Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

[Hamrin]

Any... Behringer, Mutec, miniDSP...
It depends on your budget and last but not least, on your CD collection and how important is for your personal listening habits.
Some of these I/O devices are expensive and very close to the dac itself.

I'm using a second hand Cypress DCT39, I've been lucky to find it for few bucks some years ago.

To be fair it should be clear that this product (D30Pro) has been designed for a "digital only" context.
If you want to mainly refresh the sound of your old CD player (and results are remarkable) you should look for a dac with a better chip than the Altera used here (or at least a better implementation of it).

 

[MaxBuck]

To be fair it should be clear that this product (D30Pro) has been designed for a "digital only" context.
If you want to mainly refresh the sound of your old CD player (and results are remarkable) you should look for a dac with a better chip than the Altera used here (or at least a better implementation of it).

I have no idea what you're trying to say here. DACs exist to convert digital signal to analog. The D30Pro is no different from any other DAC in its design function. It's no more nor less well suited to conversion of digital signal from a CD transport than for any other digital signal.

 

[Hamrin]

It's no more nor less well suited to conversion of digital signal from a CD transport than for any other digital signal.

Obviously a CD Transport is a digital source, but there is a difference... That data come from something that is "spinning" in a very distinctive way and this produces some well known issues.

What I'm saying is that this DAC is NOT for that context unless you find a workaround...

 

[NiagaraPete]

Obviously a CD Transport is a digital source, but there is a difference... That data come from something that is "spinning" in a very distinctive way and this produces some well known issues.

What I'm saying is that this DAC is NOT for that context unless you find a workaround...

I’m wondering where you came up with this theory. From a digital point of view unless broken it should be transparent.

 

[Hamrin]

I’m wondering where you came up with this theory. From a digital point of view unless broken it should be transparent.

Theory? Joking? Do you know how CD players work?
A laser is slow... Disks can "skip" and these skips are perfectly listenable (no need to measure).

Meridian (to mention one among others) used to "pre-buffer" data in order to avoid this kind of jitter.
Check the specs of the Meridian 588...

Today this is no more a requirement, because the vast majority of DAC have a decent re-clocking.
Unfortunately not the case of this Topping...

I'm saying the very same thing you can read from MC_RME here...

Jitter with topping e30

Why - does the new version of the E30 contain a radio transmitter? Anything with an oscillator over 10KHz (or is it 9?) MUST be validated against FCC emissions requirements.

audiosciencereview.com

PS. Thank you for the friendly tone of your message...

 

[NiagaraPete]

PS. Thank you for the friendly tone of your message...

Your welcome.

It doesn’t change anything the digital signal works or has defects. It doesn’t sound different.

 

[Hamrin]

Who did speak of "different sound"?
This dac interrupts its flow, so during these dopouts/skips it doesn't sound at all...

Hunting witches maybe?
I'm not your man...

 

[MaxBuck]

I have a serious problem with my D30Pro. Its display is -4 with a funny headphone pic on the lower left display, and it doesn't transmit any signal. Doesn't respond to the remote or to the front dial, and "Setup" as directed by the user manual has no effect. Is this thing borked?

Very sad, as I'm now running my Node directly into my NAD C298 and the sound quality, I would swear (subjectively), is greatly diminished. Help!

 

[SCG]

Do you have a pic of the display? The D30 Pro doesn't have a headphone output and per the manual I don't see any symbol that even fits that description (see below). Per the manual did you try a factory reset? Also is this something that happen from day 1 or just recently happen?

 

[MaxBuck]

Do you have a pic of the display? The D30 Pro doesn't have a headphone output and per the manual I don't see any symbol that even fits that description (see below). Per the manual did you try a factory reset? Also is this something that happen from day 1 or just recently happen?

View attachment 207496
View attachment 207495

Yeah, weird stuff. It worked great until yesterday. When I got home after golf today I tried the D30Pro again, and it worked for about 45 minutes. Then I paused the BluOS app, and the screen returned to the -4 display and the funky headphones. Then when I tried to do a reset, the second screen showed up with dFU. I have a customer service request in to Apos, but no response yet.

 

[Toku]

Yeah, weird stuff. It worked great until yesterday. When I got home after golf today I tried the D30Pro again, and it worked for about 45 minutes. Then I paused the BluOS app, and the screen returned to the -4 display and the funky headphones. Then when I tried to do a reset, the second screen showed up with dFU. I have a customer service request in to Apos, but no response yet.

View attachment 207609View attachment 207610

This is clearly an abnormal operation and a failure is suspected. I think you should request a return or exchange.

 

[SCG]

Yeah, weird stuff. It worked great until yesterday. When I got home after golf today I tried the D30Pro again, and it worked for about 45 minutes. Then I paused the BluOS app, and the screen returned to the -4 display and the funky headphones. Then when I tried to do a reset, the second screen showed up with dFU. I have a customer service request in to Apos, but no response yet.

