Topping D10 Balanced Review (USB DAC)

[Euphonic_employee]

It looks (in my case) ,that the onboard switching power supply + 5.65V / -5.6V, which supplies the output analog circuits (3 OA) behind the DAC, fails / does not start ..). That PSU is powered from 5V inputs. The all other onboard sources (3.3V, 1.2V, 1V) start up normally, they are linear (not switched) sources, powered by 5V inputs. It is simply a faulty (unreliable) internal symmetrical switching power supply, consisting of one miniature 12-pin IC ( marked DP0 3V4) and a pair of SMD components (2 inductors, diodes, a pair of resistors and capacitors

View attachment 181660

which version of d10b did this happen with? This owner has same effect brand new d10b no sound everything else functional. Did this d10b in the photo start working?

 

[Euphonic_employee]

Hi, guys, I'm having a similar problem as BVa, except that I can't get any sound at all, no matter how many times I unplug it. The display correctly reflects the chosen audio format (e.g., 44.1 or 96.0 PCM). It worked fine for a month, but now no audio.

I'm going from a Windows 10 PC to a powered hub in my monitor, with output to a S.M.S.L. SH-9. I tried the same from a Mac, which also previously worked. I can still use the single-ended inputs to the amp, so I know that the computer, amp, and headphones work. The D10 is my only balanced source, and the SH-9 my only balanced amp, so that's the one connection I can't test separately.

Is there anything else I can try, or should I just send this back? I have until the end of January to return it to Amazon.

Edit: after leaving it unplugged all night, it works this morning. My tech. mantra is: "try again, try another." As Ace Ventura said, there's also: "wait longer."

Same here brand new d10b no sound. Which version do you have?
analog no output for this owner.

 

[Euphonic_employee]

Same here brand new d10b no sound. Which version do you have?
analog no output for this owner.

nevermind function as expected IDK. It there was no sound for a good hour out of box. After playing with transmission cables removed inserted etc. was output. detected. So maybe the cables or the female TRS jack dimensionally came into play.

 

[Toku]

I purchased it immediately after the D10B was released, but I have experienced the symptom that no sound is output from the RCA output about 5 times so far.
When the symptom occurred, it was recovered by switching the USB connection destination of the PC, disconnecting the USB cable and leaving it for about 10 minutes, or restarting the PC.

 

[nagster]

AP dashboard and 32-tone for unbalanced connections.

 

[Blumlein 88]

AP dashboard and 32-tone for unbalanced connections.

View attachment 218212

The guy from Topping says not to use such adapters on the D10 balanced. It appears you have confirmed why. For many gears with balanced output it makes only a small difference to use such adapters to single ended. Not the D10. From the Topping web page on the D10 balanced.

 

[Toku]

AP dashboard and 32-tone for unbalanced connections.

View attachment 218212

Thank you for your valuable post.
Until now, no one has made such measurements.

 

[nagster]

AP dashboard and 32-tone for unbalanced connections.

View attachment 218212

It is an unbalanced output measurement of D10B + Pre90. I can't edit it, so I'll post it separately.

 

[archerious]

I recently bought another one of these to go from USB to Coaxial since I had a tough time getting a decent USB cable in 25+ feet length; too many just didn't work.

D10 Balanced is built quite well, so long as the display doesn't die like my previous D10B, I will be pretty happy.

 

[NTK]

I recently bought another one of these to go from USB to Coaxial since I had a tough time getting a decent USB cable in 25+ feet length; too many just didn't work.

D10 Balanced is built quite well, so long as the display doesn't die like my previous D10B, I will be pretty happy.

The maximum length of USB 2 cable is 5 m per the USB standard. Longer lengths usually do not work due to signal propagation timing issues. For transmissions over 5 m, you'll need active bridge(s)/repeater(s).

USB - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Blumlein 88]

The active extenders work quite well as I've used a couple of them. Even beyond 50 feet.

 

[archerious]

The maximum length of USB 2 cable is 5 m per the USB standard. Longer lengths usually do not work due to signal propagation timing issues. For transmissions over 5 m, you'll need active bridge(s)/repeater(s).

USB - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That would make sense , ugh that knowledge would've saved me some Amazon returns.

 

[Palladium]

The guy from Topping says not to use such adapters on the D10 balanced. It appears you have confirmed why. For many gears with balanced output it makes only a small difference to use such adapters to single ended. Not the D10. From the Topping web page on the D10 balanced.

