Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Review

[oleg87]

Its a pleasure to meet you as well. You sure there is not something else you are addicted to?

There are countless audio communities where reality-untethered subjective blathering is all you can read, and no one here is interested in ASR becoming another one of these places. If you think a set of measurements hasn't captured some kind of audible problem, we'd love to know, but uncontrolled listening impressions are not interesting or valuable evidence of anything except that the person offering them as such hasn't done much controlled critical listening in their life.

 

[DVinylfan]

Great! Enjoy your digression.

Heads up: Combative and unhelpful posts are a shortcut to deleted Member status here; politely suggest you refrain

 

[westsail42]

Heads up: Combative and unhelpful posts are a shortcut to deleted Member status here; politely suggest you refrain

just me? edit: thanks for the tip!

 

[VientoB]

just me? edit: thanks for the tip!

Well you didn't explain

 

[oleg87]

Given some of the posts in that thread, that Topping did the Centaurus with the Holo R2R module makes one wonder as to why. Esp if DS is supposed to be me so much better.

For the same reason they released a $1800 DAC with some homegrown architecture - they want to make money, audiophiles fetishize implementation details, and don't do meaningful tests for audibility.
And DS is not "better" in this case (except that Topping's implementation clearly has some problems, according to Goldensound's data) except on paper, as both designs clear audibility thresholds (at least in the modes that aren't bugged) for any kind of reasonable usage.

 

[westsail42]

And DS is not "better" in this case (except that Topping's implementation clearly has some problems, according to Goldensound's data) except on paper, as both designs clear audibility thresholds (at least in the modes that aren't bugged) for any kind of reasonable usage.

Not just me. Lots of thread (various) posters touting DS over R2R.

But yeah, unclear to the target market what with all the various DAC models they have. But sounds like you know it.

 

[antcollinet]

Just read through the thread that pre-dates this one on the Holo Spring 3

Measurements & Preview of Holo Audio Spring 3 DAC / wPreamp (Prototype)

Holo Audio's Spring series has not been updated for 3 years... Recently, even on ASR, there are rumors that Spring 3 will be released soon. Last year, Jeff stated in his QQ team that he would use May's module to develop Spring 3. It can be inferred that since May is ready, Spring 3 should be...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Given some of the posts in that thread, that Topping did the Centaurus with the Holo R2R module makes one wonder as to why. Esp if DS is supposed to be me so much better.

My Take:

Topping Centaurus R2R DAC Review

Does this have Holo's DSD converter as well?

audiosciencereview.com

 

[agnostic]

I think the reason people found them bright and shrill was they were used to vinyl which is less bright and has pleasing distortions. There wasn't much wrong with those early CD players I would argue. You'd need to listen to them now to know for sure, rather than go by what some people said 40 years ago.

The fact is many people prefer the stimulant sound, in particular for some pop music, and some so-called hi-fi recordings. This could be another reason why many people say vinyl sounds better or even more details.

 

[VientoB]

The fact is many people prefer the stimulant sound, in particular for some pop music, and some so-called hi-fi recordings. This could be another reason why many people say vinyl sounds better or even more details.

I dont think anybody says vinyl is more detailed.

 

[Kenny46]

Centaurus version V0.40 firmware update

‍

6. What's updated
• Adjustment: DSD playback now automatically locks to maximum volume

• Adjustment: PEQ order changed — default presets appear first, followed by user-defined ones

• Adjustment: The 5 system preset PEQs can now have their parameters and names edited or be deleted via Tune

• Adjustment: In the menu, EQ is now displayed as "index + name" instead of just the index

• New: Reminder to disable PEQ when connecting to the PC software

• New: Option to retain PEQ settings when performing a factory reset

• New: In the FFT screen, large-font pop-up displays will show for 3 seconds when adjusting volume, switching input, or switching output, then return to the normal screen

• Fixed: Incorrect channel balance amplitude

• Fixed: Volume display in DAC mode

• Fixed: No audio output in UAC1.0 mode

• Fixed: Several other known issues

 

[Powell2199]

Might anyone in this thread have older Centaurus firmware files? My device can't handle 0.40 for some reason. Says "update failed".
Hopefully older firmware flashing will fix it.

 

[Tiopernas]

Hi everyone.
Does someone know if the firmware updates launched for the centaurus fixed the issues described by GS?
There have been like 6 or 7 firmware updates since GS video came out.
Thanks.

 

[zeluxao]

Hi everyone.
Does someone know if the firmware updates launched for the centaurus fixed the issues described by GS?
There have been like 6 or 7 firmware updates since GS video came out.
Thanks.

Yeah it would be great if measurements could be redone after updating firmware.

 

[bigpilot]

"While I would not buy or use an R2R DAC"

This is key to me. I was wondering what you guys think of R2R DAC's and I assume that they're not really worthwhile.

I have an ESS9018 DAC which I'm extremely pleased about and I was wondering how it compares to R2R. So here's my answer.

I was looking at reviews of R2R DAC's online and it struck me that none of the reviewers bothered to demonstrate the sound quality. After a long search I finally found a YouTube video which had one playing and it sounded okay. But then again, I can't be sure if the sound came from a R2R DAC or something else.

 

[Purité Audio]

A well designed R2R will sound just like, guess what?
Keith

 

[bigpilot]

There's a reason no major manufacturer (Sony, Philips) has ever released an R2R DAC.

I do understand the urge to design and build one oneself, I'm a tinkerer too. But performance and audio-wise the IC DAC's are a much better solution.

And then there's SABRE...

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

I seems like Holo gave Topping the technology and R2R modules but they kept a little performance advantage for themselves:

View attachment 413810

Other than that,another DAC.Would be great to see EQ impact down low to this and all that uses EQ as it becomes standard.
Fail to a ruler flat FR is a miss though,a major one.

Thanks Amir!

It's different module.

 

[Sokel]

It's different module.

At that point of performance does it really matter?
If for not the major FR flaw who puts my eyes to unease (I would suspect not the ears though) , just another DAC.

Enormous yawn.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

At that point of performance does it really matter?
If for not the major FR flaw who puts my eyes to unease (I would suspect not the ears though) , just another DAC.

Enormous yawn.

Not that I care.
Just wanted to clarify it

 

[Deleted member 79552]

I read that the Centaurus has a reported bit rate issue in NOS mode when playing 44.1kHz content, resulting in a ~20dB performance drop and out-of-phase channels. I haven’t read all the posts about this DAC but does anyone know if this is the case? What a klanger to have such an issue!