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Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC)

MLaranjeiras

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I ordered this dac and the PA5 amplifier.

I forgot the fact that I would like to connect a subwoofer later on. Is the E50 capable of output signal in both balanced and unbalanced at the same time in preamp mode? That would solve it for me.

If not I would be happy for other suggestions on how to solve the connection of a subwoofer.
Some have spekaers terminals and if not you can use a cable adapter. You use a pair of speaker cables and connect the sub to left or right speakers terminals of the amplifier, together with the respective speaker cable.
 

MLaranjeiras

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It appear after 1 or 2 seconds when connect the power supply. The power supply is at 5.1V and 1A from a laboratory linear power supply. Consumption is at aprox. 0.45A.
Try a 2.1A power supply charger
 

MLaranjeiras

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Are there any members who use this DAC with a SACD player?

I am aware that most won't output over Coax or Optical (Read: Virtually none) because of the built-in DRM inherent to the SACD format but since the Topping offers DSD decoding... and there are a handful of SACD players that do offer DSD over coax or optical.
I thing that both Toslink and coaxial do not support DSD due band limitations of these technologies.
 

bernarius

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Hi all! I have just bought E50. Sounds great, but I hear a squeal from the box itself (not in speakers or headphones). It is not very loud, but audible especially in USB mode. Is it normal? Thanks in advance!
 

MLaranjeiras

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No sound must be heard from this kind of device. Your is defective, for sure. Anyway, check the power supply.
 

dominikz

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Many thanks for your reviews. I have a question. If I have missed it do please accept my apologies but please point me to where I can get my answer: What is the output level at -20dBFS at full volume? Or at 0dBFS for that matter? I am trying to find the "gain" of the device between digital and analogue.
Unless I'm mistaken output level at 0dBFS should be ~4.25Vrms / ~14.8dBu for a sine signal (see SINAD dashboard, and manufacturer spec).
Therefore level at -20dBFS should be around 0.425Vrms / -5.2dBu.
 
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sarumbear

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LuckyLuke575

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Straight shot question (sorry if already covered): is it worth buying the E50 to replace the E30 that I already have? MQA is highly relevant for me as I stream Tidal.
 

dominikz

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dBu is 0.775V. How can 4.25V is a negative value?
Not sure if I understood your comment correctly, but note that I wrote "~" in front of 14,8dBu (tilde, as in 'approximately') and not "-" (minus, as in 'negative').

Also, I just measured the output of my E50 unit with a true RMS voltmeter and got the following values for 0dBFS peak 100Hz sine tone:

Bal L: 4,25 Vrms
Bal R: 4,23 Vrms

SE L: 2,08 Vrms
SE R: 2,07 Vrms

Hope it helps!
 

sarumbear

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Not sure if I understood your comment correctly, but note that I wrote "~" in front of 14,8dBu (tilde, as in 'approximately') and not "-" (minus, as in 'negative').

Also, I just measured the output of my E50 unit with a true RMS voltmeter and got the following values for 0dBFS peak 100Hz sine tone:

Bal L: 4,25 Vrms
Bal R: 4,23 Vrms

SE L: 2,08 Vrms
SE R: 2,07 Vrms

Hope it helps!
Thank you. Balanced out at 0dBFS is 15dBu or 13dBV.

FYI, tilde without any negative sign denotes a positive value.
 

dominikz

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Thank you. Balanced out at 0dBFS is 15dBu or 13dBV.
No worries, glad to help!
FYI, tilde without any negative sign denotes a positive value
Sure, I meant positive 14,8 dBu from the start - sorry if tilde symbol caused confusion, perhaps I should have written 'approx.' instead
 

Veri

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Straight shot question (sorry if already covered): is it worth buying the E50 to replace the E30 that I already have? MQA is highly relevant for me as I stream Tidal.
Well, E30 can't decode MQA right? So if you use Tidal & MQA you might want to get such a DAC with decoding functionality.
 

