Topping E30 DAC Review

[Jose Hidalgo]

Understood. I agree about the output voltage (more voltage = more distortion). I only thought that in analog world, distortion was correlated to the amplification factor too, e.g. if you amplify a signal by a factor of 20 you'll get more distortion than by a factor of 10. Was I wrong to assume that ?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Understood. I agree about the output voltage (more voltage = more distortion). I only thought that in analog world, distortion was correlated to the amplification factor too, e.g. if you amplify a signal by a factor of 20 you'll get more distortion than by a factor of 10. Was I wrong to assume that ?

Less loop gain from higher closed loop gain may likely cause higher distortion. But in L30 the limitation is the connectors. The distortion should be under -170dB if there's no limitations in connectors.
Noise wise, higher the gain higher the noise that's still very true in L30.

 

[Robin L]

I'm a little confused. My experience with standard potentiometers is that they perform best with minimum attenuation. I'm using Drop 6XX headphones, setting the L30 at -9db, the E30 at 0db. That's right?

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm a little confused. My experience with standard potentiometers is that they perform best with minimum attenuation. I'm using Drop 6XX headphones, setting the L30 at -9db, the E30 at 0db. That's right?

Degradation is minimal at near zero or near maximum. The -9dB is also a part of it. So set L30 to 0dB and E30 to as high as possible. Then adjust volume to taste. 12 o'clock is actually not half because it's log scale/audio taper so it's much less than halving the voltage at 12 o'clock.

 

[Robin L]

Degradation is minimal at near zero or near maximum. The -9dB is also a part of it. So set L30 to 0dB and E30 to as high as possible. Then adjust volume to taste. 12 o'clock is actually not half because it's log scale/audio taper so it's much less than halving the voltage at 12 o'clock.

Thanks!

 

[voodooless]

I agree about the output voltage (more voltage = more distortion). I only thought that in analog world, distortion was correlated to the amplification factor too, e.g. if you amplify a signal by a factor of 20 you'll get more distortion than by a factor of 10. Was I wrong to assume that ?

Check out any data sheet or reviews here that show input voltage(or power) vs distortion. None of the will show what you claim. In general distortion goes down with higher signal and usually at some point there is nothing more to gain and either distortion remains to same, or rises a bit until clipping ensues.

Since amp gain is static, a volume control will only lower the voltage that is input into the amp.

 

[kitar01]

So which one?

The E30.
I am very happy of all. No problems of noise with a Ravpower supply.
The sound is very clear and i am full satisfied.
thank you

 

[tomjoad72]

Main differences VS d10s?

 

[Deleted member 18309]

Main differences VS d10s?

Functionality, basically. D10s has only USB in and everything else (RCA, optical digital, coaxial digital) are all outputs. The RCA out is line-level and not a pre-out, so no ability to use D10s as a preamp. No remote control for this reason.

E30 has USB in, optical digital in, coaxial digital in. Only RCA out, but it can do line-level and also work as pre-out. Comes with remote control.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Why would you do that ?
Do you know that the L30 is an analog amplifier, whereas the E30 is a digital device ?
Do you know that in analog amplifiers, more volume means more distortion, so max volume means max distortion ?
I urge you to reconsider.

Well, a benefit of having the volume up high on the amp is to eliminate channel imbalance on the pot. Not usually necessary to have it maxed though. I set it to a volume slightly higher than I'd ever listen at which on the Heresy (for example) ends up being about 2:00...

 

[Viper Necklampy]

I received e30 today, so cute, but i don't have an amplifier yet. I know it's sound a little bit stupid, but how do i bypass Smartphone or PC Monitor internal dac, with the Aux to 2 Rca cable? If it's possible.

Also, as is is USB powered, i guess is not possible to see if i plug it by the wrong side, so will be out of polarity or phase-inverted (Or how's called)?
No way to check it in another way, instead of going by ear?

 

[voodooless]

I received e30 today, so cute, but i don't have an amplifier yet. I know it's sound a little bit stupid, but how do i bypass Smartphone or PC Monitor internal dac, with the Aux to 2 Rca cable? If it's possible.

Please elaborate on your setup.. I can’t make heads or tails of it..

Also, as is is USB powered, i guess is not possible to see if i plug it by the wrong side, so will be out of polarity or phase-inverted (Or how's called)?

