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As for the accessories, Topping provides you with a USB-A to USB-B cable, a remote, a USB to 5V barrel power cable, a couple of manuals and that’s it. Unfortunately, Topping does not provide the power adapter for the 5V barrel cable but you can use any smartphone charger to power the device so you have that flexibility. Design & Build Quality However, there won’t be any wireless options that are becoming common among most modern DACs. The E50 has both balanced and single-ended outputs, however, the balanced ¼” TRS outputs on the E50 are a bit more difficult to find connections for.
There are many combinations here to test so I limited the input to balanced but measured both balanced and unbalanced headphone output. Let's start with balanced input: Due to a well-extended treble region, the L50 easily depicts the space between the images within the soundstage. However, when it comes to casting the entirety of the soundscape, the L50 sounds a bit more closed in than usual.Generally, the L50 has a thinner and more honest character, allowing most of the elements of the music to shine through easily. The vocal presentation may be on the thinner and drier side, however, this doesn’t translate to making it unengaging, as Topping has tuned the L50 to be more exciting without being congested. Timbre
The rear of the device on the other hand is made of matte-finished plastic that houses both the input and output options.There are two toggle switches on the front of the L50 headphone amp when looking at it from left to right. The first toggle switch is to turn on the amp and choose from the balanced or single-ended input. The next toggle switch is the gain switch allowing you to select from low, medium, and high gain. When it comes to simple things as frequency response, then I believe that both units are holding their hands together, going into the same direction. I find them ultra-linear, extended from the lowest notes to the highest treble peaks without adding grain or a sharpness filter.
Generally, the E50 does not editorialize on the music, instead, it stays away from injecting its own coloration. This allows the soundstage presentation to be accurate and natural while making details easily accessible, only stumbling in more complicated passages. TimbreThe other change which we have seen recently from Topping is use of 1/4 inch input for balanced interconnections. They take up a lot less space than XLR so you can have the same rich set of connectivity including pre-amp in this small enclosure. 1/4 balanced is extremely popular in pro audio so there is plenty of cables and adapters for it if you are not situated currently to use them. And I believe a set of adapters come with the unit. A common trait that the L50 shares with the E50 is that its midrange presentation leans towards a more honest presentation. This means that male vocals aren’t artificially induced with euphony, so the natural timbre of the voices of crooners such as Michael Buble or Josh Groban easily comes through. Comparatively, female vocals are drier giving them a less wispy quality than expected. As days passed by, I started to understand that something was missing, something wasn’t that impressive, my upper-class planars didn’t sound as I know them on top-class equipment. Especially Audeze LCD-4 were slightly pressing the brakes in terms of dynamics and bass slam. L50 wouldn’t pound with an incredibly force and will never put you in between the hammer and the anvil. My electronica sounded like I’ve traded those nasty LCD-4 with a gentler sounding LCD-3. Bass notes didn’t have as much authority down low, I felt them ethereal and lightweight in their presentation and that’s why Topping still sells A30 PRO and A90 that are sounding more impressive down low with harder to drive headphones. The above-mentioned amplifiers were never limiting the LCD-4, HE1000SE and I would recommend getting those if you plan on collecting headphones as I do. On the plus side, I find L50 slightly more organic and toe-tapping to entry level THX-AAA and PLFC designs of SMSL and I want to be clear that if your headphones are fully driven and plenty of volume remains on tap, then L50 would behave much nicer when bass notes are coming, delivering a nicer impact down-low. In usual Topping fashion, they’ve added detailed measurements for both units, made by one of the best Audio Analyzers out there. You’ll find their FR, THD Ratio, FFT Spectrum, measurements for E50 digital filters, SNR and dynamic range. I have a huge respect for companies that are publishing actual measurements in detriment of some lousy marketing snake oil. Finally, there’s a warranty card that doubles as a product catalogue and that is pretty much it. Up on top you see a connector you don't normally see on a pure analog amplifier: the USB-C for firmware upgrades! A supervisory processor handles protection which can be reprogrammed as needed. Indeed, during testing I pushed the unit hard with 12 ohm load well into clipping and it shut down with a sequence of LED lights. Once it cooled a bit, it enabled the device to function again.
When listening to the L50 alone, it’s obvious that it can extend well into the sub-bass region. However, the sub-bass does not have a particularly expansive quality, instead, it has a more localized presentation making it sound like there is a subwoofer that emanates from the corner of the room. Thumps on drum skins sound natural and rounded, but textures could still be more fleshed out. Once the device is initialized, the screen will either show the output level if the E50 is in pre mode and the sampling rate if the E50 is in DAC mode. The touch button can only be used for input selection and holding it would put the E50 into standby mode. However, menu access can only be done using the dedicated buttons that are on the remote control. The front fascia of the E50 features a screen with a 7-segment display which is surrounded by other status displays for the input mode, output mode, and the file type currently being decoded. Right beside the screen, there is a solitary touch button that can be used to access the various options available on the DAC. When listening to piano recordings such as ones done by Yiruma, the piano timbre is on the thinner side, but textures are presented well. With guitars, there is a good amount of crunch when they are strummed, but the acoustic cavity isn’t as well defined as I expected. Hey folks. Another month is passing by and that’s music to my ears as finally, my seasonal allergy would fade away, but for the audiophile community around the world that resonates with one thing only: Topping is going to announce brand new products. Before you start lighting your torches and sharpening your pitchforks, Topping isn’t doing that on purpose, as again AKM’s factory fire left a dirty mark on everything related to digital audio, we felt broken-hearted and audio engineers around the world dismayed as there aren’t alternatives for that velvety sound goodnes s. AKM announced that their renowned AK4497 and 4499 reached end-of-life status, including lower tiered chipsets as AK4493 are no longer found on the biggest e-commerce platforms as Mouser and Farnell.Topping and SMSL have been designing excellent devices since last year and now you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a proper DAC or AMP to pair with your favorite equipment. The competition is always good for the consumer and we are quite happy with the recent advancements. The E50 has several options that can be accessed through the menu which can be accessed through the touch button or the remote control. To access the menu system using the touch button, the device must initially be unplugged, and then press and hold the touch button while turning on the E50. With the NFCA modules the L50 is not only able to drive the most headphones but it also applies this to its preamplifier with the same high performance. When it is in preamp mode, output impedance is as low as 20ohm, which is widely suitable for various devices.
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