Topping D50

[carlmart]

Once I was in Chile, and as I knew they had very important copper mines there I assumed they might have copper bolts and nuts.

Silver plated and then gold plated they could make ideal speaker terminals. But there were none.

I've seen copper interiors on several expensive Japanese gear, but I always assumed it was for non-magnetic purposes, never for "copper sound". In any case I don't think a copper tape might make a difference. A copper plate perhaps.

 

[jaxz]

Hi. It's mandatory to install windows driver to update the firmware? My windows 10 laptop install drivers automatically. How I can check the fw version on the D50?

Thanks

 

[BrotherKathos]

I just got the massdrop thx 789. Its a great pairing with the D50 and Audeze LCD2C. My bedside stereo just got an upgrade
The sound is very smooth. Smoother with the D50 vs my mimby. I prefer the mimby with the asgard 2 and that is also great with the LCD2C. The D50 and 789 also seem to be a match made in heaven. D50 is by far better with this amp than any other I own. D50 is about to get alot more love.

 

[MisterMudd]

I just got the massdrop thx 789. Its a great pairing with the D50 and Audeze LCD2C. My bedside stereo just got an upgrade
The sound is very smooth. Smoother with the D50 vs my mimby. I prefer the mimby with the asgard 2 and that is also great with the LCD2C. The D50 and 789 also seem to be a match made in heaven. D50 is by far better with this amp than any other I own. D50 is about to get alot more love.

Tell me you sit up in bed to listen with those big honkin headphones! LOL

 

[legion1capone]

I'm very jealous of that setup right now!

I just got the massdrop thx 789. Its a great pairing with the D50 and Audeze LCD2C. My bedside stereo just got an upgrade
The sound is very smooth. Smoother with the D50 vs my mimby. I prefer the mimby with the asgard 2 and that is also great with the LCD2C. The D50 and 789 also seem to be a match made in heaven. D50 is by far better with this amp than any other I own. D50 is about to get alot more love.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Tell me you sit up in bed to listen with those big honkin headphones! LOL

Absolutely! I can’t go into society with those things on

I'm very jealous of that setup right now!

I got the Balanced cable for the cans today! It makes a difference with these. Its a slight increase in treble smoothness with a little thicker sound in mids. There is also mote sub bass heft as well. You need to be carefull though because its easy to find yourself raising the volume too high. The thx is that smooth even at higher volumes. First head amp i’ve experienced this phenomenon with.

 

[Vosya]

Can anyone explain the structural scheme D50 in the sense of "double mono?" Нow does the presence of an odd number of operational amplifiers fit in?

 

[wwmhf]

That's how the insides look like. Disregard the copper foil tapes I added. (I had hoped that copper would have some effect, considering some users who heard a difference between same devices of difference casings i.e. AK380 alu vs steel vs copper, and Sony WM1Z vs 1A. It did nada to my ears.)



The bottom plate is a 2-3mm aluminium plate. The top enclosure is a solid piece of nearly 1in thick of aluminium chuck, CNC'ed with just enough clearance for the power cap, relay, and connectors. There's just 2-3mm of space between the enclosure and the top of opamps.

There's just no space for any additional boards. Any major mod would need a new enclosure.

Though I must admit, for the price... this is amazing quality. If you're not a modder, you'd be happy with the build. They even use MELF resistors at the analogue section ala iFi iDAC2 (still haven't figured out why MELF is better than SMD or legged versions).

I am impressed by the guts of D50! Especially at this price point.

 

[wwmhf]

Digressing....
For the copper tapes, the main reason weren't for blocking RFI, but to try to induce a "copper sound", if you may. It was inspired by copper Chord Mojo case mod, AK380Cu, WM1Z, & Border Patrol DAC... which were all made from copper chassis.

During a recent Sony event, I spoke with the engineer that designed the DMP-Z1. He mentioned a funny story about the development of WM1Z's copper chassis. They created this copper prototype as a case study with no real intention to sell it, and passed it to the head of division for his listening pleasure. After listening to it, the boss requested that they produce the copper version and market it since he heard a difference in sound, and liked it a lot.

The mechanical engineering team who worked on the copper chassis went nuts when they heard the news, as copper were so difficult to machine. They pleaded to the design engineers to never send copper-chassis prototypes to the chief again. I thought it was a pretty funny manufacturing story. X^D

So if I were to go with a new D50 enclosure, I may put a piece of copper plate at the bottoms of the case, for ****s and giggles.

Whether those copper tapes really improve the sound is up to debate, but, at least, in my opinion, the packaging of D50 demonstrates manufacture's efforts to make a good product.

 

[carlmart]

Whether those copper tapes really improve the sound is up to debate, but, at least, in my opinion, the packaging of D50 demonstrates manufacture's efforts to make a good product.

AFAIK those tapes were added by the person who uploaded those photos. They are not part of the original Topping.

Can anyone explain the structural scheme D50 in the sense of "double mono?" Нow does the presence of an odd number of operational amplifiers fit in?

I didn't know they called their arrangement double mono. Those chips are dual, so maybe the first two house one channel each and then share the last chip.

Not having a service manual is just guessing. But that is not "dual mono" properly speaking. For that they shouldn't share chips.

 

[Vosya]

For that they shouldn't share chips.

That's what I said, and that puzzles me.

 

[jaxz]

 

[andrewinukm]

Can anyone explain the structural scheme D50 in the sense of "double mono?" Нow does the presence of an odd number of operational amplifiers fit in?

Dual DAC, but not fully dual mono.
2 dual opamps for I/V stage, 1x dual op-amp for LPF. well, it's still 2 "opamps inside" but they share the same chip and power supply.

Whether those copper tapes really improve the sound is up to debate, but, at least, in my opinion, the packaging of D50 demonstrates manufacture's efforts to make a good product.

Nah, the copper foils did nothing as far as I can hear. Those were added by me, for personal experimental purposes.

 

[Vosya]

2 dual opamps for I/V stage

Are both channels of each es9038q2m used? Signal combination occurs before or after I/V?

 

[treecloud]

I've been down the road of modding DACs and headphone amplifiers. But after working on a new headphone amplifier design for the last year and a half, I've come to the conclusion that the best thing is to get the DAC and amplifier to be as transparent as possible. As long as the DAC + amplifier is not distorting the sound, you can easily just try different headphones. You're feeding a signal with (hopefully) a linear frequency response that has a THD of 0.001% into a resistive/capacitive load that is around 0.1% THD, aka the headphone. As long as the amplifier is able to drive them to an acceptable level, without adding distortion, you're all good.

Well said, I'm appreciating your experienced perspective. I will add, with the Loki on the scene, add it to your transparent and sufficiently powerful chain and dial in the balance you like. Saves time and money on all those headphone trials. Maybe not as much fun tho!

My preference for all round headphone at the end of that ideal chain would be a planer.