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Review and Measurements of Topping D50 DAC

Kiko1974

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My journey with dacs started 6 years ago, when I bought Fiio entry level dac. Within few days I upgraded to Fostex HP3 dac, which was far better than Fiio. I had fostex dac for more than 2 years and during that time, I started auditioning other dacs. Through experience, I realized, though fostex was a good dac with clear sound but it was more on analytical side, sounding bit thin and not having enough bass and highs.

I moved on to Chord Mojo, after reading raving reviews from various forums and experts. Finally, bought Chord Mojo, I was amazed with the sound and it still amazes me. I use it along with Luxman 505ux integrated amp. The only downside is, it gets hot very fast. If you keep it on charging while playing than it trips in summer due to the heat it generates.

I decided to have one more dac, alongside Chord to take care of various sources (Apple TV, Laptop, TV etc..). I read good reviews about Topping D50 on this forum and finally bought it in last weekend. It was delivered in a day and I immediately hooked up with Toslink input from apple TV and output feeding into Luxman integrated amp. Immediately impressed with the sound very detailed, nice separation, deep and tight bass and lush highs.

I did a/b to compare against Chord Mojo... I didn’t notice too much difference, but few things stands out in D50
1. Better extended highs than chord
2. Better instruments separation
3. A bit more bass
But one thing where Chord stands out is, better mid level bass, which makes sound more musical.

My question is , does Topping D50 has thinner mid level bass compared to Chord Mojo or I need to give some more burn in time...
Let it break in for at least 50 hours then you will hear what the D50 has to give. When I got mine around 6 months ago I also thought it sounded a bit thin at the begining but after several hours of break in (I left it ON for several hours in a row playing Hi Res music from a Sony UBP X-800 UHD BD player, files were on a SSD) it sounded as it does now,accurate.
Keep atention to the power supply as it will have an impact on the sound of your D50. I feed my D50 with a high capacity powerbank, a 22400 mAh EC Technology I got from Amazon, it's power supply is very stable.
Between my D50 and the amp is conected to I have a Yaqin SD-CD3 Tube Buffer that makes the D50 sound fatter, with wider soundstage and silky mids and high, but not with the supplied tubes, I had to spend 75 € on a pair of NOS JAN (tubes made for the US military and navy) Philips 6SN7GTA.
The mind does wonderous things.

So do good tubes, I have a pair of NOS and in their originalboxes RCA 6SN7 GTB with black plates on the way, they're one of the best 6SN7 tubes ever made, I can't wait to try them with my D50.
 

Kiko1974

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My journey with dacs started 6 years ago, when I bought Fiio entry level dac. Within few days I upgraded to Fostex HP3 dac, which was far better than Fiio. I had fostex dac for more than 2 years and during that time, I started auditioning other dacs. Through experience, I realized, though fostex was a good dac with clear sound but it was more on analytical side, sounding bit thin and not having enough bass and highs.

I moved on to Chord Mojo, after reading raving reviews from various forums and experts. Finally, bought Chord Mojo, I was amazed with the sound and it still amazes me. I use it along with Luxman 505ux integrated amp. The only downside is, it gets hot very fast. If you keep it on charging while playing than it trips in summer due to the heat it generates.

I decided to have one more dac, alongside Chord to take care of various sources (Apple TV, Laptop, TV etc..). I read good reviews about Topping D50 on this forum and finally bought it in last weekend. It was delivered in a day and I immediately hooked up with Toslink input from apple TV and output feeding into Luxman integrated amp. Immediately impressed with the sound very detailed, nice separation, deep and tight bass and lush highs.

I did a/b to compare against Chord Mojo... I didn’t notice too much difference, but few things stands out in D50
1. Better extended highs than chord
2. Better instruments separation
3. A bit more bass
But one thing where Chord stands out is, better mid level bass, which makes sound more musical.

