Anyone Review Topping D90III Discrete / D90 III Sabre yet ?

[Mr. G]

Hey All,

First time post here but long time reader and appreciater of the objective perspectives and data sharing. Much appreciated.

I have 5 Topping DACs I use for various things, ranging their offerings. I recently received the D90III Discrete and, while I appreciate the sound, I'm here to ask if anyone is experiencing the following issue:

I'm running AES in (from a Grace m908), RCA out to Strauss Elektroakustik PA-100 > MF-4s. Every time I start and stop audio playback, there is a small digital click. Anybody else getting this?? Unusable unfortunately.

I will also add that I know some have had mixed experiences with Topping support. I went hard on them with a faulty D90 III Sabre and they ended up handling it better than they initially had tried. They've since been fairly responsive. However, with this issue (which I sent video to them of) they're saying this is normal behavior...

Appreciate anyone's thoughts in advance.

All best,
Mark

 

[AdamG]

Hey All,

First time post here but long time reader and appreciater of the objective perspectives and data sharing. Much appreciated.

I have 5 Topping DACs I use for various things, ranging their offerings. I recently received the D90III Discrete and, while I appreciate the sound, I'm here to ask if anyone is experiencing the following issue:

I'm running AES in (from a Grace m908), RCA out to Strauss Elektroakustik PA-100 > MF-4s. Every time I start and stop audio playback, there is a small digital click. Anybody else getting this?? Unusable unfortunately.

I will also add that I know some have had mixed experiences with Topping support. I went hard on them with a faulty D90 III Sabre and they ended up handling it better than they initially had tried. They've since been fairly responsive. However, with this issue (which I sent video to them of) they're saying this is normal behavior...

Appreciate anyone's thoughts in advance.

All best,
Mark

Hi Mark,

Have sent you a PM to get your account registered. Welcome and thanks for joining the ASR community.

 

[Mr. G]

Just wanted to say thanks for the PM and the welcome, Adam! Looking forward to furthering the discussion.

All best,
Mark

 

[morenoise]

Hey All,

First time post here but long time reader and appreciater of the objective perspectives and data sharing. Much appreciated.

I have 5 Topping DACs I use for various things, ranging their offerings. I recently received the D90III Discrete and, while I appreciate the sound, I'm here to ask if anyone is experiencing the following issue:

I'm running AES in (from a Grace m908), RCA out to Strauss Elektroakustik PA-100 > MF-4s. Every time I start and stop audio playback, there is a small digital click. Anybody else getting this?? Unusable unfortunately.

I will also add that I know some have had mixed experiences with Topping support. I went hard on them with a faulty D90 III Sabre and they ended up handling it better than they initially had tried. They've since been fairly responsive. However, with this issue (which I sent video to them of) they're saying this is normal behavior...

Appreciate anyone's thoughts in advance.

All best,
Mark

I'm experiencing the same issue. Tried various setting combinations, and inputs, but nothing changed. I also asked a couple other users on YT and they did not experience this.

 

[mackman]

This probably depends on the source. When not playing anything an optical or coax connection can either send all 0s or stop sending a signal entirely. I would guess in the all 0s case everything is fine, but if it stops sending a signal (and there's no clock) then something internally shuts off causing the click. USB is packet-based so it works a bit differently.

 

[morenoise]

I had the same theory so I tried with USB input and the same issue appears.

 

[mackman]

Hmm, weird. I don't see this on USB even disconnecting the cable but I am using low sensitivity headphones which might hide some things?

 

[EddNog]

I had the same theory so I tried with USB input and the same issue appears.

@Mr. G I haven't experienced this with this DAC or headphones, but I have seen plenty of times at least with my speaker setup that if the gain is too high on the power amps, there are noise floor issues. By any chance are you using high gain/volume on the headphone amp and controlling volume through either your source or the DAC (preamp mode)?

I suggest minimizing noise floor issues by keeping the source volume maxed and the DAC set to pure DAC (not Pre) mode, and using your headphone amp's volume control instead.

-Ed

 

[Mr. G]

I'm experiencing the same issue. Tried various setting combinations, and inputs, but nothing changed. I also asked a couple other users on YT and they did not experience this.

Thanks @morenoise .Slightly relieved to know you’re experiencing this also. I received a response from Topping this morning stating I should return the unit to the seller (Apos), as testing and repair could take some time…

@Mr. G I haven't experienced this with this DAC or headphones, but I have seen plenty of times at least with my speaker setup that if the gain is too high on the power amps, there are noise floor issues. By any chance are you using high gain/volume on the headphone amp and controlling volume through either your source or the DAC (preamp mode)?

I suggest minimizing noise floor issues by keeping the source volume maxed and the DAC set to pure DAC (not Pre) mode, and using your headphone amp's volume control instead.

-Ed

Thanks for this @EddNog . Confirming my speaker amp is non-adjustable gain, and I only ever use DAC mode on the D90. I control signal to the DAC via a pro audio monitor controller (Grace m908).

