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Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC)

bogi

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Hi, have a bitdepth question. I'm using Audirvana with my E50. Should I activate 'Bit depth maximum to 24bit (instead of 32bit)' in the Audirvana settings or leave this off. Thanx!
E50 has 32 bit XMOS USB interface. There is no reason to limit bit depth. Current DACs don't reach 24bit resolution so in practice it would bring no change for you.
 

artsky

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Hello, is this DAC a full MQA decoder? Planning to use with Rpi4 and wonder if MQA will be decoded. Thanks!
 

nerone

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Hi, if I transmit in wifi to the Rpi4 and then in usb to the dac do I get complete MQA?
 

Fafner

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Please, what is the different between MQA. and MQA (without dot). I have Windows mini PC with Tidal and USB connection to DAC E50. Sometimes I can see on E50 MQA. , but sometimes only MQA (without dot). In Tidal setup I have "Passthrough MQA" ON in any case.
 

Blew

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Please, what is the different between MQA. and MQA (without dot). I have Windows mini PC with Tidal and USB connection to DAC E50. Sometimes I can see on E50 MQA. , but sometimes only MQA (without dot). In Tidal setup I have "Passthrough MQA" ON in any case.
RTFM. 1 is dot, 2 is no dot. 1 is equivalent to the normal green MQA indicator, 2 is equivalent to the normal blue MQA indicator.

1642808126919.png
 

bogi

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Please, what is the different between MQA
Better question is what is the difference between MQA and true lossless hi-res content.
The nature of MQA was reverse engineered and explained. MQA si lossy compression and DRM mechanism, whose main goal is not to provide original lossless content to end customers. This main goal was not clearly and fairly explained to consumers and instead of that it was masked by propaganda "as artist intended", the nonsense things with blue or green light or dots, whose only goal is to take your attention and make an illusion of something perfect. The lossy encoding is not the only downside of MQA. The main downside is that without MQA decoder it is not possible to perform any usual DSP (even simple volume control, automated replay gain, balance control, simple equalization, room equalization, headphone crossfeed, 5.1 to stereo, ...) without loosing resolution. That's all going against the world of free or low cost software and hardware solutions and small companies. MQA decoder is not sold to individual end customers, it can be only licensed by companies producing DACs and software players. It is on decision of MQA Corp. who get the license and who not. The quality of MQA decoding may be very poor - look for example at computation capabilities used for MQA decoding on Audioquest Dragonfly.

On the other side, Qobuz, highresaudio.com, Deezer, Amazon and others are providing true lossless and hi-res content, where the discotheque or blue lights and dots is not needed to mask a reality which MQA Corp. (not artists) intended to hide. You can perform any DSP you wish with software or hardware solution of your choice without loosing resolution and without need to pay for licensed decoder.
 
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Blew

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I still wonder why companies still keep pushing that mqa thing?

NO one want it. Only those uninformed.
Don't assume that only the uninformed want MQA. I have read a lot about MQA, including all the arguments against it, and would still much rather have it than not. I bought an E50 partly because it supports MQA. It's a rational decision based on the advantages of being able to fully render MQA content for not much extra cost. I listen to a lot of remastered MQA content on Tidal that often has decent dynamic range and sounds much better than the overly compressed but lossless CD or FLAC alternatives, so for me it's well worth having.
 

Atomicdog

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Hooked a SONY Blu-Ray via coax to the E50 and connected the DAC to a Marantz PM700N via RCA cables. Played a hybrid SACD. The E50 display reads 44.1 PCM. What does that mean? Am I right this should be reading the 24/96 SACD layer and outputting a hi-res signal?
 

Gradius

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Hooked a SONY Blu-Ray via coax to the E50 and connected the DAC to a Marantz PM700N via RCA cables. Played a hybrid SACD. The E50 display reads 44.1 PCM. What does that mean? Am I right this should be reading the 24/96 SACD layer and outputting a hi-res signal?
No.

SACD is protected by default. The DAC wouldn't accept, unless is mentioned on manual it can decode SACDs by coax/optical.

Much easier to rip your SACDs into DSD files and then you'll be able to hear it using USB connection. SACD is pretty dead by now, DSD not.
 

Blew

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Hooked a SONY Blu-Ray via coax to the E50 and connected the DAC to a Marantz PM700N via RCA cables. Played a hybrid SACD. The E50 display reads 44.1 PCM. What does that mean? Am I right this should be reading the 24/96 SACD layer and outputting a hi-res signal?
Your Sony Blu-ray player probably doesn't support SACD. Unfortunately most new models don't anymore. Regardless, you are playing the CD layer. The SACD layer is not PCM, it's DSD64, so it should light up DSD on the DAC rather than PCM.
 

Gradius

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@Blew I will avoid quoting your opinion. But you aren't hearing real quality at all. What you are hearing is pure DISTORTION.

And lossless IS trully lossless (1:1 from original), compressed or not.

mqa is just what mp3pro intented to be years ago.
 

Atomicdog

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This Sony model is SACD compatible. But through the Topping, it plays a single-layer SACD as 44.1 (odd, like it's downsampling), won't play the Lennon Gimme Some Truth Blu-ray at all (just digital static), plays the Hendrix Electric Ladyland Blu-Ray at 24/96, and plays MQA at 88.2. Confusing. I don't want to rip these SACDs to get DSD; that's why I purchased the DAC (I have an OPPO 105 that plays them and a Yamaha CD-S1000 that plays SACD). Just trying to get this DSD thing going on this system.
 
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Blew

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@Blew I will avoid quoting your opinion. But you aren't hearing real quality at all. What you are hearing is pure DISTORTION.
"Real quality" is also an opinion. It's obviously not "pure" distortion either, or else it would just sound like noise. By that argument you could also say that any DSP is distortion.

And lossless IS trully lossless (1:1 from original), compressed or not.
True. However, I'm less concerned about what is technically true lossless than I am about how it sounds. If I was given a choice between 24/192 lossless PCM and 24/192 MQA of the same master then I may opt for the lossless, but unfortunately that's not a choice that is often available. However, I haven't done enough subjective testing between those two options yet to determine which sounds better.

mqa is just what mp3pro intented to be years ago.
Not really. MQA is not lossy in the same way that MP3 is lossy, and it contains corrections in the analog domain.
 

Blew

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This Sony model is SACD compatible. But through the Topping, it plays a single-layer SACD as 44.1 (odd, like it's downsampling), won't play the Lennon Gimme Some Truth Blu-ray at all (just digital static), plays the Hendrix Electric Ladyland Blu-Ray at 24/96, and plays MQA at 88.2. Confusing. I don't want to rip these SACDs to get DSD; that's why I purchased the DAC (I have an OPPO 105 that plays them and a Yamaha CD-S1000 that plays SACD). Just trying to get this DSD thing going on this system.
What does the Sony's manual say? There is usually a setting for SACD output format and interface.

It may only output SACD digital audio via HDMI due to the copy protection on coax/optical outputs as @Gradius mentioned. Maybe the 44.1 downsampling is intentional as a SACD copy protection mechanism that retains the ability to output in CD format.

If HDMI is your only option for digital audio output then I wonder if a HDMI audio stripper would work.
 
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