Aside from higher order harmonic distortion, all of which are below -100 dB, this DAC measures very well. What's missing for me is more subjective impressions on its sound. Does it tend towards warm? Neutral? How's the image? Is the sound intimate or open and airy? etc. etc.
ripsterarmy99This is not true. There are audible differences depending on opamps and components, and well documented among the DIY community. The OPA1612 used on these is well received. Another example: The OPA2134 is widely known to sound dark for nearly a decade. Having both owned and listened to AK1490 DACs and ES9028 DACs, Sabre DACs on average sound more resolving, more analytical, whereas AKM DACs on average sound more musical, etc.
junkiThere does not need to be differences for one to hear them. Humans do not hear, we perceive: what one is consciously aware of having heard, or seen or felt etc., is filtered and susceptible to modification before it enters awareness. What many people do not understand, is that the placebo effect is tremendously powerful. Care to guess how many people that are so severely depressed that they are hospitalized can be treated with placebos? The answer is about 50%. Perhaps mental illness and sensory information are not quite the same thing though? Maybe, but a study that did sighted and then blind taste testing of wine found that many people's preference in the sighted test was different to what they preferred in the blind one. Lastly, contrary to popular belief, an AB test is not enough to prove that there are differences. What an AB test shows is that people hear differences, which is not in dispute. What the AB test does not do, is allow one to determine if the difference is due to the gear, or due to psychological effects. That is why you need an ABX test: to make people prove that they can actually tell a difference.
Lastly, you also need to volume match to within about 0.1dB for a blind test to be valid. Even if one cannot tell that one piece of gear is louder than another, the difference in volume might be enough to make details "pop" a bit more, or it might function as an active placebo. Some companies take advantage of this to sell the higher end stuff, just look at the output voltage of the Modi 2 Über vs the Modi Multibit.
junkiall my DACs must be using the AKM Chips then because when playing music, my music sounds musical. pink noise however sounds like fuzz - not musical
junkiTopping always try to make specs as high as possible and sound as neutral as possible. This dac is definitely neutral, and the image and sound stage are very accurate. But a dac is always a dac, I can't really tell the difference in terms of sound signature between this dac and few other dac I have besides the clarity and details. I hope you will like this dac, but don't think it will makes a really big difference if you already have a decent neutral dac. And I think most dac's are created to be neutral. Notice that the dac has three opa 1612 op-amp and the volume can be adjusted through a nob, so it is kind of like a dac/pre-amp combo. With those op-amp's, the d50 still preform as a dac and don't actually change the sound signature of what a neutral dac does. YOU BUY THIS FOR A CLEAN, DETAIL, AND ACCURATE SOUNDING. IT IS NOT AN AMP!
KevorexDoes the neutrality is measured by frequency response? I'm not an expert at all, but i don't think it is the reason of the sound signature is the linearity of frequency response.. I hope if Topping will get into serious Dac's and Amps, like SMSL do with the VMV D1, with lot of details and Dynamic range, distortion etc etc.. It shows as a great company, with great little beasts like Topping D50, NX4, wonder if DOA items are because their Control Quality or not... :)