Yep that sure is a headphone icon (super weird) but someone else had a BT icon and John Yang said the D30Pro was originally suppose to have Bluetooth but due to supply chain issues it was removed from the final product.

dFU is the unit cussing at you...in all seriousness it stands for "Download Firmware Update" cycling the power should remove it, otherwise unplug wait 30 seconds and re-plug it.

The original repeating issue is definitely a defect and you could DM @JohnYang1997 or work on a warranty repair, or return if within the 30 day window.

Btw, where in SoCal are you?

 

[jamescarter1982]

could anybody let me know why someone might pick a d90 or other higher priced dac over this one ? does the d90 have features this one is missing ? I couldn't notice any reason from reading the reviews . apart from ghe hdmi input is that for any hdmi device or something I don't know about ? thanks James

 

[Lupin]

could anybody let me know why someone might pick a d90 or other higher priced dac over this one ?

Aesthetics and/or form factor.
Personally I would get the D90SE and not the D30Pro if I already have (or going to) combine it with the A90. One will not hear a difference but I like my stack to consists of matching components.

Connectivity.
D90SE has the same connections as the D30Pro plus Bluetooth, AES and I2S.

MQA
Personally I think it is a complete scam but it is an "feature" that the D90SE has and the D30Pro don't

Pre-Amp
From what I've heard technically the D90SE has a better pre-amp although I highly doubt it it going to make an actual real world difference compared to the D30Pro pre-amp.

Measured performance
Nobody is going to actually hear the difference between the D30Pro and D90SE but some are willing to pay the premium for that little extra bit of performance and/or the "peace of mind" of having the best measuring DAC at the moment.

 

[jamescarter1982]

Aesthetics and/or form factor.
Personally I would get the D90SE and not the D30Pro if I already have (or going to) combine it with the A90. One will not hear a difference but I like my stack to consists of matching components.

Connectivity.
D90SE has the same connections as the D30Pro plus Bluetooth, AES and I2S.

MQA
Personally I think it is a complete scam but it is an "feature" that the D90SE has and the D30Pro don't

Pre-Amp
From what I've heard technically the D90SE has a better pre-amp although I highly doubt it it going to make an actual real world difference compared to the D30Pro pre-amp.

Measured performance
Nobody is going to actually hear the difference between the D30Pro and D90SE but some are willing to pay the premium for that little extra bit of performance and/or the "peace of mind" of having the best measuring DAC at the moment.

thankyou this is exactly the information I was after ! for the i2s imput over hdmi where does one find a i2s transport ? is this a rasberry pie thing ? I think the d30 pro looks outstanding value for money for the measured performance available

 

[NiagaraPete]

I have a serious problem with my D30Pro. Its display is -4 with a funny headphone pic on the lower left display, and it doesn't transmit any signal. Doesn't respond to the remote or to the front dial, and "Setup" as directed by the user manual has no effect. Is this thing borked?

Very sad, as I'm now running my Node directly into my NAD C298 and the sound quality, I would swear (subjectively), is greatly diminished. Help!

Did you do a firmware update?

 

[MaxBuck]

Did you do a firmware update?

I did not. There are no instructions I could find for updating firmware, though I know where to download the zip file. If it requires that I connect the DAC to a computer, my circumstances are such that that would be a huge PITA.

Is there a way to find out what my current firmware version is? I have to say that I find the user manual for this device to be ridiculously inadequate.

 

[MaxBuck]

Yep that sure is a headphone icon (super weird) but someone else had a BT icon and John Yang said the D30Pro was originally suppose to have Bluetooth but due to supply chain issues it was removed from the final product.

dFU is the unit cussing at you...in all seriousness it stands for "Download Firmware Update" cycling the power should remove it, otherwise unplug wait 30 seconds and re-plug it.

The original repeating issue is definitely a defect and you could DM @JohnYang1997 or work on a warranty repair, or return if within the 30 day window.

Btw, where in SoCal are you?

I'm in the Palm Springs area.

BTW, currently in discussions with Apos customer service.

 

[NiagaraPete]

I did not. There are no instructions I could find for updating firmware, though I know where to download the zip file. If it requires that I connect the DAC to a computer, my circumstances are such that that would be a huge PITA.

Is there a way to find out what my current firmware version is? I have to say that I find the user manual for this device to be ridiculously inadequate.

Contact Topping directly (don't mess with firmwre) I thought maybe you had and bricked your box. I found Topping responded within 24 houras and were very thorough when I needed help.

 

[NiagaraPete]

Is there a way to find out what my current firmware version is

Yes, check and see how many filters you have. If there are 9 then you have the newest firmware.