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Review and Measurements of the Topping D70 DAC

Audio Flynn

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UPDATE....Being such an old fart from the complexities of my days working in DOS and Assembler I get crazy and forget how easy BT can be. My Google Anroid phone found the D70 easily with no pairing function needed by the D70. I am listening to the New York public radio WQXR station app for classical music at 96K. Impressive!
 

BDWoody

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UPDATE....Being such an old fart from the complexities of my days working in DOS and Assembler I get crazy and forget how easy BT can be. My Google Anroid phone found the D70 easily with no pairing function needed by the D70. I am listening to the New York public radio WQXR station app for classical music at 96K. Impressive!

It really is amazing to me how well most of this stuff just works.
I occasionally relate stories from days gone by about upgrading pc's...and the particular potential nightmare of changing Modem's...

Even a printer might take half a day.

Things are indeed so much easier.
 

Audio Flynn

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It really is amazing to me how well most of this stuff just works.
I occasionally relate stories from days gone by about upgrading pc's...and the particular potential nightmare of changing Modem's...

Even a printer might take half a day.

Things are indeed so much easier.
I know in the early to mid 90s it took all weekend to configure a SCSI scanner with OCR for my wife to archive educator and Girl Scout hard copies that were TYPED. Oddly I liked DOS better than Windows 3.1.
 

cfwiggam

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Just registered here to ask a few questions about my D70 that I just got from Amazon. I bought a D50 originally as a stopgap while I was troubleshooting some other issues. I liked it so I bought a D70 so I can use the XLR outs to my Preamp.

Now that I have everything back in place, with the D70 I am getting a popping sound when changing channels on my TV (TV is hooked to the D70 via Optical). This is very unacceptable to me. My previous 4 DACs never had this popping. Im pretty sure the D50 didnt have this issue either. I also sometimes get the popping from my PC audio source (coming in via USB to the D70). I dont know if I have a faulty unit or what. I have already setup a replacement from Amazon. I will try the new unit and if it has the same popping issues, I am done with Topping.

The other issue I wanted to bring up is if anyone has figured out any discrete remote commands for Topping.?. I use a Logitech Harmony and the codes are in the code base, but the input selections are not discrete (just 'Next' and 'Previous'). This pretty much never works out with a universal remote. The remote ends up trying to count the amount of times it has to send the 'Next' command. Discrete codes would eliminate this issue.
 

cfwiggam

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Got my replacement D70 and hooked it up yesterday. This new unit is doing the same as the last one. When using the optical coming from my TV, everytime I change the channel on the TV, I get a popping sound. This is unacceptable. I am returning. It might measure well, but that doesnt cover real world use cases.
 

TomB19

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What software are you using?

I had nasty popping when using a LibreELEC/Kodi with a Topping D30. It happened between songs and when switching between video/music. It was brutal and, I'm sure, damaging to the speakers. I believe it's an artifact of the software opening/closing the channel to the DAC. This is why I changed to a D50s which rarely clicks and has never made a loud pop.

Several folks on here said their D30 never made noise but none of them were running the same software.

I do believe the Topping should be resiliant to opening/closing a stream. I'm not sure it is.

It could also be possible the linux based system is sending something the DAC is not expecting and thus processing as audio content.

If it's the former, I believe it would be a function of the DSP chip and not something caused by the Topping company. If it's the latter, which I suspect, it will be fixable with software.

I haven't played around with it much, other than swapping in a D50s.
 

cfwiggam

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For PC audio I use Foobar. But the popping also happens with my TV and the optical input to the D70. If I knew Topping was working on the issue, I might keep it, but for now I have decided to return this second D70. Maybe I will contact Topping and let them know about it.
 

yodog

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What software are you using?

I had nasty popping when using a LibreELEC/Kodi with a Topping D30. It happened between songs and when switching between video/music. It was brutal and, I'm sure, damaging to the speakers. I believe it's an artifact of the software opening/closing the channel to the DAC. This is why I changed to a D50s which rarely clicks and has never made a loud pop.

Several folks on here said their D30 never made noise but none of them were running the same software.

I do believe the Topping should be resiliant to opening/closing a stream. I'm not sure it is.

It could also be possible the linux based system is sending something the DAC is not expecting and thus processing as audio content.

