Topping D50

airbus said:
<snip> The question to explore is
why more than a few people are hearing a difference. <snip>
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It would be easier to explore if both sides were willing to explore it but the DMZ between the number and the feelings side gets more isolated. Like most divisive topics neither side will consider the others and anger and mockery quickly results. Things like "Why would I blind test it if I know this one is better?" from one side and even things like "why would anyone wear an analog watch when digital is so much more accurate and cheaper?" from the other.

jozeppy26 said:
I believe several studies have shown that a known price per bottle is the greatest influence both when rating wines and when subjectively measuring the enjoyment level of the wine. I suspect this is the case with a lot of audio equipment. The placebo effect is real and measurable <snip>
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I used to trust my own hearing until I bought a DAC that was eight times the price of my current one. I plugged it in and sat back in amazement at how much better the sound was. I would have written a long and glowing review of it at that moment, it was just that good. Then out of curiosity I added in a switch box to allow quick changing between it and my old DAC. In blind testing I picked the more expensive DAC just slightly over half the time as the better sounding one.

mgosdin said:
Problem is that reliable hardware tests and double blind tests just don't happen in every instance. So, the most effective method of dealing with this expectation bias is to use a health dose of skepticism.

Mark Gosdin
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According to some on the feelings side of the divide I should have never done the A/B testing; I should have just been happy with it and moved on. Quotes like "If it sounds better then it is better" or "Who is it hurting if they think it is better?" One problem there is that is the type of upgrading that leads to the feeling of soon needing future upgrades when the imagined "wow factor" wears off on the current piece of equipment. Since it really isn't better my brain will eventually figure that out. As the placebo effect wore off I would have started looking for the next DAC upgrade that would make me go "Wow" again because last time an upgrade was a huge improvement.
 
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I find the most telling thing is how often do I listen to music with the new component in my system, how loud do I play it (either very loud or very quiet tends to be a good thing, because it means I'm listening for something other than background music purposes), what kind of music I want to listen to, etc.
Consciously asking myself whether component a is better than component b is short term listening trials doesn't work for me that well, because I'm very suggestible. Real double blind testing is just too much trouble.

If I'm listening more often and longer to a wide variety of music, it's a pretty reliable sign to me that the new component has been an improvement.
With the Topping d50, I"m definitely listening longer and more often. I do find that I listen to more classical music and more complex music. To me, that's a sign that it's very articulate and harmonically accurate . I probably listen to less rock and when I do, it's at a lower volume which may be the slightly hard sound that some people complain about.

My previous DAC was also an ESS based DAC, but it was built around the 9018, HIFI mediy UDA 18. and I was listening to more folk and jazz.
I still use the UDA 18 as my headphone amp.
 
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airbus said:
I find the most telling thing is how often do I listen to music with the new component in my system, how loud do I play it (either very loud or very quiet tends to be a good thing, because it means I'm listening for something other than background music purposes), what kind of music I want to listen to, etc.
Consciously asking myself whether component a is better than component b is short term listening trials doesn't work for me that well, because I'm very suggestible. Real double blind testing is just too much trouble.<snip>
Click to expand...

I've found the same thing. I was working on a class A SS amp I'd built a few years back the other night and at first thought it sounded better than I'd remembered and thought maybe I should use it more. But when listening I'd sit for a coupe of seconds to make sure the channels were even sounding and there wasn't distortion and then I'd shut it off and move on to something else. When I thought back to recently when I was testing out a different new build and when doing listening tests over several days with it I'd find myself just sitting there and listening to it for extended periods.
I can't tell you what was better sounding with the one but I definitely enjoyed it more.
 
Ordered the D50 today. This will be my first outboard dac so I hope I like it. $150 shipped so not a bad deal. :)
 
I have the D50 and I've been happy with it. $150 is a very good price. they may have dropped it some because of the D50s. Much of my listening is Spotify Premium, so I suspect there's a point of diminishing returns with dacs. On the d50, there's a clear difference with higher resolution source material I just don't have a lot of it.
 
Thanks airbus, Good to know. I am really just going to use it to uprade my cd player and as of right now I am not streaming music on my 2 channel rig. That will probably change now with the Topping. :)
 
I currently use a regulated variable supply that I bought from Fry's in California for $12 many years ago. I have used different USB supplies. As long as they're 5 volts and have sufficient amperage, it'll work. A regulated power supplies will generally sound better though.
 
airbus said:
I currently use a regulated variable supply that I bought from Fry's in California for $12 many years ago. I have used different USB supplies. As long as they're 5 volts and have sufficient amperage, it'll work. A regulated power supplies will generally sound better though.
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I actually do have a Radio Shack 22-506 regulated PS with the normal pos/neg bare wire connections and a female cigarette lighter port. It is a 10amp 13.8v supply. Do you think that would work better? This is it... https://r.search.yahoo.com/cbclk2/d...er+supply&IG=0ac2c0615d5c4c999100000000f497c8
 
that won't work, because the voltage is too high and it seems to be fixed at 13.8. I run mine at about 6.5 volts and the USB one you were looking at on e-bay is at 5 volts.
I'd check to see what Topping recommends. 5 volts is definitely fine. My recommendation would be to try a usb connector with any adapter that's 2.0 amps or higher (10 watts). Most folk have one sitting around. See what you think of the sound. If it's fine, stop. If you get curious, try 4 AA alkalline batteries in series (make sure you know what you're doing though). If you hear a dramatic difference, maybe look for a regulated supply that'll do 5 volts or so.
 
OK, I thought the Topping would just take what it needs. So it can be a higher amp ps but not higher voltage unless variable?
 
There are es9038q2 dacs that seem to take 9-15 volts. I can't find Toppings recommendation and I'm not near my DAC at the moment.
I suppose it's possible, but I wouldn't try higher voltages unless Topping clearly states that it's okay. The DAC chip alone doesn't determine the max voltage for the device. Ther other parts in the device are all rated to handle a particular voltage.
 
Thanks, I believe the Topping is 5v-1a and I have a wall wart that is 5v and 2a so I will see how that works. It is a switching ps so it may be noisy but I will check it out when I get the Dac..
 
I got the Dac and got it all connected to my rig and it sounds really nice. The wall wart I had is working what seems to be perfectly and is dead silent with no music playing and at full volume on my pre-amp. It is very good with separation of instruments and the snap of the snare was much more prevalent on a Godsmack cd I just listened to. I have Rush caress of steel playing now and it really has a clean sound and great definition with my Chorus 1's. I heard that these need some break in time so I am not messing with filters until I get some time on the dac. Anyone find that it breaks in fairly quickly or will it take longer then a few hours? I still might get a better power supply and see if that makes a difference but that can wait for now. I got this on Ebay as an open box/ factory second for $150 including shipping and it is working great and looks absolutley new. Plus I ordered it on Wednesday and got it today even though the tracking number was saying it would be here next Wednesday until this morning when it said out for delivery. So far I am excited with my purchase and will be doing allot of listening to my cd's in the next few days ...:bigok:
 
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As I mentioned this is my first Dac and I have a question. I am only using the dac for my cd player and was wondering do I need to be using the usb input for the dac to show bits? I have it hooked up via the digital coax connection and the screen shows 44.1.khz but the reading for bits is 0.0. Is that correct or am I doing something wrong. :dunno:
 
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Only used mine via COAX, but I remember seeing the bit rate displaying. Haven't used it in a while, so can't recall for sure.
 
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