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Topping E70 Stereo DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 8 2.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 8 2.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 45 11.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 318 83.9%

  • Total voters
    379
Joined
Jan 26, 2023
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Both E70 and E70V can provide simultaneous output or each separately, auto-on off and 12v trigger out. Could be tricky to properly set crossover frequency and maybe phase on the subwoofer. But you can play and get a sound you like, regardless how audiophile is :)

And it's been said here that the E70 is at least as good, if not better, than the Velvet, so from a strictly monetary pov it's a no brainer. B-b-but the D70 Octo (not reviewed here though) looks so nicely built, with these large feets, and this large screen..:oops: And the Dx7Pro+ also takes care of any headphone amp need... :oops: & I'm seeing a few of these in second hand at a price barely higher than a new E70...
 
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rheology

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Just would have loved to hear back from someone who actually did it (or a very similar setup) :) There are a few testimonies here and there, but they are sparse. My case use is probably be the same (PC or radio receiver -> Topping Dac/Preamp [so it can auto/on off and trigger on/off the power amp]->Rca to active subwoofer ; XLR to Power amp ->speakers).
I think it could be done with the E70, E70 velvet, D70 pro (Octo and Ess versions), the DX7Pro+ and the Dx9 (at least, I might miss some - must write down somewhere which ones have simultaneous RCA&XLR out, auto-on off and 12v trigger out) ; but it's way too late here for me to have the concentration to compare specs, functions and measurements to see if what's worth between going 400 (E70) to 1300 (Dx9) bucks and everything in between
I've been using the E70 for many months just like this and haven't had any issues. PC/Bluetooth > E70 > Amp + Sub. Amp gets XLR and sub gets RCA.
 
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I've been using the E70 for many months just like this and haven't had any issues. PC/Bluetooth > E70 > Amp + Sub. Amp gets XLR and sub gets RCA.

Nice. Was about to say "that's the setup I think I'll aim for", then I stumbled on this thread and post which are scary as hell when your planned use case is "one signal wakes up all the rest of the chain automatically" :D
 

Burns

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I have a question.
From what I read, CD players use multiple oversampling in their internal DACs to output the analog signal.
If I output such a CD player to the e70 via the optical output - Toslink or coaxial, the Topping e70 recognizes it as 44.1 kHz.
Does the Topping device perform oversampling within its circuit? (I don't think so ?)

"What is oversampling in CD player?
The audio industry has now standardized at an 8x oversampling rate, which means a CD's sampling frequency is increased to 352.8kHz before it enters the digital-to-audio converter. This effectively moves the aliasing frequencies to values near 300kHz, much higher than the original 22.05kHz."

 
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adamd

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Sep 24, 2018
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I have a question.
From what I read, CD players use multiple oversampling in their internal DACs to output the analog signal.
If I output such a CD player to the e70 via the optical output - Toslink or coaxial, the Topping e70 recognizes it as 44.1 kHz.
Does the Topping device perform oversampling within its circuit? (I don't think so ?)

"What is oversampling in CD player?
The audio industry has now standardized at an 8x oversampling rate, which means a CD's sampling frequency is increased to 352.8kHz before it enters the digital-to-audio converter. This effectively moves the aliasing frequencies to values near 300kHz, much higher than the original 22.05kHz."
The short answer is yes the E70 will oversample just like the cd player. Almost certainly better but possibly really really "just like".
 

Ahmonge

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I have a question.
From what I read, CD players use multiple oversampling in their internal DACs to output the analog signal.
If I output such a CD player to the e70 via the optical output - Toslink or coaxial, the Topping e70 recognizes it as 44.1 kHz.
Does the Topping device perform oversampling within its circuit? (I don't think so ?)

"What is oversampling in CD player?
The audio industry has now standardized at an 8x oversampling rate, which means a CD's sampling frequency is increased to 352.8kHz before it enters the digital-to-audio converter. This effectively moves the aliasing frequencies to values near 300kHz, much higher than the original 22.05kHz."

Oversampling is an internal function of Delta-Sigma DACs. There is no reason why an external DAC, if it uses it, should not apply it to the digital stream that produces the CD transport.
 