If it's the former, I believe it would be a function of the DSP chip and not something caused by the Topping company. If it's the latter, which I suspect, it will be fixable with software.

I haven't played around with it much, other than swapping in a D50s.

hows the d50s sound in comparison to the d30?
 

TomB19

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hows the d50s sound in comparison to the d30?

I'm struggling with my system, at the moment. The room is torn apart while I add some corner traps, absorption to the walls, and a coffered ceiling. The room is not cubical, or anything close, but it has some absolutely horrible sonic characteristics.

I'd be pleased to offer an opinion, once I receive my copy of the A50 headphone amp. It is expected this week. At that point, I will have a highly resolving system that will improve my confidence in the results.
 

TomB19

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Further...

By connecting REW directly to the DAC on the output side and a UMIK-1 on the input side, followed by downloading DRC information into a miniDSP, I have effectively airbrushed away any sonic signature of the DAC in my effort to tape my room problems. The headphone setup will be a more controlled comparison.
 
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cfwiggam

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Got a reply from Topping regarding the popping from the D70 units:

"Thank you for contacting TOPPING support. We are happy to assist.

There is a slight pop sound when switching the bitrate. It is caused by DAC chip, which has been suppressed but cannot be completely eliminated. It is controlled by hardware and cannot fix by updating the firmware."

So it looks like this popping issue will always be a problem with this model. There is no fix for it. This unit will be returned. That is unacceptable. I dont want to damage my other equipment.
 

Pluto

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Just how loud is this noise? I have a D70 and there is indeed a small click when a digital discontinuity occurs while using the optical input which, in my case, is fed from the TV. Digital outputs from TVs are notoriously unstable and it is not really the responsibility of the DAC to clean up each and every discontinuity.

Unless you have an unusually large amount of gain following the DAC, I somehow doubt that such clicks will get anywhere close to causing damage.
 

cfwiggam

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I doubt I have an abnormal amount of gain. The D70 is feeding a Nuforce MCP-18 via XLR. The NuForce is feeding a Marsh Sound Design Amp via XLR as well.

I already sent back my D50 DAC but I dont think it had this popping. My Schiit Gungnir also does not have this popping.
 

kkeretic

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I doubt I have an abnormal amount of gain. The D70 is feeding a Nuforce MCP-18 via XLR. The NuForce is feeding a Marsh Sound Design Amp via XLR as well.
I already sent back my D50 DAC but I dont think it had this popping. My Schiit Gungnir also does not have this popping.

Well, I have both D50s and D70. The D70 made a pop maybe 4-5 times since I purchased it a month ago. And it made these pops usually when just turned on and on the first play. I am driving it through the USB (Windows 10 + Foobar + ASIO + Topping driver + D70 with preamp turned off). Never heard it from the optical connected to the LG C8 TV. Haven't heard the D50s yet to pop.
 

jaco5454

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Witaj ,
Mam wzmacniacz SMSL A8, który gra z głośnikami Tannoy Revolution XT 6 F, mam pytanie, czy zakup DAC Topping D70 i podłączenie go do tego wzmacniacza znacznie poprawi jakość dźwięku tego zestawu? Czy to nie ma sensu?
ps. Jestem z Polski i piszę przez tłumacza, przepraszam za taką pisownię.
 

cfwiggam

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Well, I have both D50s and D70. The D70 made a pop maybe 4-5 times since I purchased it a month ago. And it made these pops usually when just turned on and on the first play. I am driving it through the USB (Windows 10 + Foobar + ASIO + Topping driver + D70 with preamp turned off). Never heard it from the optical connected to the LG C8 TV. Haven't heard the D50s yet to pop.

Both of the D70's I have had pop when turning off as well. My PC audio setup is very similar to yours. My TV is an LG B6 OLED. It pops everytime we change the channel. It sounds bad enough that my wife asked me if "that sound" is damaging the speakers when we were watching TV.

I am definitely returning this second D70.
 

yodog

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Can the D50s switch modes to be just a DAC or a DAC+PreAmp like the D70 can?
 

kkeretic

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Can the D50s switch modes to be just a DAC or a DAC+PreAmp like the D70 can?

I was also looking for an option and didn't find it. But, to be honest, I can't say I can hear some significant difference on the D70, if any.
 
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