(Unofficial) Topping D50 III DAC review and measurements

[Rja4000]

Seems to be a fantastic product, especially if they fix PEQ save on the device (for all sources).

As said here, we doubt it's technically possible to enable EQ for all sources for this device.

 

[Bleib]

As said here, we doubt it's technically possible to enable EQ for all sources for this device.

Yeah, wait for other devices. D90 III Discrete is supposed to have with all inputs but it might be too expensive for most, so let's hope it comes to E70, DX5 etc as well

 

[dorirod]

Thank you for the review @Rja4000 ! As others, PEQ is also piquing my interest.

I was wondering if you'd be able to answer another question on that. Do you know if turning on PEQ ads any delay? I'm currently doing PEQ through a raspberry pi and then to Topping EX5 and I haven't been able to get rid of the delay. If this can do it without any appreciable delay, it would be a good consideration.

In any case, it's great that Topping is finally dipping the toes in this direction.

 

[Rja4000]

Do you know if turning on PEQ ads any delay?

i didn't check.
Given the fact this works with USB input only and the DAC has no SPDIF out, I wonder how I could possibly measure that...

I'm currently doing PEQ through a raspberry pi and then to Topping EX5 and I haven't been able to get rid of the delay.

How much delay is acceptable ?
And did you try with a higher sampling frequency ?

If that's really a concern, you should rather have a look at Pro interfaces, which have strong (and fast) DSPs and are really meant to keep delay as short as possible.

 

[yanm]

I may have read it wrong, including the online instructions, but are the 10 parametric corrections announced a coorection per channel or are they applied to both channels at the same time?

I would assume it is a stereo PEQ, i.e. independent parameters for left and right channels. Otherwise it would limit the usefulness for e.g. room correction. There is no mention in the specs nor user manual though. The screenshot of the App is revealing that there is only mon control though. @Rja4000, could you confirm?

 

[yanm]

“The move toward devices controlled by Bluetooth without IR sensors is a terrible trend from my point of view”

I disagree. I have always found IR remotes difficult to use, as they need a precise line of sight to operate. Perhaps the Bluetooth frequencies aren’t the best to assign to a remote, but I’d much prefer them to IR.

I agree that Bluetooth remotes are better than IR. The problem is that they are way more difficult to be replaced by a universal remote than IR: Bluetooth requires pairing, bidirectional communication, and specific profile. This means that it is more difficult to engineer something that mimic the command / interface of a Bluetooth interface than a IR one. There are standard profiles for A/V control (AVRCP) but if Topping has used a proprietary profile, it is going to be even a taller order to have a universal remote at some point.

BTW, my topping E50 IR remote is very bad as it indeed requires a very precise line of sight to work. On the other hand, the E50 works flawlessly with my Logitech Harmony Smart Control.

 

[Koo]

I almost gasped when I saw it has 10-band PEQ. This is the device I've been waiting for 10 years. Well maybe a combo unit featuring the same DSP, but still.

 

[Rja4000]

I would assume it is a stereo PEQ, i.e. independent parameters for left and right channels. Otherwise it would limit the usefulness for e.g. room correction. There is no mention in the specs nor user manual though. The screenshot of the App are also not revealing. @Rja4000, could you confirm?

As you seen on the app screenshot, there is only one set of controls.
So it's the same correction for both channels.
At least for now.

 

[Rja4000]

my topping E50 IR remote is very bad as it indeed requires a very precise line of sight to work.

That's why I said it's an improvement.

 

[dorirod]

i didn't check.
Given the fact this works with USB input only and the DAC has no SPDIF out, I wonder how I could possibly measure that...

How much delay is acceptable ?
And did you try with a higher sampling frequency ?

If that's really a concern, you should rather have a look at Pro interfaces, which have strong (abd fast) DSPs and are really meant to keep delay as short as possible.

I get what I feel is like 0.2-0.4s delay, which is noticeable when I view video/movies as you can tell the sound is out of sync with the video. It's worth noting that I am using optical out to raspberry pi, do PEQ with CamillaDSP and then output to USB to EX5. I'm limited in sampling frequency to what comes out of TV. I can up-sample, but that doesn't help.

I am not sure what would be acceptable, probably 45ms or less would be great

 

[Palladium]

Type C port "Power"
You can use any mobile charger.

