HOPEFULLY this video is not 360p.. Been stuck like this for days. When it releases on Thanksgiving if it finally goes 1440p I know what I will be thankful for.. Otherwise 360P GANG!!!
Zeos gets a little weirder everyday. I love it. Imagine if RU-vid didn't have any censorship, we would get the full glory of a raw dog Zeos rant. The fact that he still gets this exited about audio amps kinda blows my mind. Amps, Castlevania, screaming cats, swearing, Scantilly clad Waifus, Full Audio ADHD explanations including full hand waving. There is nothing not to like here.
He doesn't typically review stuff he knows he won't like or are objectively bad, there's been exceptions But typically in audio there's always someone who will like something, too many variables. This leaves the reviewers to either A) like everything for what they do or B) judge everything by extremely personal taste
2:20 *"It's like this weird short square. Which I appreciate because when you put things on a desk, fthfurther back you can get with the shorterness of it."* 🤣💀
I picked up the L70 for a preamp in my system in my living room. A preamp with an easily readable screen with a remote that isn't stupid expensive is very hard to find until now. And Yeah it sound good with headphones too.
I am praying that when I release it the quality fixes itself. There is like a 20% chance that works. Otherwise everyone will be upvoting this and I will have to re-upload when I am home from the holidays.
GraceDesign M920 DAC/AMP had channel balance and tons of output way before most of these new DAC/AMP started doing them. It's also at least 6 years old and discontinued. It also came with a 5 year warranty. Let me know if you are interested in trying one out. I don't think there was a lot of other brands that was doing this back than.
@@ZReviews Probably not. Assuming there is no audible difference, the only thing the a90d has going for it is more power at low impedance balanced and the EXT connection for potentially more inputs.
The RME ADI-2 DAC FS does channel balance Zeos. You reviewed it a while back (3'ish years I think), but it is also an amp, so maybe it doesn't count as a pure dac. I picked one up based on your review from way back then, it's a great unit =) has a ton of options.
I think this is Topping's best stack for the money. I was tempted by the 90 series, but those are too pretty for my home office desk. Those should be shown off in a living room. Pity the 70 series Class D amp has a big external power brick. But if you love symmetrical aesthetics, get the DAC, headphone amp and Class D amp, and all you need to do is connect a laptop, phone, or streaming box and you have a premium mini hi-fi system once you add 8ohm speakers of your choice. Or add active speakers and skip the Class D amp.
I don’t get why Topping just keeps cranking out product after product? They should have three or four products in each category and just market those lines. They keep making different looking versions of almost the same thing, and it just doesn’t make any sense.
I needed a reference DAC to replace my 10 years old DAC in my Fostex HP-A8C. I demo the iFi Zen DAC Signature V2, Topping E50 and E70. I chose the E70. DAC performance: Zen Dac < E50 < E70 I also demo the Schitt Asgard paired with the E70. Beautifully matched. I bought that too. The E70 also elevated the HP-A8C's Amp.
can you REALLY tell a different from any dacs north of 200 USD? seems like they all sounds pretty much indistinguishable from each other, at least from "what I heard" lol
@@patrikmedia it's very subtle, and what you have read can BIAS the outcome. Some DACs can sound more fatiguing than others, might be because of the implementation more than the chip itself.
@@patrikmediaFor casual listening my OG Topping E30 did not sound much different from my OG D90. I did not feel like I was missing anything with the E90. The D90 did stand out over the E30 with critical a/b testing using an OG Topping A90 amp. The base was more controlled, the highs were more clear, there was more detail and the ambient sound, echos and harmonic frequencies were better.
@Z Reviews - honestly you shortly becoming one of my daily accessed channels. Would be awesome from your side if you could cover, in the future, an Arya with Dekoni pads review. Also .. jumping from a ZenDacv2+Amp stack to a FiioK9 would be a good choice, sound wise specifically? Cheers!
Sypha Belnades all day please. Really though there really was real talant and creativity behind her magic use - absolutely LOVE Castlevania, it ended right, I was gutted, devastated when it ended, but it ended right. I can't bring myself to watch the new one yet...
