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Topping D70 DAC

maxxevv

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If you read the first few thread pages, there was a D70 discount pre-sale at $599 on aliexpress before, so no the final price will be far more expensive than D50. It has 2x 4497 chips after all...

If you look up Taobao for DAC's built with 2X 4497 chips, you can find them at sub-US$250/- and it even adds a BT receiver .

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...fEIhMz&id=571129685828&ns=1&abbucket=3#detail

So such machines are not expensive. The D50 comes with dual ES9038Q2M chips too. You may have forgotten.
 

FooYatChong

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If you read the first few thread pages, there was a D70 discount pre-sale at $599 on aliexpress before, so no the final price will be far more expensive than D50. It has 2x 4497 chips after all...

Dutch dealer HifiStudio79 expects to sell it for 699 Euro, including 21% tax. They sell the D50 for 219 Euro including tax.
 
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Yeah if it does come out at anything above 400 USD i will by buying the Stoner Acoustic UDX. Can't be paying more then what i paid for my THX AAA 789 lol
 

Veri

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If you look up Taobao for DAC's built with 2X 4497 chips, you can find them at sub-US$250/- and it even adds a BT receiver .

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...fEIhMz&id=571129685828&ns=1&abbucket=3#detail

So such machines are not expensive. The D50 comes with dual ES9038Q2M chips too. You may have forgotten.
Taobao prices are usually already a good chunk less expensive, the average person here is not going to order straight from Taobao. Besides that yes, I don't get how chinese dual 4497 boards could sell so cheap but I'm not holding my breath about their performance. Topping is spending lots of R&D (over)engineering their D70 board, I would not generalise cheap boards with fake capacitors and fake Amanero board as 'such ak4497' machines...

ES9038Q2M (mobile) is also not that expensive really :)
 

777

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For me maximum 500$ it is upper limit and that for a very good measurements and sound.
 
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Hmmm 500 would be really pushing it honestly, But we will see what they decide to release it at. But i think it would be smarter of them to release it at a price where people look to combo it with something like the THX 789.
 

maxxevv

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Taobao prices are usually already a good chunk less expensive, the average person here is not going to order straight from Taobao. Besides that yes, I don't get how chinese dual 4497 boards could sell so cheap but I'm not holding my breath about their performance. Topping is spending lots of R&D (over)engineering their D70 board, I would not generalise cheap boards with fake capacitors and fake Amanero board as 'such ak4497' machines...

ES9038Q2M (mobile) is also not that expensive really :)

You can look up the prices of the D50 while at it and compare to what you are paying for it in the US.

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...fEBpMX&id=576255587576&ns=1&abbucket=3#detail

And no, the AK4497 chips are nowhere near the prices of the ES9038Pro chips.

As for fake capacitors and fake Amanero boards, I haven't read much if any of the latter though, Where did you get that ?
 

maxxevv

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Dutch dealer HifiStudio79 expects to sell it for 699 Euro, including 21% tax. They sell the D50 for 219 Euro including tax.

That will be more expensive than the expected pricing of the DX7 Pro which runs an ES9038Pro chip, has balanced outputs, headphone amp and a BT connection, which are not expected to be found on the D70. I highly doubt so.

Something must have been lost in translation/ communication.

We shall see in the next 2~3 weeks I guess.
 

tomli747

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I think the problem is the performance not the price. If it performs better than D50 (e.g. SINAD 113dB or above), it's price to performance ratio is outstanding. However, the spec of THD+N and SNR doesn't look good. If it performs not better than SU-8, it will be a huge disappointment.
 

Veri

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As for fake capacitors and fake Amanero boards, I haven't read much if any of the latter though, Where did you get that ?

As for Amanero boards, several sellers have an 'upgrade' for a real Amanero board. As in, most boards are clones. Not sure if there is anything wrong with that. As for capacitors, at $200 range all-in-one you are really gambling at what they're putting in there for caps imo!

However, the spec of THD+N and SNR doesn't look good. If it performs not better than SU-8, it will be a huge disappointment.

