Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

[John B]

I not totally against sharing photos. Just to mimic your last reply so that you'd see the logic is a little bit, you know, off.

Not publishing pics allows you to make running component changes without being accused of price engineering later build cycles. None of the teams I've worked with supplied them either.

 

[THW]

I'm sorry but there is something I just don't understand...
If you say that all those dacs are transparent and sound the same why would you even recommend the d90se(for instance)?
Why isn't the conclusion of your review some thing like:
"I don't recommend this dac since you can get other dacs with the same features and 'way too transparent' for 400$ less. Go spend this money for speakers or... charity".

quite a fair bit of people like excellent measurable performance and do not mind paying more for what is obviously a very well designed DAC. this is certainly a far better product than the majority of the high-end audio market which is just full of snake oil.

personally this is not for me, too rich for my blood and I don’t think I need this level of performance. however I still think Topping should be commended for being able to make something as measurably performant as this.

 

[slamman]

I'm sorry but there is something I just don't understand...
If you say that all those dacs are transparent and sound the same why would you even recommend the d90se(for instance)?
Why isn't the conclusion of your review some thing like:
"I don't recommend this dac since you can get other dacs with the same features and 'way too transparent' for 400$ less. Go spend this money for speakers or... charity".

because money. how can this website go on without peope wanting to buy Dacs with better and better measurements ? or make fun of ones with worse. and why is toppings engineer in the comments? to make the company money. they are capitalizing on the recent measurement craze on this forum specifically and slap a higher number and people will buy it. whether they think they can hear the difference is irrelevant. its just capitalism , the chinese like it just as much as us. there is nothing wrong with this. i can make my own decision as long as no one is being misled which i will not get into.

 

[Katji]

"It’s just a matter of unlocking that potential."

Engineering is not like in a MCU movie, where Bruce Banner and Tony Stark start talking to each other and, hey, TIME TRAVEL.

There is actual effort that comes into "unlocking that potential."

Nevertheless, it is a matter of realising that potential.
And the cost of development/engineering has been fairly well explained already in this thread.

But why is all this stuff rehashed in every DAC review thread?
And every time there is yet another attempt by a science/psychology denier.

 

[Mattx]

I have one on the way and would still love to see the inside . I understand why topping would not exactly want the design blasted everywhere though.

Well, Topping made pictures available for e.g. the D90 /D70s. Doesn't make much sense to me to not share these as D90se's are already in the open and pictures can easily be made and shared. Which I expect to happen shortly.

 

[Katji]

My impression - based mainly on SMSL and Edifier - is that [such] manufacturers like showing photos of circuit boards and listing components in the marketing material.
Edifier even says how thick the MDF is and how much acoustic damping material is used.

 

[voodooless]

There is actual effort that comes into "unlocking that potential."

I never said there wasn’t.

 

[PacoRabbane]

I have always chosen audio equipment on the specs and measurements. Never on listening. If something measures well but I don't like it, that's my fault, not that of the equipment, so I should just get used to it.
As it happens, I've never been disappointed in anything I've bought on the numbers, they have all performed as expected.
S

let me understand, did you take measurements with any source?
with different types of music?
across the entire audible spectrum?

you look like mad scientists, relying only on what they can measure.

what you cannot measure you think does not exist.

stuff from the Middle Ages ...

 

[JohnYang1997]

Not publishing pics allows you to make running component changes without being accused of price engineering later build cycles. None of the teams I've worked with supplied them either.

Does it matter? I can still change components all I want if I post pics.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Well, Topping made pictures available for e.g. the D90 /D70s. Doesn't make much sense to me to not share these as D90se's are already in the open and pictures can easily be made and shared. Which I expect to happen shortly.

Then let them. I'm not against it. Just I won't be the one that shares it.

 

[Katji]

It is the internet audiophile psychosis that is like the medieval era. Science denial while they sit using the internet, and modern medical science and technology. Vanity and cognition problems.

 

[Katji]

let me understand, did you take measurements with any source?
with different types of music?
across the entire audible spectrum?

[Bold emphasis added.]
Amir explained that to you already - did you see it? Do you need more explanation?
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-819462

 

[sq225917]

People who buy it will post pics, I understand John not wanting to show pcb pics when they've no doubt put a lot of time into layout, splitting d/ a sections, isolating the usb input with board cut outs etc.

 

[PacoRabbane]

[Bold emphasis added.]
Amir explained that to you already - did you see it? Do you need more explanation?
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-819462

father forgive them because they don't know what they say ...

In fact, I asked AMIR to be kind enough to carry out scientific tests to demonstrate what I found from the listening tests I performed.

In practice, the quality of the sound output from the DAC depends on the DRIVERS used

 

[Katji]

father forgive them because they don't know what they say ...

In fact, I asked AMIR to be kind enough to carry out scientific tests to demonstrate what I found from the listening tests I performed.

In practice, the quality of the sound output from the DAC depends on the DRIVERS used

I asked [in reply to this: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-820547] whether you had read that explanation and whether you needed further explanation.
He should carry out tests to demonstrate what you heard?! WTF.

 

[PacoRabbane]

[Bold emphasis added.]
Amir explained that to you already - did you see it? Do you need more explanation?
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-819462

furthermore, the test on the whole audible spectrum should be carried out not with a test signal, but with what could happen in reality

 

[PacoRabbane]

I asked whether you had read that explanation and whether you needed further explanation. He should carry out tests to demonstrate what you heard?! WTF.

the test is to show that the test result depends on the drivers used

 

[Katji]

How about you just reply to this question?

I asked [in reply to this: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-820547] whether you had read that explanation and whether you needed further explanation.

furthermore, the test on the whole audible spectrum should be carried out not with a test signal, but with what could happen in reality

In reality? Please explain. ...How to test "on the whole audible spectrum" but not with test signals.

 

[PacoRabbane]

How about you just reply to this question?




In reality? Please explain. ...How to test "on the whole audible spectrum" but not with test signals.

in fact, it is impossible to measure everything.

for this you who believe blindly and only in measurements are crazy pseudoscientists

 

[Katji]

[...]
In practice, the quality of the sound output from the DAC depends on the DRIVERS used

How is that relevant to the matter of "testing full audio spectrum"?