My question is , does Topping D50 has thinner mid level bass compared to Chord Mojo or I need to give some more burn in time...
Let it break in for at least 50 hours then you will hear what the D50 has to give. When I got mine around 6 months ago I also thought it sounded a bit thin at the begining but after several hours of break in (I left it ON for several hours in a row playing Hi Res music from a Sony UBP X-800 UHD BD player, files were on a SSD) it sounded as it does now,accurate.
Keep atention to the power supply as it will have an impact on the sound of your D50. I feed my D50 with a high capacity powerbank, a 22400 mAh EC Technology I got from Amazon, it's power supply is very stable.
Between my D50 and the amp is conected to I have a Yaqin SD-CD3 Tube Buffer that makes the D50 sound fatter, with wider soundstage and silky mids and high, but not with the supplied tubes, I had to spend 75 € on a pair of NOS JAN (tubes made for the US military and navy) Philips 6SN7GTA.
The mind does wonderous things.

So do good tubes, I have a pair of NOS and in their originalboxes RCA 6SN7 GTB with black plates on the way, they're one of the best 6SN7 tubes ever made, I can't wait to try them with my D50
 

daftcombo

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Let it break in for at least 50 hours then you will hear what the D50 has to give. When I got mine around 6 months ago I also thought it sounded a bit thin at the begining but after several hours of break in (I left it ON for several hours in a row playing Hi Res music from a Sony UBP X-800 UHD BD player, files were on a SSD) it sounded as it does now,accurate.
You ears got used to it.

Keep atention to the power supply as it will have an impact on the sound of your D50. I feed my D50 with a high capacity powerbank, a 22400 mAh EC Technology I got from Amazon, it's power supply is very stable.
Auto-suggestion?

No measurements have ever shown any possible audible impact of those phenomena, as far as I know.
 

Kiko1974

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No measurements have ever shown any possible audible impact of those phenomena, as far as I know.

Maybe amirm could tell us if he has noticed differences in sound using different kinds of power supplies. As far as I know the use of a linear power supply DOES have an impact on sound quality. I remember back in the late 1990's I went to an audio show were a pair of power stages plus their matching preamp were shown. Both the power stages and the preamp were connected to the mains that charged the batteries that powered them, so they actually worked with batteries. As the demo host said,batteries were chosen as he said GOOD (and he stated it several times with emphasis)batteries are the most stable power source. I know power from the mains is very dirty with plenty of EMI, current fluctuations and frequency instability but nothing a good linear power supply can solve. If it happens I can feed my D/A converter with a good quality powerbank that delivers dead stable current (I've tested it with an USB voltage, ampereres, power consumption etc tester), then that's what I'm using as I only used it for a travel two years ago and I've never used it again, apart from some ocasional mobile phone charging with it at home and then charging the powerbank again for manteinance. My point is, I already had a high capacity and quality powerbank, I didn't buy it on purpose, it was just taking space in a drawer, so I put it to use and gave it a purpose.
 

Veri

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Maybe amirm could tell us if he has noticed differences in sound using different kinds of power supplies. As far as I know the use of a linear power supply DOES have an impact on sound quality.
The forum has a search function...
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...o-you-need-linear-power-supply-for-dacs.7021/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-the-hdplex-200w-supply.7713/

batteries were chosen as he said GOOD (and he stated it several times with emphasis)batteries are the most stable power source. I know power from the mains is very dirty with plenty of EMI, current fluctuations and frequency instability but nothing a good linear power supply can solve
There's plenty of batteries that will have more noise than a well made power supply. There's so much 'myths' about this stuff, it's ridiculous
 
Last edited:

