Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

[jmillar]

Of cource not. But. Strictly speaking, talking about science and if we allow us to be somewhat philosophical, nothing can be proved. What we have are hypothesies. We can try to falsify them, but as long as they are not falsified they are the etablished facts. Just claiming ”there is no evidence” for something is not valid as a falsification. If you believe in the exictence of differences in sound quality, which can not be revealed by best practise when it comes to measurements, then to begin with you have to etablish the existence of these differences supportet by an transparent methodology.

Following Popper's basic tenet in phylosophy of science there is no such thing as "scientific truth". What we have is a collection of "unfalsified hypotheses". When someone succeeds in doing so we have a "paradigm shift" (Thomas Kuhn). (Well, it's a tiny bit more complex, but you get the idea)

 

[b4nt]

A quick Google translation of Edgar Morin, about errors and hallucinations:

In fact, there is no intrinsic difference between perception and hallucination. The only thing that allows us to distinguish them is the discussion with others. However, there are cases of collective hallucinations ...

 

[vwru]

Now, I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but should I expect to hear any channel imbalance given the ever so slight voltage difference between the channels? Most (audio interface) DACs seem to have their channels matched to 0.000-0.003Vrms (as opposed to 0.009Vrms in the case of the D30 Pro and the D90SE units reviewed by Amir). Could be totally inaudible though.

Other than that, stellar performance, really.

 

[Lupin]

No
Just slightly tilting your head one way will give you more "channel imbalance" than the tiny volt difference output from the DAC.

 

[vwru]

No
Just slightly tilting your head one way will give you more "channel imbalance" than the tiny volt difference output from the DAC.

So I assumed

 

[R.Vic]

Somewhere in this thread there was a review that one channel suddenly emitted a very loud distorted sound - I am afraid of this so as not to damage expensive speakers. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem?

 

[anphex]

Somewhere in this thread there was a review that one channel suddenly emitted a very loud distorted sound - I am afraid of this so as not to damage expensive speakers. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem?

I've never had or heard of any dac or amp doing this unless you have a rca ground loop issue and you get that 50/60hz buzz when touchting the cable on the other end.

 

[D700]

This happens to me occasionally if I come back to an audio stream that's been paused for a long time. Its on the computer side, not the DAC. There's also a bug with MAC where videos start to play back at hyper speed and the audio sounds just like you'd expect. Also a computer issue, not the DAC. I am careful to turn the volume down wearing headphones before resuming playback.

 

[R.Vic]

This happens to me occasionally if I come back to an audio stream that's been paused for a long time.

This can happen when the volume is automatically adjusted in the player - try disabling this function.

 

[Lupin]

This weekend my D30Pro wouldn't come out of standby mode and turn on. When it eventually did turn on it showed "dFU" on the display and the little headphone icon in the bottom left corner was lit. There wasn't any output from any input though.

I cut the power from the DAC completely (switch in the back) and waited a bit. Turned it back on and everything was working as it should again.
So far it seems to be a fluke as I can't reproduce this nor has it happened again (so far).

I'm still happy with the DAC, just wondering what happend.

 

[usern]

When it eventually did turn on it showed "dFU"

Happens if you long press the knob from standby. What it is and what it's for is undocumented in manual though.

 

[renaudrenaud]

dFU ? Device Firmware Update ?

Sounds to me as a mechanism for updating the micro controller inside the DAC.

 

[Lupin]

Happens if you long press the knob from standby. What it is and what it's for is undocumented in manual though.

Hmm.. intresting.
I'm not aware that I long pressed the knob.. but I will try this tonight to see if that is it.

dFU ? Device Firmware Update ?

Sounds to me as a mechanism for updating the micro controller inside the DAC.

Updated the DAC to FW 2.44 using the flashtool and firmware file supplied on the Topping website. DAC doesn't have to be in this "dFU" state/mode to flash the firmware with this tool. Perhaps this "dFU" is some recovery mode for when the DAC is unresponsive in regular mode?

 

[R.Vic]

I'm looking for everything, but it looks like the best option for the money. Or is there something else I'm missing? I want to replace my teac ud-301 with something modern and high-quality - the d30pro has fantastic characteristics ...

 

[Lupin]

I'm looking for everything, but it looks like the best option for the money. Or is there something else I'm missing? I want to replace my teas ud-301 with something modern and high-quality - the d30pro has fantastic characteristics ...

Pretty much everything Topping currently offers is audibly transparent. Don't spend 799 instead of 350 because you think it will sound better.
Deciding factor are features you want/need and perhaps the formfactor/aesthetics the DAC comes in.

 

[kaydubbed]

Does this DAC have any competitors at this price range? I'm in the market for a balanced DAC with a "pre-amp" impedance knob for my power amp.

 

[Lupin]

Does this DAC have any competitors at this price range? I'm in the market for a balanced DAC with a "pre-amp" impedance knob for my power amp.

Just look at the ASR review index. Can set filters for whatever is important to you. There is definitely competition in the desktop DAC market in this price range (or any other price range).

When you check the reviews you'll see that one scores a coupe points higher then the other but everything that ends up getting recommended by Amir is audibly transparent and you'll not hear any difference. So don't get totally hung up on 5dB SINAD difference between one and another.

SMSL M200 comes to mind.
Bit of a weird form factor and comes with a blue LED screen other then that is has the same features of the D30Pro including volume control for pre-out with the extra bonus that the M200 does have Bluetooth.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Does this DAC have any competitors at this price range? I'm in the market for a balanced DAC with a "pre-amp" impedance knob for my power amp.

It's a quite different demand than regular DACs if you want to use it as a preamp. High dynamic range and low self noise is what to look for. And other design aspects can also affect usability like turn on/off pop, saved volume setting. D30pro is a relatively complete package for this application. I wouldn't say this to most other DACs.

 

[R.Vic]

High dynamic range and low self noise is what to look for.

Could you explain why there is such a big difference in Channel Crosstalk between d30pro and EX5- 145 vs -85? Is it because of the headphone amplifier in the latter?
As far as I understand, crosstalk narrows the soundstage and detail?

 

[JohnYang1997]

[QUOTE = "JohnYang1997, post: 844615, member: 5166"] Большой динамический диапазон и низкий уровень собственного шума - вот что нужно искать. [/ QUOTE]
Could you explain why there is such a big difference in Channel Crosstalk between d30pro and EX5- 145 vs -85? Is it because of the headphone amplifier in the latter?
As far as I understand, crosstalk narrows the soundstage and detail?

Basically yes it's because of headphone amplifier. It's optimized for its headphone output. And since it's single ended, crosstalk is just like that.
It's actually more complicated that this but that's probably good enough.