Topping D50 III Balanced DAC with EQ Review

[raif71]

Since I own thousands of Compact Discs, I was hoping I could use this Topping DAC as a low-cost headphone equalizer for the digital signal through coax or optical from my CD player, but unfortunately, that isn't possible. Maybe someday...

Maybe you can use optical to usb converter like this https://hifimediy.com/product/hifime-ur23-spdif-optical-to-usb-converter/ . However I think you may need to get a female usb A type to usb-c male adapter. Specs say signal supported up to 96khz/24 bit

 

[renaudrenaud]

as a developer I don't see how that would be super useful, you would still only be able to connect to it form one devise at a time (gadget mode). Not to mention their is still a lot of stuff that will freak out your average consumer.

You could do something no super complicated via BT, but then you have to maintain os specific applications, and the hassles that come with it.

A more generalized solution would be to give it WiFi or ethernet support (dedicated IC required), and a simple cpu to handle acting as a webserver. However, then you run into issue's like does the consumer know how to set up a DHCP Reservation, or even have a router that supports it. Then you will get people who complain about not wanting to remember an ip address, and want a customizable domain name. It's a no win situation for the manufacture at that point!

Getting anything approaching a local web service into the hands of the average consumer is kind of a pain in the butt.

As a developer I want API endpoints.

 

[Steven Holt]

There are many things I could say about this magnificent piece of gear, but I'll leave it at this :

 

[Inertiaman]

That’s a graphic equalizer, not a parametric equalizer, and much less powerful.

Pretty sure the graphic eq photo was a joke. The first hint is the absurd positioning of the sliders

 

[Henreid]

Maybe you can use optical to usb converter like this https://hifimediy.com/product/hifime-ur23-spdif-optical-to-usb-converter/ . However I think you may need to get a female usb A type to usb-c male adapter. Specs say signal supported up to 96khz/24 bit

Thanks! A device like that might be just what I need...

 

[Rja4000]

Maybe you can use optical to usb converter like this https://hifimediy.com/product/hifime-ur23-spdif-optical-to-usb-converter/

You can't.
"Please note that it can’t be connected directly to a USB device like a DAC, it must be connected to a USB host like a computer."

 

[raif71]

You can't.
"Please note that it can’t be connected directly to a USB device like a DAC, it must be connected to a USB host like a computer."

egads

 

[Henreid]

You can't.
"Please note that it can’t be connected directly to a USB device like a DAC, it must be connected to a USB host like a computer."

Thanks for that clarification. I believe this MiniDSP Flex will offer the headphone equalization I'd like to have with a CD player as my digital audio source. It's twice as expensive as the Topping D50 III DAC, but if it works for my purposes, it'll be worth the cost.

 

[Peewee12]

Is this the time to point out, in case we’d forgotten, that @amirm has already tested a DAC that measures as transparent, includes PEQ, costs €10 less than this, and comes with a superb streamer?

WiiM Pro Plus Streamer Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Pro Plus streamer, DAC and preamplifier with Bluetooth support. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $219. While the case is plastic, it still "looks the part" as the Brits would say relative to other more famous brands of...

audiosciencereview.com

Currently only 4-band PEQ, but 10-band is on the way, and room correction is in beta as we speak.

Unfortunately no USB in, but there’s optical.

This Topping is balanced, though. That is very enticing to me for my powered monitors.

 

[Henreid]

This Topping is balanced, though. That is very enticing to me for my powered monitors.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! (and I'll apologize for diverting the direction of this thread by discussing other products in my comments...)

 

[Labjr]

Since I own thousands of Compact Discs, I was hoping I could use this Topping DAC as a low-cost headphone equalizer for the digital signal through coax or optical from my CD player, but unfortunately, that isn't possible. Maybe someday...

Maybe time to start ripping your CD collection. Or playback on a computer with a CDROM drive. IMO a media player like JRiver is so convenient and flexible.

 

[ALaylowguy]

Finally!!! Thank you Topping!

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Since I own thousands of Compact Discs, I was hoping I could use this Topping DAC as a low-cost headphone equalizer for the digital signal through coax or optical from my CD player, but unfortunately, that isn't possible. Maybe someday...

I think many will be disappointed.
And many of them will know about that after buying D50.

 

[Klonatans]

Unfortunately no Topping Tune for Mac, no EQ use with optical or coax and the software might be half-baked so far, however it's a good trend to have EQ in an affordable DAC.

 

[DanTheMan]

We are on the precipice of greatness now. Can’t you feel it? When you think about the impact this site has had on the products available today….

 

[oscar_dziki]

Linearity test works at one very narrow frequency (200 Hz). It doesn't matter what else to do to the rest of the response. I showed you how well EQ works with the dashboard FFT.

Sorry, I misspoke - I meant the frequency response graph. In my understanding, in FFT dashboard you have shown an impact on the sound quality of using EQ, but it is also my understanding that we can not see in FFT dashboard if EQ elevated or decreased sound in desired bandwidths/frequencies. Do I get it wrong? By FFT dashboard you meant this, right?:

 

[AuricGoldfinger]

We are on the precipice of greatness now. Can’t you feel it? When you think about the impact this site has had on the products available today….

Well that’s the great thing, a few smart companies are listening to prospective customers.

Topping and S.M.S.L have surpassed the mega-buck fluff DACs with affordable, true state-of-the-art performance DACs. This one even offers a compact, energy conscience package. PEQ is one of the things we commonly asked for, an even though this one is USB-only, it’s exciting to envision what might come next. I’d love to see low-latency PEQ for real time monitoring of audio and video, on the Toslink and S-PDIF inputs.

 

[restorer-john]

Maybe time to start ripping your CD collection. Or playback on a computer with a CDROM drive. IMO a media player like JRiver is so convenient and flexible.

He could just buy a 35 year old Sony TAE-1000ESD.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

This Topping is balanced, though. That is very enticing to me for my powered monitors.

Agreed.

 

[Sokel]

Sorry, I misspoke - I meant the frequency response graph. In my understanding, in FFT dashboard you have shown an impact on the sound quality of using EQ, but it is also my understanding that we can not see in FFT dashboard if EQ elevated or decreased sound in desired bandwidths/frequencies. Do I get it wrong? By FFT dashboard you meant this, right?:

View attachment 364633

You can see that in the settings above the chart you posted.
It is -5db at 100Hz.