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Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

Pulkass

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Feb 17, 2019
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Arrived in the post today. Added USB from pc via balanced to electronic X over and three power amps. The main board noise has disappeared with balanced !! First impression is very very good sound. But after a while from internet hi Res files, it does not follow the stream, it's like choked, l test it via coax from my cd player, one second of silence, every 30 seconds of music, l change cd player, this time no sound at all!! I will return it immediately to Amazon, do you have serial numbers of the first defective factory batch?
 

erazze

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Hey folks,

new to this forum and fairly new to hifi in general, so bear with me :)
I would like to get into a 2.1 setup and since this DAC has XLR and RCA outputs and volume control, my question is if I can connect the DAC to my power amp via XLR and to a subwoofer via RCA. Or is there an issue I cannot think of right now? Any help is welcome.
 

tvrgeek

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You need a crossover, somewhere. If you don't mind running your speakers full range and your sub has a LP filter, then it will work. Personally one of the biggest benefits of a sub is taking the load, read high excursion and distortion, off the mains so I want a high pass on the mains. Life would be good if someone made a real nice adjustable 2nd order HP active filter. You could then blend with the sub just right.

Most full size "stereo" preamps have a sub out, but no HP filter to the mains. Just a mono out to the sub.

Why do you want to run XLR? Are you running a hundred feet to your amp? In a horribly electrical environment next to a degausing machine or arc light? Or is XLR the "thing" you read about?

I am old school and run analog crossover, though researching. Some desktop multi-function DAC/head/amp have a sub output. I do not know why we don't see more 3,4,6 or more channel DACs of high quality and the onboard DSP to do the crossovers. This is the domain of MiniDSP of course. I am just looking into host based crossovers. Maybe you can run a cheap DAC to the sub and good to the mains, but use a PC based app volume control. They actually make a USB volume control pot that will tell windows to set the vol. Lots of options. Quality, convivence, price is your choice. This is what I am thinking about for my desktop as I am not as picky as my stereo. On it, I have an X-KITZ crossover I will be putting back in when I add a mute relay. LR4 @ 70 analog. I had a cheap Rolls on it for a while. Thought about swapping the OP-Amps. In my last house I ran a DBX pro-sound crossover. I did run XLR as it was about 50 feet from pre to amps.
 

Chagall

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Hey folks,

new to this forum and fairly new to hifi in general, so bear with me :)
I would like to get into a 2.1 setup and since this DAC has XLR and RCA outputs and volume control, my question is if I can connect the DAC to my power amp via XLR and to a subwoofer via RCA. Or is there an issue I cannot think of right now? Any help is welcome.

Welcome to ASR.

As @tvrgeek said, adding sub and setting up x-overs isn't trivial.
AFAIK the simplest way to get HP/LP is to go with:
Parasound preamp ($$$)
or a sub that can high pass signal to mains (some KEF subs have that option $$$)
or miniDSP 2x4 HD ($), Flex ($$), SHD ($$$) ...it's a bit more hands on, but is the most flexible (adding delays, EQ).

But this is just the first step.

To properly setup x-over you will need to do some measurements with UMIK and REW to phase align subs and mains, match house curve and maybe apply some EQ. Also depending on your room, adding room correction software can make night and day difference.

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.
 

erazze

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If you don't mind running your speakers full range and your sub has a LP filter, then it will work.
To get things going, I don't mind that. For now it's okay.
Why do you want to run XLR? Are you running a hundred feet to your amp? In a horribly electrical environment next to a degausing machine or arc light? Or is XLR the "thing" you read about?
The power Amp I got happens to have XLR and that would give the opportunity to connect the sub via RCA. If that works, I don't need a preamp until I can afford something like a miniDSP SHD.
To properly setup x-over you will need to do some measurements with UMIK and REW to phase align subs and mains, match house curve and maybe apply some EQ. Also depending on your room, adding room correction software can make night and day difference.
That's a whole new topic I am interested in, but I have to learn everything from scratch, don't even know basics about that :)
But thanks for your help so far.
 

9colai88

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Oct 3, 2021
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You need a crossover, somewhere. If you don't mind running your speakers full range and your sub has a LP filter, then it will work. Personally one of the biggest benefits of a sub is taking the load, read high excursion and distortion, off the mains so I want a high pass on the mains. Life would be good if someone made a real nice adjustable 2nd order HP active filter. You could then blend with the sub just right.

Most full size "stereo" preamps have a sub out, but no HP filter to the mains. Just a mono out to the sub.

Why do you want to run XLR? Are you running a hundred feet to your amp? In a horribly electrical environment next to a degausing machine or arc light? Or is XLR the "thing" you read about?

I am old school and run analog crossover, though researching. Some desktop multi-function DAC/head/amp have a sub output. I do not know why we don't see more 3,4,6 or more channel DACs of high quality and the onboard DSP to do the crossovers. This is the domain of MiniDSP of course. I am just looking into host based crossovers. Maybe you can run a cheap DAC to the sub and good to the mains, but use a PC based app volume control. They actually make a USB volume control pot that will tell windows to set the vol. Lots of options. Quality, convivence, price is your choice. This is what I am thinking about for my desktop as I am not as picky as my stereo. On it, I have an X-KITZ crossover I will be putting back in when I add a mute relay. LR4 @ 70 analog. I had a cheap Rolls on it for a while. Thought about swapping the OP-Amps. In my last house I ran a DBX pro-sound crossover. I did run XLR as it was about 50 feet from pre to amps.

