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Topping E30 II DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 4.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 22 6.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 103 31.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 186 57.2%

  • Total voters
    325

Rottmannash

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Although I never use it, the remote for my D90se has always worked fine too—although there’s not much it can do. I do agree that Topping doesn’t seem to emphasize their remote capabilities—perhaps something to reduce manufacturing costs in favor of maintaining affordable price points? Gustard’s remotes are fairly bare bones too. The remote for the ADI-2 is full-featured, which makes sense because it’s so feature-rich.

But in the case of the D90se, which is a pure DAC with no headphone amp, there isn’t much to fiddle with except for input sources, and for that the remote works fine. My only gripe with it is that its settings can only be accessed by turning it off and restarting it in settings mode—although I rarely touch the settings, it would still be nice if the filters, voltages and sound signatures could be changed on the fly.
Can't the filters and the new "modes" be changed via the remote? I believe the "FIR" button cycles through the filters.
 

srkbear

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Can't the filters and the new "modes" be changed via the remote? I believe the "FIR" button cycles through the filters.
Actually, I think you’re right! If I knew where the remote was I would test it out :) Honestly twiddling with filters and trying to concentrate enough to try to hear the differences gives me a life threatening OCD attack…
 

Rottmannash

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Actually, I think you’re right! If I knew where the remote was I would test it out :) Honestly twiddling with filters and trying to concentrate enough to try to hear the differences gives me a life threatening OCD attack…
Also, don't bother with the new "modes"-tried all 3 and couldn't discern any difference between them.
 

srkbear

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Also, don't bother with the new "modes"-tried all 3 and couldn't discern any difference between them.
I found the mere concept of them cheesy. They set an example for the industry by making an almost perfectly resolving DAC, and then they cave in and start adding phony colorations to it? Phooey!
 

respice finem

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Looks like they’ve got a refresh of the DX7 pro, called the “DX7 Pro+” on deck for late August. How is this company managing all these new products in such a short period of time? Mixing and matching internal components perhaps?

It certainly doesn't make service easier, to have so many models.
BTW: The cited DX7 Pro+ seems to be a DAC/preamp (see its back panel):
 

Jimster480

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Looks like they’ve got a refresh of the DX7 pro, called the “DX7 Pro+” on deck for late August. How is this company managing all these new products in such a short period of time? Mixing and matching internal components perhaps?

They do definitely mix and match their designs. It is the intelligent way to do it.
I missed him, rats!
Yep, he answered a bunch of questions. I think he said he will try to stop by every week or other week now.
 

AlexF

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It certainly doesn't make service easier, to have so many models.
For all the shenanigans, Gordon Ramsay's key advice was trim menu to the best that customers could associate with the restaurant.

My current association with Topping brand is maximum SQ, minimum QA.
 

Jimster480

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Can't the filters and the new "modes" be changed via the remote? I believe the "FIR" button cycles through the filters.
You can change the filters through the remote, yes. Just like all Topping remotes.
Actually, I think you’re right! If I knew where the remote was I would test it out :) Honestly twiddling with filters and trying to concentrate enough to try to hear the differences gives me a life threatening OCD attack…
There is basically no difference in most music. I have tested extensively even with my Aeons in well recorded tracks... 1 filter might clean up some high frequency spike slightly. That is about it. I would say there is no point in changing the filter unless you find listening fatiguing.
For all the shenanigans, Gordon Ramsay's key advice was trim menu to the best that customers could associate with the restaurant.

My current association with Topping brand is maximum SQ, minimum QA.
I haven't had that experience with any of the Topping products that I own... I know that they had a few recent products with issues, but most of my stuff is 4+ years old now and it is fine.
 

srkbear

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For all the shenanigans, Gordon Ramsay's key advice was trim menu to the best that customers could associate with the restaurant.

My current association with Topping brand is maximum SQ, minimum QA.
If QA stands for quality assurance, my Topping D90se is built seamlessly and has never given me a whiff of trouble! I would rephrase it to maximum SQ, minimum frills maybe—although mind does everything I need it to…
 

srkbear

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It certainly doesn't make service easier, to have so many models.
BTW: The cited DX7 Pro+ seems to be a DAC/preamp (see its back panel):
If you’re referring to a lack of speaker terminals, I suspect they meant headphone amp, based on the front panel. It claims to have an NFCA amp, which further supports this. Aren’t most of their products really headphone-focused? ;)
 

respice finem

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If you’re referring to a lack of speaker terminals, I suspect they meant headphone amp, based on the front panel. It claims to have an NFCA amp, which further supports this. Aren’t most of their products really headphone-focused? ;)
Yes, but not every potential customer must know about this, so calling it a DAC/Amp can be misleading.
Topping doesn't need such "marketing lyric" IMHO.
 

Music1969

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Already did! He took quite a hiatus from here awhile back.
Some of his posts last few days below, after clicking his profile.

Do you have E30? I assume you upsample to DSD?

Planning to get E30 II?

I'm curious about the 48k DSD support also

1659329773911.png
 

giordy

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If the E30 doesn't, it's unlikely E30 ii will do 48kDSD. (a format that can't even be purchased anywhere.. right?)
yes, certainly....
but like many other formats that do not exist commercially.
they are used only for extreme upsampling ..... the beauty of this hobby (because we are talking about hobbies) is also to "push" our toys beyond the wall of awareness. ;)
 

Whoareyou

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What is your understanding for how out of warranty units should be handled (I assume there would be some type of charge)? Also, any chance Topping can work with Apos to improve Apos support's response time?

FWIW - I have sent these same questions to Apos support a couple days ago and I am hoping to receive some type of response from them.
So, just to close the loop on this (at least from my perspective).....

I received response from Topping regarding service, which did provide a bit more insight into their handling of equipment requiring service.

For in warranty, ", our colleagues at the Returns center will need to process the return before we can proceed with the next step."
Fair enough and sounds like they take care of the entire process on your behalf.

For expired warranty:
"If warranty has expired, we can check if we have some options to provide further assistance depending on the severity of the issue. Otherwise, we will let you know if you need to work on with Topping directly."

So, they will try to help....

All good to know, but depending on amount I was going to spend, definitely will influence my purchase choices.

I certainly wish that for some of the more expensive Topping products they would increase the warranty period or even offer a paid option to extend warranty.
Perhaps, even for products > $500 it is not economically feasible.

Like everything it's a trade-off. Spend $2400 on a Benchmark LA4, and know what type of service to expect, or in my case spend $509 on a pre90 and get the 1 year Apos certified warranty knowing it may be a hassle to get fixed, or worse yet could be throw-away.

Honestly, until reading some of these comments I didn't think about the service model, but if I had thought about it, I would have spent the extra $90 to get the 2 year warranty.
 

bit_collector

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Yeah I also hated the fact that they silently swapped out the S/PDIF receiver chip in the E30.
I bought the unit because of the good review on this site and was disappointed to find out it has Toslink issues...
So what happened? I have an E30 and the optical input has some issues.
 
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