[Baten]

Well, on my local "audiophile" forum (semi-amateur) they were so adamant that if I have such an expensive setup, just buy a new USB cable, because if the USB cable is not high quality, then jitter or other noise may transfer into the DAC and eventually into your headphones.

This is why most audio communities are more like cults......

 

[Thx1326]

Hi, did you end up comparing them? If so, could you share your impressions on the differences between them if any?

I got the E70V and overall did not like it paired with my Singxer SA-1, granted I did not give it any time to observe any break-in effect, but it sounded kinda artificial to me, the way it popped specific detail in the highs/upper mids. Almost like the sound presentation was not uniform, and that part of the frequency response was constantly popping out and bothering me, not with fatigue, but with its tone/dryness compared to the rest of the spectrum.
Bass sounded good but was not enough of a difference compared to what I already have, at least in my chain.

In comparison, my Topping E50 ( with Allo Shanti power supply) while slightly more analytical/fatiguing sounds pretty uniform in its presentation, as in nothing odd or unexpected pops out.
Could it have changed radically after some hours of playback?
Anyways, I want to try the Topping E70 or SMSL D300 next, looking for non fatiguing sound with decent impact, we'll see how it turns out.

There is common thread that is appearing in that both of these dacs should be given an adequate break-in/burn-in time. I would think that 48 hours would be the minimum. I have always liked the listening experience of AKM dacs over ESS. I always found the ESS sounding a bit harsh and too digital in the upper mids and highs. Most noticeable sometime as sibilance. I may be spoiled or "ruined" as I have been a lifelong listener of tube amplifiers and preamps. I defiantly prefer AKM in personal digital audio players and when implemented correctly always make my IEM's sound smoother and more liquid sounding. Sometimes the "detail" and "texture"that some use to applaud the sound is nowhere to be found in the master recordings. So... I'm a bit amazed that the there is a lot of talk here that the E70 (ESS is smoother) and the E70V is more detailed and textured??? Leaves me scratching my head. Since all of us are now reading the reviews and some are saying "I heard that, etc,etc... when in fact no one reading the review can actually say or prove they heard what the writer is describing (no fault of the reviewer as he is presenting a SUBJECTIVE review and description in the best words he can find to describe one of our senses (hearing) by using a visual (printed) or aural (language) means. Truth be known is that most of us will NEVER hear the same things as described even though we may think we do, in order to justify the purchase. In our individual homes, with different systems, different rooms and with our own personal hearing response curves, if we are comparing similar priced DAC's by respected manufacturers and if the implementation of the DAC is completely transparent, there is probably not enough of a difference for the majority of people to hear. It would be the same as expecting everyone listening to music to have perfect pitch.

Both of these DAC's should give phenomenal performance for the money and most of us will not have the same setup as the reviewer. Here is how I might suggest going about choosing a piece of equipment like this:

Look at dacs with good specs, look at the features, the connections, the ease of use, etc.
Obviously rule out those that have strange quirks or performance (failure) issues.
How long has the manufacturer been in business and what is their warranty?
Do they have phone # for support or issues - if not - a good reason to buy from a reseller with proven track record and return privilege.
Pick three that are in your budget. Find a reseller that will allow you to audition or have a return window of at least 30 days.
Pick 3 or YOUR favorite songs that you know well.
Listen to the unit for 3 days at the most. Take a day off, switch to another model or give your ears a break.
After listening to two of the three models, eliminate one... send it back.
Start over with the remaining two units - begin with the one not yet listened to.

After you make your final choice, return the other. Sit back, enjoy and listen to the MUSIC... not the equipment. No ones listens to DAC's ... it's the music that matters.

As a final thought.... How may of the readers and posters here have purchased either of these E70 models? Which one? And how do you like it? Do you plan on keeping it or stay on the hamster wheel of constant upgrades? This is the info that would really be helpful.

Let me know what you think... and by all means... Enjoy The Music!

 

[Abarth595]

Hi all
E70 velvet and smsl do300ex
Is thare any difference in dac mod?

 

[CAMSHAFT]

I am kind of surprised there aren't any Geshelli Labs JNOG 2 with 4499EX comparisons....

 

[marinmo]

There is common thread that is appearing in that both of these dacs should be given an adequate break-in/burn-in time. I would think that 48 hours would be the minimum. I have always liked the listening experience of AKM dacs over ESS. I always found the ESS sounding a bit harsh and too digital in the upper mids and highs. Most noticeable sometime as sibilance. I may be spoiled or "ruined" as I have been a lifelong listener of tube amplifiers and preamps. I defiantly prefer AKM in personal digital audio players and when implemented correctly always make my IEM's sound smoother and more liquid sounding. Sometimes the "detail" and "texture"that some use to applaud the sound is nowhere to be found in the master recordings. So... I'm a bit amazed that the there is a lot of talk here that the E70 (ESS is smoother) and the E70V is more detailed and textured??? Leaves me scratching my head. Since all of us are now reading the reviews and some are saying "I heard that, etc,etc... when in fact no one reading the review can actually say or prove they heard what the writer is describing (no fault of the reviewer as he is presenting a SUBJECTIVE review and description in the best words he can find to describe one of our senses (hearing) by using a visual (printed) or aural (language) means. Truth be known is that most of us will NEVER hear the same things as described even though we may think we do, in order to justify the purchase. In our individual homes, with different systems, different rooms and with our own personal hearing response curves, if we are comparing similar priced DAC's by respected manufacturers and if the implementation of the DAC is completely transparent, there is probably not enough of a difference for the majority of people to hear. It would be the same as expecting everyone listening to music to have perfect pitch.

