Review and Measurements of Topping D10 DAC

[NorthSky]

Email address for Topping support: [email protected]

Thank you, direct access and ready to go.

 

[RayDunzl]

I just happened to notice that my Sabaj DA3 has the same "firmware" v6.F2.

And here...

 

[έχω δίκιο]

They heard us! Here's what the page now shows (formatted to look better here):

Important note:
Because we received more and more complaints about "wake up" problem, we now believe this common problem. To avoid this problem goes more serious, we decide to stop providing 18G firmware of D10.

We are very grateful for our user Fred Maxwell, he provide us a lot of info which prove this problem is common.

What is "wake up" problem?
When your PC go to "sleep mode", D10 will also shut down synchronously. But when you "wake up" your PC, D10 is still keep "sleeping", you can only solve it by disconnect and connect again the USB cable. We apologize for this.

What can I do to fix this problem?
If you already update 18G firmware of D10 and suffer from this problem, you can send email to [email protected] for rolling back. Or you can wait for our next firmware. We will release new firmware which will solve this problem as soon as possible, firmware download will be resume when we solve this problem.

The following is the original article of firmware update of D10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Firmware update of D10
Version: 18G
This firmware improves USB anti-interference performance.

Warning:
1, If a D10 was updated by a wrong firmware, it will cause this product to lose the ability to upgrade again. In some serious case, the product will not work normally if updated the wrong firmware. So please double check the SN number before doing this step.
2, We received report from some of our users, their D10 met problem of waking up from sleep after updating this firmware. We check it and found this is not a common problem, it only occurs on some PCs, the reason is not clear yet. If you met same problem, please mail to [email protected] for rolling back. TOPPING are now working on this issue and will send out new firmware when we have solutions. Sorry!

SN number start with 1710: (Sorry, the firmware download is temporarily discontinued)
SN number start with 1801 to 1805: (Sorry, the firmware download is temporarily discontinued)

 

[amirm]

Good deal Fred!

 

[NorthSky]

Timbo2 is Fred? ...Good work if you is.

 

[Timbo2]

Timbo2 is Fred? ...Good work if you is.

Nah, that’s our friend with another handle.

 

[NorthSky]

Ok, I thought you were a hero.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

Ok, I thought you were a hero.

Everybody who tested and reported their results shares in the credit.

I think that this problem was caused by Topping's misguided attempt to "sleep" the D10 in order to comply with USB requirements for a "suspend" mode. In that mode, a USB peripheral can't draw more than 500µA from the USB bus, and it must reach that state within 10ms of the end of bus activity. On the D10, it takes a full minute to get to the dim decimal point sleep mode and it’s still drawing more than 200mA after it does (about two thirds of its current draw when in use). So it's neither meeting the time nor the current requirements.

What they implemented is a bad combination of relatively high current draw and a display that almost makes it look like the D10 is off. That's a recipe to drain a laptop battery if the laptop leaves the USB ports powered during sleep.

I suggested that they release a version that doesn't try to sleep the D10 and, instead, remains at the dim "- - -" state, from which I theorize it could return to service successfully.

 

[NorthSky]

I agree, it was a team work effort. I was simply humorous.
They acknowledged Fred in particular; he must have good skills in transferring clear information on a positive communication level. It's one of the good qualities in heroes/leaders. In my book you are all heroes. And this DAC for less than $100 speaks volume on the affordability level and reach to the masses.

Not everyone can afford the best @ around $90,000 US for a DAC. Some cost twice as much but not necessarily better.
It would be nice if Amir could measure such expensive DACs, but then the manufacturer would have to agree with a loan, and everything else life has to offer for the fortunate few.

Chapeau to all; team work @ the service of the art in music liberation.
...Some' very close to that.

 

[Hemicrusher]

Good job....!

This is a great DAC and I will be glad when they iron this issue of once and for all.

 

[Snarfie]

Good job....!

This is a great DAC and I will be glad when they iron this issue of once and for all.

We want a DAC that is flawless (me too) but man i was listning to ha ha an ancient recording of Frank Sinatra at the Sands and hear details i never heard before. If i had to choose between this experience (which cost me 79 euro) or a sleeping issiue it is a no brainer (for me) The last 2 months i realy discoverd new insights in my music collection.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

Good news!​

Topping was able to replicate the problem on one of their PCs with a fresh OS installation. They have provided me a D10 firmware version to test which fixes the 'sleep of death' on my iMac Pro and on my DIY Windows 10 PC (Gigabyte motherboard and AMD Ryzen 3 2200G CPU).

They also took my comment to heart regarding the need to have the version number display correctly in the flashing utility. When I started, the version was shown as v6.F2. After flashing, the version was shown as 1.02.

I'm listening to my D10 now, and have exercised it up to 384K sampling rate without problems.

Considering the glacial pace that many companies have in addressing problems, I think Topping did pretty well here.

 

[AresHarvest]

Big thanks to everyone who pushed this issue forward. This is serendipitous, I just received and set up my D10 this morning and encountered the same issue with sleep. I'm glad they have worked on solving the issue. Hopefully the new firmware will be made available on the website soon, in my case I hope it will be compatible with series 1806.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

Big thanks to everyone who pushed this issue forward. This is serendipitous, I just received and set up my D10 this morning and encountered the same issue with sleep. I'm glad they have worked on solving the issue. Hopefully the new firmware will be made available on the website soon, in my case I hope it will be compatible with series 1806.

The test version I got was labelled as being for 1801-1805. I recommend that you write to Topping Service ([email protected]) and ask if they have a version for your 1806 series D10, specifically telling them that you experienced the sleep problem. I believe they will provide it to you if they have something in test. Let us know what you find out.

 

[AresHarvest]

I recommend that you write to Topping Service ([email protected]) and ask if they have a version for your 1806 series D10, specifically telling them that you experienced the sleep problem.

As it happens, I emailed them a few hours ago, after finding this thread and the Topping firmware page that mentions rolling back the firmware as a temporary fix. I was specific in my email, explaining that I was experiencing the "sleep issue with my D10, SN 1806xxxxxx.

 

[Hemicrusher]

I'll wait till an official release is posted and you guys break it.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

I'll wait till an official release is posted and you guys break it.

Now that I have the original version to roll back to, it's zero risk for me.

 

[AresHarvest]

Well that was quick. Just got an email from Topping, the new firmware is up. http://en.tpdz.net/wdzn_detail/newsId=84.html

They listed three versions; one for series 1710, a second version for series 1801-1805, and the third for series 1806. I'll try it out in the morning.

 

[Krunok]

Good news!​

Topping was able to replicate the problem on one of their PCs with a fresh OS installation. They have provided me a D10 firmware version to test which fixes the 'sleep of death' on my iMac Pro and on my DIY Windows 10 PC (Gigabyte motherboard and AMD Ryzen 3 2200G CPU).

They also took my comment to heart regarding the need to have the version number display correctly in the flashing utility. When I started, the version was shown as v6.F2. After flashing, the version was shown as 1.02.

I'm listening to my D10 now, and have exercised it up to 384K sampling rate without problems.

Considering the glacial pace that many companies have in addressing problems, I think Topping did pretty well here.

Victory!

 

[Snarfie]

Confirmd Update v1.02 did the job under USB 3.0 laptop port no sleeping problems.