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Topping D50 III Balanced DAC with EQ Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 7 1.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 13 3.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 55 13.6%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 328 81.4%

  • Total voters
    403
i am looking to get peq ability on a dac rather than relying on Foobar /plug-in, as i wish to get the benefit of eq when watching youtube music videos , for example.
i must confess to being near clueless on the tech side of things.
been tempted to bite the bullet and go with thr RME dac and remote app.
this Topping device presents a far cheaper option, so i am wondering on the pros and cons between the 2 options.
is the RME option worth the increase in price and what, if any, are the technical benefits?

sorry if this has been discussed, please point me in the right direction.
 
i am looking to get peq ability on a dac rather than relying on Foobar /plug-in, as i wish to get the benefit of eq when watching youtube music videos , for example.
i must confess to being near clueless on the tech side of things.
been tempted to bite the bullet and go with thr RME dac and remote app.
this Topping device presents a far cheaper option, so i am wondering on the pros and cons between the 2 options.
is the RME option worth the increase in price and what, if any, are the technical benefits?

sorry if this has been discussed, please point me in the right direction.
Topping's PEQ implementation doesn't seem quite mature yet, according to some of the user experiences reported here.

The JDS Element IV may be a solid middle-ground, as would be the miniDSP Flex or 2x4 HD.

Are you looking to EQ headphones, or speakers? Need a display? Remote control?
 
Topping's PEQ implementation doesn't seem quite mature yet, according to some of the user experiences reported here.

The JDS Element IV may be a solid middle-ground, as would be the miniDSP Flex or 2x4 HD.

Are you looking to EQ headphones, or speakers? Need a display? Remote control?
headphones only, dont really need a display or remote.
if i can control from pc that would be ideal.
the Element IV is very interesting.
i will take a look at the miniDSP option you mentioned.
cheers
 
headphones only, dont really need a display or remote.
if i can control from pc that would be ideal.
the Element IV is very interesting.
i will take a look at the miniDSP option you mentioned.
cheers
Also, to state the obvious, you can set Foobar to Wasapi Shared output and simply use systemwide Equalizer APO for EQ.
 
i tried installing APO but got an error message .
cant remember the exact message but i think my pc's processor is not compatible. was definitely a hardware issue.
it was several weeks ago now and my memory has faded a bit.
 
i tried installing APO but got an error message .
cant remember the exact message but i think my pc's processor is not compatible. was definitely a hardware issue.
it was several weeks ago now and my memory has faded a bit.
Worth revisiting if it saves you hundreds to 1K+ on a hardware EQ solution.
 
I noticed one of the firmware updates added IR remote compatibility, so if you have another Topping remote and dont like the bluetooth one you could use that.

My biggest gripe with this DAC is the display. It's too small and you have to get up close to read anything on it. Also it should be orange/red like all good displays are.
 
Worth revisiting if it saves you hundreds to 1K+ on a hardware EQ solution.
as it stands i already need to update my pc next year.
Microsoft stop support for windows 10 next october and the processor in my pc (despite being an i5) is not supported by windows 11.
maybe i need to cross this bridge 1st.
 
I noticed one of the firmware updates added IR remote compatibility, so if you have another Topping remote and dont like the bluetooth one you could use that.

My biggest gripe with this DAC is the display. It's too small and you have to get up close to read anything on it. Also it should be orange/red like all good displays are.
I'm able to use the remote that shipped with D50III in IR mode. I hated the bluetooth mode.
 
Topping's PEQ implementation doesn't seem quite mature yet, according to some of the user experiences reported here.

The JDS Element IV may be a solid middle-ground, as would be the miniDSP Flex or 2x4 HD.

Are you looking to EQ headphones, or speakers? Need a display? Remote control?
I actually find the Topping Tune to be quite good. Also you can apply individual filters to all 10 bands in Topping Tune, whereas the Element IV PEQ is limited to one high shelf, one low shelf, and the rest are peaks.
 
Finally got the device, it had v1.30 of the firmware out of the box (weirdly enough the remote worked in IR mode). I installed the XMOS driver from Topping and updated the Firmware. I ran the DFU exe as admin and updated to v1.31 first (included with the currently latest v1.39 firmware), then updated to the currently latest (v1.39) firmware. No issues at all during the process, simple and well explained.

Topping Tune works great - I set my presets to the device and closed the app and now I can just toggle them in the device itself. No more need for Roon EQ/PeaceGUI as this EQ carries over even in exclusive mode - works with Tidal in exclusive mode and with Roon when it's playing through ASIO (guessing it will be the same for WASAPI as Tidal uses WASAPI Exclusive).

With the remote I had no lag when using it in BT mode, but I'll probably go back to IR mode as I don't use the remote that much anyways.

Other than that I really have nothing bad to report about it so far, really works as expected and sounds great.
 
Finally got the device, it had v1.30 of the firmware out of the box (weirdly enough the remote worked in IR mode). I installed the XMOS driver from Topping and updated the Firmware. I ran the DFU exe as admin and updated to v1.31 first (included with the currently latest v1.39 firmware), then updated to the currently latest (v1.39) firmware. No issues at all during the process, simple and well explained.

