Topping E70 Stereo DAC Review

[rarewolf]

Would you suscribe that Topping is too bright for planars? I ask because i read this very often. Perfect measurements which you cannot hear but too sterile, flat, dull tonality? E70+L70+Edition XS is a missmatch?

Plenty of warmth coming from my Fostex T60 Argons, even from the Velvet…

 

[MadMaxx]

FWIW, my Velvet hasn't produced any audio I'd consider "bright" to my ears.

 

[aka_Z]

I got my E70V I could get it yesterday, two days earlier than scheduled but I didn't expect it and I wasn't at home. First I got a text that delivery will be between 3pm-5pm but the driver stopped by at 1:30pm. Then DHL called me and I said, I would be at home in a half hour if by any chance the driver can stop by again. After a couple hours of waiting and no text message, I decided to take a short walk after 5pm on a beautiful sunny day. Of course, driver stopped by when I was walking outside It was so ridiculous to find a notice on the door twice. I really feel sorry for the driver. Anyway, I got a text today, stayed at home, it's raining anyway, and the device arrived.

Respect to the box and packaging, it looks really premium. Device looks very premium too, white display, tempered glass, red detail on the volume knob...I quickly connected to my setup using XLR, set it to DAC only mode, active loudspeakers to 0dB, turned it on, paired with my phone and found out that it's using LDAC, 96kHz, 32 bit. My old DX3 pro was using aptX HD. Nice

Do I hear the difference? Surprisingly, I do It could be just an auto suggestion but I really hear sounds which I never heard before. Highs sound clearer, bass deeper and stronger... I really don't want to go into audiophile BS but it does sound different than DX3 Pro to me. Maybe it's just RCA vs XLR...

Old remote works but both remotes have terrible range. It works even worse than with DX3 Pro.

 

[funnychap]

exciting,
hurry up,
hurry the postman,
How long do I have to wait for your sensations?

That's why I love Amazon's 2 days delivery.

 

[Martin]

I have the E70 Velvet running in parallel with my DX7 Pro. I was doing some sighted listening through my HPA-4 and LCD-3 headphones and switching between the DACs using the HPA-4 remote is instantaneous. On many songs I could not tell a difference between them, on others I could. Then I tried pink noise which showed one was ever so slightly louder than the other. I don’t know which because I lost track of which DAC I had on which input. The difference is under 0.5dB but clearly audible. I’ll spend time with my multimeter level matching them tomorrow.

Martin

 

[Burns]

I got my E70V I could get it yesterday, two days earlier than scheduled but I didn't expect it and I wasn't at home. First I got a text that delivery will be between 3pm-5pm but the driver stopped by at 1:30pm. Then DHL called me and I said, I would be at home in a half hour if by any chance the driver can stop by again. After a couple hours of waiting and no text message, I decided to take a short walk after 5pm on a beautiful sunny day. Of course, driver stopped by when I was walking outside It was so ridiculous to find a notice on the door twice. I really feel sorry for the driver. Anyway, I got a text today, stayed at home, it's raining anyway, and the device arrived.

Respect to the box and packaging, it looks really premium. Device looks very premium too, white display, tempered glass, red detail on the volume knob...I quickly connected to my setup using XLR, set it to DAC only mode, active loudspeakers to 0dB, turned it on, paired with my phone and found out that it's using LDAC, 96kHz, 32 bit. My old DX3 pro was using aptX HD. Nice

Do I hear the difference? Surprisingly, I do It could be just an auto suggestion but I really hear sounds which I never heard before. Highs sound clearer, bass deeper and stronger... I really don't want to go into audiophile BS but it does sound different than DX3 Pro to me. Maybe it's just RCA vs XLR...

Old remote works but both remotes have terrible range. It works even worse than with DX3 Pro.

Silver is definitely prettier and sounds crystal clear Let me remind you that the device in the setup has a very important 5V vs 4V setting and this should be selected to compare it with the DX3. For the duration of the tests, it can and should be connected via the same RCA outputs.

 

[tardik]

I was a long time lurker, but wanted to add my experience to the thread. I ordered the E70 Velvet out of curiosity, as the price difference between the Velvet and non Velvet was just 40€. It replaced an M500 that was connected via XLR to an amplifier with speakers. Signal source is my Samsung TV (QN90A EU version) which I use to stream Tidal Hifi and sometimes my PC, both via toslink. I could not find a difference in sound between my old M500 MKII and the new E70 Velvet. However what I could hear that was new, were weird static noises. Whenever I move the cursor around in the TV's menu or change songs in Tidal, I can hear a disruptive clicking noise. That is also the reason why I plan to send the unit back and replace it with the non-AKM version.

 

[funnychap]

I was a long time lurker, but wanted to add my experience to the thread. I ordered the E70 Velvet out of curiosity, as the price difference between the Velvet and non Velvet was just 40€. It replaced an M500 that was connected via XLR to an amplifier with speakers. Signal source is my Samsung TV (QN90A EU version) which I use to stream Tidal Hifi and sometimes my PC, both via toslink. I could not find a difference in sound between my old M500 MKII and the new E70 Velvet. However what I could hear that was new, were weird static noises. Whenever I move the cursor around in the TV's menu or change songs in Tidal, I can hear a disruptive clicking noise. That is also the reason why I plan to send the unit back and replace it with the non-AKM version.

I have the Topping E70 (with ESS Sabre dac chip) and I use Apple Music lossless and Spotify. I don't get any weird static noises.
My connection is iPhone 12 Pro Max via wireless Airplay2 to Apple Airport Express, then via optical into the E70, then RCA to my speaker.