I am running the D90 III Discrete with the following settings:
-DAC mode
-No PEQ
-DSD Bypass ON
-Auto OFF
-BT OFF
-5V
-AES/EBU In
-RCA Out

All best,
Mark

 

[EddNog]

Thanks @morenoise .Slightly relieved to know you’re experiencing this also. I received a response from Topping this morning stating I should return the unit to the seller (Apos), as testing and repair could take some time…



Thanks for this @EddNog . Confirming my speaker amp is non-adjustable gain, and I only ever use DAC mode on the D90. I control signal to the DAC via a pro audio monitor controller (Grace m908).

I am running the D90 III Discrete with the following settings:
-DAC mode
-No PEQ
-DSD Bypass ON
-Auto OFF
-BT OFF
-5V
-AES/EBU In
-RCA Out

All best,
Mark

Frankly, I cannot see anything wrong with your setup, especially given you said (I think it was you) you are listening solely to PCM material and nothing DSD (DSD64 material will have loud hiss if played with DSD Bypass turned on unless updated to the very latest firmware from last week).

The last thing I can think of is potentially noise coming from your source that is being picked up over RCA in the ground. Highly unlikely though. And I imagine you don't have an way to test XLR output to be sure.

-Ed

 

[sq225917]

Spent a fair few hours with the new discrete topping vs my gustard A18.

Guess what.



No difference.

 

[Oldson]

looking at the documentation and site info for the D90III Discrete -- still looks like only USB input has "Topping Tune" PEQ (like the D50III) - prob still using the DSP of the XMOS USB device for the PEQ functions - a recent headphone show promoted the D90III Discrete as having PEQ for all digital inputs, but that was based on a sign next to a D90III Discrete mockup on a table display at the show - a thread about this show (and a link to these show pictures) is somewhere on ASR

website info states "all digital inputs except 11s".

 

[jurajc]

Hello. I have an older Yamaha NP 303 streamer (OPT+COAX output), TV (OPT) and CD player (OPT, COAX, ANALOG). Is there any way to plug all three devices into this DAC, specifically the D90 Discrete?

 

[guigui]

Where are the reviews??? ヽ( ´ー`)ノ

 

[Eddy]

Where are the reviews??? ヽ( ´ー`)ノ

(comparison to Centaurus)

Passion for Sound has already announced an upcoming review on his YT channel.

Topping D90 III Discrete Review

In this article we review the new Topping D90 III Discrete DAC selling for $999 USD. It is a recommended buy! Discover why, now on Headfonia!

www.headfonia.com

Also some user reviews on: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/topping-d90se-updates-to-d90-iii-discrete.974127/
Also some buyers' reviews on APOS and Audiophonics.

I had also one: SQ amazing (saying as somebody who did not "believe" in the significance of DACs before) but sadly slight clicking noise when beginning/ending/changing tracks.

It would be fantastic if @amirm would review it.

 

[Bansaku]

Hey folks. Grabbed the D90 III Discrete and I am quite happy with the sound. Pairs nicely with my A90 Discrete, and is a good companion DAC to my Enyo 15th. However I do have a couple of issues with the D90 III Discrete and DSD. First off, the D90 (seemingly) does not display the correct sample rate with DSD over I2S. For DSD64 the D90 reports it as 768KHz and PCM, and DSD128 as 2.82 DSD. This wrong information occurs for both the Iris 12th and the BRZHiFi U316 despite having 100% correct HDMI pinout compatibility. If I use AES, SPDIF, or coax while limited to DSD64, the D90 does indeed display the information correctly. I am worried the D90 is downsampling to PCM then upsampling to whatever DSDXXX natively. Anyone else have this issue?

The second issue I have is with DSD files digitally clipping when there is a huge transient. Example:

When transients hit loud and fast, the D90 produces loud pops and clicks. This happened on ALL inputs except I2S. So far this only happens with DSD64 files. I wonder if the input gain is set too high in the firmware? I2S is 6 steps on my D90 Discrete quieter than the other inputs. Again, anyone have this issue?

 

[migo77]

Hey folks. Grabbed the D90 III Discrete and I am quite happy with the sound. Pairs nicely with my A90 Discrete, and is a good companion DAC to my Enyo 15th. However I do have a couple of issues with the D90 III Discrete and DSD. First off, the D90 (seemingly) does not display the correct sample rate with DSD over I2S. For DSD64 the D90 reports it as 768KHz and PCM, and DSD128 as 2.82 DSD. This wrong information occurs for both the Iris 12th and the BRZHiFi U316 despite having 100% correct HDMI pinout compatibility. If I use AES, SPDIF, or coax while limited to DSD64, the D90 does indeed display the information correctly. I am worried the D90 is downsampling to PCM then upsampling to whatever DSDXXX natively. Anyone else have this issue?

The second issue I have is with DSD files digitally clipping when there is a huge transient. Example:

When transients hit loud and fast, the D90 produces loud pops and clicks. This happened on ALL inputs except I2S. So far this only happens with DSD64 files. I wonder if the input gain is set too high in the firmware? I2S is 6 steps on my D90 Discrete quieter than the other inputs. Again, anyone have this issue?

Have you reported this to Topping support?