Personally, I don't like the screen on this DAC. don't like displays of this type; it can fade over time. It would be better if they used a display like the one on the D10. hope there's a function in the settings to turn off it.

Did you even read what I wrote...

Also screen burn in or degradation is a complete non-issue by setting screen on auto-off.

 

[Bleib]

Did you even read what I wrote...

Also screen burn in or degradation is a complete non-issue by setting screen on auto-off.

Auto-off is terrific but often Topping takes too long time to turn it off.
This should be easy to fix, let people choose 30s, 10s or 5s

 

[Kevinfc]

I agree that Bluetooth remotes are better than IR. The problem is that they are way more difficult to be replaced by a universal remote than IR: Bluetooth requires pairing, bidirectional communication, and specific profile. This means that it is more difficult to engineer something that mimic the command / interface of a Bluetooth interface than a IR one. There are standard profiles for A/V control (AVRCP) but if Topping has used a proprietary profile, it is going to be even a taller order to have a universal remote at some point.

BTW, my topping E50 IR remote is very bad as it indeed requires a very precise line of sight to work. On the other hand, the E50 works flawlessly with my Logitech Harmony Smart Control.

Good points.
Normally a remote isn’t all that important, but in the case of this and similar DAC’s, they are also used as preamps. Bluetooth Is such a widely used protocol that devices abound, so there’s always a possibility of finding an appropriate device for your needs.

 

[Sak]

Did you even read what I wrote...

Yes, I read that. But English is not my native language, so maybe I misunderstood you. You wrote about an independent power port. I did notice that the device has two ports. One of them is dedicated port type C. So, i think continuous power supply is possible. And there is no need to keep the PC constantly on.

Also screen burn in or degradation is a complete non-issue by setting screen on auto-off.

Yes, provided that the auto-off function is available in the device. Considering previous devices, this function is not available in all of them.

 

[sarieri]

I was told that there will be no update to D50III that will allow SPIDF input to have this EQ feature. EQ on USB is pretty useless to me. Why would someone prefer indevice EQ than EQAPO for example, especially when indevice EQ still affect performance a bit.

Fortunately, I was told by Topping that D900 or whatever they would be releasing will have EQ feature on ALL inputs. It's gonna be a stereo device though. They will probably release an 8 channel version if that one sells well.
The lesson I learned from measuring Minidsp Htx is that multichannel device with complicated mappings and EQ is not as simple as I originally thought.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Just amazing, isn't it? It's a DAC, full function pre-amp, has 10 band peq, balanced outputs, remote. All for $229 on Amazon! Somebody at Topping must be listening because adding PEQ to Dacs has been discussed here more than once. We talked about how it should not greatly add to the unit's cost, and how it should be standard. So really a great job.

Now just add a pair of the Fosi Audio V3 Mono's with the 48v 10 amp power supply for $260, and have a complete high end set of electronics for l.t. $490. Too bad Google stopped selling the Chromecast Audio streamer for $10.

If I buy this will i b able to cancel my Roon subscription ( which I mostly wanted for the peq) of 149 a year. Or is it still a bit too early

 

[KaeliKoo]

Thanks for the review! - Question: When connected to BT, will the remote control process (next track / prev track / play / pause) --> Thanks!

 

[Rja4000]

Fortunately, I was told by Topping that D900 or whatever they would be releasing will have EQ feature on ALL inputs. It's gonna be a stereo device though. They will probably release an 8 channel version if that one sells well.
The lesson I learned from measuring Minidsp Htx is that multichannel device with complicated mappings and EQ is not as simple as I originally thought.

You want a high performance high outputs count DACs with perfectly implemented 9 bands parametric EQ per channel ?
Wait for my review of the RME UFX III.

 

[audioje]

Since eqapo doesn't work with wasapi or tidal dac exclusive mode, I still like this usb only peq very much. Though no one likes mqa here, I am also happy that this will let me use peq with tidal mqa. Regardless, I won't buy this as I don't want to buy a separate headphone amp

 

[sarieri]

You want a high performance high outputs count DACs with perfectly implemented 9 bands parametric EQ per channel ?
Wait for my review of the RME UFX III.

But that one is way too expensive and I doubt how much it will outperform minidsp htx.