For hi-res lossless, my connection is iPhone 12 Pro Max via Apple lightning-to-camera USB adapter, then a 15' USB cord into the E70, then RCA to my speaker.

 

[tardik]

I have the Topping E70 (with ESS Sabre dac chip) and I use Apple Music lossless and Spotify. I don't get any weird static noises.
My connection is iPhone 12 Pro Max via wireless Airplay2 to Apple Airport Express, then via optical into the E70, then RCA to my speaker.

For hi-res lossless, my connection is iPhone 12 Prox Max via Apple lightning-to-camera USB adapter, then a 15' USB cord into the E70, then RCA to my speaker.

Good to hear, I hope my issue will be resolved with the ESS version too. Based off of the fact that my father had the same issues as I described via USB input from a PC with the Velvet version, it seems to me like the new AKM chips and their implementation does not seem to be perfectly executed yet (talking out of my ass here heh).

 

[Burns]

Good to hear, I hope my issue will be resolved with the ESS version too. Based off of the fact that my father had the same issues as I described via USB input from a PC with the Velvet version, it seems to me like the new AKM chips and their implementation does not seem to be perfectly executed yet (talking out of my ass here heh).

After my adventure with velvet, I also had the feeling that he was so underdeveloped. Over the cheaper e70 they sat longer, for example, because of the firmware 1.4

 

[Snoopy]

After my adventure with velvet, I also had the feeling that he was so underdeveloped. Over the cheaper e70 they sat longer, for example, because of the firmware 1.4

And the E70 velvet has a DSD64 cutoff frequency of 19khz. so if you want more than that you need to upsample to DSD128-256.

 

[tardik]

After my adventure with velvet, I also had the feeling that he was so underdeveloped. Over the cheaper e70 they sat longer, for example, because of the firmware 1.4

What was your adeventure with the velvet? Did you encounter the same issue as I did?

 

[KotalKahnSunGod]

to determine if the e70 has only the external antenna damaged, you can borrow the antenna from the smsl da-9 device that you have.
The antenna sockets should match and possibly the antennas are compatible as well.
You don't lose anything, you don't damage anything

SMSL has a BT male plug (topping has female plug), and the thread size is smaller than topping. BT antennas are not suitable, unfortunately. But for me this is not a problem, because I can send music via BT directly to amp SMSL DA-9. But AptxHD only, not LDAC

 

[Burns]

And the E70 velvet has a DSD64 cutoff frequency of 19khz. so if you want more than that you need to upsample to DSD128-256.

please explain what is the matter with the fact that velvet has no filters for the dsd format, although it plays it like e70 standard?

 

[Snoopy]

please explain what is the matter with the fact that velvet has no filters for the dsd format, although it plays it like e70 standard?

Topping E70 Velvet DAC Review, Measurements and Comparisons

2/13/23 UPDATE.... See post 2 for FULL review of the Topping E70 VELVET DAC. Also, see here for what to expect next after the Topping comparo. https://www.euphonicreview.com/blog/rohm-comes-to-town The Topping is on its way here for a full review and lab testing at Euphonicreview.com...

www.head-fi.org

The second post.

 

[funnychap]

Good to hear, I hope my issue will be resolved with the ESS version too. Based off of the fact that my father had the same issues as I described via USB input from a PC with the Velvet version, it seems to me like the new AKM chips and their implementation does not seem to be perfectly executed yet (talking out of my ass here heh).

I also tried the E70's bluetooth to my iPhone 12 Pro Max streaming Apple Music and it sounded great.

 

[Burns]

Topping E70 Velvet DAC Review, Measurements and Comparisons

2/13/23 UPDATE.... See post 2 for FULL review of the Topping E70 VELVET DAC. Also, see here for what to expect next after the Topping comparo. https://www.euphonicreview.com/blog/rohm-comes-to-town The Topping is on its way here for a full review and lab testing at Euphonicreview.com...

www.head-fi.org

The second post.

i saw this review but what about the e70 standard if the cutoff frequencies are so high? I don't really understand how the DSD format works

 

[Snoopy]

i saw this review but what about the e70 standard if the cutoff frequencies are so high? I don't really understand how the DSD format works

Those are normal cutoff frequencies for DSD. That just means that everything over 47khz for example doesn't even make it to the amplifier.
(You couldn't hear it anyway)

DSD has lots of noise in the high frequency range. That you wouldn't be able to hear but would make no sense to send that to the amplifier and speakers.

SACD players used to have sometimes low cutoff frequencies as well but usually higher than 19khz.

The cutoff frequencies gets higher for the E70 velvet with higher DSD rates. So you would just have to upsample normal DSD files to DSD256.


The normal E70 uses a ESS chip.

 

[Hapo]

...so would this make for an effective preamp for, I don't know, say a Buckeye Audio NCx500 two channel amp, or are they still spontaneously blowing up systems...???...

 

[Serg]

With this kind of "near perfection" gear we are getting closer to the end of our hobby. The fun will be over soon.

I disagree... unless your hobby is merely interpreting measurements into diminishing returns (admittedly, I enjoy this to a degree as well)... how about we start pushing these companies to develop a better product related to user experience/customer service/durability? To do this, reviews MUST change their focus. Somewhere between .1 SINAD and "blacker backgrounds", lies: "This product works/looks great, measures extremely well, and is backed by a fantastic warranty and after sale support".

Edit: In hopes to not sound the least bit unappreciative in the preceding paragraph, I need to mention that this site is awesome... and Amir's (as well as other testers) work is nothing short of amazing. I've gone through most of the usual phases in this hobby (not cables, risers, etc.) and have finally found a place where things just make sense.