Topping introduced their latest DAC, the desktop-focused Topping D50. In a sense, it is a mix between the notorious (an well-regarded) Topping D30 and the more expensive Topping DX7.
The Topping D50 inherits the modern and sleek appearance of the DX7 while keeping the compact size of the D30; its shell is made of aluminium and it is roughly squared. It is similar to the DX7 in that it has a screen on the front to display all the relevant information about the currently-playing stream.
Inside the shell there are a XMOS XU208 USB controller that manages the connection to the PC and two ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DACs. Despite there being two DAC chips, there is no balanced connector on board – output is limited to RCA.
Unlike the DX7, the Topping D50 does not feature neither a built-in headphone amplifier nor a built-in linear power supply. The device supports native DSD up to DSD512, DSD over PCM (DOP) up to DSD64 and PCM streams up to 32 bit / 768 kHz. Input can be either USB, optical or digital coaxial.
The retail price is $249: it is halfway between the D30 and the DX7/DX7s. Both the siblings will stay on the market, granting Topping a better coverage of different price points and thus giving more choice to the users. Additional information on the device can be found on Topping’s website.
