Topping E30 DAC Review

[Agburnsky]

@yodog, I find that true as well. If I manually turn off picoreplayer to the sleep screen the e30 will go into standby, but if picoreplayer
timeouts to sleep the e30 will generally not go into standby , but it is not consistent. It is a sweet little dac and its not an issue if it doesn't go into standby.

 

[yodog]

@yodog, I find that true as well. If I manually turn off picoreplayer to the sleep screen the e30 will go into standby, but if picoreplayer
timeouts to sleep the e30 will generally not go into standby , but it is not consistent. It is a sweet little dac and its not an issue if it doesn't go into standby.

It’s not bad for it to leave it on? It won’t overheat or anything like that? Lol?

 

[yejun]

@yodog, I find that true as well. If I manually turn off picoreplayer to the sleep screen the e30 will go into standby, but if picoreplayer
timeouts to sleep the e30 will generally not go into standby , but it is not consistent. It is a sweet little dac and its not an issue if it doesn't go into standby.

On page 85 there's a solution for Linux. I have tried it on gentooplayer and raspberry os. It fixed auto-off for most software player, the only exceptions I found are hqplayer naa and gmediarender.

 

[yodog]

Hey guys,

Is it ok if I have the E30 in DAC only mode.... and have the bluesound node 2i streamer that’s connected to it via rca digital coax, have the node 2i on variable volume so I can control it on the fly via airplay 2?

Will this damage the E30 and/or my speakers? Let the E30 be fixed output volume but have my bluesound node 2i be the variable volume controller? Even though the bluesound is before the E30 in the connection flow of things?

Any input would be appreciated!!! Thank you!

(Also, which configuration would theoretically provide higher fidelity / better SNR? Node 2i as volume controller and E30 as fixed 2vrms out or the node 2i fixed 2vrms output and have the E30 in Preamp+DAC mode and the E30 controls the volume?)

 

[samsa]

Will this damage the E30 and/or my speakers? Let the E30 be fixed output volume but have my bluesound node 2i be the variable volume controller?

What is the probability that the output volume on the bluesound could "accidentally" get turned up to max? That might damage your speakers/your ears. It would, of course, have absolutely no effect on the DAC.

(Also, which configuration would theoretically provide higher fidelity / better SNR? Node 2i as volume controller and E30 as fixed 2vrms out or the node 2i fixed 2vrms output and have the E30 in Preamp+DAC mode and the E30 controls the volume?)

If they're both operating in the digital domain, then theoretically it should make absolutely no difference whatsoever which you use to attenuate the volume.

As far as that goes, I'll assume the phrase "the node 2i fixed 2vrms output" is just a typo.

 

[Pluto]

That is quite strange then, sheds a bit more doubt on your E30.

No, my ten bucks is still on the table to say that there is nothing wrong with the E30. If the problem was the E30, it would be unusual to get this kind of fault identically on both channels. This is a good old-fashioned overload scenario. Nothing more. Unless, for reasons I would not understand, the input impedance of whatever the E30 is feeding is oddly low, which could give rise to these symptoms.

 

[Robbo99999]

No, my ten bucks is still on the table to say that there is nothing wrong with the E30. If the problem was the E30, it would be unusual to get this kind of fault identically on both channels. This is a good old-fashioned overload scenario. Nothing more. Unless, for reasons I would not understand, the input impedance of whatever the E30 is feeding is oddly low, which could give rise to these symptoms.

Who knows, but it was strange that his other DACS could output 2V and not cause any issues, and E30 is 2V too....well 2.14V according to this review. I suppose it's possible his other 2V DACS are outputting a bit less than the 2.14V of the E30 - in which case that could support your overload scenario.

 

[Predatowned]

So my work is now providing us Macbook Airs. Are there usb to thunderbolt adapters? How does this work on a mac lol. For dsd apparently I'm going to need jriver media center? As you can imagine, I know nothing about the Apple echo system haha.

 

[yejun]

So my work is now providing us Macbook Airs. Are there usb to thunderbolt adapters? How does this work on a mac lol. For dsd apparently I'm going to need jriver media center? As you can imagine, I know nothing about the Apple echo system haha.

Any usb-c to usb-a adapter should work. You probably should get a usb-c hub, because you need 2 usb-a port for E30.

 

[Predatowned]

Any usb-c to usb-a adapter should work.

As far as drivers go, no issues on Mac?

 

[pcdinh]

It looks like Topping E30 has better measurements but it does not sound as good as Schiit Modi Multibit which has worse measurements

 

[AndyLu]

It looks like Topping E30 has better measurements but it does not sound as good as Schiit Modi Multibit which has worse measurements

Are you serious? How can you draw such a conclusion based on a YouTube recording? There are so many unknowns and variables here that I don't even know where to start....

 

[yejun]

As far as drivers go, no issues on Mac?

You don't need driver for playing music. But there is no officially supported software for firmware update on Mac.

 

[solderdude]

Oh !, I thought that the E30 needs at least 1 amp to work, but I see that it doesn't. Gracias.

Just measured current consumption on the DC input:
180mA stand-by and 200mA when playing 44.1kHz file.
No current is drawn from the USB side.

 

[Predatowned]

You don't need driver for playing music. But there is no officially supported software for firmware update on Mac.

I updated to the latest firmware on my windows system, is that not on the hardware side of the dac itself? So, when I plug it into the mac, it wont have the latest firmware? I have the flawed unit prior to 2004 serial number so I want the latest firmware that fixes USB haha

 

[Axaion]

Hey, just made a user here, coming from my.. 4th Creative G6 (they keep disconnecting, or the amp dying on me..)

Have a few questions that i hope could be answered
1; Does anyone know how much audio latency this has compared to onboard?, on the G6 it sorta sounds like sound is slightly delayed at times
2; Whats the crosstalk like?
2; Does it come with a power brick?

Yes, im going to use it for all around usage, movies, music, games. - all of it.
Thanks for reading!

 

[solderdude]

Latency will depend on the chosen filter setting and buffer size.

There is no power brick. Only a powersupply cable with USB-A plug is supplied.
Plug it in a USB port or use any 5V adapter that has a USB-A output.

 

[yejun]

I updated to the latest firmware on my windows system, is that not on the hardware side of the dac itself? So, when I plug it into the mac, it wont have the latest firmware? I have the flawed unit prior to 2004 serial number so I want the latest firmware that fixes USB haha

No need to update again on Mac if you did on windows already.

 

[half_dog]

It looks like Topping E30 has better measurements but it does not sound as good as Schiit Modi Multibit which has worse measurements

I´m not telling he has edited this video, but the difference is too big to be related to the DACs. I had a M500 and (still have) a Khadas Tone Board and most of the time I wasn't able to tell apart which was playing...

 

[somebodyelse]

I updated to the latest firmware on my windows system, is that not on the hardware side of the dac itself? So, when I plug it into the mac, it wont have the latest firmware? I have the flawed unit prior to 2004 serial number so I want the latest firmware that fixes USB haha

If you've already updated the firmware from Windows then it's done - the update is now stored on the E30, and will be used whether you plug it into Windows or Mac. For those of us without access to Windows there are only unofficial updaters.