View attachment 218224

I dunno man, but my D10B works perfectly fine with a pair of cheapo 1/4" TS to RCA plugs to my iLoud MMs and sounds just the same as the DX3 Pro+, D50S and DO100.

Not sure what's the big deal is about Topping's own claims against them.

 

[bennetng]

I dunno man, but my D10B works perfectly fine with a pair of cheapo 1/4" TS to RCA plugs to my iLoud MMs and sounds just the same as the DX3 Pro+, D50S and DO100.

Not sure what's the big deal is about Topping's own claims against them.

The differences may not be audible, but Topping's claim can be interpreted as a disclaimer that the degradation of measurement results is not a sign of malfunction.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I dunno man, but my D10B works perfectly fine with a pair of cheapo 1/4" TS to RCA plugs to my iLoud MMs and sounds just the same as the DX3 Pro+, D50S and DO100.

Not sure what's the big deal is about Topping's own claims against them.

Yes but with distortion and noise 40 db worse.

 

[nagster]

I dunno man, but my D10B works perfectly fine with a pair of cheapo 1/4" TS to RCA plugs to my iLoud MMs and sounds just the same as the DX3 Pro+, D50S and DO100.

Not sure what's the big deal is about Topping's own claims against them.

Pay attention to the DC offset.

 

[rtraideo]

First post. I purchased this DAC to use with my Debian Linux system. I've just set it up and have encountered an issue that others may encounter.

The issue is that the sampling rate used by the DAC refuses to change from the default sample rate configured in pulseaudio. All other sample rates are resampled. This happens even if the avoid-resampling = TRUE option is used in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

The DAC is functional and sounds fine. It's just a mental irritation that everything is unnecessarily resampled.

It could be an issue specific to the D10 based on other reports I have found, all of which describe a similar issue when using pulseaudio with the D10s or D10b:

Pulseaudio not detecting supported rates of USB DAC (#1145) · Issues · PulseAudio / pulseaudio · GitLab

Summary With avoid-resampling=yes my onboard audio is reconfigured to a different rate when I playback an audio file with a...

gitlab.freedesktop.org

Topping D10 with RaspberryPi4 - display issue 48 Khz

Hello, I've recently switched to DAC10 with RaspberryPi4 combo, to listen Apple Music via Airplay. The problem is, the DAC10's display is showing a constant 48.0 PCM no matter what quality (ALAC 256 or 24 bits/48 Khz) I listen to on Apple Music: Do you think it's normal and correct? I know...

www.audiosciencereview.com

[SOLVED] configure usb DAC topping. - Linux Mint Forums

Can't play Native DSD /w Topping D10 USB DAC

I'm a complete linux newbie and have just installed Ubuntu 20.04. In my prior OS windows, I was using Foobar2000 and was able to play DSD files natively. The DAC would display a change in the sampl...

askubuntu.com

I'm aware there are workarounds involving not using pulseaudio. Unfortunately, I listen to a lot of stuff through various applications like Firefox, Rythmbox and MPD. Pulseaudio is what makes it possible for different applications to share the same sound devices in Linux.

I'm not going to put much effort into finding a resolution because while the D10 was on the way I decided I wanted a built in front panel volume control and have another DAC coming to replace it. I just thought I would post my findings here in case someone else encountered a similar problem. Maybe someone has had a similar problem and resolved it, but none of the above links offer a satisfactory resolution in my view.

 

[Toku]

First post. I purchased this DAC to use with my Debian Linux system. I've just set it up and have encountered an issue that others may encounter.

The issue is that the sampling rate used by the DAC refuses to change from the default sample rate configured in pulseaudio. All other sample rates are resampled. This happens even if the avoid-resampling = TRUE option is used in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

The DAC is functional and sounds fine. It's just a mental irritation that everything is unnecessarily resampled.

