Review and Measurements of Topping D50 DAC

[Leit]

Also hopped on the Aliexpress Sale-train. Will see how long it takes to arrive. 167€ + taxes, not too bad imho.

 

[Veri]

Also hopped on the Aliexpress Sale-train. Will see how long it takes to arrive. 167€ + taxes, not too bad imho.

At least we'll get it before Massdrop ships out :')

 

[jacobacci]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Has anyone looked at the quality of the D50's volume control. How does it perform when directly connected to active speakers or a power amplifier?
Thanks a lot

 

[Derfrost]

I'm pretty new in this stuff, can you help me? I need DAC and Amp and now i choose between Topping DX7s or Topping D50 + Amp (really don't know what will be better for D50, A30 maybe?
Thanks.

 

[Zek]

I need DAC and Amp

You probably thought about head-amp.

 

[dwalme]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Has anyone looked at the quality of the D50's volume control. How does it perform when directly connected to active speakers or a power amplifier?
Thanks a lot

The d50 is likely doing digital volume control with the ess chips.

Best performance will be connecting directly to your power amp.

 

[amirm]

I'm pretty new in this stuff, can you help me? I need DAC and Amp and now i choose between Topping DX7s or Topping D50 + Amp (really don't know what will be better for D50, A30 maybe?
Thanks.

Welcome to the forum. I have not tested the A30 but from reports, it will be similar to the amp inside to DX7s. So if that is your choice, go with the DX7s as it is a much nicer/larger unit with internal power supply and such.

On the other hand, both the A30 and DX7s have rather high output impedance. This means they are not so good with low impedance headphones with frequency response that varies. Which headphone do you have?

 

[Derfrost]

Hello Amir, thanks for your reviews!

Which headphone do you have?

AKG K712 Pro, also planning to buy Beyerdynamic dt 990 pro. Actually I have not decided yet what DAC/AMP to buy, my price range is 300-400$

 

[amirm]

AKG K712 Pro, also planning to buy Beyerdynamic dt 990 pro.

The AKG has a 60 ohm impedance so not the best fit to DX7s/A30. Hang in there if you can while I review more headphone amps to see what I can unearth.

 

[Derfrost]

Hang in there if you can while I review more headphone amps to see what I can unearth

Yeah sure. Thanks a lot.

 

[junki]

@amirm, if you the time, was wondering if you could help answer: could you hear any difference between the SDAC and the D50?

 

[Wombat]

If only Amirm were a 16 y.o. again - or a wax moth.

 

[Veri]

Also hopped on the Aliexpress Sale-train. Will see how long it takes to arrive. 167€ + taxes, not too bad imho.

Received message from "Hi-Fi College Store" on Aliexpress, what's weird is that it does say there is plenty of stock I don't know what the problem is

HI
Thank you for your purchase.
Your order payment is successful.
But it needs to wait until April 20 before the goods are shipped.
For some of us we are very sorry.
Can you add more time?
Inconvenience to you, please forgive me.

 

[junki]

Received message from "Hi-Fi College Store" on Aliexpress, what's weird is that it does say there is plenty of stock I don't know what the problem is

HI
Thank you for your purchase.
Your order payment is successful.
But it needs to wait until April 20 before the goods are shipped.
For some of us we are very sorry.
Can you add more time?
Inconvenience to you, please forgive me.

If you read the description for the item on every AliExpress store, it should clear right up.

 

[Veri]

If you read the description for the item on every AliExpress store, it should clear right up.

Okay this message is new, yes. "Please kindly note that D50 is short now , factory accepts reservation , the estimated delivery time is around 20th, April . If you can accept it, please extend the order proceeding time after you order it."

But still, note that every single Aliexpress store claims to have in "in stock, x pieces available" which is just BS.

 

[junki]

For those who wanted to see measurements of the EL DAC: http://blog.jdslabs.com/2018/03/el-dac-measurements-optical-vs-coaxial-vs-usb/

 

[amirm]

@amirm, if you the time, was wondering if you could help answer: could you hear any difference between the SDAC and the D50?

The SDAC is returned unfortunately so no chance for any AB testing.

 

[trl]

The AKG has a 60 ohm impedance so not the best fit to DX7s/A30. Hang in there if you can while I review more headphone amps to see what I can unearth.

It should match very well, I'm using my K701 with LME49600 and with TPA6120A2 too (both having 10 ohms protective resistors) and bass was not rolling off. Actually, down to 32 ohms I've heard no issues, instead with 16 ohms headphones the difference was quite obvious on both A/B tests and also in Vrms measurements with sine and square signals.

However, I think I've seen in Russ White's design (twistedpearaudio) a way to get rid of the 10-ohms resistors without being worry of oscillations. If I remember correctly it was an inductor in series with a very-low resistor (less than 5ohms per total). That should resolve the low-impedance cans with the TPA6120A and also with LME49600 that are using 10 ohms resistors at the end of the audio chain.

 

[trl]

It was the Venus and the trick was done to LME49600, but it should work with TPA6120A2 too. It should lower the output resistance to 0.035 Ohms (the coil is DR0608-103L):

As a rule of thumb if someone will do this mod, when connecting/disconnecting the headphones 3.5mm/6.3mm jack plug should definitely lower the volume or simply stop what is playing, because there's a short-circuit occuring when connecting/disconnecting the headphones and without the 10-ohms resistors the high volume might damage the output stage chip.

L.E.: PA found another solution (0.003 Ohms output impedance), too bad I don't have access to his schematic: http://sjostromaudio.com/pages/index.php/hifi-projects/128-qrv07-headphone-amp?showall=&start=6.

 

[amirm]

It was the Venus and the trick was done to LME49600, but it should work with TPA6120A2 too.

LME49600 has output protection but the TPA6120 does not. Presumably that is because absolutely minimum output impedance is 8 ohms. So your warning is wise at the end. This is why I wanted to play with just lowering that output resistance rather than using a coil that is a short at DC.