Topping DM7 8-Channel DAC Review

[juliangst]

none of the avrs are even close when it comes to measurements except i go to the realy pricey stuff. also i am a bit paranoid and don't like anything that has alexa in it

But all of them are audibly transparent.
This Marantz that Amir tested in December measures really well and the same can be said about the other recent Marantz and Denon AVRs.
Reliablity and support is also a lot better with Marantz/Denon than with Topping (remember the PA5).

The DM7, 4x PA7+ and Dirac Multichannel will be about 3500€ which is more than 1000€ more than a Cinema 40 which has 11 channels+ 4 individual subwoofer channels

 

[voodooless]

The DM7, 4x PA7+ and Dirac Multichannel will be about 3500€ which is more than 1000€ more than a Cinema 40 which has 11 channels+ 4 individual subwoofer channels

And can actually do Atmos.

 

[levimax]

meh i just wanted to buy one to upgrade my moviesetup. is there any alternative to the dm7?

The Motu Ultralite MK5 has 10 channels and an ADC and a volume control that can control all 10 channels (which is really nice)... only thing lacking is a remote but if you are using a PC there are ways around that.

 

[Mordred]

And can actually do Atmos.

wouldn atmos be decoded on the pc?

 

[juliangst]

With MacOS you can get Atmos through Apple Music and Apple TV (not sure about local files or other streaming services) but with Windows it's not so easy

 

[Mordred]

i bought dolby access for windows it offers dolby atmos for hometheatre or for headphones depending on the target.

is this solution in someway incomplete/inferior compared to an avr?

 

[juliangst]

I think an AVR is just way more flexible. You can use any setup you want, use a phantom center, upmix, do bass management and much more.
With the DM7 you're stuck with 8 channels and have to use default layouts like 5.1, 7.1, 5.1.2

 

[anphex]

I'd suggest a Denon or Marantz in Pure Direct mode. It's absolutely transparent and if you can sacrifice some SINAD you get a very decent room correction.
Denon 3xxx and 4xxx are usually the best value range. This is exactly my setup. On Windows 11 over HDMI it's Pure Direct and when watching movies over my Nvidia Shield it's an Audyssey enabled. It just swallows all codecs hassle free.

 

[voodooless]

While the OS’es may support Atmos, it’s often upto the apps to actually use it, and support is patchy at best.

 

[18000rpm]

There is no way to play lossless Atmos on a Mac.

There is no way to play Atmos on a PC. There are a couple of semi-solutions, none of which are particularly practical (eg. this requires conversion and use of a $400/year Dolby encoder license https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/atmos-finally-decoded-in-pc-mac.32351/).

 

[voodooless]

There is no way to play Atmos on a PC. There are a couple of semi-solutions, none of which are particularly practical (eg. this requires conversion and use of a $400/year Dolby encoder license https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/atmos-finally-decoded-in-pc-mac.32351/).

Doesn’t the Dolby access app provide support for Windows 10 and 11? Or is that one of your semi-solutions?

 

[18000rpm]

Doesn’t the Dolby access app provide support for Windows 10 and 11? Or is that one of your semi-solutions?

No, the Dolby access app only helps Dolby Atmos for gaming, not for pre-recorded media at all.

The only solution that sort-of works and without requiring $400/year or so is Cavernize. It can map the height channels to Windows audio channels. For example, if you have 7 speakers connected to your HTPC you can decode 5.1.2 Atmos so that the 2 height channels go to 2 of the 7 speaker channels. This is done offline (ie. not real time). It only supports DD+ JOC, not Atmos TrueHD. Basically very limited, and in a not very practical way (need to convert all your Atmos movies, does not support streaming, etc).

 

[Gadgety]

I am pretty sure either Topping or SMSL will come up with a successor
I had an email conversation with Topping where they confirmed that they are discontinuing the DM series but that does not mean that there will be no other series with 8 channels....
@TOPPING-Service
Can you please chime in?
Thank you

Let's hope they do. I believe the market would look totally different for a multichannel USB DAC had Dirac launched a PC VST version of ART.

 

[juliangst]

Let's hope they do. I believe the market would look totally different for a multichannel USB DAC had Dirac launched a PC VST version of ART.

I don't think so. Most people have a stereo setup and those few who have a multichannel setup use AVRs.
The amount of people that are into multichannel and use a PC based system is really small.
It's probably more common among mixing and mastering engineers but those mostly use Sonarworks and not Dirac

 

[Joaquinín]

I do have a DM7 and a stereo PC system. Multichannel feature fits perfect with Dirac Live Bass Control!

 

[Gadgety]

I don't think so. Most people have a stereo setup and those few who have a multichannel setup use AVRs.
The amount of people that are into multichannel and use a PC based system is really small.
It's probably more common among mixing and mastering engineers but those mostly use Sonarworks and not Dirac

I'm sure you're right about that, and the overwhelming majority of recorded music is stereo. However, my perspective was mainly stereo sound while using the the additional channels for the support speakers, as well as subs; Dirac's best performing set up in their research project for ART ran a 14.2 system, but the system still used two primary speakers. During a recent interview with Storm Audio CEO on the subject of their AVR with ART incorporated he seemed most fascinated and enthused about listening to the stereo recordings he thought he knew, but now with ART activated. He just couldn't stop listening.

 

[juliangst]

I'm sure you're right about that, and the overwhelming majority of recorded music is stereo. However, my perspective was mainly stereo sound while using the the additional channels for the support speakers, as well as subs; Dirac's best performing set up in their research project for ART ran a 14.2 system, but the system still used two primary speakers. During a recent interview with Storm Audio CEO on the subject of their AVR with ART incorporated he seemed most fascinated and enthused about listening to the stereo recordings he thought he knew, but now with ART activated. He just couldn't stop listening.

That's also how I would use the Topping DM7 if I had to get one.
I would skip the whole multichannel madness under Windows and stick to a stereo setup with 6 small subwoofers as support speakers

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Let's hope they do. I believe the market would look totally different for a multichannel USB DAC had Dirac launched a PC VST version of ART.

I am not sure how much of an impact it would have on the hardware market but, although Dirac is still not releasing it, the beta VST I have works quite well.

 

[Gadgety]

I am not sure how much of an impact it would have on the hardware market but, although Dirac is still not releasing it, the beta VST I have works quite well.

Great to hear! I believe I read online about the Unison application and that Dirac, way back in 2015 said they were definitely aiming to bring a consumer version. After a while it was referred to as Dirac Unicorn, as it looked like it might never appear. It only took eight years. Now that there indeed are versions out there, and working quite well, I really hope they bring the VST version out for both studio and consumer use. Clearly so far Dirac's marketing has been aimed at OEMs and, to some extent, the installation market. I realize that their customer segments, existing and and potential, might cannibalize each other, and this complicates matters.

 

[ESS9038]

Hi, does anyone have the DM7 FW available to share? I downloaded the FW from Toppings website and it turns out, it was for the E70. They linked it incorrectly so now I have a DM7 with the "MCU no FW" message.

@TOPPING-Service any help?