Both of these DAC's should give phenomenal performance for the money and most of us will not have the same setup as the reviewer. Here is how I might suggest going about choosing a piece of equipment like this:

Look at dacs with good specs, look at the features, the connections, the ease of use, etc.
Obviously rule out those that have strange quirks or performance (failure) issues.
How long has the manufacturer been in business and what is their warranty?
Do they have phone # for support or issues - if not - a good reason to buy from a reseller with proven track record and return privilege.
Pick three that are in your budget. Find a reseller that will allow you to audition or have a return window of at least 30 days.
Pick 3 or YOUR favorite songs that you know well.
Listen to the unit for 3 days at the most. Take a day off, switch to another model or give your ears a break.
After listening to two of the three models, eliminate one... send it back.
Start over with the remaining two units - begin with the one not yet listened to.

After you make your final choice, return the other. Sit back, enjoy and listen to the MUSIC... not the equipment. No ones listens to DAC's ... it's the music that matters.

As a final thought.... How may of the readers and posters here have purchased either of these E70 models? Which one? And how do you like it? Do you plan on keeping it or stay on the hamster wheel of constant upgrades? This is the info that would really be helpful.

Let me know what you think... and by all means... Enjoy The Music!

I've got the E70 since a year or so back? Either way I've paired it with an L70 and it sounds fantastic. I'm firmly in the "rather spend on headphones"-camp though; I don't hear any difference between DACs/amps that were designed to forward 1s and 0s (most/all Chi-fi products seem to fall into this category as far as I reckon) without purposely modifying them. To be fair I didn't try a lot of them (5?); I would like to try the E70V for that reason; maybe I'm wrong? However, can't justify such an expense especially as I'm happy with what I've got. Enjoying and not worrying too much about it is better imo

 

[Promee]

HI E70V thread,

I’m a happy E70V owner for over a year, and I just finished writing up a comparison of the E70V with a few other DACs I have picked up. The E70V is the wildcard value option in this roundup with the Denafrips Ares 12th, Geshelli Dayzee, and Chord Qutest. If anyone is interested, you can read here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dac...-12th-chord-qutest-topping-e70-velvet.972824/

 

[Alien HP]

if a recording is very bright, fatiguing, or sibilant, the E70V is not going to do much to fix the situation.

Should it?

 

[westsounds]

HI E70V thread,

I’m a happy E70V owner for over a year, and I just finished writing up a comparison of the E70V with a few other DACs I have picked up. The E70V is the wildcard value option in this roundup with the Denafrips Ares 12th, Geshelli Dayzee, and Chord Qutest. If anyone is interested, you can read here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dac...-12th-chord-qutest-topping-e70-velvet.972824/

Thanks, interested in reading this

 

[Promee]

Should it?

No, I don’t think that’s necessarily something to expect from a DAC, especially how I phrased it there.

I think I was contrasting it with the Qutest’s unusual ability to somehow present sibilant, bright material accurately, but without it feeling fatiguing, and I have no idea how that works. Others have made a similar observation with Chord DACs, so I don’t feel totally off base noticing it there. It has started to make me question if there is some way in which very clean-measuring DACs tend toward artificially enhancing the negative attributes of such a track. To be clear, this is a subtle phenomenon in the case of the E70V to my ear, but I think others that are praised for measurements like the Matrix X-Sabre Pro may do the same thing but stronger. I think the E70V overall sounds miles better than that one.

I also think some DACs have a roll-off in their filtering that can artificially mask such attributes of a recording. I probably should have mentioned that I was using a linear phase fast filter on the E70V for this testing, but some, like one I owned previously - the Dragonfly Cobalt - are locked to using a slow roll off minimum phase filter, which rolls off high frequencies in the audible range and introduces time domain smearing. This can have the effect of making the device feel more “analog” or desirable generally depending on preference, and it may combat these particular shortcomings of a track, but I would argue that it does so in a way that is artificial and creates other problems. The E70V actually has just such a filter as one of its options if you want to try it to see what I mean. The Qutest also has an option to intentionally roll off the top audible frequencies as well, for those who prefer it, but with this turned off, it still has a way of mitigating fatigue and harshness that is uncanny and difficult to describe. It has, however, been criticized by others as being “thin” in terms of note weight and too clinical-sounding. I don’t necessarily share that opinion, but I can see where they’re coming from in contrast to something like the E70V. Again, both are totally competent devices that sound more similar than different, and all differences are highlighted for the purpose of distinguishing them, but I think either one heard on its own is going to sound quite good to the large majority of listeners.

Thank you for reading! This is helpful to refine my thinking / communication of what I’m hearing!