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Review and Measurements of New Topping D50s DAC

Voron

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Hello! I read a lot on your forum and thought about buying topping d50s! I'm asking for your help! I want to buy d50s to upgrade my hi-fi system! I have a Denon DCD 800ne player and a Cambridge audio azur 640A v2.0 amplifier, ELAC fs 58 speakers! the first question is should I buy d50s for cd playback (will I improve the sound quality?) And the second question! am I thinking correctly about connecting! initially denon player from him through optcheskiy cable on d50s, and from him through rca on amplifier on input cd or aux! I will be grateful for the answer! I can't find the answer anywhere! thanks in advance!
 

Voron

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Still wanted to add a question! if I shouldn't take the d50s! can you recommend anything to me? Listen to Rock and Metal!
 

yavormoskov

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Still wanted to add a question! if I shouldn't take the d50s! can you recommend anything to me? Listen to Rock and Metal!
Right now I listen to the Italian heavy metal band White skull using my Topping D50s and Presonus powered monitors..Very nice:cool:
If you want just to play music from your Denon DCD 800ne player probably something like Khadas tone board would be good enough. KTB is very well engineered and you can 3d print yourself a small case for cheap (the 3d printer files you can download from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3230306 or to purchase an aluminum enclosure from https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/alum...minum-case-for-khadas-tone-board-p-13626.html ).
If you want to play HD and LDAC Bluetooth audio, Topping D50S should be your choice. Plus, it is very convenient to control your volume from the remote.
Regarding the sound I can not hear a difference between both. Both are well engineered but Topping looks better with its heavy anodized aluminum enclosure and display. Sonically to my ears they sound the same or almost the same.
Both are going to improve your system but how much it depends on the quality and the condition of your other equipment.
Hope I helped.
 

nscrivener

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Hello everyone. 1st time post!

There does not appear to be many comments based on the Bluetooth capability of this device on the internet, so wanted to ask this forum if any other D50s owners have experienced issues trying to get LDAC or aptX HD working with the Topping D50s?

With Topping D50s, I can only get either aptX or ACC mode working. It actually defaults to ACC until I change it via smartphone to aptX (obviously with Android developer mode - active).

aptX HD and LDAC do not work at all . I have verified this with 3 smart phones and different audio devices.. LG G7, Galaxy S9 & S10. They all work with LDAC using FiiO M6 and Shanling M0. Cannot work at all on the Topping D50s.

Also, although the Bluetooth Ariel was tightened correctly to the back of the D50s unit , the top of the Ariel feels loose and can move from left to right easily with very little force (i mean very little..). Thinking if this is not normal, it may be the route cause of my problem?

Any user experience on Bluetooth aptX HD or LDAC either way (working or not) would be very grateful to try and get to my route cause. LDAC was one of the main reasons to switch from D10 for me.

I'd be interested to know the SINAD over the aptX HD and LDAC bluetooth connections. Many times devices that have bluetooth have a significant hit on the bluetooth. So is this a real hifi input or is it just another cheap addon?
 

Voron

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Hi! Yes thanks for the answer! now on your advice I'm looking at khadas! tell me for the cd player which version to take ( vim or generic?) How do I connect it to a denon cd player ? what cable to connect?
 

trotos

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Hello everyone. 1st time post!

There does not appear to be many comments based on the Bluetooth capability of this device on the internet, so wanted to ask this forum if any other D50s owners have experienced issues trying to get LDAC or aptX HD working with the Topping D50s?

With Topping D50s, I can only get either aptX or ACC mode working. It actually defaults to ACC until I change it via smartphone to aptX (obviously with Android developer mode - active).

aptX HD and LDAC do not work at all . I have verified this with 3 smart phones and different audio devices.. LG G7, Galaxy S9 & S10. They all work with LDAC using FiiO M6 and Shanling M0. Cannot work at all on the Topping D50s.

Also, although the Bluetooth Ariel was tightened correctly to the back of the D50s unit , the top of the Ariel feels loose and can move from left to right easily with very little force (i mean very little..). Thinking if this is not normal, it may be the route cause of my problem?

Any user experience on Bluetooth aptX HD or LDAC either way (working or not) would be very grateful to try and get to my route cause. LDAC was one of the main reasons to switch from D10 for me.

Just got my topping D50s and connected with my android (HUAWEI P10 mate pro) and the phone indicates that I got an LDAC connection.

BUT

there is lots of lagging
 

kevity

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Anyone have any issues with the Bluetooth remaining on even after you power off the D50S?
 

MediumRare

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LDAC is lossy, so I think you would just end up measuring the performance of LDAC rather than the D50s.
personally, that would be relevant to me.

And if LDAC is lossy, is there another protocol that’s better? I understood that LDAC has the highest bit rate of all the Bluetooth protocols.
 

