL between different DACs at the headphone end.

Once you get within 0.2dB, and start comparing them blind, regardless of music, the differences will be very, very minor. And you'll have to listen to them very intently to pick up the differences , if any that is.

Unless of course on of the 2 DAC's is badly broken.
 

JohnYang1997

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Try matching your SPL between different DACs at the headphone end.

Once you get within 0.2dB, and start comparing them blind, regardless of music, the differences will be very, very minor. And you'll have to listen to them very intently to pick up the differences , if any that is.

Unless of course on of the 2 DAC's is badly broken.
Yes! He did it blind. But blindly modifying the devices.
 
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