Topping Tune works great - I set my presets to the device and closed the app and now I can just toggle them in the device itself. No more need for Roon EQ/PeaceGUI as this EQ carries over even in exclusive mode - works with Tidal in exclusive mode and with Roon when it's playing through ASIO (guessing it will be the same for WASAPI as Tidal uses WASAPI Exclusive).

With the remote I had no lag when using it in BT mode, but I'll probably go back to IR mode as I don't use the remote that much anyways.

Other than that I really have nothing bad to report about it so far, really works as expected and sounds great.
Do I understand correctly that I could save say 3 PEQs for my most used headphones and switch them and no EQ from the device itself instead of relying on a phone, pc, or web app? How well does it handle IEMs?
 
Do I understand correctly that I could save say 3 PEQs for my most used headphones and switch them and no EQ from the device itself instead of relying on a phone, pc, or web app?
You can turn the EQ On/Off and switch between presets on the unit itself, no computer required.

How well does it handle IEMs?
The D50III is purely a DAC and must be used with an external Amp.

It alone doesn't handle IEMs at all.

When used with an external Amp, it's the Amp that has to handle the IEMs.

The DAC is unaware of what kind of transducer it's used with. All it sees is the Amp input.
 
Topping's PEQ implementation doesn't seem quite mature yet, according to some of the user experiences reported here.

The JDS Element IV may be a solid middle-ground, as would be the miniDSP Flex or 2x4 HD.

Are you looking to EQ headphones, or speakers? Need a display? Remote control?
Can I borrow your recommendation? Yesterday my OG D50 died and took my THX789 with it. This opens up a window to upgrade two systems so I only have to research once.

A) Computer - USB - DAC/THX789 - RCA - Sub/Speakers. Equalizer APO.

B) Home Theater - SPDIF/RCA/HDMI eARC (unsure on eARC for audio) - DAC/Amp with PEQ.

For A, I really just need a quality DAC/AMP combo that passes the RCA to my sub. RCA or balanced to my THX789, as I believe the THX789 accepts both but is not truly balanced (so should output unbalanced on the pres?)

B is a bit more demanding. I am not sure it is even possible to get both eARC and PEQ on a DAC or combo unit. I would want to be able to change volume with a remote but that is not essential. I want to be able to change PEQ presets on the device.

This leaves me thinking-
A- just about anything - D50iii+A50iii, DX3 Pro+, DX5, Element IV, mix+match some other?
B-D50iii for B (missing eARC) or SMSL RAW-MDA1 (no PEQ) - I would give up the eARC first since I'm not sure it is needed but PEQ is what I want to add most


edit: re: your last reply, I'm not fully awake, so I got sidetracked thinking about the low gain option I lost on my 789. I understand the components and see why you think I didn't.

edit2: it seems like a miniDSP could be a good addition to A, assuming I could send channels 1/2 to sub/monitors and 3/4 to headphone amp. It might be a bit more complicated though as I already have audio interfaces and voicemeeter in the mix, so I'd have to consider whether it would be worth the headache

edit 3, the final editing: I was wrong, the 789 is working as of the next day after the incident, and I don't know why, but for better and for worse that means I need one fewer amp; I updated the post to correct. It is now sufficiently different I should probably start my own thread, as I just need a pretty much standard DAC to replace the D50.
 
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my OG D50 died and took my THX789 with it
I think we need to maintain a record of such reports. This is becoming really concerning and ridiculous. First, their headphone amps busted headphones, then their speaker amps would just die, then their DACs would freak out and switch to fixed max volume output mode, and now their DAC is knocking out connected equipment.

This leaves me thinking-
A- just about anything - D50iii+A50iii, DX3 Pro+, DX5, Element IV, mix+match
B-D50iii for B (missing eARC) or SMSL RAW-MDA1 (no PEQ) - I would give up the eARC first since I'm not sure it is needed but PEQ is what I want to add most
You got burnt once and still want to go down the same path? Why?
 
I think we need to maintain a record of such reports. This is becoming really concerning and ridiculous. First, their headphone amps busted headphones, then their speaker amps would just die, then their DACs would freak out and switch to fixed max volume output mode, and now their DAC is knocking out connected equipment.


You got burnt once and still want to go down the same path? Why?
In this case the death of the D50 was my fault - I got distracted while rerouting wiring and holding power cables I thought were very different, which it turned out were only different in their polarity, so I basically fed a 12V 1.5A center negative into the Topping which used a 5V 1A center positive. I saw the smoke out of the D50 and took that out of the mix immediately. Unfortunately the 789 would power on, but would not output anything (pure silence - like off) via its single ended headphone jacks or RCA passthrough. I don't know what changed, but as of now the 789 is working; maybe it had some protection that reset - I pretty thoroughly tested it as I was very unhappy with the situation, but maybe I made an error again.

The D50 III takes USB-C power and unless I add a Stax D10-ii I should not be mixing their power cables up again, which shouldn't matter anyway assuming neither completely screwed up the power section.
 
Do I understand correctly that I could save say 3 PEQs for my most used headphones and switch them and no EQ from the device itself instead of relying on a phone, pc, or web app? How well does it handle IEMs?

You just need to set up your presets in Topping Tune so they save to the device and you can set up to 5 different EQ presets, After that you can just use the device to switch between the presets or toggle EQ on or off.

About your IEM question, I have an L50 amp along with the D50 III and it handles all of my headphones/IEMs (which you can see in the signature) just fine.
 
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