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Topping D90 Balanced USB DAC Review

Alderaan_Null

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DAC mode disables the volume control, and allows a direct path for DSD conversion. If you have no other way of controlling the volume other than the DAC volume control then you would not want to use DAC mode.

good to know. I will be controlling volume via Amp, so DAC mode it is. Thanks for the info!
 

B&WTube

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Has anyone done any listing with the D90 over BT? I wouldn't use it for critical listening but would be nice to just pay something from my laptop/phone/tablet for convience? Is there a big hit to audio?
First, BT is a considerable hit to the audio in every iteration I have tried it. However, the D90 is considerably better at it than the D50s. I am not sure what the difference of the design, but when my wife plays her Pandora (drives me crazy!) it is considerably less bad on the D90, than when she played it over the D50s.
 

dixter

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Off topic but the cheapest way to improve sound quality is to equalize your eardrums (like scuba divers do) on a regular basis. But only do this very carefully (when you do not have a cold) cause you do not want to blow out your eardrums!!
and if you want to sensitise your eardrums even more then wear a set of ear plugs for about an hour... then put you head phones on and don't turn the volume up too much.. make your ears listen, not over power them...
 

Nicolaas

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First, BT is a considerable hit to the audio in every iteration I have tried it. However, the D90 is considerably better at it than the D50s. I am not sure what the difference of the design, but when my wife plays her Pandora (drives me crazy!) it is considerably less bad on the D90, than when she played it over the D50s.
And check the BT codec. D90 supports Aptx HD so if your phone or tablet do support Aptx HD then this is probably the best codec option. To my opinion BT via Aptx HD or Aptx has a very satisfying sound quality and is very convenient. On Android devices these codecs must sometimes be enabled in developer options!
 

brk

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Just purchased this from Apos audio. I tried once in past to buy an audio component based purely on "pristine" measurements (the original Benchmark DAC1), so was a little worried.

Right off that bat, I find the sound of this DAC to be excellent- the midrange may be just slightly recessed, but it is very very natural. The rest of the frequencies are spot on. Can easily hear separation among background singers in recording mixes both from front-to-back and side-to-side. Piano and cello are reproduced with their natural decays.

Playing around with filter settings has not yielded any clear knockouts. I think the best so far are Roon upsampling to 705.6 with DAC set to filter 3 (or filter 4) or Roon upsampling to DSD. These are all so close - even no upsampling sounds OK. Still need to experiment. If I can find a helper then will try to do a blinded comparison with my old DAC - an Eximus DP-1.

System is MacBook Pro - USB- Toppping DAC - Ars Sonum integrated amp (with tubes - the horrors!) - Merlin VSM speakers.

Bryan
 

AndyLu

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Just purchased this from Apos audio. I tried once in past to buy an audio component based purely on "pristine" measurements (the original Benchmark DAC1), so was a little worried.

Right off that bat, I find the sound of this DAC to be excellent- the midrange may be just slightly recessed, but it is very very natural. The rest of the frequencies are spot on. Can easily hear separation among background singers in recording mixes both from front-to-back and side-to-side. Piano and cello are reproduced with their natural decays.

Playing around with filter settings has not yielded any clear knockouts. I think the best so far are Roon upsampling to 705.6 with DAC set to filter 3 (or filter 4) or Roon upsampling to DSD. These are all so close - even no upsampling sounds OK. Still need to experiment. If I can find a helper then will try to do a blinded comparison with my old DAC - an Eximus DP-1.

System is MacBook Pro - USB- Toppping DAC - Ars Sonum integrated amp (with tubes - the horrors!) - Merlin VSM speakers.

Bryan

The frequency range of the D90 measures straight as a ruler (see Amirm's measurements). So objectively this DAC has no recessed mid range. Maybe it is something else in you chain? Or your previous DAC had more pronounced mids and you where used to that sound?
 

rebbiputzmaker

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I listened several hours to the D90 via BT and the sound quality is quite good. I use USB audioplayer pro on both my Andoid tablet and Android phone and connected to the D90 via BT. In the developer options of my Android Samsung tablet and Huawei phone it is possible to switch on the Aptx or Aptx HD codec which gives very good results in my situation. Playing via BT from phone or tablet is very convenient/satisfying!
Besides I also connected the D90 via USB to my old Vaio laptop (recently upgraded with 1TB Samsung qvo SSD) with Linux Mint Xfce and Audacious/ALSA as my audio player. I only have lossless FLAC SD and HD files.
If you’re running Oreo on an android phone, tablet etc, you can use LDAC which is 96khz. Decent sounding for Bluetooth.
 

brk

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| Maybe it is something else in you chain? Or your previous DAC had more pronounced mids and you where used to that sound?

Yes - for something like this, the primary, secondary, and tertiary suspects are the room, the room, and the room. And yes - the Eximus has a mid-forward sound.

I'm keeping the DAC plugged in and running for a couple of days, though suspect this is not be the ideal forum to discuss "break in." Similarly, will also try a custom power cord I have laying around.

Agree with above post that bluetooth sounds immediately and obviously worse than USB on this DAC- would be interesting if this could be measured.

