Thorough coverage, but as you said, the issues you describe are all nitpicks. I have this stack and also the Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies (3rd gen.). On the balanced out, this blows the WA7 out of the water - at a 3.5X discount. For certain music - vocal & acoustic instruments - I do prefer the WA7, but out of the SE connection. [Edit: I did have a clipping problem and dropping from 5V to 4V out on the D50 III didn't solve that. I updated the FW to 1.30 and left the DAC at 4V and so far no clipping.]
Thanks for your review. I pulled the trigger on the D50iii to pair my A70 Pro. I don't feel the D70 Pro's are worth the asking price, given I can barely hear the difference between amps.
Yeah, I think the most important for DACs nowadays after a certain price point is the feature set. If it has 0,0001% or 0,000001% THD doesn't really make a difference, same for AMPs...
Great thorough review! I purchased a Topping D50iii to pair with a JDS Labs Atom Amp 2. I think they will make a fantastic combo. Atom Amp 2 at $129 is better deal than the A50 while also being American made which I love. If there was an American made DAC with the usability and feature set of the D50iii I would've bought that instead. What's great about the D50 is the balanced outputs which will go to my studio monitors and the RCA to my Atom amp.
Thank you :-) Unfortunately, in the EU it's very hard to find JDS products... I read many positive things about the Atom 2 stack but with the import costs, it doesn't make any sense to get it at the moment...
If you are referring to the Atom 2 stack: most people know the JDD Atom (2) stack and therefore my comparing it in terms of sizing gives people a good comparison of how big/small they are. If you are referring to the other alternatives I mention at the end: due to most good DAC/AMPs or stacks measuring so well, it'll be very unlikely you will hear a difference between devices in a real blind/ABX scenario. Hence, I do mention other chapter alternatives that do seem to measure well. And if you don't need Bluetooth or the EQ software, you have many options that also measure very well... And are cheaper. Therefore, the point of this is to give people perspective.
Do you have a way to interface the A50 i.e. input audio into it (RCA or 2x 6mm)? If not, then rather grab a decent USB-C dongle like the Fosi Audio DS2 which should be more than enough for the Edition XS.
@@don_spektor I‘m sorry, I have no idea what that means 😭 I was planning to use it like this: Hifiman Xs -> A50 III -> RCA to 3.5mm -> 3.5 to Lightning -> iPhone Would that work?
@@FabioGrenkh Yeah that would work :) The apple dongle also it measuring pretty good so you will be ok with that as a DAC. However are you sure, you want to use it like this? You'd need an other dongle then for PC/laptop and at that point, you could go for a good dongle instead then of the Topping G5 for instance.
Thorough coverage, but as you said, the issues you describe are all nitpicks. I have this stack and also the Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies (3rd gen.). On the balanced out, this blows the WA7 out of the water - at a 3.5X discount. For certain music - vocal & acoustic instruments - I do prefer the WA7, but out of the SE connection. [Edit: I did have a clipping problem and dropping from 5V to 4V out on the D50 III didn't solve that. I updated the FW to 1.30 and left the DAC at 4V and so far no clipping.]
This is the best review for the topping stack! Thanks for all the information!
Glad I could help :-)
Thanks for your review. I pulled the trigger on the D50iii to pair my A70 Pro. I don't feel the D70 Pro's are worth the asking price, given I can barely hear the difference between amps.
Yeah, I think the most important for DACs nowadays after a certain price point is the feature set. If it has 0,0001% or 0,000001% THD doesn't really make a difference, same for AMPs...
Did Topping add the EQ to the optical input and bluetooth? I need it mainly for those inputs. Thank you for the review!
Not as far as I can tell and at this point I also think they won't bother adding it :/
You're welcome, hope it helped :)
Very detailed review! Thank you for going into the weeds with this.
Glad I could help :-)
I'd love to also provide measurements for a real complete review, but unfortunately gear for that is a bit out of my budget :(
Great thorough review! I purchased a Topping D50iii to pair with a JDS Labs Atom Amp 2. I think they will make a fantastic combo. Atom Amp 2 at $129 is better deal than the A50 while also being American made which I love. If there was an American made DAC with the usability and feature set of the D50iii I would've bought that instead. What's great about the D50 is the balanced outputs which will go to my studio monitors and the RCA to my Atom amp.
Thank you :-)
Unfortunately, in the EU it's very hard to find JDS products... I read many positive things about the Atom 2 stack but with the import costs, it doesn't make any sense to get it at the moment...
I got the same stack and I feel the same about the lack of 12v trigger and long trs cable😢
Yeah right :/?
Topping kinda missed the mark with these details for me here...
Im not sure whats the point in comparing it to devices you haven't listened to? It doesnt matter how they messure, nowadays all devices measure well.
If you are referring to the Atom 2 stack: most people know the JDD Atom (2) stack and therefore my comparing it in terms of sizing gives people a good comparison of how big/small they are.
If you are referring to the other alternatives I mention at the end: due to most good DAC/AMPs or stacks measuring so well, it'll be very unlikely you will hear a difference between devices in a real blind/ABX scenario. Hence, I do mention other chapter alternatives that do seem to measure well.
And if you don't need Bluetooth or the EQ software, you have many options that also measure very well... And are cheaper. Therefore, the point of this is to give people perspective.
I have a Hifiman Edition Xs, would it work to first get the A50 III only?
Do you have a way to interface the A50 i.e. input audio into it (RCA or 2x 6mm)?
If not, then rather grab a decent USB-C dongle like the Fosi Audio DS2 which should be more than enough for the Edition XS.
@@don_spektor I‘m sorry, I have no idea what that means 😭 I was planning to use it like this: Hifiman Xs -> A50 III -> RCA to 3.5mm -> 3.5 to Lightning -> iPhone
Would that work?
@@FabioGrenkh Yeah that would work :)
The apple dongle also it measuring pretty good so you will be ok with that as a DAC.
However are you sure, you want to use it like this? You'd need an other dongle then for PC/laptop and at that point, you could go for a good dongle instead then of the Topping G5 for instance.
@@don_spektor Perfect, thanks! Well, I don’t even have/use a Pc in the first place, so that’s why I have to use it like that 😅
@@don_spektor I actually just saw that the A50 support headphones „32-300Ω“? Doesn’t the Xs have like 18 ohm only?