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Review and Measurements of Topping D50 DAC

frogmeat69

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many thanks, is there a British version of that please? Can't seem to find one. :)
Main reason I suggested that unit was that it is a linear supply, but a switching wall wart with the proper plug for your needs will be fine.

EDIT: See post above ^^^, lol.
 

Kiko1974

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I prefer to use a high quality powerbank, not any powerbank but a high quality and I'd like to insist on this. I check all my chargers and powerbanks with an USB tester that checks voltage, current in Amperes and power in Watts, I'll post the link for this tester on Aliexpress later.
I Use an E C Technology (these can be bought on any Amazon) 22400 mAh powerbank that is absolutely stable, with the USB tester it checks 5.2 Volts (0.2 Volts won't damage any device, there's always a tolerance) and 480 mAh when powering the Topping D50, and it stays at that without fluctuations of voltage and amperage.
I also have an 10400 mAh LG I got as a present and it's also very stable, it gives almost the same readings as the EC Technology, 5.1 Volts and same power consumption, 480 mAh. The 10400 mAh LG can provide up to 8 hours of music listening. It has 4 LEDs that shows its charge level (the same as the E C Technology) and when it got to the last LED I stopped the D50, I didn't want to overdischarge the LG.
I don't know how many hours of powering the D50 can the E C Technology provide as it has 22400 mAh, maybe 16 to 20 hours. I once listened to music with the D50 powered by the E C Technology for 5 hours in a row and it still had its four leds lighted.
Powering the D50 with my Mobile phone charger that gives 5 Volts at 3 Amperes definitely changes its sound for the worse.
The E C Technology 22400 mAh powerbank cost me 24 Euros two years ago. I bought it as I was going out for camping for three days and I wanted a powerbank with enough juice to charge my mobile phone and use 3 LED lights, I haven't really used it since then but I had the precaution of every three months charge my mobile phone with it (both actually as I did the same with the LG) and then recharge the powerbank.
I've also tested a friend's 15000mAh Xiaomi powerbank and it also tested very stable.
If anybody's interested on the USB tester here's the Aliexpress link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/9-1...?spm=a219c.10010108.1000001.12.41333de18qtaum
 

MWC

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I'm interested in using a powerbank but I'd prefer one that charges via solar panel. How long does it take to charge the e c Technology 22400mAh?
 

Viper Necklampy

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I see that after the cut-off, mode 4 line is 8dB lower than mode 5, what that mean?
 

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  • Topping D50 Filter Response Measurement.png
    Topping D50 Filter Response Measurement.png
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Vosya

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Are you sure?
It is enough to estimate the absolute value of the stop band of any of these graphs and compare it with the value declared by the manufacturer of es9038q2m. The worse value by tens of decibels can be explained either by the ugly implementation of the D50 DAC (which is very unlikely) or by measurements that do not correspond to reality.
 
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Viper Necklampy

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It is enough to estimate the absolute value of the stop band of any of these graphs and compare it with the value declared by the manufacturer of es9038q2m. The worse value by tens of decibels can be explained either by the ugly implementation of the D50 DAC (which is very unlikely) or by measurements that do not correspond to reality.
I see.. And what the 'stop band value' means in short?
 

Kiko1974

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What the graph with the different filters roll off is that filters 3 and 5 are the ones that have less impact on the audio band. Anyway, I assume that these filters only apply to red book resolution only. I don't play CD's at their native resolution, I rip all my CD's to FLAC (dBPoweramp has a FLAC mode which is "uncompressed", that is plain PCM data on a FLAC container what I find more reliable than wav) and then upconvert then to 176.4 Khz/24 bit, that makes them sound better, smoother, and at this resolution these filters are of no use.
 

vkvedam

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I have a question for someone who is using Chromecast Audio with D50?

Do you see the bit depth always being displayed as 24-Bit? That's what I am seeing in my case.
 