MWC

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Maybe amirm could tell us if he has noticed differences in sound using different kinds of power supplies. As far as I know the use of a linear power supply DOES have an impact on sound quality. I remember back in the late 1990's I went to an audio show were a pair of power stages plus their matching preamp were shown. Both the power stages and the preamp were connected to the mains that charged the batteries that powered them, so they actually worked with batteries. As the demo host said,batteries were chosen as he said GOOD (and he stated it several times with emphasis)batteries are the most stable power source. I know power from the mains is very dirty with plenty of EMI, current fluctuations and frequency instability but nothing a good linear power supply can solve. If it happens I can feed my D/A converter with a good quality powerbank that delivers dead stable current (I've tested it with an USB voltage, ampereres, power consumption etc tester), then that's what I'm using as I only used it for a travel two years ago and I've never used it again, apart from some ocasional mobile phone charging with it at home and then charging the powerbank again for manteinance. My point is, I already had a high capacity and quality powerbank, I didn't buy it on purpose, it was just taking space in a drawer, so I put it to use and gave it a purpose.
It seems perfectly sensible, to me, as you describe it, to use a power-bank that you had 'in the drawer already' rather than search for and buy a suitable phone charger. In my case, I happened to have a suitable phone charger, that seems to do the job nicely. I wonder, if we swapped supplies, if either of us would hear any difference, but at least we did not need to fork out cash for a new power supply :)

However one might like to keep in mind the ASR findings on power supplies, that Veri mentions above.

I happen to be supplying power to my D50 via a phone charger, plugged into the house mains, which comes from large solar batteries.
 
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Kiko1974

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It seems perfectly sensible, to me, as you describe it, to use a power-bank that you had 'in the drawer already' rather than search for and buy a suitable phone charger. In my case, I happened to have a suitable phone charger, that seems to do the job nicely. I wonder, if we swapped supplies, if either of us would hear any difference, but at least we did not need to fork out cash for a new power supply :)

However one might like to keep in mind the ASR findings on power supplies, that Veri mentions above.

I happen to be supplying power to my D50 via a phone charger, plugged into the house mains, which comes from large solar batteries.

What you're saying here is very cool, I'd which we could all do as you, produce our own electicity without poluting the enviroment. Your house's electricity should be very clean as it doesn't come from an electric company power grid with a million devices connected to it.
 

zenki

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Not sure if this's the right place but need some help.

I got a D50 but now I need a headphone jack.
What are the options?

Thanks for any reply.
 

Veri

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Not sure if this's the right place but need some help.

I got a D50 but now I need a headphone jack.
What are the options?

Thanks for any reply.

You'd need an amp. Something like the JDS Atom is a cheap highly performing option.
 

MWC

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@zenki, One imagines you must already have an amp., maybe your amp has a 'phone jack? Or are you, like me, using powered monitors?
 

zenki

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I'm using an old all-in-1 sound station? (sorry not sure about terminology).
There's no headphone jack.

That Atom amp sounds good.
Thanks
 

Kiko1974

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I opened my D50, I was curious about how it looked inside. I removed the four screws from the bottom lid and then the two screws that fix the main circuit board. I'm impressed at how small or I should better say tiny, everything is, it's surprising that such tiny components achieve such a great sound.
I can't see very well,I'm blind from one eye, and despite using a magnifier I didn't get to distinguish the D/A IC's.
Also, there's a big gap between the rear connectors and the front display and buttons, this gap is filled by a big alumium chunk, I wonder if this is solid or hollow and if it's hollow what's inside of it.
 

aniki78

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Nice review @amirm
Could I connect this DAC to AUX input on Car Audio Head Unit?
I'm thinking to use this DAC between my phone as a media player and my car head unit.
 

aniki78

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Sure. Note that there is an updated version called D50s.
Thank you for your confirmation and I already have Fiio BTR3 for Bluetooth DAC/AMP, I'm still thinking between D50 & NX4 DSD as DAC only from its line out, what's your opinion on the improvement of D50 over NX4 DSD?
 

gvl

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Nice review @amirm
Could I connect this DAC to AUX input on Car Audio Head Unit?
I'm thinking to use this DAC between my phone as a media player and my car head unit.

While you could this will probably be a waste as the head will be a much weaker link in the chain not to mention all the road/car noise. I'd just get a cheapo powered USB hub and something like e1da-9038s and call it a day.
 
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