Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Review

[boxerfan88]

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

 

[SMen]

Just in answer to the an initial question in the test review, it seems quite easy to adjust for the roll off.

 

[transformer-coupled]

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.
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

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

 

[solid12345]

I think it’s mainly older listeners who may have grown up with vinyl and prefer the distortion added by NOS/valve designs.
Keith

Are 70yo fogies really the target market for Topping boxes?

 

[Stephen Bayley]

Are 70yo fogies really the target market for Topping boxes?

This one is....

 

[formdissolve]

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).

 

[SMen]

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!

 

[Herbert Shooler]

This R2R dac beats?/equals a Chord Dave and yet is a fraction of the price using older technology,ASR really shows where we are at regarding value for money; we are truly blessed with such great insights.Thankyou Amir!

 

[Snoopy]

999 euro for the topping.. vs 1129 euro for a RME adi dac FS…

 

[sunny7day]

I heard that the Centaurus does not have native DSD decode module, it needed to converted to PCM first. So I am considering the Holo Spring 3 or the Cyan 2 which have both PCM and DSD dedicated decode module.

 

[SMen]

I heard that the Centaurus does not have native DSD decode module, it needed to converted to PCM first. So I am considering the Holo Spring 3 or the Cyan 2 which have both PCM and DSD dedicated decode module.

It uses the same module as the Cyan 2 with a dedicated DSD and PCM module for each.

 

[sunny7day]

It uses the same module as the Cyan 2 with a dedicated DSD and PCM module for each.

No. Only PCM module is used in the Centaurus.
Update: Oh so sorry the DSD module is on the other side according to Topping website. My bad.

 

[SMen]

No. Only PCM module is used in the Centaurus.
Update: Oh so sorry the DSD module is on the other side according to Topping website. My bad.

I tried the Centaurus and I enjoyed it. I may have needed to explore it more but I ran out of time.

I had a strange issue with high resolution files (24bit 196 khz) which might have been because 'BEST' automatically selected non-oversampling mode but I am not sure.

At any rate a number of albums I had at this bit rate sounded soft rather than dynamic (Sting - 'Nothing like the Sun' - Fleetwood Mac - 'Mirage'), but with pretty much all 'Red Book' files I understood the whole 'ladder dac' thing. And indeed tv broadcast voices. I miss it for those scenarios. The fact the Topping handles over-sampling was a major plus - I just wonder if I needed to over-ride "best" for the high resolution PCM files!

 

[sunny7day]

Can DSD oversampling in this DAC?

 

[Burki]

Reading the manual, I don't see any option for PCM --> DSD, but upsampling for PCM until 16x and (presumably) for DSD.

 

[Sound_freq]

It's funny to me to see Amir reference John Paul White of The Civil Wars as "Jean-Paul White". He was born and still lives near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, no French accent or spelling required here, Roll Tide!

 

[Herbert Shooler]

Wow whats going on here guys?? without NOS and at 44.1khz seems serious issues according to Goldensound seems ok at 2x though...

 

[sunny7day]

Wow whats going on here guys?? without NOS and at 44.1khz seems serious issues according to Goldensound seems ok at 2x though...

Oh no..!

 

[Chagall]

For those who don't watch videos:

- Golden Sound measured Centaurus and then measured Holo Cyan 2 by using the same module from Centaurus (so that unit variation isn't a factor)
- Centaurus and Cyan have a similar 4V sinad
- Centaurus 48khz running NOS (disabling best OS mode) works similarly to Cyan 2
- Centaurus 44.1khz running NOS (disabling best OS mode) loses 20db sinad, two channels are not in phase, awful jitter
- internal oversampling in Centaurus is broken if over x2 (so x4, x8 and x16 don't work) - lots of jitter and distortion
- He asked Topping if this was something they could fix with a firmware update, but they didn't say

The takeaway is to use Centaurus in OS mode best and forget about NOS. If you want an R2R non-oversampling DAC, buy Cyan 2.

 

[Herbert Shooler]

For those who don't watch videos:

- Golden Sound measured Centaurus and then measured Holo Cyan 2 by using the same module from Centaurus (so that unit variation isn't a factor)
- Centaurus and Cyan have a similar 4V sinad
- Centaurus 48khz running NOS (disabling best OS mode) works similarly to Cyan 2
- Centaurus 44.1khz running NOS (disabling best OS mode) loses 20db sinad, two channels are not in phase, awful jitter
- internal oversampling in Centaurus is broken if over x2 (so x4, x8 and x16 don't work) - lots of jitter and distortion
- He asked Topping if this was something they could fix with a firmware update, but they didn't say

The takeaway is to use Centaurus in OS mode best and forget about NOS. If you want an R2R non-oversampling DAC, buy Cyan 2.

well said...or get a DSD DAC? lol Amir did talk about 2x being best and in NOS, ultrasonic noise was off the charts,seems this guy has just said more on the -ves.