Wow just went from an x7s to the E70 what a huge jump. still on my X1s for now but almost dont feel like i need to upgrade anymore. the X7s was super holding back the X1s. Everything is way clearer and especially the bass notes hit harder and quicker. This is also great cause they it jus t made my either cx sound so much better. I do have an eq to give the cx significantly more bass to make them not as lifeless. Now they hit hard and are still super clear and amazing. Cant wait for the L70 to get here now
@Rupam Shyamal I'm unable to say with certainty as I upgraded them at the same time but I will say that they are significantly better than the x1 x7 stack. Like any audio illiterate person would notice a big difference. Still say x1 x7 is a great combo tech has just come a long way had that stack for manny years. Also having totally balanced from the start makes a big diff. the Iem performance is way superior. Was getting a lot of sound floor noise on the aune. Could have been from age and that it was basicly on for years on end but yeah.
Actually I am running Topping A30 pro with X1s, the amp is super clean and excellent. But it's not running at full potential as it has the best output with 4-5V XLR input. So I decided to go for E70 with balanced connection. I am currently running my DT880 and HD800s with this setup - X1s >rca>A30 pro 4.4mm balanced. Will be swapping the X1s with E70 with xlr cable.
@@harryrupam01 yeah prob a good idea the main thing is that balanced from start to finish. x1s def a step above x1 but if you are looking for balanced it just cant compete. All my stuff is balanced now
I honestly bought the E70 after not buying any DACs since the SMSL SU8 version 2 review and I hope it's a good replacement for it since I heard a lot of good stuff on it.
I've considered SMSL SU9, 9N and 9Pro because of sound coloring feature but got E70/L70 instead. Was the sound coloring feature useful in SU8 (if it even was in SU8, of course)?
My experience of all AK microdevices dacs suck. None of them are capable of top resolution with top transparency full stop . Audio manufactures only use them because they are Cheap, and definitely no way near the best quality dac chips for the highest quality of detail with transparency of sound .The best ever made burr brown dac chips wipe the floor with all AK microdevices dac chips on detail with Transparency of sound full stop .
Doesnt make a difference for stereo. And also hdmi is costly to license. Yeah, I know it can be convenient, but the optical out your tv does the job as well.
I just got the Topping E70 Velvet with the new AK449EX. Same as the E70 except for the dac chip. Apos Audio has it for $450. Sounds as good as the SMSL D400EX I returned because of a defective left channel.
Does the E70 have more stage depth, sounding more 3D like like some R2Rs are known for or a flatter stage? I have a D70s and while it isn't 2D, its more in the middle of what I am looking for. But it is nice. I have an aune x8 with a Sparkos upgrade which improves the stage and sounds a bit less sibilant. I am thinking the E70 velvet could be more like this but don't know but might be better for brighter sounding speakers which I prefer. Thanks for any input.
@@nc3419 I probably won't be much help. The only R2R dac I ever tried was the Denafrips Pontus 2. I really couldn't hear any difference between it and my Topping D90 and FiiO K9 Pro ESS. I sold them all after trying the D400EX. When that one failed on me, I bought the E70 Velvet since it had the same AKM chip (only 1) and was about $500 cheaper than the D400. It sounds great with my music and games. In fact, when playing FPS games, sometimes the audio sounds almost like surround. I love that effect.
@@MadMaxx1977 Probably indicates it is capable of having some depth. Which is good. The other thing is how well it controls glare/sibilance. I am getting decent performance with an Aune x8 with Sparkos upgrade, really good, a touch nicer in my system than a D70s but I only use RCA inputs. Could be different using XLR. Tempted by the E70 AKM version too. The next level I would consider is a Gustard A26 but it isn't inexpensive but should be better given the much better build, design and power supply but I might have to upgrade speakers as well. Why spend more if one doesn't need too?
@@nc3419 Trying all those dacs was a good experience for me. It taught me that Zeos is pretty accurate in his thoughts about most dacs sounding the same. Sure, there may be subtle differences, but are they worth spending hundreds or even thousands more $$? Not to me. I'll never spend more than $500 on a dac, again.
HI, THANKS FOR THE VIDEO, I WOULD HAVE TO SAY, WHY IS IT THAT KNOW ONE ACTUALLY SPEAKERS ABOUT THE REAR SPEAKER OUTPUT, ARE THEY AS GOOD AS THE HEADPHONE OUTPUTS CAN THE REAR OUTPUTS BE USED AS A AMP, WITH OUT HAVING TO BUY A AMP . I HAVE A SET OF ADAM 10''SUBWOOFER WITH 2 8'' MONITORS , PLEASE EXPLAIN THANKS
The Xduoo 604 amp ..for your money is still kick ass ( all balanced and the hookup issues) With that DAC ..I think you’ve got some interesting 🤔 possibilities 😮
Why put a volume knob on both pieces of a stack when the remote for the DAC has volume? I wouldn't buy it because the redundant volume looks so annoying to me. That's why I got the E50 DAC in fact.
