Topping D70s MQA Review (DAC)

[Nick5]

Let me give you a good personal example of why some types of subjective opinions are frowned upon here. Many, many years ago in the early days of audio forums, I use to put stock into subjective opinions like these. This led to me wasting thousands on audio equipment that I ended up not liking .

Though measurements don’t always tell the complete story, I’ve never had a piece of equipment that measured good, sound bad. But have had several where measurements weren’t good, that did sound bad. Measurements are to be taken as a guide to at least get something that’s solid with good engineering, that will sound the way it’s suppose to.

Agreed and further believe that the majority of us subscribe to the same exact approach. We all want the best measured and sounding equipment at a bargain price. I’m extremely happy with my D70s. I bought it based on objective measurements and subjective listening. I have not compared it against all other DACs that are sub $1K but my ears tell me it’d be hard to beat.
For the objectivists among us, when you perform critical listening, do you turn on your equipment and start playing music from cold or do you allow your gear to warm up then listen to music?

 

[espectro]

Hello! I just got my SMSL SD-9 streamer recently and plugged it into my D70s via I2S, but it only works when I'm playing Hi-Res files. When I play 44.1khz FLAC files, there's no sound. USB works fine though. Is this a known issue with D70s?

 

[304290]

I generally do allow for warm up. Even objective data on this site shows some gear "stabilizes" after warm up time. But as far as the d70, I'm not sure the way I use it counts. One feature that I love is the auto on/off feature. I have a roon client that I built and once that starts up, my d70 wakes up, and goes off as soon as I power down my roon client. I'm not sure how much power it draws in standby mode, but it's always in standby mode and I never completely power it off. I'm sure it's probably discussed here in this thread. As far as my amps, yes I do allow around 10-15 minutes before I start to listen.

 

[Nick5]

I always turn on my streamer, which triggers my d70s to turn on, half an hour prior to listening. My amp needs more like 1 hour as it operate in class A and needs time to stabilize. I've always felt the sound opens up after half an hour initial warm-up. Not sure if this is due to my amp or the d70s. As for the power draw while in standby, I haven't checked and don't know which part of the d70s is always energized during standby. Would be nice to learn more from Topping as the manual leaves you with more questions than answers....

 

[Nick5]

Also I found out that the D70s benefits slightly from a decent power cord. I’m currently using a diy DH Labs power cable (6 ft long) and it made a small improvement in extension at both frequency ends, a good indication of a sound power supply design in the D70s which should be immune to variation in power cables.
The other thing to be aware of is that the D70s is sensitive to the quality of the incoming signal from the streamer and the overall quality of the network signal. I’ve made few tweaks that helped boost the performance of the D70s to another level.

 

[Jimbob54]

Also I found out that the D70s benefits slightly from a decent power cord. I’m currently using a diy DH Labs power cable (6 ft long) and it made a small improvement in extension at both frequency ends, a good indication of a sound power supply design in the D70s which should be immune to variation in power cables.
The other thing to be aware of is that the D70s is sensitive to the quality of the incoming signal from the streamer and the overall quality of the network signal. I’ve made few tweaks that helped boost the performance of the D70s to another level.

uh huh

 

[Jimbob54]

I've always felt the sound opens up after half an hour initial warm-up. Not sure if this is due to my amp or the d70s.

Or your ears

 

[Doodski]

Also I found out that the D70s benefits slightly from a decent power cord. I’m currently using a diy DH Labs power cable (6 ft long) and it made a small improvement in extension at both frequency ends, a good indication of a sound power supply design in the D70s which should be immune to variation in power cables.
The other thing to be aware of is that the D70s is sensitive to the quality of the incoming signal from the streamer and the overall quality of the network signal. I’ve made few tweaks that helped boost the performance of the D70s to another level.

A power cord and a network cable will not change the sound for better or worse. You are imagining things.

 

[Nick5]

Or your ears

Yep my ears opens up depending on my mood but my comments are all related to when I’m in good mood which doesn’t make sense, right?

 

[Nick5]

A power cord and a network cable will not change the sound for better or worse. You are imagining things.

How did you figure out I was referring to the network cable? I didn’t say that in my post. Who’s imagining here??
Sorry but I had to respond

 

[Doodski]

How did you figure out I was referring to the network cable? I didn’t say that in my post. Who’s imagining here??
Sorry but I had to respond

What improvements have you made to the network?

 

[BDWoody]

I’ve made few tweaks that helped boost the performance of the D70s to another level.

I'll bet...

 

[Nick5]

What improvements have you made to the network?

I’m not sharing… it’s a personal tweak that I spent time and a little money on ($70) which paid off in the end. I will only share with people who believes in cables, warm-up time, and long term break-in…..
Let’s see how we progress on this discussion. I may change my mind and share later…or start a new thread so that we don’t hijack the D70s discussion.

 

[Nick5]

I'll bet...

Okay do you believe in warm up time for electronics and the impact on perceived sound?

 

[pseudoid]

I may change my mind and share later…or start a new thread so that we don’t hijack the D70s discussion.

Please don't do either. 10Q

 

[Doodski]

Okay do you believe in warm up time for electronics and the impact on perceived sound?

Is it possible you can get to the point rather than this present situation?

 

[BDWoody]

Is it possible you can get to the point rather than this present situation?

I just figured I'd stop feeding...

 

[Nick5]

I’ll make it easy and change the question. When you want to produce accurate measurements on a DUT using the notable APxxxx instrument, what do you typically do to achieve these accurate and repeatable measurements?

 

[Doodski]

I’ll make it easy and change the question. When you want to produce accurate measurements on a DUT using the notable APxxxx instrument, what do you typically do to achieve these accurate and repeatable measurements?

Connection and conductor integrity is paramount. Reliable temperature and keeping everything in calibration. The AP self calibrates from what I've read.

 

[pseudoid]

I’ll make it easy and change the question. When you want to produce accurate measurements on a DUT using the notable APxxxx instrument, what do you typically do to achieve these accurate and repeatable measurements?

I get it now, "This is only a test"!
2nd time today I will use this word that I think you are talking about:
"Dieselgate"