Review and Measurements of the Topping D70 DAC

[zym1010]

[QUOTE = "zym1010, post: 228814, członek: 7885"] Słuchałem w aparacie filtrów uzyskać uczciwe porównanie. Ale w każdym razie myślę, że zamierzam sprzedać mój D70 wymagają, które go lubią. [/ QUOTE]

I only listen in this setting. I have the same opinion as you at 0db

Cool. looks that I can delay my selling of D70 a bit...

 

[Guy55]

The output stage has too small resistors and maybe LME49720 is not too strong for that task. Neither 100uF in series capacitors are not perfect transparent, maybe there is a phase change at the low frequency. Maybe Amirm will showing us the frequency response. I changed the resistors values and I eliminated that capacitors and the sound has much more punch.

Very interesting your idea to improve topping d70 sounds. I would like to do it. Please help me by indicating (attached pictures or file) what resistors and its value to change. Could i eliminate 8 capacitors by shunting it ? Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[BDWoody]

The output stage has too small resistors and maybe LME49720 is not too strong for that task. Neither 100uF in series capacitors are not perfect transparent, maybe there is a phase change at the low frequency. Maybe Amirm will showing us the frequency response. I changed the resistors values and I eliminated that capacitors and the sound has much more punch.

I am guessing you determined this 'much more punch' difference through a purely uncontrolled listening session after your mods...right?

Do you realize that means nothing? Without levels matched and tested blind, that conclusion is not meaningful... Unless your mods screwed it up enough to hear a difference...

 

[BDWoody]

Very interesting your idea to improve topping d70 sounds. I would like to do it. Please help me by indicating (attached pictures or file) what resistors and its value to change. Could i eliminate 8 capacitors by shunting it ? Thanks in advance for your response.

My suggestion would be to start a new thread with the suggested modification...

 

[Deleted member 2944]

The output stage has too small resistors and maybe LME49720 is not too strong for that task. Neither 100uF in series capacitors are not perfect transparent, maybe there is a phase change at the low frequency. Maybe Amirm will showing us the frequency response. I changed the resistors values and I eliminated that capacitors and the sound has much more punch.

The output circuit appears to be right out of the AK4497 data sheet. (Fc probably about 0.2Hz.)

You do know what you're doing, yes???

Dave.

 

[IslandMD]

My suggestion would be to start a new thread with the suggested modification...

Great idea. With so many great DACs on the market why would anyone ruin a perfectly good DAC with silly modifications that could easily do more harm than good. If you've convinced yourself you don't like the sound, move on to something else. Personally, I really like the sound of my D70.

 

[zym1010]

For those interested, I'm selling my D70 at a bargain price. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...labs-atom-amplifier-and-topping-d70-dac.9024/

 

[bequietjk]

Insane deal. o_o

 

[chalex]

Very interesting your idea to improve topping d70 sounds. I would like to do it. Please help me by indicating (attached pictures or file) what resistors and its value to change. Could i eliminate 8 capacitors by shunting it ? Thanks in advance for your response.

Sabaj D5 - opa1612 , datasheet ak4497 - example for LPF - opa1612 , topping dx3 pro - opa1612 . D70 - lme49720 . It may be ... Or not .

 

[Maz1]

Quick question here, trying to understand the intermodulation distortion. So since it rises after -12db, is it wiser to run the dac at -15db and control the volume from the amp? Is there any drawback for not running it at 0db? Will feed to an atom amp and later hopefully a monolith 887.

 

[chalex]

Listen in DAC mode - and if you don't hear anything bad - forget about the charts .

 

[KingFiercer]

Quick question here, trying to understand the intermodulation distortion. So since it rises after -12db, is it wiser to run the dac at -15db and control the volume from the amp? Is there any drawback for not running it at 0db? Will feed to an atom amp and later hopefully a monolith 887.

I compared many times and noticed that at -12db there is a decrease in bass punch and dynamics. So I use only 0db DAC mode, it's best for me.
Maybe this is a feature of my amplifier with a lower signal, but I don't have another amplifier to check it.

 

[Maz1]

But is my interpretation of the graph correct? As in, if I choose to run it at -12db there is less noise coming from the DAC? Or is it that regardless of the db level set in the DAC, it will run through the frequencies depending on the demand/song

Listen in DAC mode - and if you don't hear anything bad - forget about the charts .

What is DAC mode? Just FYI I havent bought the DAC yet im choosing between the D70 and D50s

 

[zym1010]

I compared many times and noticed that at -12db there is a decrease in bass punch and dynamics. So I use only 0db DAC mode, it's best for me.
Maybe this is a feature of my amplifier with a lower signal, but I don't have another amplifier to check it.

So according to another member -12db has an increase in bass than 0db. I guess everyone's ears are different.

 

[Yachary]

I compared many times and noticed that at -12db there is a decrease in bass punch and dynamics. So I use only 0db DAC mode, it's best for me.
Maybe this is a feature of my amplifier with a lower signal, but I don't have another amplifier to check it.

So according to another member -12db has an increase in bass than 0db. I guess everyone's ears are different.

That's why we need audiosciencereview.

 

[wtsz]

So according to another member -12db has an increase in bass than 0db. I guess everyone's ears are different.

The headphones do not have such a big difference (at least on mine). The loudspeakers is huge. The dynamics may seem smaller, but it's voodoo.
The sounds of bass and soprano with -12dB are "longer".
In my opinion, this could be examined again.

 

[frogmeat69]

Available on Drop for $425, https://drop.com/buy/topping-d70-dac

 

[j-j-lucifer]

I am debating between the D50s and the D70 . My setup is two powered monitors (Emotiva Airmotiv 4s ) and a subwoofer (Sunfire SDS-12) . My original plan was the D70 because I wanted to use the balanced inputs on my Airmotivs to see if they sound any different, and use the unbalanced outputs to connect my sub. But now I am worried that if I do that with the D70, the unbalanced outputs are only half the voltage of the balanced outputs so the volume will be off between the sub and the monitors. This is making me consider just using the unbalanced outputs to the sub, and from sub to the Airmotivs. And in this case, I might as well go with the D50s. Thoughts?

 

[mkawa]

use a summing box to connect your sub. you can use higher resistance values than the ones specified here:

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/forum/tech-talk-forum/60443-stereo-to-mono-summing-circuit

the principle is the same as long as the resistor ratios remain the same.

i went with a d50s (i think, still auditioning) because it's less expensive and my amplifier is not fully balanced. everything is physically stacked in my system so that an 18" RCA cable is plenty long. even the sub is only a couple feet away. it sounds really good. further improvements to SINAD are almost certainly not going to be audible and the noise floor of my AMP + DSP combo is higher than the d50s floor.

note that my system is nothing to sneeze at -- axiom audio omnidirectional LFR880s + ADA1000 DSP amp + EP500 sub. i am powering the d50s with a lab instrumentation power supply -- an agilent e3610 -- as i do with all my low voltage and power boxes.

prior to this, i was running an smsl sanskrit 10th and/or sanskrit 6th, but the spdif performance was too poor for the new amp (previously i had an smsl sa-160 driving axiom M80s) and speakers, no sub.

hope that helps. the d50s performance is really fantastic both for the money and objectively. my general feeling is that unless you know you can benefit from balanced signal all the way from DAC to speaker drivers, single ended and short cables sounds the same as fully balanced.

loudspeakers are also fundamentally different from headphones, where balanced makes a big big difference, but largely because headphones have reallllly long cables attached to them that you can't avoid.

 

[Deleted member 2944]

He's splitting, not summing.

Regardless, just trim the Emotiva and/or the Sunfire to account for the 6db difference.

Dave.