AMA about the Topping D90 (non-MQA version)

[ichonderoga]

I hope not! I’d rather not listen to their music *chuckles*.

Just out of interest, what’s the steps for disabling Bluetooth?

Have a gander at my "Pre-Amp or DAC mode"-bullet on OP

 

[NDC]

Have a gander at my "Pre-Amp or DAC mode"-bullet on OP

Not sure I'm following, but I assume it's in the settings menu that appears when you follow the initial steps in that bullet point?

 

[Harmonie]

Hey, can anyone with a D90 confirm that bluetooth seems to remain discoverable even when the unit is turned off via the remote? (note: with power button on at the back of the device obviously; remote used to turn the D90 off). My MacBook Air found the D90 while the unit was set to off via remote, when I was searching bluetooth devices, which was interesting.

Edit: Seems to be intentional because when I connect to D90 via BT while it is off via remote, it switches the display on and boots up. Actually seems useful, but freaked me out a little because I realised my neighbours could probably connect via bluetooth to it from the adjacent apartment haha.

Thank you for this hint !
It's wise to disable the BT from the back then.

 

[Harmonie]

@NDC
I repeated the same trial you did with Android phones.
Some indelicate neighbours could make some jokes at 3AM ...

 

[ichonderoga]

Thank you for this hint !
It's wise to disable the BT from the back then.

If one doesn’t want to mess with these settings on device boot - then simply removing the antennas will make the device “undiscoverable”

 

[ichonderoga]

Not sure I'm following, but I assume it's in the settings menu that appears when you follow the initial steps in that bullet point?

Indeed ;-)

 

[Harmonie]

If one doesn’t want to mess with these settings on device boot - then simply removing the antennas will make the device “undiscoverable”

Nope, because I do use the BT randomly and I'm not going to fiddle in the cable salad behind the Dac and all the rest of the gear.

BEST is to be aware of this and to disable the BT function in the advanced menu if necessary

 

[Harmonie]

Actually before the D90 setup, I had in mind to put a coax cable extension to increase the BT's range.
But it's absolutely NOT necessary.
D90 BT emission is perfect. Much better than the one I experienced with the A22 ...

 

[SquishyBoo]

Hi @ichonderoga , totally noob question. I feel like based on all the love for the Topping D90, I want to get a D90+A90 stack with Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pros. The thing is, I currently have a pair of Rokit 8 G4's, and those are Active, Bi-amped speakers (currently going into an M-Audio Air Hub audio interface - I know cheap lol). I've read that people are driving active speakers with both the D90 and A90, and I've also read people saying you shouldn't.

If the speakers are already amped, the logically, you'd connect them to the D90, in "DAC-only" mode, and not, "DAC+Pre-amp mode, to avoid "coloring" the sound. But can you control volume if the D90 is in "DAC-only" mode? Or does that require additional hardware?

Or should I just get a pair of passive bookshelf speakers to replace my Rokit 8's lol

 

[ichonderoga]

Hi @ichonderoga , totally noob question. I feel like based on all the love for the Topping D90, I want to get a D90+A90 stack with Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pros. The thing is, I currently have a pair of Rokit 8 G4's, and those are Active, Bi-amped speakers (currently going into an M-Audio Air Hub audio interface - I know cheap lol). I've read that people are driving active speakers with both the D90 and A90, and I've also read people saying you shouldn't.

If the speakers are already amped, the logically, you'd connect them to the D90, in "DAC-only" mode, and not, "DAC+Pre-amp mode, to avoid "coloring" the sound. But can you control volume if the D90 is in "DAC-only" mode? Or does that require additional hardware?

Or should I just get a pair of passive bookshelf speakers to replace my Rokit 8's lol

You cannot. The DAC only mode, is only there to ensure nobody messes with the volume when doing this elsewhere. Coloring isn't a thing with these devices since the attenuation is done lossless before the analog circuitry. And even in DAC only mode you're still able to control volume within Windows when using USB (although not when outputting DSD). Hope this helps

 

[SquishyBoo]

@ichonderoga this world is still a little over my head, but I think I get the gist of it. I feel safer plugging bi-amped monitors into the D90. In DAC only mode, it'll be full power anyways, and if coloring isn't a thing, then I think...I'm good! I also reached out to Topping, they told me to use DAC + Pre-Amp to control active monitor volume. Makes sense, especially DAC only mode just makes it max out at 4Vrms anyways. Thank you for taking the time to respond to a newbie! Much love from California!

 

[ichonderoga]

@ichonderoga this world is still a little over my head, but I think I get the gist of it. I feel safer plugging bi-amped monitors into the D90. In DAC only mode, it'll be full power anyways, and if coloring isn't a thing, then I think...I'm good! I also reached out to Topping, they told me to use DAC + Pre-Amp to control active monitor volume. Makes sense, especially DAC only mode just makes it max out at 4Vrms anyways. Thank you for taking the time to respond to a newbie! Much love from California!

You're welcome. Be safe

 

[Decarb]

Anyone using the D90 via USB hear like a beep every once in a while. Hard to describe exactly what is sounds like but it isn’t a constant long beep, just like a digital sounding beep. Thanks in advance :]

 

[ichonderoga]

Anyone using the D90 via USB hear like a beep every once in a while. Hard to describe exactly what is sounds like but it isn’t a constant long beep, just like a digital sounding beep. Thanks in advance :]

Nope. Dead silent! Running 4-6 hours every single day* since I got it and performance has been flawless. Dare I suggest trying a different cable?

*75% USB and 25% TOSLINK/COAX

 

[Decarb]

Nope. Dead silent! Running 4-6 hours every single day* since I got it and performance has been flawless. Dare I suggest trying a different cable?

*75% USB and 25% TOSLINK/COAX

Appreciate the response, I’m going to look for another usb cable that terminates to the one it needs. Are you using usb or spdif?

 

[Decarb]

Do you recommend changing the bitrate on windows ?

 

[ichonderoga]

Do you recommend changing the bitrate on windows ?

Not really. I'm running all bitrates. 48khz/24-bit when using standard Windows output (fx Chrome, YT, Spotify, ...). And bitperfect output from Foobar2000 (DSD/ASIO/WASAPI).

 

[ichonderoga]

Appreciate the response, I’m going to look for another usb cable that terminates to the one it needs. Are you using usb or spdif?

Spdif from tv, coax from hifiberry Digi+ std and USB from pc.

 

[dandreye]

Hi All, can the MQA version play normal flac music w/o MQA encoding from USB sources like a laptop or an external HDD any better than the non-MQA version? (provided the rest of the setup is good enough to hear it of course). I wouldn't mind paying that premium even for a chance of getting a higher SQ from those recordings but am not that much into SQ to ever chase the MQA ones. Many thanks in anticipation!

 

[ichonderoga]

Hi All, can the MQA version play normal flac music w/o MQA encoding from USB sources like a laptop or an external HDD any better than the non-MQA version? (provided the rest of the setup is good enough to hear it of course). I wouldn't mind paying that premium even for a chance of getting a higher SQ from those recordings but am not that much into SQ to ever chase the MQA ones. Many thanks in anticipation!

In MQA fluff PR material they call this folding/unfolding (encoding/decoding - whatever you call it, it's a lossy format).

• MQA unfolding (decoding) is ONLY active when playing back MQA material (fx Tidal) through USB.
• The only difference between the two models is the USB interface microcontroller (XMOS 208 vs. XMOS 216 (MQA version)) and these are not DACs.
• The DAC part of both D90 versions is handled by the same components including the AK4499 AKM - And so the SQ should be identical.