Topping E30 DAC Review

[BDWoody]

You're the stupid one! Don't talk behind people, where have you been until now?

Yeah... That gets the insta-perma-ban.
Buh bye now
Edit for clarity: if you create a new name to get around a thread ban, that's not going to go well.

 

[LordPotato]

sorry... couldn't help it... had to create an account and post that silly pic above after going thru the entire thread... but then again, its the conflicting views that makes up the wonderful community

honestly, been lurking around because am trying to get into the audiophilia world of regrets(wallet wise) for the 1st time
decisions decisions decisions...
E30&L30 or DX7pro or D90&A90...

THANK YOU ASR for all the resources & references !

 

[voodooless]

sorry... couldn't help it... had to create an account and post that silly pic above after going thru the entire thread... but then again, its the conflicting views that makes up the wonderful community

The great thing about your little picture is that you could have meant the exact opposite of what got him banned now. I'm BTW against permanently banning anyone. It's only speech.. people should always deserve another chance.

honestly, been lurking around because am trying to get into the audiophilia world of regrets(wallet wise) for the 1st time

I'm pretty sure you're at the wrong place here then

decisions decisions decisions...
E30&L30 or DX7pro or D90&A90...

Look at the features needed and the budget you'd like to spend.. and if all else fails, pick the one that looks the best

 

[BDWoody]

I'm BTW against permanently banning anyone. It's only speech.. people should always deserve another chance.

It was the re-registration under a new name that got him banned.
That's really the only thing that qualifies, to me.
He's been trying to register now with a few different names. That really takes it out of the 'discretionary' category.

 

[finitol]

I,m owner of two of this littles and i very happy with it sound but..... all of them vibrating so much.....it,s a mechannical vibration no matter that surface you put them.
Anyone more with this issue?

 

[voodooless]

I,m owner of two of this littles and i very happy with it sound but..... all of them vibrating so much.....it,s a mechannical vibration no matter that surface you put them.
Anyone more with this issue?

Can you elaborate on this? These devices do not have any moving parts, so should not vibrate.

Is it just a feeling when you move your fingers over the casing? Try the front panel, does it also seem to vibrate?

 

[finitol]

Can you elaborate on this? These devices do not have any moving parts, so should not vibrate.

Is it just a feeling when you move your fingers over the casing? Try the front panel, does it also seem to vibrate?

Uhmmm, i'm not tried yet to put my fingers on front panel, but is sure than all the case (up and laterals parts) are vibrating when i put very softly my fingers.

I change position of both of them and still vibrating.

More of this...i even put a four rubber pieces on bottom to.check and still vibrating

Vibration is a subtle, but persistent sensation on touch, and is not continued, insome kind of random frenquency and intensity

 

[voodooless]

Uhmmm, i'm not tried yet to put my fingers on front panel

Try.. I'm guessing it will not feel it on the front panel. In that case, you don't feel vibration, but electricity. Usually that is a grounding issue. It can't really hurt.

 

[raif71]

Can you elaborate on this? These devices do not have any moving parts, so should not vibrate.

Is it just a feeling when you move your fingers over the casing? Try the front panel, does it also seem to vibrate?

Yes, I've felt them too but I just dismiss them thinking that they were static.

 

[finitol]

Try.. I'm guessing it will not feel it on the front panel. In that case, you don't feel vibration, but electricity. Usually that is a grounding issue. It can't really hurt.

Wow.... that's scary...

My condo (on Spain) has not grounded pin.
Could be this the origin of it?
And, that electricity degrades sound (and most important, operative life of device?)

 

[voodooless]

Wow.... that's scary...

Let's first verify that it indeed electricity before jumping to conclusions

My condo (on Spain) has not grounded pin.
Could be this the origin of it?
And, that electricity degrades sound (and most important, operative life of device?)

Possibly that could be the (partial) cause of this. But as I said, it's no big deal really. It can't kill you. And it should also not degrade the sound. I'd be more worried about any power sockets in your bathroom without GFCI

 

[Robin L]

Audiophilia is like religion, you chose to trade the truth to achieve happiness.

The neurosis of Audiophilus Nervosa isn't curable until the subject admits they've got it, and Hydra's got it bad.

 

[slartibart]

Anyway, back on topic then...



I'm not sure why it shows DSD first, but changes in sample rate and specially changes from PCM/DSD do come with a slight pop sound. As far as known it is not something that can be fixed with firmware.

