This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping D10s USB DAC and S/PDIF plus Toslink bridge. It was kindly sent to me by the company for testing. The D10s has a retail cost of US $99.
Let me start by confessing that the original D10 was one of my favorites with its cute orange display, and very reasonable cost. I was pleased that the former was kept the same although the price seems to have increased some:
The back panel is as before:
Note that the Toslink and S/PDIFs are outputs, not typical inputs. The Toslink can for example be used to break ground loops when feeding another DAC downstream of it.
As you see the markings, and like other Topping products, they enjoy full regulatory safety and emissions certifications.
DAC Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz digitally created ton and examine what analog results we get:
Nice! SINAD which is the sum of distortion and noise has risen by 6 dB, placing the D10s at the dinner table with bigger boys:
Distortion is incredibly low at -120 dB which is well below threshold of hearing. In other words, you have assured transparency.
Signal to noise ration is likewise very good:
There is one filter which is the "correct" one, which we sadly don't see often:
Intermodulation+noise shows excellent response at the limit:
The curve never tilts up which indicates distortion is always less than the noise floor.
32-tone test signal resembling "music" shows how well distortion is controllled:
THD+N versus frequency using much wider bandwidth than the dashboard test is such:
Jitter is visually a bit cluttered but objectively and subjectively is more than fine:
Linearity is perfect:
Finally if you are going to reduce volume upstream of the DAC, here is how the performance varies:
If your amplifier requires 1 volt to reach its maximum power, your DAC SINAD is between 107 to 110 dB depending on channel. This means if you have an amplifier with SINAD of 100 dB, the DAC contributions will be insignificant (you want upstream devices to be 10 dB better).
Conclusions
My favorite little DAC has grown up in performance and to some extent in price. Measured performance is stellar for the category leaving just enough gap for state-of-the-art DACs to make a living with higher performance and cost. If you want a very performant DAC, that is nice to look at but doesn't cost you much, D10s is for you. And oh, the USB to S/PDIF and Toslink bridge is a bonus (or demerit if you need those as inputs).
I am happy to strongly recommend the Topping D10s DAC.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I need to teach our panthers to mow our large field as that is taking away time from doing reviews. Apparently they make specialized mowers for four-legged animals (they can steer with their paws rather than a steering wheels). Alas, they cost good money so I need plenty of donations to buy one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Let me start by confessing that the original D10 was one of my favorites with its cute orange display, and very reasonable cost. I was pleased that the former was kept the same although the price seems to have increased some:
The back panel is as before:
Note that the Toslink and S/PDIFs are outputs, not typical inputs. The Toslink can for example be used to break ground loops when feeding another DAC downstream of it.
As you see the markings, and like other Topping products, they enjoy full regulatory safety and emissions certifications.
DAC Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz digitally created ton and examine what analog results we get:
Nice! SINAD which is the sum of distortion and noise has risen by 6 dB, placing the D10s at the dinner table with bigger boys:
Distortion is incredibly low at -120 dB which is well below threshold of hearing. In other words, you have assured transparency.
Signal to noise ration is likewise very good:
There is one filter which is the "correct" one, which we sadly don't see often:
Intermodulation+noise shows excellent response at the limit:
The curve never tilts up which indicates distortion is always less than the noise floor.
32-tone test signal resembling "music" shows how well distortion is controllled:
THD+N versus frequency using much wider bandwidth than the dashboard test is such:
Jitter is visually a bit cluttered but objectively and subjectively is more than fine:
Linearity is perfect:
Finally if you are going to reduce volume upstream of the DAC, here is how the performance varies:
If your amplifier requires 1 volt to reach its maximum power, your DAC SINAD is between 107 to 110 dB depending on channel. This means if you have an amplifier with SINAD of 100 dB, the DAC contributions will be insignificant (you want upstream devices to be 10 dB better).
Conclusions
My favorite little DAC has grown up in performance and to some extent in price. Measured performance is stellar for the category leaving just enough gap for state-of-the-art DACs to make a living with higher performance and cost. If you want a very performant DAC, that is nice to look at but doesn't cost you much, D10s is for you. And oh, the USB to S/PDIF and Toslink bridge is a bonus (or demerit if you need those as inputs).
I am happy to strongly recommend the Topping D10s DAC.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
I need to teach our panthers to mow our large field as that is taking away time from doing reviews. Apparently they make specialized mowers for four-legged animals (they can steer with their paws rather than a steering wheels). Alas, they cost good money so I need plenty of donations to buy one: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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Doesn't sound that good for Topping reliability, doesn't it?