What do you think about this unit?

Perfect for a 2.1 setup. Connect one digital output to the DAC for your speakers and the other to the subwoofer (if the subwoofer has a digital input). Then you have a streamer, digital crossover and room correction unit for your 2.1 setup. High pass filter on the digital domain will hopefully not add any extra noice.
 

MCH

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What do you think about this unit?

Perfect for a 2.1 setup. Connect one digital output to the DAC for your speakers and the other to the subwoofer (if the subwoofer has a digital input). Then you have a streamer, digital crossover and room correction unit for your 2.1 setup. High pass filter on the digital domain will hopefully not add any extra noice.
Or.... sell the d30pro and go for the minidsp flex, you probably save some money and have a one box solution. It is what i plan to do when i have the money :)
 

9colai88

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Or.... sell the d30pro and go for the minidsp flex, you probably save some money and have a one box solution. It is what i plan to do when i have the money :)
Does the flex unit measure as well as the d30pro? I'm really happy with it. I could actually hear that the sound got better when I upgraded to it from my old Arcam irdac 2
 

MCH

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Does the flex unit measure as well as the d30pro? I'm really happy with it. I could actually hear that the sound got better when I upgraded to it from my old Arcam irdac 2
No clue, i am hoping when i pull the trigger the flex will had been measured and discussed here or somewhere else. Being a new product from minidsp i would be surprised if it is crap
 

Pulkass

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A nice balanced DAC. Do you have multitone test result?
I ordered it two weeks ago, absolutely fantastic sound connected via XLR and streamed network hi res files, the sound that l love, ultra detailed, upfront, in yer face; unfortunately it doesn't work with CD players !!!! And somehow stopped working on the network too!!! I had to send it back to my disappointment. I hope Topping will revise it, will use the same fantastic chips, Cyrus logic (8) and make CD s playable, c mon. C mon guys !!! It s a semi fab great great machine!!!
 

Saponetto

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Sorry of being lator of bad news, but at today @JohnYang1997 didn't get any clue for possible software solutions to the jitter problem afflicting TosLink-Coax inputs when using a CD transport.
A few pages before the current one, this problem was discussed and, somewhat, its nasty effects were partially reduced.
 

alekksander

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The fact that D30Pro is having just one volume control for every output almost made me deaf today. @JohnYang1997 can something be done about it, at least in theory? (firmware). It is very dangerous to have one volume for 3 output modes! Please think about it as users ears and speakers are not safe at current solution. The way to fix this is to either level to lets say -50 with each manual output change, or (way better solution) remember volume attenuation per output.
I doubt that John is gonna reply me and propose solution, but this one is still worth a shot. I'm planning to report this to topping contact e-mail at some point too.
 

trivenge

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What are your thoughts on primarily using filter 1? I see people recommending filter 5 but maybe we should think otherwise?
 

LuckyLuke575

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The Khadas Tone Board used to be the gold standard. Now Topping has blown it out of the water. We are getting to the point of perfect audio transparency and sound quality. This is the end game. What a time to be alive.
 

despoiler

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What are your thoughts on primarily using filter 1? I see people recommending filter 5 but maybe we should think otherwise?

5 is NOS filter. If you need the high frequency roll-off then go for it, but you will get ultrasonics leaking through. Typically people think NOS filters sound the most analog or old school because of the FR roll-off. It's that or they have no idea why filters are necessary and how they actually work do they reject "digital". My subjective preferences are filter 3 or 6. 3 is a slow linear filter and what I am using now. 6 is an ultra-fast linear. It tends to sound a touch more wooly to me, but does sound good to my ears. It's cutting off before 20khz. 1 is a fast linear filter. Nothing wrong with it. Most people cannot hear a difference in filters anyways. They are extremely subtle. Pick whatever one you think sounds best.
 

the_brunx

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Attached are some photos of the topping A30 pro's inside.
edit: my original photos are clearer

So after my A30p wouldn't turn on, I decided its time to open it up and check.
Just a tip for any one trying to open their amp, you need to pull/wiggle out the tight volume knob in order to get to the nut holding everything from sliding back after you have removed the chassis screws, I did this using a thick cloth (to avoid scratches) and a wrench.

I might have gotten the culprit to my problem, there's no voltage on one of the IRM-20-24 switching power supply's output, So I just finished ordering one for about 10 euros, looking forward to soldering the replacement in and get this puppy working again. we'll see.
 

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citysoundman

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Dec 25, 2021
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Very happy with the sound of my new D30 Pro. Works great with USB in from my Mac Mini server.

But I'm getting audio dropouts/skips when using the coax (RCA) in from my California Audio CD player. I did read up that other users had this problem, and I actually didn't think I would be using the coax input, but now I would like to use it. So this is a bummer.

One thing to report on this issue, it doesn't seem to be random - it appears to dropout/skip at the same place on the disc each time.

After reading this thread a few times I'm still not clear - is this problem an issue with both the coax and optical inputs? Or should I try a coax to optical converter box?
 

MCH

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Can happen with both coax and optical, depends only on the source device. I think others have reported that they solved the issue with one of those converters, i guess it is a matter of finding the converter that works with the d30pro
 

citysoundman

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Can happen with both coax and optical, depends only on the source device. I think others have reported that they solved the issue with one of those converters, i guess it is a matter of finding the converter that works with the d30pro
thank you Marcos!
 
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