The most enlightening part of this has been the chance to experiment with DSD upsampling. My expectations were some rolled off highs and an exaggerated "analog" smoothness. But with immediate back-and-forth switching, I don't hear any loss of information with DSD compared with upsampled PCM and, in some ways, the presentation is more solid and convincing.
 

barrows

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Agree with above post that bluetooth sounds immediately and obviously worse than USB on this DAC- would be interesting if this could be measured.

Bluetooth uses a lossy compression algorithm, there is no need to check it with "measurements", it is by its own specification lossy.
 

BDWoody

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And check the BT codec. D90 supports Aptx HD so if your phone or tablet do support Aptx HD then this is probably the best codec option. To my opinion BT via Aptx HD or Aptx has a very satisfying sound quality and is very convenient. On Android devices these codecs must sometimes be enabled in developer options!

I'd love to see any of the people who claim to hear such an obvious difference between lossless and aptxHD actually demonstrate it in something that includes an actual controlled listening test vs what they KNOW they must be hearing. Lossy equals bad after all.
What you get is indignant, often patronizing insistence on how obvious it should be to anyone, which of course makes sure the naked emperor continues on his merry way to those who don't want to be left out.
Let's see it backed up with something more than because I say so, or because...lossy...dontcha know...
 

Nicolaas

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I'd love to see any of the people who claim to hear such an obvious difference between lossless and aptxHD actually demonstrate it in something that includes an actual controlled listening test vs what they KNOW they must be hearing. Lossy equals bad after all.
What you get is indignant, often patronizing insistence on how obvious it should be to anyone, which of course makes sure the naked emperor continues on his merry way to those who don't want to be left out.
Let's see it backed up with something more than because I say so, or because...lossy...dontcha know...
As a default I use my D90 in USB to RCA DAC mode to play my lossless FLAC 16b 44.1k and 24b 88.2k, 96k files from my Sony/Vaio laptop with the Linux Mint Audacious/ALSA player. Sometimes it is very convenient and a very nice alternative to play my FLAC files via BT from my Android tablet and phone. And to my ears the SQ via BT Aptx codecs is quite good. Of course this is not by any means a scientific approach with decent A B comparison. To my ears SQ with BT/Aptx codecs is good enough to use in certain circumstances for convenience. Just wanted to share this but of course anyone should decide for themselves to use the BT option or not! I think it's great to have it available. And maybe the BT LDAC codec gives even better results but I don't have LDAC on my Android devices...
 

brk

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My stupidity for not knowing that BT is lossy compression. Would happily participate in blinded test versus USB - always good to challenge one's assumptions and change your mind when proven wrong. Agree that BT is a nice feature - so easy to just stream anything - even podcasts and talk shows - from phone. Now that I am stuck working from home, am kind of missing the headphone section of my previous DAC - may have to temporarily switch back and look around for an inexpensive headphone amp to pair with the D90. Was using the RCA outs to the main stereo so would have to find one with XLRs.
 

Inkey31

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Slowly but firmly entering ADI-2 DAC price levels, and digging their own grave! Considering D90 has no headphone amp its price is above the RME.

ADI2 is over 1000 this is 600 bucks.
 

maxxevv

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No. D90 has no amp section, add another 200-300$.

The ADi-2 and the D90 are targeted at different audiences.

The former for people who are replacing whole systems with just 1 unit to do everything.

The latter for people who already have everything else in the system, namely a good headphone amp (and maybe DSP implementations).

If one already has a SoTA headphone amp, a good power amplifier or powered speakers, and just want to replace a slightly outdated DAC to match the rest of the gear, then the D90 would make sense.

If starting from a blank sheet, the RME would very well be a strong recommendation for most of the folks here on ASR.
 

NoClipp1ing

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Update: Just ordered the Topping D90! Finding out that it measures better than the Bryston was the final straw that got the credit card out.

Unless your headamp is Bryston BHA-x ;-) ....

Nope, this is for the system that drives my Magnepans :=)

Current sources that I'd route through whatever DAC I get
- An old Adcom CD player with coaxial output that doesn't sound anywhere near as good as my broken Yamaha changer
- An AppleTV 4k + HDMI audio interceptor with optical and RCA analog outputs. The RCA outputs sound particularly terrible
- A PC that is using the old (good) version of the Behringer UCA202, going to hook that to the USB of the DAC and use the UCA202 on another machine

Rest of the system in the unlikely event anyone cares:
- Magnepan .7, currently searching for a used set of 3.x's or 20.x's for that ribbon tweeter sweetness
- NAD 116 Preamplifier (1 balanced CD input where I'd plug in the D90, 1 balanced output to the amp)
- NAD 218THX Amplifier (balanced input)
- Denon DP-57M / Denon DL-301Mk2 / Vista Audio Phono 2
- A handful of Yamaha YST servo-controlled subwoofers equalized by a Behringer DCX2496 and overall sub system volume controlled by a Nobsound Little Bear MC2 (using unbalanced input from NAD and balanced output to DCX2496)
- A handful of Fuhrman PL-8C power conditioners
- Logitech Harmony Hub + power-triggered power strip + voltage-triggered power switch things for seamless almost-idiot-proof usage by normal people
- 50" Sony TV + and BD player
 
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Selfmade

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Hi,
I received my D90 last week and I'm very happy with the preformance.
As I want to do DSP I need to route input and output channels simultaniously with REAPER.
Is there an opportunity to do so?
 
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