Review and Measurements of New Topping D50s DAC

[amirm]

I'm impressed to see how well the DX3 Pro is performing against all the DACs being reviewed! I still don't feel the need to upgrade

There is a reason DX3 Pro is my everyday ride.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Dx3pro is also my daily driver. I don't feel like changing anytime soon. Unless it dies or I make a dac myself, I don't feel like changing it at all.

 

[letsgoo]

Can you pls compare this with the SMSL SU8?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Can you pls compare this with the SMSL SU8?

Lower thd at 1k and below. Higher thd 2k and above.
Similar noise performance.
D50s has no imd hump but su8 does.

 

[letsgoo]

Lower thd at 1k and below. Higher thd 2k and above.
Similar noise performance.
D50s has no imd hump but su8 does.

Nice!
Hm, the D50s is still not in the market, am I right?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Nice!
Hm, the D50s is still not in the market, am I right?

yes AFAIK

 

[Alderaan_Null]

Man, this comes out at just the right moment for me. I am upgrading my setup at my work desk, so this will pair nicely with my JDS Atom. Hopefully this doesn’t take long to start being sold by authorized resellers. Been really impressed by Toppings offerings lately (Their D70 pairs nicely with my THX 789)

 

[PorchSong]

Man, this comes out at just the right moment for me. I am upgrading my setup at my work desk, so this will pair nicely with my JDS Atom. Hopefully this doesn’t take long to start being sold by authorized resellers. Been really impressed by Toppings offerings lately (Their D70 pairs nicely with my THX 789)

I already have the D50 and love how it sounds and stacks with my Atom or my Aune X7s. I am also in queue for getting the THX (August shipping) and wanted to know how the D70 "stacks" with it. Would you take a pic and post your THX / D70 stack? They have slightly different dimensions and was wondering how they look stacked.

 

[maxxevv]

Based on specs, the THX is 23x21x5.7cm, the D70 being 25x19.5x5.1cm.

One is marginally wider, the other marginally deeper ( which is seldom an issue when stacked unless its dramatically different).

 

[Calexico]

@amirm why did topping tell you how they solved the hump? Do you work for them?
Why telling it only to you ??
Do you think this pb solved has drawbacks elsewhere?

 

[Andi]

All use the same code so they should all respond to the same signal just the same.

Does this mean that if I have a dx3 pro in the same room they will interfere with each other? Or is there a way to use separate channels?

 

[amirm]

@amirm why did topping tell you how they solved the hump? Do you work for them?
Why telling it only to you ??
Do you think this pb solved has drawbacks elsewhere?

I don't work for Topping, nor have any financial/work relationship with them whatsoever.

As to why they told me, I guess they know that when they tell me to keep something confidential, I do.

The visibility of this problem has shot way up and there is a race from various companies to fix it. Apparently ESS is not offering a solution so every company has to figure this out for themselves. Given the highly competitive nature of this audio business, Topping rather not teach others how they fixed the problem. They do feel however that others have also solved it or close to solving it. So there will be other options over time.

And no, there is no drawback at all as my measurements clearly show.

 

[amirm]

Does this mean that if I have a dx3 pro in the same room they will interfere with each other? Or is there a way to use separate channels?

If they are all in the same IR beam direction, yes, they will interfere. Try to place them in a way where pointing the remote at one, doesn't cover the other.

 

[LuckyLuke575]

I don't work for Topping, nor have any financial/work relationship with them whatsoever.

As to why they told me, I guess they know that when they tell me to keep something confidential, I do.

The visibility of this problem has shot way up and there is a race from various companies to fix it. Apparently ESS is not offering a solution so every company has to figure this out for themselves. Given the highly competitive nature of this audio business, Topping rather not teach others how they fixed the problem. They do feel however that others have also solved it or close to solving it. So there will be other options over time.

And no, there is no drawback at all as my measurements clearly show.

This is a common sense answer if there ever was one lol

I don't think it would be worth compromising one's integrity by siding with a single manufacturer. But with the ease of communication these days, I don't see this kind of communication being difficult to achieve. I've had written exchanges with Sennheiser engineers, so it can't be that hard.

 

[Grattle]

I don't work for Topping, nor have any financial/work relationship with them whatsoever.

As to why they told me, I guess they know that when they tell me to keep something confidential, I do.

The visibility of this problem has shot way up and there is a race from various companies to fix it. Apparently ESS is not offering a solution so every company has to figure this out for themselves. Given the highly competitive nature of this audio business, Topping rather not teach others how they fixed the problem. They do feel however that others have also solved it or close to solving it. So there will be other options over time.

And no, there is no drawback at all as my measurements clearly show.

ESS not giving their manufacturing customers a solution tells you everything you need to know about the company. I'm going to avoid them in the future. They're clearly not ethical.

 

[AudioJunky]

Still waiting for this dac to go on sale. I'll be using it with a custom built tpa3255 amplifier without volume control, along with the jds atom as a preamp/headphone amp. Would I have better results controlling Volume with the dac or preamp? Originally I had thought of setting the dac and atom at 80% of max volume and adjusting either/or to attain desired volume.

I'd be using this config at the couch with speakers or headphones so the remote for the dac is a huge selling point as I'd rather not have to get up and manually adjust the atom. I'll be serving the music through a raspberry pi and using Volumio.

I don't know yet if the atom as a preamp will have a similar setting for max volume of the speakers as max volume as the headphones, but that would be a miracle of that worked out.

Thanks in advance for helping out someone who is just beginning to see the light and is trying to learn best practice and config.

 

[Jim777]

ESS not giving their manufacturing customers a solution tells you everything you need to know about the company. I'm going to avoid them in the future. They're clearly not ethical.

Their "solution" will probably be a new chip

 

[letsgoo]

Hmm it is almost end of July and I still can't find it on Amazon. I really want this or the DX7Pro...

 

[Negatywny]

the D50s is not even in any way mentioned on the Topping website, isn't it pretty weird for a product already send for reviews and announced to retail on 20.07?

 

[letsgoo]

the D50s is not even in any way mentioned on the Topping website, isn't it pretty weird for a product already send for reviews and announced to retail on 20.07?

:-( if I knew it, I actually had to buy the D50 2 days ago. Since Prime Day it was 159 Euro but they just increased the price to 199 again... I actually need a dac for the Bluetooth Receiver now.
Is there any "cheap" but good DAC for the next time until D50s releases out?