I own the original Zen Dac. I think it sounds great! Still waiting for someone to tell me that i could get better sound by getting a DAC unit like this. I don't need a remote and i run balanced out to a XDUOO MT604. Will i gain anything by getting something like this or did Ifi just make an incredibly good sounding and affordable unit with the Zen Dac? It is the only external DAC i have ever owned.
While the value-conscience Zen DAC is ideal for casual audio use, it lacks any kind of premium sound. I've directly compared it to multiple better DACs with the same amp, and the truth is, you can get better sound by getting a higher-end DAC like this. I recommend getting the SMSL DO100, which is significantly cheaper than the E70... and from comparing the specs, likely provides 99.9% of its sound quality.
The L70 seems to have lower input sensitivity A30 is 12v low / medium gain and 2.7v high gain L70 is 9v low / medium and 1.9v high, L70 is also fully balanced whereas the A30 amp section is not balanced, and the volume control is different between the A30pro and the L70. A30pro is great though using one currently with an E50 DAC. Considering one of these though now.
@@patrikmedia A30pro is balanced in but the amp part is not balanced, so the outputs are all the same unbalanced regardless of what connector you use so using the 4pin XLR is the same signal as using the 6.35mm / 1/4 jack. It's not the same as the A90 the L70 is more like the A90/A90D and is fully balanced with independent outputs.
any recommendations for some sort of learning remote? if i had hdmi arc on my amp this be a non issue but, they ain't cheap. i don't wanna be using 3 freagin remotes! tv remote for brightness toggling and occasional input swimming, Chromecast remote for "can't call it a box" Google TV, and if that ain't enough i gotta use the amp remote for volume and bass and treble! it doesn't even have a couple presets to go from tv to music🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️. anyways if you have any recommendations to combine these 3 remotes into one, please share🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️ thank you.
JTB! YOU CHANGED YOUR HANDLE! 😮 And yeah, I wouldn't spend my money on any Chinese gear. Not because it's Chinese, but because it just feels like it'll be e-waste sooner... I mean, their business model requires them to continually push new products out every month.
Topping's remote controls are weird. There are buttons that do nothing but guess what you should do to get into BT pairing mode - hold Brightness button for 3 seconds! Got those about a week ago to feed HIFIMAN HE6se v2. There is already new firmware for E70.
Out of the market for amps right now. My SMSL Sp200 just started to fail (channels became imbalanced that one side raises faster than the other and cuts out far faster than the other) so I just got the A90D. Shame, that's now two Amps I got unlucky with. Though to be fair, the other was crappy one that came with my ESP 95X.
Warm greetings dear sirs. Would someone be so kind as to share the knowledge vis-a-vis the artist performing at the commencement of this episode? My sincerest gratitude
RU-vid Hifi (spec DAC Reviews) only exist out of the same brands over and over again… But one thing you can say, Topping, SMSL etc understand how to sell products : marketing
i understand that youtube sucks but throw your boy a bone and give me like maybe one sound demo a month or something, cause im broke. please. i miss it.
@_TEᒪEGᖇᗩᗰ ᗰE👉@ZReviews1 ya great big lubavable hunk. somehow or other you're becoming the Andy Kaufmann of hifiaudio reviews. this review was a wild ride . Enjoyed it as much as the Sabaj power amp with PASSIVE sub out put. BTW , I bought one of those, am definitely buying a second, I can connect the active sub using the tape out from the Nimis tube bi-mono pre-amp . My Q Audio tower speakers sound pretty amazing rn. AND ... you made me by 2 pairs of Koss KPH30i's and a pair of the KPH40is my god those headphones are marvellous.
I would go for SMSL and I am answering from a birds-eye perspective not specific products. I have both the brands you mentioned and SMSL's human to machine interface is much better. In terms of build quality the SMSL is also a bit on top. For sound quality, I always felt that the SMSL is a bit warmer, and the Topping on the more analytical side of things. Depends on which you like. I do not understand why some people always say they dont hear difference between the Chinese brands, then goes around and instantly hear differences between brands founded in a 1st world country. There are obvious internal differences between the Chinese brands but people just put them in one basket. Audiophiles can be hypocrites, lazy, and unfortunately racist.
@@endrizo One other thing to consider is people's experience with reliability in which Topping seems to have a better track record over SMSL. At least from what I read.