You're not the only one with the 45.15 DSD issue though: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pping-e30-dac-review.12119/reply&quote=449116, also https://forum.headphones.com/t/topping-e30-dac-issues-with-raspberry-pi-4/8990 and https://community.roonlabs.com/t/topping-e30-dac-startup-sync-issue/126471. And there is also a reference to 1024*44100 here: https://www.xcore.com/viewtopic.php?t=3523&start=10 (though otherwise rather offtopic). This might actually be a firmware issue that Topping could have a look into

It happens every time the DAC comes out of standby when using the USB input. It doesn't happen with coax. I haven't noticed any noticeable pops at any other time even when switching between sampling rates. Luckily my amp has a speaker relay with a delay so if I turn DAC and amp on at the same time I don't hear the pop but sometimes the amp is already on. I am in contact with Topping about this so we shall see what happens. I guess it takes a couple of seconds for the DAC to lock onto the player sample rate and 45.15 DSD is displayed until lock is achieved. I haven't checked those links yet but I reckon one of them must be where I saw this mentioned before.

 

[slartibart]

Yes, that is fairly normal behaviour. I also found that powering down the DAC resets the volume in Roon to 100, so my solution is to leave the DAC powered on all the time. I (perhaps naively) hope that it is drawing about the same amount of power as my microwave does to power the screen.

I think I read in an earlier post someone had measured the current draw and Standby was 180mA compared to 200mA in normal operation so not a massive difference.

 

[Pdxwayne]

I feel for you Hydra as I too sometimes give subjective opinions and never provide any substantial evidence except I like what I heard . I too have been mocked by some over here but fret not, words cannot hurt us (agree to disagree lol). However, I too rely on the reviews here to guide me on what gears to buy especially the cheap but have decent to more than decent measurements. Guys, sometimes your rolleyes hurt us but perhaps we brought it upon ourselves so to me all is good. Actually I do have fun poking subjective comments and see some of you coming out of the woodwork to straighten things out. Hilarious I say

I feel for Hydra too.....

Amir's measurements are clean. But someone out there will have ground loop issue. Imagine everyone here said ground loop issue is pure imagination and it is all in his/her head....He/her needs to prove to everyone with measurements and doing double blind to conclusively convince people he/she is not delusional.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Actually you should not compare these technologies to much. They both use light, and both send the light though a thin translucent cable. It about stops there. The stuff that comes into your house is actually glass and a much higher quality fiber compared to the plastics that are used for Toslink. Now surely some of those expensive Toslink cables might also use flas fibers, but that's mainly to try to justify the price.

Besides the materials there are many more differences in modulation and specific properties of the fiber itself, all of them were devised to increase the data capacity and range of the cable.. where you can go upto 400 Gbit/sec vs ~4.5Mbit/sec for Toslink on a single fiber.

Howdy,
I do understand that. The point I had been making is that high technology is often very inexpensive.
@Hydra is IMHO in need of some help and needed an example that was in the cable realm. He/she had hypothetically asked about buying a $1000 optical cable.
Glass fiber cables are quite inexpensive and yet as you state work incredibly well.

 

[voodooless]

But someone out there will have ground loop issue.

Don't muddy the waters here. He or she (or whatever) will just have to tell us that there is a ground loop issue. What's so hard about that? It's a verifiable very clearly defined issue with a very specific sound signature. That is completely different from claiming that some iPurifier raises almost all frequencies. In any case.. That thing will not prevent ground loops either since it has no galvanic isolation.

 

[finitol]

Let's first verify that it indeed electricity before jumping to conclusions



Possibly that could be the (partial) cause of this. But as I said, it's no big deal really. It can't kill you. And it should also not degrade the sound. I'd be more worried about any power sockets in your bathroom without GFCI

Any advice or roundabout to avoid it?

 

[voodooless]

Any advice or roundabout to avoid it?

Don't touch it

I'd still like to know if my hunch was correct?

 

[Pdxwayne]

Don't muddy the waters here. He or she (or whatever) will just have to tell us that there is a ground loop issue. What's so hard about that? It's a verifiable very clearly defined issue with a very specific sound signature. That is completely different from claiming that some iPurifier raises almost all frequencies. In any case.. That thing will not prevent ground loops either since it has no galvanic isolation.

I remember last year I was trying to do room eq with my Paradigm Studio Sub15.

One laptop is very old Windows 98 based laptop. The other is newer laptop with latest Windows OS. Same USB cable. Both laptops run on battery. Connect the old laptop via USB to the sub, I would hear faint electrical noises came out of the sub. Using the newer laptop, sub is not making noise.

So the source equipment matter. Would adding anything between the old laptop usb out and the sub"s USB in helps, I wonder.

How do you know if someone using noisy equipment upstream of a DAC is not hearing better sound once the noises are suppressed?