Burns

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Oversampling is an internal function of Delta-Sigma DACs. There is no reason why an external DAC, if it uses it, should not apply it to the digital stream that produces the CD transport.
Thank you.
To simplify matters, if I find a CD player with a correctly measuring DAC, with a chip from the same company ES (An example of a similar chip: The Denon 900NE uses ES9018K2M DAC with Denon's AL32 processing plus digital filter) - I assume 8x upsamling to 384kHz
Will the sound be more correct on the analog output or from the Topping E70 DAC using Denon as a transport for the digital output? - 44.1kHz
Has anyone tried to measure it, how to connect a CD player better?
 

Burns

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"the first argument is that the signal is kept unchanged, and any interference, even theoretically improving the parameters, may in practice lead to a decrease in quality;

the second - that almost every digital-to-analog converter has higher dynamics (although these differences are not large) when working with a lower sampling frequency. Hence the interest in "old" DACs and CD players"

It's true ?
 

Burns

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Source?

I need a much more in-depth explanation of those "dynamics" for the quote to have any hope of making sense.
 

Killingbeans

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I see... The "explanation" on Hegel's webpage is this:

For those interested in deep tech, we even design digital clocks that will follow the sampling frequency in the music and "down-clock" when receiving a low-resolution file. For the non-techie, the result is a far more natural and "analog" sound as well as an unbelievable soundstage and realism.

Seems like pure marketing blurb nonsense to me.
 

Killingbeans

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Indeed. It's amazing how every single one of these products has a gimmick that allegedly gives a huuuuge improvement in sound.

According to this logic, all competing products undoubtedly sound like a dumbbell being thrown into a wood chipper. Imagine consolidating all of this wonderful innovation in a single product. It would rip a hole in time and space and make you see beyond infinty and the ultimate truth of the universe! :D:facepalm:
 

Burns

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Thank you.
To simplify matters, if I find a CD player with a correctly measuring DAC, with a chip from the same company ES (An example of a similar chip: The Denon 900NE uses ES9018K2M DAC with Denon's AL32 processing plus digital filter) - I assume 8x upsamling to 384kHz
Will the sound be more correct on the analog output or from the Topping E70 DAC using Denon as a transport for the digital output? - 44.1kHz
Has anyone tried to measure it, how to connect a CD player better?
You still don't substantively answer the question which is better, which combination is more appropriate?
 

Killingbeans

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Your actual hearing most likely won't give a rat's a¤¤, and the improvement being measured will probably equate the manitude of an ant farting at the opposite end of the solar system.

Whether you can get rid of your nagging doubt is a completely different matter :D
 

Burns

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Your actual hearing most likely won't give a rat's a¤¤, and the improvement being measured will probably equate the manitude of an ant farting at the opposite end of the solar system.

Whether you can get rid of your nagging doubt is a completely different matter :D
Very scientific statement! This is what I expected, as befits this forum. Think about it, producers are very bored and oversample CDs by eight times
 

Killingbeans

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Think about it, producers are very bored and oversample CDs by eight times

As mentioned above, just about any DAC chip these days uses oversampling as an integral part of its functionality. It's nothing special.

The audio manufacturers do however often feel the need to underline oversampling as a feature in their marketing blurbs. Neither because they are bored, nor because they are doing something extraordinaire, but just because it's way easier to push new products in the line-up on the consumer, if you can make them believe they are getting an upgrade of some sort.

Most companies have a whole shtick that they apply to everything in order to stand out. Like Chord and their pointless obsession with steep reconstruction filters.

It's a hobby in which 99% of the real problems have been solved for ages, and so the manufacturers are forced to spun elaborate stories about massive innovation taking place in a myriad of areas, even though the point of diminishing returns was reached several decades ago in nearly all of them.

Worrying about the DA conversion of audio data is completely unnecessary, IMO.

Buy a fancy new DAC because you want something fancy and new, or because you like how it looks/feels, or because you enjoy owning something that performs so insanely well that Johnson–Nyquist noise becomes a bottleneck.

Don't buy one just because you've swallowed all of the stories about necessities whole.

Transducers and acoustics is where the real frontier is at, and has been for a long time. All the stuff upstream has nowhere to go but size, efficiency and user friendliness.

The thuth is not very romantic though, and that's why the industry relies heavily on BS to keep the gears turning ;)
 

RCL162

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Can i have bit-perfect/exclusive mode with this device?
 
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