A $900 DAC for $270? Topping E50 and L50 DAC and Headphone Amp Review

High Res Music Streaming for FREE!!!!

Test Track Playlist:
Satanic Panic Playlist:
Leg Warmers Playlist

If you click on this link and sign up for a free trial I will receive a small referral fee.

If you use any of my links to purchase products I will receive a small commission on the sale of that item. Won’t cost you any more to purchase with the link.

Recommended Speaker List

Around $100 (These prices will fluctuate between $75 - $150)
Pioneer AJ First Gen - Laid Back

Around $200

Around $400

Around $500

Around $600
Polk Reserve R100 - Neutral

Recommended Amp List

Under $100

Around $130

Around $250

Around $400

Recommended DACs

Subs

[yuckysamson]

Man sith audio is working overtime on product development.

[error]

It's truly amazing what you can get now a days for under $300. A dac this good would have cost over $1000 10 years ago and it wouldn't have all the features. This dac is going to be endgame for a lot of people. Great review.

[doifeellucky]

Good review. How close does this get to the Ares II and others in that price range?

[patrickhager]

When it comes to the overall performance of all of your tools together, do you prefer the sanding qualities of a direct drive sander or a belt drive sander as part of the system?

[eeyorebill]

Another great one Randy! Could you go into more detail about the differences between the E50 and the Geshelli J2?

[stephenstevens]

Great review, Randy. Nice to see a reviewer that is excited about the products that he is reviewing. Rock on, brother!

[WarEagle]

The nicest thing about the L50 is as long as you are running balanced input, it has the same single ended output as the XLR output unlike the A50s, Mobius, or 789. I'm running my L50 with the D10 balanced and its really nice. Thanks for the great review!

[OOnti-dzjd]

Great review. I ordered the E50 and I’m going to run it balanced with an SMSL D09 and Elac B6.2 +Sub1010.

[snoeplau]

So not much soundstage with a speaker setup? Was the E50 set to preamp or pure DAC mode? Or would that not have made a difference to soundstage?

[kyron]

Another reviewer thought all these topping amps were so clean that unless you need ultra power you may as well just get the L30.

[sayeduzzamanrayan]

Do you think this DAC will be a meaningful upgrade to the Bluesound node 2i internal DAC for stereo (mid-field) listening?

[syedzgaming]

The point you made at 4:10 earned you a subscriber. No one on youtube has said this and it makes total sense, amps that measure bad especially with channel imbalance I guess can add to the illusion of soundstage.

[def-potu]

The l50 keeps going into protect with hifiman edition xs. I'm new to audio and not sure why it's happening

[lwdp]

E50 Firmware update 1.07 seems a little smoother.

[bernardosilva]

Hey dude, great video (as always). I was wondering, what about the paring of the new "Topping D10 Balanced" DAC with the 'fixed' version of the "Topping L30" headphone amp? Both measure extremely well but I know that doesn't necessarily translate to good sound. It would be awesome if you could review those as even an cheaper combo! Thanks for all!

[diemotta]

Great review. How Topping E50 could be compared to khadas tone 2 pro (In balanced DAC mode)?

[StreamlneJMoose]

I hear the audiophile sanders lend a lot of air to the sound coming from your speakers because of the micro dust that's added to the room when you apply them to the speaker cases...

[jonathanluttrell]

I like that you push reasonable priced gear and don't push me to take out a second mortgage for quality sound. I also ordered the Aeon Closed X because of your review on the RT. Keep up the good work. This stack will be next.

[traditionalshightech]

Amazing how good this gear keeps getting better while being low cost. Thanks Randy!

[grhaggerty]

I'm buying this now on your say so, I just ordered a couple of days ago this and I'm waiting for it to come. I have a D10 with a sparkos ss3602 dual descrete opamp which sound s pretty good. Do you know if I could put the sparkos opamp on the E50? You are the least borish brandy sniffing audiophile guys on youtube. Your pretty down to earth. I have contracted the dreaded disease of "upgrade-itis" so keep the tips coming.