What wrong side? USB only fits one way..

 

[Jimbob54]

I received e30 today, so cute, but i don't have an amplifier yet. I know it's sound a little bit stupid, but how do i bypass Smartphone or PC Monitor internal dac, with the Aux to 2 Rca cable? If it's possible.

Also, as is is USB powered, i guess is not possible to see if i plug it by the wrong side, so will be out of polarity or phase-inverted (Or how's called)?
No way to check it in another way, instead of going by ear?

What is it you think this device does? You need to feed it a digital signal via USB/optical or coax and it will output an analog signal via the red and white RCA plugs at the back into an amplifier of some sort. You dont connect anything inwards to the e30 via the RCA outputs.

If you connect your PC/ phone digitally (probably by USB) you are bypassing the internal DAC on that source device.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

What wrong side? USB only fits one way..

I guess he's talking about the AC adapter which ends on a USB connector, so you need a phone charger to plug it in a regular outlet, and he's asking about finding the polatiry e.g. plugging the phone charger one way or the other way. I would suggest to try both ways, and if he can't make a difference by ear (which he probably won't), then simply stick with either one of them.

 

[Viper Necklampy]

What is it you think this device does? You need to feed it a digital signal via USB/optical or coax and it will output an analog signal via the red and white RCA plugs at the back into an amplifier of some sort. You dont connect anything inwards to the e30 via the RCA outputs.

If you connect your PC/ phone digitally (probably by USB) you are bypassing the internal DAC on that source device.

So i can't use E30 connecting a smartphone without Usb/otg cable with an AUX to 2 RCA cable? I wanted to use the E30 dac with devices amplifier, guess it's not possible, also would not improve much on sound quality if would work, since pc monitor and smartphone amplifier's are weak..

 

[GeorgeWalk]

So i can't use E30 connecting a smartphone without Usb/otg cable with an AUX to 2 RCA cable? I wanted to use the E30 dac with devices amplifier, guess it's not possible, also would not improve much on sound quality if would work, since pc monitor and smartphone amplifier's are weak..

Yes, you can use the DAC wih a USB/OTG cable. Using those cables bypasses the internal DAC.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Yes, you can use the DAC wih a USB/OTG cable. Using those cables bypasses the internal DAC.

yes, if you are also connecting the E30 to an external amp. But you can't use the E30 as a dac into the smartphone to then use the phone's built-in amp through it's headphone jack

 

[voodooless]

So i can't use E30 connecting a smartphone without Usb/otg cable with an AUX to 2 RCA cable? I wanted to use the E30 dac with devices amplifier, guess it's not possible, also would not improve much on sound quality if would work, since pc monitor and smartphone amplifier's are weak..

You’ll have to connect the E30 to an external amplifier. You cannot feed the signal back into the phone, most likely not to your monitor either (possibly if it has an analog input). The E30 is not an amplifier by itself. If you want louder headphone sound, buy a headphone amp. Connecting a DAC to a monitor seems futile.. the sound of those things is usually so bad nothing will fix that.

 

[Jimbob54]

So i can't use E30 connecting a smartphone without Usb/otg cable with an AUX to 2 RCA cable? I wanted to use the E30 dac with devices amplifier, guess it's not possible, also would not improve much on sound quality if would work, since pc monitor and smartphone amplifier's are weak..

Oh, right, I get you. Never even thought about that. I mean, if your PC has a 3.5mm aux input I suppose you could do that- not sure if any do though. It would be pointless as the internal amps will likely be pretty crap and probably work best with whatever DAC is built in.

For phones, no idea, but pretty much same answer anyway even if you could find a way to get analog in.

 

[Viper Necklampy]

Oh, right, I get you. Never even thought about that. I mean, if your PC has a 3.5mm aux input I suppose you could do that- not sure if any do though. It would be pointless as the internal amps will likely be pretty crap and probably work best with whatever DAC is built in.

For phones, no idea, but pretty much same answer anyway even if you could find a way to get analog in.

Yh, It's a pretty stupid idea connecting the dac like that... But an amplifier i think would go everywhere, for example jds atom had Aux 3.5mm and was easy to plug everything on it.
I think for phone there should be an usb adapter /otg, but i don't know where to get it, maybe it's costly.