Topping D70 DAC

[TimW]

The DX7s has stellar DAC performance and includes a good headphone amplifier. The D70 will be in the same case but you loose the headphone amplifier and gain Bluetooth and I2S.

If the performance is significantly better, which would probably make it the best measuring DAC so far, that would certainly make the D70 more desirable. But if performance is a mixed bag compared to the DX7s, then I can't imagine paying more for the D70.

The D70 would have to match the Massdrop THX AAA 789 amp in SINAD for it to be compelling to me. And even then I would have a hard time justifying spending twice as much on a DAC for a given Amp.

 

[BurritoJustice]

I am quite curious to see how close the dual 4497 design can get to the 4490 ADI-2 DAC, as a matter of newer chip versus near perfect implementation. I would love a 4497 update to the ADI-2 but that is unlikely, I could see myself getting this as a secondary to combine with my THX 789. Seems to be the only digital LDAC to coax option on the market too, if it keeps the coax output of the DX7s and the LDAC of the DX3s.

 

[wadec22]

The DX7s has stellar DAC performance and includes a good headphone amplifier. The D70 will be in the same case but you loose the headphone amplifier and gain Bluetooth and I2S.

If the performance is significantly better, which would probably make it the best measuring DAC so far, that would certainly make the D70 more desirable. But if performance is a mixed bag compared to the DX7s, then I can't imagine paying more for the D70.

The D70 would have to match the Massdrop THX AAA 789 amp in SINAD for it to be compelling to me. And even then I would have a hard time justifying spending twice as much on a DAC for a given Amp.

The DX7s measures very well, but it is still a tier 2 DAC by SINAD standard measured here. I think it's pretty clear with the dual DAC chips, this DAC is something that should measure as a tier 1 device.

 

[TimW]

The DX7s measures very well, but it is still a tier 2 DAC by SINAD standard measured here. I think it's pretty clear with the dual DAC chips, this DAC is something that should measure as a tier 1 device.

Hopefully it measures that well and does not have the linearity issue the DX3Pro has. The fact that it uses dual AKM chips rather than dual ESS chips doesn't excite me.

 

[wadec22]

Hopefully it measures that well and does not have the linearity issue the DX3Pro has. The fact that it uses dual AKM chips rather than dual ESS chips doesn't excite me.

i'm not going to pretend to know much about either. don't most ESS implementation have that mid-level distortion hump with the exception of the benchmark dac 3 and the oppo?

 

[TimW]

Yes the ESS hump is common and the DX7s exhibits this trait. There was some talk of testing to see if this hump is audible or not. I haven't seen any evidence as to whether it is or not yet but I'm hoping we will know someday. Maybe blind ABX testing between DACs with and without the hump can test this?

 

[Darwin]

All tech become irrelevant when the problem they want to solve doesn’t exist anymore, or a competitor solves the problem better (either tech wise or marketing wise). IMO mqa might die even sooner, because
1. The problem it solves doesn’t exist at all from day one
2. It’s a controversial tech from day 1. And many people, either people from the industry or consumers, hate it.

Like I said I've read all the articles, pros and cons, etc and engaged in a lot of forum debates in various places.
I've never been much for caring what other people think and if they hate a music format that nobody is forcing them to use or listen to and never will they are living a very sheltered life.
I've listened to it extensively on Tidal and Roon with several MQA Dacs. Like anything else it depends on the mastering but a lot of it sounds really amazing. I would start with actually listening to it and go from there. Pretty obvious a lot of the critics have never even heard it.

 

[Krunok]

Hopefully it measures that well and does not have the linearity issue the DX3Pro has.

So, now DX3 Pro has "linearity issue"?

Let's remind ourselves what @amirm said exactly on that subject: "That smooth exponential rise is just the noise floor of the DAC dominating. So it is not an offset error as we see many times (with jagged output). All else being equal, I rather seen noise here than non-linearities. I think this is a limitation of the AKM DACs relative to ESS parts."

Are we to conclude from that DX3 Pro is not-so-linear beacuse of higher noise floor? But why is that supposedly higher noise floor not showing on other graphs?

I think we need to hear more on this topic from @amirm, or from anybody else who can clear this.

 

[yue]

I've listened to it extensively on Tidal and Roon with several MQA Dacs. Like anything else it depends on the mastering but a lot of it sounds really amazing. I would start with actually listening to it and go from there. Pretty obvious a lot of the critics have never even heard it.

in the old days, when you buy SACD, the DSD layer usually sounds a lot better than its CD layer. It's not because DSD sounds better, but because the tracks are mastered differently and they use better version for the DSD layer.

In the HiRes era they reissue songs in hires format, but again, mastered differently.

So I'm not surprised that you listened to some MQA audio and they sounds amazing.

 

[CaptObvious]

So.... the Topping D60 will be a single AKM4497 like the SMSL M10?

 

[Veri]

So.... the Topping D60 will be a single AKM4497 like the SMSL M10?

I think they just skip 20. Topping D10, D30, D50, D70

 

[maxxevv]

in the old days, when you buy SACD, the DSD layer usually sounds a lot better than its CD layer. It's not because DSD sounds better, but because the tracks are mastered differently and they use better version for the DSD layer.

In the HiRes era they reissue songs in hires format, but again, mastered differently.

So I'm not surprised that you listened to some MQA audio and they sounds amazing.

An analogous comparison is the RBCD versus XRCD remastered versions of The Eagles Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over Album converted to FLAC and played back on a decent DAC + Amp output.

The remastering is the difference, not so much (if any can be attributed to) the format that has purportedly different qualities.

 

[rajapruk]

When will this dac be released?

 

[Veri]

When will this dac be released?

From second page:

I asked for more information from Topping on D70 and here is what they said:

---

About D70, It is a 2 x AK4497 DAC, it comes without built-in headphone amp but has built-in linear power supply. Size of it is similar with DX7s. USB+COAX+OPT+AES+IIS+Bluetooth input, RCA+XLR output. It is still being developing now. We expected to be completed January to March next year.

----

So, before or around the time Game of Thrones' final season will air

 

[Pillars]

From second page:



So, before or around the time Game of Thrones' final season will air

Still, well before one of my massdrop orders will ship ;(

 

[maxxevv]

Still, well before one of my massdrop orders will ship ;(

The Hifiman headphone ?

 

[Pillars]

The Hifiman headphone ?

Keyboard

 

[Raimei Templar]

The most important question of all has yet to be answered!

 

[maxxevv]

There's always ....

 

[Biblob]

It is for sale! at Aliexpress, now apparently at pre-sale for $599
Link to Aoshida shop on Aliexpress