Joined in 2023 
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Decided to get the Volumio 15 day trial anyway. Tidal would be a bit useless without it, but fine for own collection as a music player
Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC) | Page 28 | Audio Science Topping E50 Review (Balanced DAC) | Page 28 | Audio Science
The E50 features an output selection button with options for “TRS only,” “RCA only,” and “TRS + RCA.” This last option lets you run cables to two different destinations, such as a headphone amp and powered monitors, and listen to either without having to do the cable shuffle. You can modify the Parks Puffin to output in Coax or SPDIF as well which is why I was looking at going that route.
There are Topping D10s and D10B, which can produce COAX / OPT output, but unfortunately they cannot output MQA signal. I have the Node 2i and and am thinking of buying a Topping D90SE. Having read this thread, I am still not completely sure if I can fully use the Toppings MQA capabilites when using the Node:s output. Please enlighten me. this dac can be used as "TV" dac, there is digital volume control - no issues basically with that right? I assume if you lose pilot your screwed? (no other volume control options?) The problem that you face that I’m not sure about is that your turntable source would be better using the E50 as the preamp, but if you wanted to use the Shield remote it would be better in DAC mode. Goals of this setup is to go more minimalist in use. My wife does not care for the AVR setup currently and gets frustrated with all the inputs that need to be juggled and I can't say I blame her.
TOPPING E50 ES9068AS MQA DAC, USB/Optical/Coaxial to TRS/RCA
Technically, the Bluesound NODE has this ability but in choosing to use an external DAC via COAX, you are asking Bluesound to bypass that... it doesn't contradict what I am saying but does not explain why your external DAC is not stating it is in fact playing MQA. Decoding in hardware or software, splitting the process or performing both in the same device, will not give any audible difference, as the decoding and rendering information is the same, based on the bitstream content. In essence, the system is working correctly and MQA content is being received and rendered correctly if you can see ‘OFS’ indication.When using USB input in pre-mode, the volume is suddenly maximized when the volume is lowered from -0.0 to the minimum value of -99. This symptom is the same for both balanced and unbalanced outputs. It is completely normal when inputting OPT/COAX. With distortion as low as 0.00009% and a dynamic range of 126dB, the E50 is a desktop DAC that’s light on bells and whistles but heavy on performance.
Topping Audio E50/ PA5 Review | StereoNET International
https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006191908-Why-Isn-t-My-External-DAC-Playing-MQA-You can call it Upsampling or unfolding it's basically like the pcm version of what DSD did with "noise" pushed it in the inaudible range. And Mqa seems to be using a fast roll-off Filter. For anyone following, I got a second E50, and have had 0 issues using it the past couple of days. Looks like my first one was a defective unit. E50 has full balanced TRS output and single ended RCA output. You can choose "TRS only"，“RCA only" or "TRS+RCA”output to meet different usages in the multiple systems. E50 has preamplifier function so you can control the output volume on the remote control. This will provide great convenience when connected to a power amplifier or monitor speakers. And also help you leave the budget for a preamplifier. With ES9068AS chip and careful design, E50 provides a distortion as low as 0.00009% and a dynamic range of 126dB, providing you with perfect sound quality. This also makes E50 suitable for applications: high- fidelity PC-HIFI system, mobile phone/tablet OTG, CD player/turntable external DAC, digital broadcasting external DAC, TV DAC and so on. Coaxial and Optical(Toslink) also has good performance, they not only supports 24bit192kHz PCM, but also supports Dop DSD64 and MQA rendering. I would temporarily turn off DSP just to rule it out. That’s the only spot you’re seeing a green light.
Topping E50 Balanced DAC - Black LN122276 - Scan
All of this I find strange and frankly annoying. Since Node2i supposedly does full MQA pass trough and D90SE is fully capapble of handling MQA. If you operate the volume without knowing this, it will cause serious troubles such as destroying the speaker. I immediately reported this issue to Topping. I hope it will be improved as soon as possible. Before, I connected E50 to Node, using same Optical cable, according to Bluesound recommendations: https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006191908-Why-Isn-t-My-External-DAC-Playing-MQA- As for the sound quality of the E50, I feel that the low-end range has been extended and the amount of bass has increased slightly.
Possible Setup: Turntable to Parks Puffin with COAX to E50, TV SPDIF to E50, Shield TV and HTPC to E50 with USB splitter? Has anyone else run into this issue? Is this just a faulty unit? I've made sure both my drivers and firmware are up to date, but that didn't fix anything. I originally thought it was a Tidal issue, and went through with clearing cache and reinstalling, but obviously that didn't work. I've changed out the USB cable I'm using, I've changed which USB port I'm using on my computer, nothing has made a difference. I'm not sure if I should get it replaced and hope that the next one doesn't have this problem, but I'm not sure what else I could do. Shure KSE1200, Sony IER-Z1R, CA Atlas, CA Solaris 2020, Ety ER4XR, Airpods Pro, PowerBeats, Monster Turbine Pro Gold
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