Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC)

[Ajax]

E and L lines are meant to be lower cost, efficiently designed with performance/price ratio maximized.

A and D series are in general for new designs, more premium products with still good performance/price but more about new cool stuff.

And it's expected for E and L lines to be more popular.

Of course D10 series is an exception. But to me it serves an purpose. D10 Balanced already started to make sense with E50 and L50 lauch. It will make more sense when more different products coming.

I have lots of concepts and visions. Some things are actually planned in 2019 and won't be released before next year.

Hi John,

Thank you for your great line of products. I own the D50s DAC.

With regard to what you have planned would they include a streamer? There are a surprisingly few cost effective Streamers on the market and with nearly all my listening now via Tidal & Spotify a stand alone bit perfect Streamer or Streamer / DAC would be welcome.

 

[Tomino]

An ignorant, even Philistine question: given the amount of noise and distortion that inevitably enters during playback, especially from speakers and room acoustics, at what point is adding another dB of SINAD from your DAC gilding the lily -- i.e., meaningless -- in terms of improving sound quality? Wouldn't you reach that point far, far below 120 dB?

A suggestion for Amirm and others far more knowledgeable than me:
I think many who are relatively new to measurement-driven audiophilia would be interested in guidance on how to balance an audio budget among different components with the target of having a smooth response curve, limited distortion, reasonable playback volume and bass response, etc. Obviously this poses a question with no clear answer, but just as plainly, you wouldn't want to spend the same on your DAC as on your speakers. So what's a sensible consumer strategy to optimize your results? Presumably that strategy includes some form of DSP if at all possible.

 

[VariousArtists]

@JohnYang1997 If possible, please ask ShenzhenAudio to include balanced cable with their E50+L50 combo. They are treating the combo like the E30+L30 by including the same pair of RCA

TOPPING E50 DAC + L30 Headphone Amplifier + RCA Cable Combo (shenzhenaudio.com)

Edit: it's nothing wrong but feels like a cost cutting measure

 

[JohnYang1997]

@JohnYang1997 If possible, please ask ShenzhenAudio to include balanced cable with their E50+L50 combo. They are treating the combo like the E30+L30 by including the same pair of RCA

TOPPING E50 DAC + L30 Headphone Amplifier + RCA Cable Combo (shenzhenaudio.com)

Edit: it's nothing wrong but feels like a cost cutting measure

Should just go with E50 + L50 separately for 498 and buy a pair of TRS cable on Amazon for 10 20 bucks.

 

[VariousArtists]

Should've go with E50 + L50 separately for 498 and buy a pair of TRS cable on Amazon for 10 20 bucks.

That's a much better deal indeed! (I thought you are friends though )

 

[JohnYang1997]

That's a much better deal indeed! (I thought you are friends though )

They don't have TRS balanced cable yet. And they can't give away ours also. So taking individually is the better way to go.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Cosmic radiation has nothing to do with noise in audio circuits. I have already designed and measured analogue circuit with less than 100nVrms noise in 20khz BW. The dynamic range is about 167dB.

I've heard it said that the interstation noise ("static") you get with a mistuned radio is due to CBR. I've always thought that unlikely and that it's due to internal circuit noise. Which is correct?

 

[SeriousSam70]

I've heard it said that the interstation noise ("static") you get with a mistuned radio is due to CBR. I've always thought that unlikely and that it's due to internal circuit noise. Which is correct?

When you watch channel 03, 1% of what you're watching comes from the Big Bang's leftover glow. You are literally watching the cosmic microwave background.

Channel 03 was — and if you can dig up an old television set, still is — simply a signal that appears to us as "static" or "snow." That "snow" you see on your television comes from a combination of all sorts of sources:

• human-made radio transmissions,
• the Sun,
• black holes,
• and all sorts of other directional astrophysical phenomena like pulsars, cosmic rays and more.

 

[roffe]

Hi John,

Thank you for your great line of products. I own the D50s DAC.

With regard to what you have planned would they include a streamer? There are a surprisingly few cost effective Streamers on the market and with nearly all my listening now via Tidal & Spotify a stand alone bit perfect Streamer or Streamer / DAC would be welcome.

And Roon Ready, please.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I read here or there "should I buy, which model" etc...

Thank you @JohnYang1997, more or less I buy one DAC or another every month.

After that it goes to family or friends. Here is the last project I am working on, with a Topping DAC, of course. The player is an Orange Pi inside the rocket.

 

[777]

Are there any pictures with E50 interior ?

 

[Megaken]

Is it worth upgrading from E30?

 

[D700]

I don't have a solution to this other than posting the zoomed version. The current graph is nearly 5000 pixels wide! If I turn it sideways it will go on for many pages. You can click on it by the way for a wider shot but still a pain to look at. If anyone has a solution that can be implemented in Excel, let me know.

Break the graph into separate pictures, vertically for readability, by color coding. Majority are probably only looking at the green and above anyway. Link to the rest if we want to see them. 1 for Blue, 1 for green, etc

 

[Headchef]

Is it possible to see the complete SINAD graph as posted above, unfortunately it’s too small to view? Thanks

 

[PeteL]

Is it worth upgrading from E30?

Do you need balanced outputs?

 

[Robius]

Is it possible to see the complete SINAD graph as posted above, unfortunately it’s too small to view? Thanks

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?pages/Audio_Equipment_Reviews/

In the 2nd page you can see SINAD numbers on the right side.

 

[threni]

Are you sure?
I've seen posts from Sabaj that they sent you their new (at the time) dac(s), can't remember models - doesn't really matter.
And yet the new Topping dac gets a review already...

Which of his statements are you asking if he's sure about? That he reviews what he gets sent? That he buys a few? That the number of Topping reviews is a small fraction of the number of reviews he does? Etc. Etc. Maybe he's in the pocket of Big DAC. It's worth considering, I suppose. I'd certainly hate to think that there's something fishy about the order in which he performs and publishes objective measurements and reviews of hardware, for free, in his spare time.

 

[Doodski]

Are you sure?
I've seen posts from Sabaj that they sent you their new (at the time) dac(s), can't remember models - doesn't really matter.
And yet the new Topping dac gets a review already...

Topping is a very popular product brand and the amount of members here that look forward to reading test reviews of Topping stuff is massive. If @amirm puts two new Topping models ahead in the test line so what. He is simply appeasing his readers and that is the name of the game here.

 

[jhaider]

With regard to what you have planned would they include a streamer? There are a surprisingly few cost effective Streamers on the market…

Indeed. I think Belkin may have released one recently, but other than that the only useful (i.e. AirPlay 2) cost effective standalone streamer known to me is the discontinued Apple AirPort Express. Seems there’s a gap in the market for a smart and nimble company to exploit.

 

[SHENZHENAUDIO]

Are there any pictures with E50 interior ?