I just created this profile solely to leave this review of the Topping D50s.
I have been an audiophile since 1982 and have owned a wide variety of gear including quite a few MC cartridges, high end tone arms, class A amps and many Japanese vinyl pressings. Much of that has been sold through moves to smaller houses. What I want to report to you is my experience with my current set-up that centers around the D50s.
My current set up is:
FLAC files local or streamed through Qubuz
iPhone
bluetooth
D50s (flat, no filters)
shit interconnects
Bedini 150/150 mk II Class A SS amp
shit speaker cables (25' long!)
Magnepan MG-IIc magnaplanar speakers
700 sq. ft, highly resonate listening room ( I don't think that this plays a large part, but felt the need to disclose).
Normally I would turn my nose up at quite a few of the "weak links" in this system. The "problem" is that none of them seem to matter.
This system is by far one of the best sounding systems I have ever heard. It is a little touchy on listening position as many electrostatics and magnaplanars require. It is not that touchy about speaker placement as I have them about 12" from the back wall. Some day I will experiment with putting the amps between the speakers with shorter cables but right now it performs flawlessly for about $1200 in gear!!
I should also say that I am 55 years old and there is some possibility that I no longer have the hearing of my 20 year old self, but I don't believe that is true, the amount of delicacy I am discerning would be absent if that were the case.
Here is what I am experiencing: Massive sound stage! The sound stage is wider than the speakers and about 20' deep. It has a dimensionality to it that I have never heard in a CD. When I hook up an Onkyo DX-710 (Very good DACs in those units,) the sound stage is cut in half. When I am using the Onkyo, I am also using a NAD pre-amp which could be the source off the limitation to be fair.
With the D50s I am able to hear the delicate in breath in female vocals, the dry skin of a drummer's hand on a conga, fingernails grazing a pick guard in flamenco music. The presence is just phenomenal. In the recordings I have chosen to audition, there is no perceptible digital signature. There is also no tube color but with this crispness, it is not missed.
In some tracks there is ambient sounds, the rustle of leave, creaking of oars, inrush of ocean waves dislodging sand grains. All of this detail is present in a way that I am unable to grasp in real life but am fully present to in isolation of my listening room. I am finding myself revisiting recordings that I thought I knew well and discovering a newfound love for flat-would strings in jazz guitar, the sizzle in hardangfiddle, the tonal signature of a stone room in gregorian chant. But female vocals is where I lose it. I find myself searching out the sparest recordings captured with the most sensitive mics and run through a Focusrite console. It makes me feel like I am 2' away from the most amazing heart singing just for me.
To be honest the heart of this system is the amp and the speakers. This has been a known winning combination for 40 years. The ability to buy this gear so cheaply is new. You could easily swap in early PS Audio or GAS amps, some tube amps etc. Acoustat made some decent speakers. If you didn't care about bass so much some Dick Sequerra Metronone 7 speakers sound almost as good in this rig and don't require such a large room. The surprising part is that you don't need vinyl to get to audio Nirvana and...... you can get vinyl quality out of a STREAMING service!!!
None of this would be possible without a good DAC. I must admit that I have listened to relatively few DACs and I didn't expect much out of an inexpensive one, ESPECIALLY over Bluetooth!!! I am now a believer. This has me reimagining all sorts of ways to implement a music server system in my house with a separate DAC for each room, inexpensive NAD amps, vintage audiophile speakers, etc. Being able to get this sound with a cheap DAC is what makes it possible.
I could write multiple paragraphs with loads of language similar to what you might find in Absolute Sound, but none of the will ever capture the experience I am having with this system. I simply want to leave this testimonial here so that if anyone is questioning whether stellar specs actually translate into a listenable system, know that the the d50s has a soul, a transparent soul that does not impose itself, but a soul none the less. It plays nice with extremely delicate material and it is bringing out the true nature of all the gear down stream.
In audiophile pursuits it is common to chase the grail of ultimate sound. You know that something just isn't right but you are not sure just what. Is it my power input cables?, interconnects?, amplifier transients?, tricky impedance shifts in electrostatic speakers?, etc., etc. To that I say, "start with a stellar source". It used to be that stellar source was a Japanese pressing of a very well mastered gold disc played through a Moving Coil cartridge with a battery powered cartridge pre-amp. I can now say that a digital source can be that stellar source and that the D50s has a role in bringing that to your amp. I cannot say that it is as good as vinyl as I have long sold my turntable, but it is at least 90% the way there and its accessibility to streaming seals the deal for me.
I have limited experience with quality headphones but many of the high-end ones are magneplanar. I do believe that if you coupled the D50s with a quality tube preamp that you could experience what I am hearing for about $800 and a much smaller room. I would be careful with the preamp though, that would be your most important decision. A PS Audio 6.0 pre-amp could also work in that application, but again, much will depend on your actual headphones. Electrostatic headphones (some accept RCA input and have their own "energizer" amps) would definitely be able to provide the soundstage but unless you found some vintage Koss or Staxx units, you would spend more than I spent for my amp and speakers.
Happy listening.