Berwhale

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personally, that would be relevant to me.

And if LDAC is lossy, is there another protocol that’s better? I understood that LDAC has the highest bit rate of all the Bluetooth protocols.

It's a complex subject. I'm happy with LDAC with my Note 9 and ES100 and I feel it sounds better than the other codecs I could use, but that's a purely subjective opinion. Have a read of this: https://habr.com/en/post/456182/

I should add that I can't discern any difference in SQ between my D50s fed from USB and it fed from LDAC over Bluetooth (Using JDS Atom Amp and AKG712Pro headphones). I haven't tried any other codecs and none of this 'testing' was blind.
 
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ozz

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If I hook a headphone amp to this, does the volume control only work from the amp or can the dac change volume (by remote) too?
 

Tks

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Anyone have any issues with the Bluetooth remaining on even after you power off the D50S?

I think that is on purpose to detect input activity. At least the Topping DX3Pro I have does that. Seeing as how the unit is never truly "off" instead is just in sleep mode so to speak.

My Vanatoo T1 Encore's also have this function.
 

Berwhale

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If I hook a headphone amp to this, does the volume control only work from the amp or can the dac change volume (by remote) too?

You can change the volume on either. D50s will be a digital volume control, a headphone amp (like the JDS Atom I have) will probably have an analogue volume control. There are a few discussions on ASR debating the relative merits of digital vs analogue volume control. I leave my D50s volume on max (0dB) and only use the Atom because I have to turn the Atom volume knob to turn it on anyway.
 

Berwhale

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Anyone have any issues with the Bluetooth remaining on even after you power off the D50S?

My phone will connect to the D50s when it is powered off (after the display says SEE YOU, and you hear a relay click). The phone says that the D50s is connected for audio and will attempt to play music to it. However, the D50s shows no signs of life, the display is off and changing the volume on the front panel does not light the display as it usually would, no output is being sent to my Atom amp. This is with the D50s input set to USB on the D50s as I usually have it.

If I set the D50s to Bluetooth input before turning it off, then the D50s does wake up when a Bluetooth connection is made and it works as expected.
 

ozz

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You can change the volume on either. D50s will be a digital volume control, a headphone amp (like the JDS Atom I have) will probably have an analogue volume control. There are a few discussions on ASR debating the relative merits of digital vs analogue volume control. I leave my D50s volume on max (0dB) and only use the Atom because I have to turn the Atom volume knob to turn it on anyway.

So it would be possible to put amp volume at 50% or 100% or whatever and change volume with the remote of the D50s?
 

ozz

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Yes, exactly. 50% on the amp is a good balance to keep from amplifying too much noise as well.
Just so I understand it, because before I've read that the amp always control the volume, not the dac, is it possible in this case because the volume control is digital on the D50s or I was mistaken ?
 

MediumRare

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Just so I understand it, because before I've read that the amp always control the volume, not the dac, is it possible in this case because the volume control is digital on the D50s or I was mistaken ?
My understanding is yes, the digital volume control gives essentially perfect channel balance. The downside is it also amplifies the noise from the DAC, but with the noise on the D50s so low it's never going to be audible.

OTOH, the noise from the amp is potentially audible if amplified too much, so you don't want to crank that too high. Keeping the amp in the "sweetspot" also reduces the risk of inadvertent pops or clicks blowing out your speakers.

Experts, please correct me.
 
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Berwhale

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Just so I understand it, because before I've read that the amp always control the volume, not the dac, is it possible in this case because the volume control is digital on the D50s or I was mistaken ?

It's nothing to do with the D50's volume being digital. You could connect two analogue volume controls in series (i.e one feeding the other) and the the effected would be the same. Setting the first volume control to 50% would reduce the input to the second volume by 50% and it's output by the same amount.
 

MediumRare

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It's nothing to do with the D50's volume being digital. You could connect two analogue volume controls in series (i.e one feeding the other) and the the effected would be the same. Setting the first volume control to 50% would reduce the input to the second volume by 50% and it's output by the same amount.
Yes, all true. The question is: what approach, i.e. what combination of volume control, minimizes the injection of noise or distortion?
 

Berwhale

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Yes, all true. The question is: what approach, i.e. what combination of volume control, minimizes the injection of noise or distortion?

My understanding is...

A digital volume control has the effect of lowering the dynamic range of the DAC. Since the noise floor remains the same, the signal to noise ratio is decreased when the volume is lowered.

However, a well designed DAC (like the D50s) has an incredibly low noise floor and will therefore have an SNR that is much higher than any other device in the audio chain. So to have a chance of hearing audible noise from the DAC, you'd have to reduce digital volume massively whilst also amplifying the output of the DAC a great deal (to make the noise audible)
 
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