Kiko1974

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What is this strange assumption based on?
In what regard do you see my statement "strange"? As shown by the manufacturer these filters work on the audio band and up to 22.05 Khz, which is red book resolution. We can't know for sure how these different filters look/behave on a graph with a sampling frequency of 96 Khz that gets a practical frequency response of 48 Khz, not shown on the graphs of how these filters behave, or a 192 Khz sampling rate with its practical frequency response of 96 Khz, also not shown on the filters graph.
I have around 500 Gigs of Hi Res Music (one of third of this music is DSD64 ripped from my own SACD's) with resolutions ranging from 44.1-48 Khz/24 bit, 96 Khz/24 bit and 176.4-192 Khz/24 bit and whith music files of 96 Khz/24 bit and higher I personally don't notice the effects of the different filters at all and my bets are because they're doing their job, but far far away from the audio band.
 

Vosya

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As shown by the manufacturer these filters work on the audio band and up to 22.05 Khz, which is red book resolution.
Where does the manufacturer claim this? Where did you get this nonsense?
I personally don't notice the effects of the different filters at all
Insufficient quality of sound-producing equipment or simply deafness will lead to a similar statement in relation to any property of the DAC.
 
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Kiko1974

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Where does the manufacturer claim this? Where did you get this nonsense?

Insufficient quality of sound-producing equipment or simply deafness will lead to a similar statement in relation to any property of the DAC.

Your taking my statements out of context. I'm saying that the maker, Topping, only shows the behavior of the 7 different filters with red book resolution, that is 44.1 Khz/16 bit, but says nothing about how these filters behave with Hi Res material, that is 96 Khz/24 bit that has a practical frequency response of 48 Khz, or 192 Khz/24 bit that has a practical resolution of 96 Khz. I enclose the frequency chart with the 7 filters from the Topping website.
egarding my hearing, I think it's fine and healthy, thank you.
My equipment is resolving enough to notice the effects of the 7 digital filters and choose filter 3 and sometimes 5 depending of the redbook material I'm playing. With some bright recordings filters 2 and 4 work great.
I think a pair of B&W 602's bi-ampped (not biwired) by a Pioneer Elite SC LX-76 A/V receiver (set to Analog Direct) with Mission Duet speaker cables between receiver and speakers and a Monster Cable RCA cable between the D50 and the Pioneer Elite receiver is resolving enough.
Allow me please a question Vosya: are you Russian or from an Eastern country?
9164c4ba-142c-44c6-9fb0-47001ed1a768.jpg
 

Kiko1974

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This may be of interest for some of you and on page 5 they discuss the effects of Sabre digital filters. On page 4 one thing they talk about is why Hi Res makes sense as a sampling frequency of 192 Khz needs a simpler filter that has no pre-ringing and totally supresses aliasing, and let's not forget, and this is my own opinion, that the further the filter is from the audio band the better. In fact, most people think that Hi Res music makes no sense as we don't need to digitize signal that are beyond our hearing and from this point of view they're right but moving the filter far away the audio band gets the audible audio band sound better to our ears.
https://www.audiostream.com/content...ied-todays-audio-dacs-resonessence-labs-techn
 

Vosya

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Topping, only shows the behavior of the 7 different filters with red book resolution, that is 44.1 Khz/16 bit, but says nothing about how these filters behave with Hi Res material
Re-read my posts again. They clearly indicate that I consider ESS Technology to be the а MANUFACTURER, and messages related to ES9038Q2M. If we operate with technical data from the manufacturer, and not speculations from the owners of the golden cables and ears, we will see the following:
0001.jpg

0002.jpg

This proves that the filters are applied to the PCM with ANY valid Frame Clock Rate (audio data sample rate) and the filters (Linear Phase Fast Roll Off, for example) provides the stated values for any fs.
 
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JeanMiK

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Hi,
I read and follow your interesting dispute with great interest, as I'm using a D50 and a DX7s on 2 different stereo systems.
I confess that I tried these various filters and couldn't hear a significant difference.
May I suggest that if there is in some cases a hearable difference, it could be because of the preamp/amplifier's 1st stage, its filtering etc, and maybe also of the influence of the damping factor on the output side.
That could explain a lot.
Cheers
J-M
 
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