Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC)

[Overseas]

I looked to manufacturer site, in support for updates, for E50 they say 'tool for checking the no. of firmware', to download.

 

[Georgeadv]

I looked to manufacturer site, in support for updates, for E50 they say 'tool for checking the no. of firmware', to download.

Thanks man
Its so complicated to otherwise do simple things with these Chinese products

 

[wanghao]

It is inconvenient that I cannot switch between DAC mode and preamp mode with the remote control.
Are DAC mode and preamp mode 0db the same?
Is it necessary to switch to DAC mode?

 

[Stickler1]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the new Topping E50 balanced USB DAC. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $269. I just reviewed its companion headphone amplifier, the Topping L50.

The E50 takes my favorite orange LED display and makes it even nicer!

View attachment 150583

It is a gorgeous bright orange display. A single button turns the unit on and cycles through the inputs. You also get a remote control:

View attachment 150584

As you see, power is provided through a 5 volt barrel connector. Topping provides a USB to barrel cable adapter so you can use any USB power supply.

As with more recent Topping products, it uses TRS output for balanced output instead of XLR which takes up a lot more space.

Topping E50 Measurements
As usual we start without dashboard. Let's test the balanced output with USB input:

View attachment 150585

Another exemplary performance from Topping, landing it almost at top of all DACs ever tested:
View attachment 150587

RCA output is nearly as good:

View attachment 150588

Noise performance is excellent as well:

View attachment 150589

Linearity is as perfect as you can get:
View attachment 150590

IMD performance is excellent:
View attachment 150591

I see a hint of ESS dac chip IMD hump. I wonder if that is what powers it.

Multitone performance is superb with almost no frequency dependency:
View attachment 150593

Jitter over USB is perfect:
View attachment 150594

It degrades just a hair over Toslink/Coax:
View attachment 150595

There are three filers available:
View attachment 150597

They impact our THD+N vs frequency thusly:
View attachment 150599

Conclusions
What can I say but another star performance from Topping. Company is so focused on squeezing every bit of noise and distortion out of these products while providing them to us at bargain prices. And in this case, great looks as well. I wish I could complain about something but nothing comes to mind.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Now $299 at Apps. Cheaper than their refurb ones.

 

[Stickler1]

It is inconvenient that I cannot switch between DAC mode and preamp mode with the remote control.
Are DAC mode and preamp mode 0db the same?
Is it necessary to switch to DAC mode?

Only to avoid attenuation by mistake.

 

[theoblue80]

I got one E50 from Amazon at 199E.
I currently own a D90SE / A90D stack and since both E50 and D90SE have balanced outputs, excellent measurements and both support MQA, I am curious to see if E50 + A90D combo has any audible difference (at least in the USB input that I exclusively use) in comparison to the much more.expensive D90SE + A90D combo.

Scientifically thinking I expect no difference if TRS to XLR balanced cables do not differ from XLR to XLR cables

 

[Veri]

Scientifically thinking I expect no difference

I would expect the same..

 

[Overseas]

Financially it will sound cheaper.

 

[theoblue80]

Financially it will sound cheaper.

Hahaha

 

[Leva]

Guys, One more time. Yesterday I tried E50 with optical input from my 2 years old LG tv and it has dropouts about every second - impossible to listen. But Emotiva PT-100 dac working normally with the same optical cable and tv. I read thread about the same problems with E70 and found that there was firmware fix in version 1.04 with some DPLL settings here https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...s-defective-skipping-issue.39507/post-1413408

So what about E50? Will it be fixed for E50 also or I should buy another dac to be compatible with TV? Thanks

 

[staticV3]

Hi @Leva !

Unfortunately, here at ASR we do not develop firmware updates for Topping DACs.

Whether the E50 will receive an update that unlocks configurable DPLL, you'd have to ask Topping themselves here: https://www.tpdz.net/contact

My guess is no.

However, you can potentially bypass the issue with an HDMI Audio extractor, by going TV->HDMI eARC out->Extractor->Toslink->E50.

Amir has reviewed a few of these Extractors: Link1 Link2 Link3
They're essentially bit-perfect for HDMI In->Toslink/Coax/Spdif Out.

 

[Overseas]

Guys, One more time. Yesterday I tried E50 with optical input from my 2 years old LG tv and it has dropouts about every second - impossible to listen. But Emotiva PT-100 dac working normally with the same optical cable and tv. I read thread about the same problems with E70 and found that there was firmware fix in version 1.04 with some DPLL settings here https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...s-defective-skipping-issue.39507/post-1413408

So what about E50? Will it be fixed for E50 also or I should buy another dac to be compatible with TV? Thanks

I bought E50, tested it with my LG TV, negatively but I kept it for my main stereo system, where E50 'fixed' some aspects of my sound comparing to former E30 (that works with LG).
Thanks God for my subjective non-golden ears and I do not believe John Yang will object too fiercely against my subjective take, as long as it sells his products

 

[theoblue80]

By the way, a bit more general question, but if you use a DAC like e50 with HP Amp, does it make any difference if between them one uses balanced or single-ended connection, assuming that HP is connected to the balanced output of the Amp?

Does balanced connection between DAC and Amp provide more power to the Headphone or maybe less noise in the chain?

 

[theoblue80]

What kind of headphones and amp are you using? RCA to RCA is going to be just fine 99% of the time. There is no noise penalty using the E50 with either TRS balanced out or RCA.

TRS or XLR balanced ouput is usually around 4V. RCA is usually 2V. The extra voltage from the DAC can help drive inefficient headphones better sometimes.

Thanks a lot! This answers my question. Then no noise penalty, but the difference in output voltage does impact the power that can be delivered to the HPs (if needed)

 

[Veri]

the difference in output voltage does impact the power that can be delivered to the HPs (if needed)

Yup~

 

[theoblue80]

Yup~

And a relevant question. Does the balanced output of a HP amp provide more power to the HP than single-ended output independent of the type of connection between the DAC and the HP Amp?

 

[staticV3]

Does the balanced output of a HP amp provide more power to the HP than single-ended output independent of the type of connection between the DAC and the HP Amp?

That's different for each Amp.

 

[theoblue80]

That's different for each Amp.

Ok good to know! At the moment I have a Topping A90D

 

[staticV3]

Ok good to know! At the moment I have a Topping A90D

On the A90D, Bal out provides more power than SE out regardless of what input you use:

 

[theoblue80]

On the A90D, Bal out provides more power than SE out regardless of what input you use:
View attachment 253211

So it seems that in A90D the amplification part is not impacted by the type of input connection