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Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Review

Rate this R2R DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 18 6.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 69 24.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 140 49.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 54 19.2%

  • Total voters
    281
I think it’s mainly older listeners who may have grown up with vinyl and prefer the distortion added by NOS/valve designs.
Keith
Its mostly just placebo.
 
Why do some people say that NOS sounds better?
This has been covered at length in this thread and throughout ASR.

To be clear there 4 top-level states
1) non-oversampling DAC with proper reconstruction filter (measures OK, sounds correct)
2) non-oversampling DAC with non-proper reconstruction filter (measures bad, sounds wrong, but some people prefer it)
3) oversampling DAC with proper reconstruction filter (measures OK, sounds correct)
4) oversampling DAC with pseudo-non-proper reconstruction filter (measures bad, sounds wrong, but some people prefer it)

1 and 3 measure well and sound correct. So you can have good measuring and sounding oversampling and good non-oversampling DACs. To be good, they must have an effective reconstruction filter.

2 and 4 measure wrong and sound wrong, but some people prefer them. The DACs are wrong because they are missing the essential reconstruction filter. Why do people like them? There's research that suggests some people have a preference for noisy distorted sound.
 
2 and 4 measure wrong and sound wrong, but some people prefer them. The DACs are wrong because they are missing the essential reconstruction filter. Why do people like them? There's research that suggests some people have a preference for noisy distorted sound.

True true. To me, it's akin to some people truly enjoy guitar segments slamming hard and overloading tube amps to generate all that distortion. I don't. If I hear very distorted guitar segment in a music track, my fingers somehow want to click the next button :)
 
Just in answer to the an initial question in the test review, it seems quite easy to adjust for the roll off. :)

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This is a review, detailed measurements and listening test of the Topping Centaurus R2R stereo balanced DAC with PEQ filter support. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $999.
View attachment 413793
The unit has the elegant look of the new Topping DACs with high resolution, high contrast screen, nicely highlighting the volume level. It is fully graphic and can be changed to show spectrum, VU, etc. The included Bluetooth remote felt like it had a slight lag to it. Nothing serious but I don't remember this before. There is no rotary volume control. I use the remote for home use but on desktop, a rotary control is nicer for quick adjustments. Back panel shows the nice feature set we have grown to like from Topping:
View attachment 413794
Of note, we have the very useful trigger in/out for automatic turn on/off of downstream amplifier.

As the heading indicates, this is Topping's first discrete "R2R" DAC instead of using an integrated DAC solution. R2R performance can range from close to awful to respectable -- but never as good as IC based solutions. Let's see where the Centaurus lands. All tests are in default 4 volt mode instead of 5 volts (and "PRE" mode).

If you are not familiar with my DAC measurements, please watch this video first:

Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard with XLR output:
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This is better than I expected! Topping says THD+N is better than 0.0005% and we are getting half of that, resulting in the Centaurus landing in our "Excellent" category:
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Harmonic distortion is higher than state of the art but all peaks are below -120 dB, making them inaudible.

RCA performance is naturally a bit lower:
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Noise performance is essentially state of the art:
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Jitter test output is not as squeaky clean as we normally see from Topping but is transparent:
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Distortion was kept in check with our punishing 50 Hz tone into 600 ohm load:
View attachment 413807

Where we go sideways with R2R is in mid levels:
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We have about 20 to 25 dB more distortion and noise at -33 dB than state of the art DACs. The quietness that topping brings to the table shows up at the start of the sweep where distortion is still very low.

Linearity however, has taken the smallest, negligible hit:
View attachment 413804

Edit: forgot to include multitone:

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I was disappointed that none of the filter settings resulted in flat frequency response to 20 kHz:
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On the other hand R2R fans get full menu of what they are asking with myriad of filter settings.

With default filter, there is still some out of band noise to reduce performance but impact is low:
View attachment 413808
Go to "non-oversampling" mode and ultrasonic noise shoots through the noise, causing that off-the-charts green line. Best not to have a tweeter that attempts to go above 20 kHz!

Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Listening Tests
I gave the DAC a quick test to see if I can the magic of R2R DAC. Connected the XLR output to Topping A90 headphone amp and drove the Dan Clark E3 headphone with it. I Was listening to one of my favorite tracks from Civil Wars, the remake of Billie Jean on the RME ADI-2 Pro. After quickly moved the headphone jack to Centaurus A90 chain, I noticed the highs collapse a bit but raspiness of the Jean-Paul White became more pronounced and pleasing! Was quite a surprise until I plug the headphone back into the RME, cranked up the volume to similar level and it too produced the same sound. Teaches me not to do sighted tests like this. :)

Conclusions
Objective performance of Centaurus seems to be the best that can be done with R2R technology. Topping brings to the table ultra low noise, equalization and great packaging, offsetting some of the shortcomings of that technology. Ultimately it can only polish that so much. Fortunately, distortion levels are likely still well below audibility, sans the rolled off highs that may be audible to younger folks. They should keep in mind as they change filters that the roll off changes with it.

Once a month someone asks me what R2R DAC they should buy. They say they have tried all the ESS/AKM DACs and want to play with something new. When I tell them I have nothing to recommend, some accept that, but others downright get angry with me! Now I can tell them to go and get the Centaurus and sleep easy that it at least doesn't compromise much fidelity.

While I would not buy or use an R2R DAC, I am still going to recommend the Topping Centaurus for those who want an R2R technoloy.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Thank Amirm for has the passion enough to measure great THD afordable DAC , power amps (or integrated with bypassable volume control) and loudspeakers minimum impedance/sensitivity. Thanks to your great job at audiosciencereview doc com we now can have a really high resolution audio at home without break the bank acount. You are our hero seriously :*) Great your owm youtube nice explication videos, liked all and subscribed Amirm
 
There also aren't any R2R ADC's, as this cannot be done - the equivalent is a SAR ADC, which is never used in recording studios (like LTC2380-24).
Is an SAR ADC what MoFi used in the early 90s with their original GAIN system? Their description of the system is kind of vague mentioning CAT scan systems and missle guidance (I haven't researched fully yet - just going by what their media info said on 90s CDs).

Obi 2.jpg
 
The Topping Centaurus sounds different to an SMSL RAW-DAC1 DAC.

The latter has not been reviewed here, but https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-d400-pro-balanced-dac-review.49170/ seems to be an extremely close cousin.

Broadcast vocals for example just sound softer / lusher with the Centaurus.
I ended up going with the RAW-DAC1 DAC. Earlier in this thread people commented on an area of the measurements where the Centaurus did not perform so well, but that it should not be audible. At any rate for whatever reason ... if there was ever 'chalk' and 'cheese' with regard to DAC's it would be between the above models.

I'm very happy with the SMSL!
 
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