It could be an issue specific to the D10 based on other reports I have found, all of which describe a similar issue when using pulseaudio with the D10s or D10b:

Pulseaudio not detecting supported rates of USB DAC (#1145) · Issues · PulseAudio / pulseaudio · GitLab

Summary With avoid-resampling=yes my onboard audio is reconfigured to a different rate when I playback an audio file with a...

gitlab.freedesktop.org

Topping D10 with RaspberryPi4 - display issue 48 Khz

Hello, I've recently switched to DAC10 with RaspberryPi4 combo, to listen Apple Music via Airplay. The problem is, the DAC10's display is showing a constant 48.0 PCM no matter what quality (ALAC 256 or 24 bits/48 Khz) I listen to on Apple Music: Do you think it's normal and correct? I know...

www.audiosciencereview.com

[SOLVED] configure usb DAC topping. - Linux Mint Forums

Can't play Native DSD /w Topping D10 USB DAC

I'm a complete linux newbie and have just installed Ubuntu 20.04. In my prior OS windows, I was using Foobar2000 and was able to play DSD files natively. The DAC would display a change in the sampl...

askubuntu.com

I'm aware there are workarounds involving not using pulseaudio. Unfortunately, I listen to a lot of stuff through various applications like Firefox, Rythmbox and MPD. Pulseaudio is what makes it possible for different applications to share the same sound devices in Linux.

I'm not going to put much effort into finding a resolution because while the D10 was on the way I decided I wanted a built in front panel volume control and have another DAC coming to replace it. I just thought I would post my findings here in case someone else encountered a similar problem. Maybe someone has had a similar problem and resolved it, but none of the above links offer a satisfactory resolution in my view.

I'm using both D10s and D10B with Windoes and I haven't had such a problem.
The Linux system is set to resample all files from your operating conditions.
To avoid resampling, the audio file should be output directly to USB without going through the Linux audio system.
Even in Windows, if you simply connect the USB cable to your PC and play it, it will be resampled to the rate set in the Windows audio system and output.
D10s / D10B is a product that simply converts the sent signal as it is and outputs it as audio. It does not have a resampling function.
This problem is easily misunderstood if you don't have a good understanding of your PC's audio system.

 

[rtraideo]

I'm using both D10s and D10B with Windoes and I haven't had such a problem.
The Linux system is set to resample all files from your operating conditions.
To avoid resampling, the audio file should be output directly to USB without going through the Linux audio system.
Even in Windows, if you simply connect the USB cable to your PC and play it, it will be resampled to the rate set in the Windows audio system and output.
D10s / D10B is a product that simply converts the sent signal as it is and outputs it as audio. It does not have a resampling function.
This problem is easily misunderstood if you don't have a good understanding of your PC's audio system.

Thanks for the reply.

Just because it's my first post doesn't mean I don't understand my PC's audio system. I've been using a Linux computer to run my USB DACs since 2008. I fully understand how to achieve bit perfect streams using ALSA, bypassing pulseaudio which is used by most Linux desktops.

As my post mentions though, this is audio for general desktop use and I want to have audio playback from my web browser in addition to music playback applications. ALSA only allows one application at a time to use the DAC. Pulseaudio is much more convenient for general desktop use.

Additionally, pulseaudio does allow playback in native formats without resampling. It's just that it doesn't work in this DAC (and perhaps others, as it could be related to the XMOS implementation.) My MOTU M4 switches sample rates using the default pulseaudio configuration on the same PC.

 

[Toku]

Thanks for the reply.

Just because it's my first post doesn't mean I don't understand my PC's audio system. I've been using a Linux computer to run my USB DACs since 2008. I fully understand how to achieve bit perfect streams using ALSA, bypassing pulseaudio which is used by most Linux desktops.

As my post mentions though, this is audio for general desktop use and I want to have audio playback from my web browser in addition to music playback applications. ALSA only allows one application at a time to use the DAC. Pulseaudio is much more convenient for general desktop use.

Additionally, pulseaudio does allow playback in native formats without resampling. It's just that it doesn't work in this DAC (and perhaps others, as it could be related to the XMOS implementation.) My MOTU M4 switches sample rates using the default pulseaudio configuration on the same PC.

I don't really understand Linux, but I think you've set the resampling rate in the PulseAudio output settings and it's being output to USB at that value.
ALSA seems to have a mechanism to resample everything to the same frequency (48000 by default) when software mixing is enabled.
MOTU M4 supports 44.1 ~ 196kHz input, but since there is no display, the actual operation is unknown. Maybe it's working at a resampled frequency.

In the case of PCM / DSD playback, Windoes installs the XMOS ASIO driver provided by Topping to perform native playback. If you use only PCM, you can play it in WASAPI mode without a driver.