• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,303
Likes
233,683
Location
Seattle Area
This is a review and detailed measurements of the new Topping D30Pro. It was kindly sent to me by the company. Alas, I forgot to ask them how much it costs when released. I will update the review when I find out.

Edit: as of March 1, 2021, the cost of this unit is US $399.99.

The D30Pro is released in a lovely medium sized chassis with my favorite display color: orange! :)
Topping D30Pro Review USB Balanced DAC.jpg


I was surprised to see it have balanced outputs and included mains power supply:
Topping D30Pro Review USB Balanced DAC preamp.jpg


Reading the manual and using the device, I was pleased to see that the outputs are selectable. You can have XLR out, RCA out, or both. So you can now feed powered speakers from one output and RCA to another and select which one comes on. Note however that there are no discrete controls in the remote and you have to cycle through them.

For those of you who are picky and will find this, the round wheel is really round. There was a piece of fuzz that I took out quickly in Photoshop which gave it a little nick.
Topping D30Pro Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard, this time using USB In and balanced out at maximum volume:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC.png


Distortion is down to incredibly low -135 dB. My analyzer noise plus what the D30Pro has on its own contribute to bring SINAD "down" to 120 dB:
Best USB DAC.png



best USB dac with volume control.png


Switching to RCA out, we loose a tiny bit:

Topping D30Pro Measurements USB RCA Unbalanced DAC.png


Dynamic range is superb:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC dynamic range.png


As is intermodulation distortion versus level:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC IMD distortion.png


Linearity is absolutely perfect:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC linearity.png


Five filters are provided:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC Filter.png


Nice to see very high attenuation with Filter 2 which is the default.

Distortion+noise was quite high versus frequency when measuring wideband:

Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC THD+N vs Frequency.png


This could be either distortion, ultrasonic noise, or both. Let's look at the spectrum to find out:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC FFT.png


Ah, it is not distortion. It is a technique for reducing noise in audible band called "noise shaping." You take out noise in audible band and park it in ultrasonic range that we don't hear. This is a very mild version and starts well above audible range ag 45 kHz. So no consequence as far as audibility.

When I measure jitter on DACs these days, usually USB is great but Toslink and Coax, not so much. D30Pro goes against the trend, producing superb and identical results with all three inputs:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC jitter.png


Edit: forgot the multitone:
Topping D30Pro Measurements USB Balanced DAC Multitone.png


Conclusions
Consistent with tradition, Topping D30Pro produces excellent objective results courtesy of the company doing its homework during design rather than waiting for me to find the faults! Assuming this is a mid-priced DAC, the feature set of balanced and selectable outputs combined with a bright and pretty display is a winner in my book. Inclusion of AC mains (and regulatory certifications to go with it) removes clutter form the desk finally making for a compact DAC.

Needless to say, I am happy to strongly recommend the Topping D30Pro DAC.

NOTE: this is a brand new products. I cannot test for bugs and issues beyond what goes on in my testing. While I did not find any issues whatsoever, you may find otherwise. If you are squeamish about such things, wait for early adopters to buy it and put it through its paces.

EDIT: just did a video review of this. Although it covers the same info as above, I explain the measurements in more detail:


------------
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/
 
Last edited:

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,422
Likes
3,974
Location
SoCal
Nice. Any chance you can rerun THD+N(F) with 40kHz bandwidth?
 

DWPress

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
May 30, 2018
Messages
942
Likes
1,336
Location
MI
Topping should make a multi-ch AVR, or AVP

It's a small segment of us who want such a thing but in a world that has conquered 2 channel DACs it would be great if someone gave Okto and the pro gear some competition!
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,303
Likes
233,683
Location
Seattle Area
Thank you. This is much worse than the dashboard, is it because of all those < 130dB spikes that show in the spectrum up to 45kHz?
And extra noise due to that bandwidth (both in the DAC and analyzer).
 

xarkkon

Active Member
Joined
May 26, 2019
Messages
228
Likes
338
I have to confess I'm confused with the naming convention. This looks nothing like a pro version of the D30. Great product I'm sure, and adding balanced outputs to a D30 makes sense. But the D30 moniker throws me for a loop given that volume knob and absolutely different design aesthetic.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,422
Likes
3,974
Location
SoCal
What DAC chip does it use? I don't recall seeing noise shaping with ESS or AKM chips that Topping uses.
 

Χ Ξ Σ

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 16, 2020
Messages
457
Likes
1,967
Location
UTC-8
I see. Wondering if Topping had a hunch the factory was going to burn down or they picked a non-AKM chip after it already did.
They showcased the sample back in October last year, earlier than the fire, I think. The choice of the chip is more like a statement that says they can use anything to achieve 120dB of SINAD.
 

Guerilla

Active Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Messages
106
Likes
38
The headphone icon on remote means xlr or rca? Or does it turn on headphone amp?
Cheers!
 
Top Bottom