Topping D10s USB DAC and Bridge Review

[Tortie]

Explanation on Amazon please. I have had success there. but any information is always appreciated.

I don't like the Amazon from a philosophical and ethical standpoint. They've been caught union-busting, endangering workplace safety, and engendering a toxic work environment. They're also an unregulated monopoly that doesn't pay their fair share of corporate taxes and run by a guy with a Napoleonic complex that is driving smaller businesses out of business. That answer your question?

 

[jeffbook]

Thanks for your point of view

 

[Tortie]

@JohnYang1997 what are the authorized online retailers for the D10s that ship from inventory in the USA?

 

[Tortie]

The D10s is very interesting to me as a DAC and also as it has a digital out. Are there any other well measuring DACs out there besides the D10s that have a digital out?

Just a heads up. Topping is finalizing an update to the D10s that appears to measure better and could feature balanced TRS output.

https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-topping-d10nda-dac/

I just learned of this upcoming product and will hold off purchasing the D10s until I learn more.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Just a heads up. Topping is finalizing an update to the D10s that appears to measure better and could feature balanced TRS output.

https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-topping-d10nda-dac/

I just learned of this upcoming product and will hold off purchasing the D10s until I learn more.

The new coming D10 variation will only support Balanced output. So your down stream must have balanced input. And if you do, the new one is a no brainer.

 

[jannek]

So my decision D10s/L30 or D10xx/A30pro is dependent on price for A30pro (to be known soon) and availability of the balanced D10...

 

[Merkurio]

The new coming D10 variation will only support Balanced output. So your down stream must have balanced input. And if you do, the new one is a no brainer.

Is it possible to connect the KSE1200 amp to this little box?

 

[jannek]

That seems to have no balanced in, so: D10s: YES. D10xx: NO. And the little box is a lot bigger than the KSE1200 amp.

 

[Thalis]

Is it possible to connect the KSE1200 amp to this little box?

by the looks of it the KSE1200 is not a balanced amp... use with the regular D10s

 

[Merkurio]

That seems to have no balanced in, so: D10s: YES. D10xx: NO.

Thanks.

I have little to no idea on how an electrostatic amplifier works, hence the question as to whether it would benefit from the 4V output or not.

 

[jannek]

@JohnYang1997 if the d10 is used for example with a A30pro where a ground lift switch helps breaking ground loops, with a proper RCA cable and no heavy EMV - is there still an advantage of the balanced d10?

 

[Veri]

is there still an advantage of the balanced d10?

4V input to A30 Pro instead of 2V. So ~6dB higher final/max output power. Considering the high gain though, single ended DAC seems fine unless you're buying it to drive terribly inefficient headphones (DT880/990 600Ω for example could benefit from the balanced DAC).

 

[jannek]

It will drive planar magnetics with impedances below 20 Ohms, at least one of them with rather low efficiency (DCA Aeon2 Closed). So current will be the relevant factor.

 

[usern]

The new coming D10 variation will only support Balanced output. So your down stream must have balanced input. And if you do, the new one is a no brainer.

seems like New D10 variation (with balanced out) + A30pro = peak price / performance

Bought D10s myself to convert USB to coax S/PIDF. Will try internal Neumann KH 750 DSP DAC which supports S/PIDF in.

 

[Green_X5]

OPA1602? I have it in stock but worried about compatibility. Thanks.

it's fine

I tested this and got a bad result - half gain and bass drop. Your stock chip is a great choice. And now I don't want to change anything here.

 

[wiz2596]

The new coming D10 variation will only support Balanced output. So your down stream must have balanced input. And if you do, the new one is a no brainer.

any chance for unbalanced version? don't forget about us :-(

 

[frogmeat69]

any chance for unbalanced version? don't forget about us :-(

It's called the D10s. This thread is all about it.

 

[audiojoe]

Out of curiosty, when I upsample with HQplayer to 352.8k or 384k is the internal oversampling filter basically bypassed? I read that the built in ES9038Q2M dac chip can go up to 768k, so this is why I'm asking. Is the D10s just using a lower sampling rate for the filter to save power, because it is usb powered? Sry, I'm still a bit new to all this...

 

[AnalogSteph]

Out of curiosty, when I upsample with HQplayer to 352.8k or 384k is the internal oversampling filter basically bypassed?

Well, it's running at 8x speed. Better-behaved yes, bypassed no.

But speaking of digital filters, our @bennetng has brought up that filter choice on the D10s (as well as Khadas Tone Board) may be non-ideal, the amount of periodic passband ripple pointing towards the "apodizing" filter being used. That's one out of two options of the six provided by the ES9038Q2M that I would basically never use. For me it would be either Linear Phase Fast Roll-Off (normal playback) or Minimum Phase Fast Roll-Off (realtime use), possibly Brick Wall (especially 48 kHz up), and Hybrid may also have its uses >48 kHz. In any pure playback device like the D10s, there is little reason to use anything but the "traditional" Linear Phase Fast Roll-Off filter.

If there is any possibility of a firmware update, this would be appreciated.

 

[bennetng]

Not that I think the differences are audible but just wanted to point out there are trade-offs among filter length (delay), ripple, steepness and attenuation. Also, if one wants to use software upsampling anyway it can be done for free using something like the SoX plugin for foobar2000. Even MPC-HC can do some implicit auto upsampling with the built-in (libsamplerate?) resampler with more than decent results.