Nasalmirror

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I'm looking for a new dac for my setup. I have a zen dac + zen can, but recently I bought a new TV and now I need a optical input + USB (so I can have audio from TV or from PC on my headphones, hd6xx and sundara). Would the E50 pair nicely with my zen can? How important is the balanced connection? The e30 seems like a good option too, it costs almost half as much but no balance interconnection.
 

yanm

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Just integrated the E50 in my setup: Node as input (fixed volume), connected via USB to the E50 (used to control the volume), then ARX RS-1 as HT bypass, and AHB2 with mid-gain settings (17dB amplification). I’m however a bit surprised by my listening level, typically -40dB. Is my understanding correct that 0dBFS then corresponds to 42.5mVrms at the output of the E30 and 300mVrms at the output of the AHB2? My loudspeakers have a sensitivity of 89dB SPL at 1m with a 2.83V input. So the maximum SPL level that can be reached, with the E50 set to -40dB, is about 70dB SPL, which seems very low. Mind you, it is in the same ballpark than the peak SPL measured with an App-based SPL meter when played hot-mastered music (Adele)…
 

bud947

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Just integrated the E50 in my setup: Node as input (fixed volume), connected via USB to the E50 (used to control the volume), then ARX RS-1 as HT bypass, and AHB2 with mid-gain settings (17dB amplification). I’m however a bit surprised by my listening level, typically -40dB. Is my understanding correct that 0dBFS then corresponds to 42.5mVrms at the output of the E30 and 300mVrms at the output of the AHB2? My loudspeakers have a sensitivity of 89dB SPL at 1m with a 2.83V input. So the maximum SPL level that can be reached, with the E50 set to -40dB, is about 70dB SPL, which seems very low. Mind you, it is in the same ballpark than the peak SPL measured with an App-based SPL meter when played hot-mastered music (Adele)…
I have a similar set up with TV (toslink) + Streamer (coax) going into the E50 (also used to control volume), then Audient id14 MKII as a gain+dsp filter device (knob at 2 out of 10 so roughly 6db gain) and final output to Presonus E8 sub + E8 XT.
with this setup I usually listen to -30db (I haven't measured it but SPL should be in the [70-75]db range). But I think that the E50 volume implementation is not linear (I've never reached the -15db volume level for example) which may explain why SPL at -40db is very low.
 

yanm

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I should have added, assuming you using balanced 4V with the ABH2's gain set to 17 is 28V i.e. the ABH2 at max power.
Yes, I’m using balanced output. Indeed, when the volume is set at 0dB, the max power of the AHB2 should be reached. But if I set the volume at -40dB the full scale output of the E50 would then be 100x lower than at 0dB (assuming that the dB reading of the E50 are 20 log A, where A is the attenuation).
 
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yanm

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I have a similar set up with TV (toslink) + Streamer (coax) going into the E50 (also used to control volume), then Audient id14 MKII as a gain+dsp filter device (knob at 2 out of 10 so roughly 6db gain) and final output to Presonus E8 sub + E8 XT.
with this setup I usually listen to -30db (I haven't measured it but SPL should be in the [70-75]db range).
So, a similar experience. For me, it was interesting to realise that, in my case, most of the potential power of the amplifier is not used as I never go louder than -20dB, which would correspond to 2.8V FS for the AHB2 or 1W for 8 ohms speakers.

But I think that the E50 volume implementation is not linear (I've never reached the -15db volume level for example) which may explain why SPL at -40db is very low.
I do hope that the dB readings of the E50 are according to the standard formula 20*log(A), where A is the attenuation. It would otherwise be a very strange design choice to show dB as unit but not to follow the formula.
 
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yanm

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A question on the auto standby feature of the E50: it seems not to work as I expected. For example, after power down (of the mains), the E50 sometime starts as 'on' and othertimes in standby. If I put the E50 in standby via the "power button" of the remote, the E50 does not come out of standby automatically (I would have expected the auto standby to always override whatever is set via the remote in that case). What should be the expected behavior? My setup: Bluesound Node <USB> Topping E50.

Also, does someone know if there are separate IR codes for 'ON' and 'OFF' commands? As far as I can see there is only a "power toggling" code, which is causing me some headache to automatize my setup via the Logitech Harmony... especially considering the unexpected behaviour of the auto standby feature.
 
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