I do think especially at this price, the maximum AK4497 performance is just not good enough. We will have to wait and see for AK4499 which will be expensive AF I guess. Or maybe Topping's D70 will simply deliver :D :D
 

maxxevv

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What you mean is clones versus official OEM ones. I have no idea what's the difference between then but as with the most recent developments have suggested, the XU208 interface is a lot more software friendly with different devices. I would recommend running those if you have the option to choose.

As far as I have heard, the AK4499 will be akin to the ES9038PRO both in terms of performance , price as well as power demands. No idea how it will perform although on paper it looks good.

As for the pricing of the D70, if I extrapolate the prices of no-brand 2xAK4497 DACs versus 2xES9038Q2M Dac's found on Taobao, (based on the prices of the D50 and SU-8) , I would think that a 2xAK4497 based D70 will be in the US$300~$350 range max. I highly doubt they will price it higher if they value their own China market.

But as said, we will know for certain in the next 2~3 weeks.

Unless of course @TP-Wong wishes to chime in on the MSRP for their upcoming product release. :):p:D
 

Veri

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As for the pricing of the D70, if I extrapolate the prices of no-brand 2xAK4497 DACs versus 2xES9038Q2M Dac's found on Taobao, (based on the prices of the D50 and SU-8) , I would think that a 2xAK4497 based D70 will be in the US$300~$350 range max. I highly doubt they will price it higher if they value their own China market.

But as said, we will know for certain in the next 2~3 weeks.

Unless of course @TP-Wong wishes to chime in on the MSRP for their upcoming product release. :):p:D

This placeholder price though... lol :)
 

maxxevv

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This placeholder price though... lol :)

I hadn't read that specs list off that page. I had the impression that it was a pure DAC along the lines of the D50.

Hmm ... it has AES input and XLR output ; fancy Femto clocks and internal power supply. Its into the DX7s's territory in terms of feature set, just short of the headphone amp but adds a BT connection.

If that's the case, I think a US$5XX /- price bracket is not out of the question then.

Edit and Addendum:

But when I look at it again, that price point may be a tad high though. Especially when you look at the SMSL SU-8.
That's more or less the same thing minus the AK4497 chips, Femto clocks. and BT receiver. But it performs remarkably well even at that price point. From a marketing standpoint, unless they really break new grounds in terms of performance, I don't think it will sell well in a price sensitive market such as China. You can get DAC sets of equal feature set as the D70 for under US$250/-. Albeit of unknown performance provenance.
 
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Veri

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I hadn't read that specs list off that page. I had the impression that it was a pure DAC along the lines of the D50.

Hmm ... it has AES input and XLR output ; fancy Femto clocks and internal power supply. Its into the DX7s's territory in terms of feature set, just short of the headphone amp but adds a BT connection.

If that's the case, I think a US$5XX /- price bracket is not out of the question then.
Yep it'll likely release in the DX7/DX7 'Pro' chassis with internal toroid, many inputs. It's tough competition with DX3 Pro/ DX7 Pro which have included amplifier, imo.
 

maxxevv

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Toroidal transformers doesn't mean that it will be good. External switching power supplies doesn't mean that it is poor either.

There are examples of both good and bad for both cases in Amir's test samples to date.
 

maxxevv

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Yep it'll likely release in the DX7/DX7 'Pro' chassis with internal toroid, many inputs. It's tough competition with DX3 Pro/ DX7 Pro which have included amplifier, imo.
The DX7 Pro doesn't look like that placeholder pict.

Which buggers the question as to why release 2 similarly priced products with largely similar features?
 

thunderchicken

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The DX7 Pro doesn't look like that placeholder pict.

Which buggers the question as to why release 2 similarly priced products with largely similar features?

They've done that at other price points though- the DX3 and D30 for instance. They are different products for different needs. I'd prefer to have separates so I can move units around my systems. There's also something to be said about jack of all trades, master of none. All in one units have compromises that separates don't need to make.

Topping, like most companies, make some seriously good price-to-performance boxes and some that aren't so good. I've had a good experience with my D3X Pro and am excited to see what the D70 adds to the mix. Should be interesting either way.
 

thesrod

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I prefer the AKM chip. I'm so impatient. When will the D70 be here!? Topping won't return my emails regarding the ETA. Maybe I should not wait and just buy another brand?
 
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