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Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

JohnYang1997

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How likely is it that you would add your own filters in this case?
As requested we WILL add a new filter. Just a matter of how fast we can do that. It's lunar new year holiday so it takes some time. Luckily it's not on sell either so people would be waiting anyway. And everything can be upgraded via firmware upgrade.
 

mmicko

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Mikechw

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Topping should make a fully featured multi-ch AVR, or AVP with Dirac. I'm sure they'd knock it out of the park, as they've proven time and time again to put in a lot of effort into their engineering.
To make a fully featured AVR, there are a lot of license fees to paid.. such as Dolby, HDMI, HDCP, etc..
 

AudioSceptic

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As requested we WILL add a new filter. Just a matter of how fast we can do that. It's lunar new year holiday so it takes some time. Luckily it's not on sell either so people would be waiting anyway. And everything can be upgraded via firmware upgrade.
Thanks, and apologies if some of us seem over-critical of the filters on an otherwise exemplary product. Full attenuation as late as 24k just seems WRONG. ;-)
 

JohnYang1997

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Thanks, and apologies if some of us seem over-critical of the filters on an otherwise exemplary product. Full attenuation as late as 24k just seems WRONG. ;-)
I think their point is that Amir didn't mention it in the written review. I'm fine with it as it's very common with other products and no severe consequences in multitone, or distortion etc. But Amir actually talked about it in the video with quite a lot of detail. So that's that.
My personal take on this is that some of these chip companies trade off attenuation for flatter in band response. But yes I would like to have the choice to choose between flatter in band and better attenuation.
 

Tks

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As mentioned before, there is a price to pay for an "ideal" filter.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...mkii-distortion-at-44-1-khz.20142/post-665472
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/new-dac-chipset-from-akm.14391/post-450135
It is trivial to use something like SoX to get 160dB+ attenuation and full attenuation at fs/2 and 99% steepness so that frequency response is completely flat beyond 21.8kHz (for 44.1kHz sample rate), but I heard no difference, honestly.

What I said in 2018, don't know SMSL regrets or not at this moment:)

Price seems worth it. As far as using SoX, it's trvial in the sense of it working great, but it's not going to be trivial getting it running from all sources.

Audibility isn't a concern, in the same way a 0.999999kHz clocking result isn't a concern. It's mostly a concern around these parts (people wanting to see displays of excellence)

Though I will grant one thing, this Topping D30 Pro implementation, at the very least, the filters dig real deep attenuation-wise. So even if they're a little late, they go down quite a bit and seemingly stay there without any concerning anomaly. So at least you get something back when not given the "ideal" filter
 

Veri

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As requested we WILL add a new filter. Just a matter of how fast we can do that. It's lunar new year holiday so it takes some time. Luckily it's not on sell either so people would be waiting anyway. And everything can be upgraded via firmware upgrade.
That's nice to hear! Cool :)
 

bboris77

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Amir has to talk about everything every time from now on? Go watch his video, he talks in much more detail.
BTW I know what you did on other forums. So I hope everyone is automatically nicer and more logical on ASR forum. Thanks.
This actually made me laugh - "I Know What You Did Last Summer". My first veiled threat on these forums, and from a manufacturer's rep at that. I must be doing something right and pushing some sensitive buttons.

I am disappointed John because I actually welcome competition in this field as long as it is going to bring us audiophiles closer to the ultimate goal of more transparent audio reproduction. If you actually read my points on those other forums, you would know that I think you guys would benefit from disassociating yourself with this kind of marketing because it is starting to do disservice to your products. This was not a genuine review of a product, and neither was the video which I did end up watching. This is why I decided to say something. A reviewer duty is to objectively assess the product and point out advantages and disadvantages of it. Plus, since we are talking about an audio product, listening to it and reporting back would help. Otherwise, why bother saying anything - just give us the measurements sans opinion.

Threatening customers by letting them know that you are scouring the "other" forums for dirt, questioning their integrity, intentions and motivation also does not help your brand. I am open-minded though and not one to hold grudges. I am not associated with any company, I am just an audio enthusiast that loves music and audio gadgets. I am grateful for ASR for bringing awareness to the importance of measurements to the masses and providing a counter-balance to subjective bullshit marketing that has been an ever-present feature of this industry. However, bs marketing can swing the other way and I think it has.
 

Haskil

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[QUOTE = "JohnYang1997, post: 667855, membre: 5166"] Aussi la beauté de notre nouveau produit est que nous pouvons ajouter un autre filtre si nous le voulons. Tout ce qui se trouve dans la machine peut être mis à niveau (sauf le matériel bien sûr). [/ QUOTE]

Bonjour depuis la France ! Je possède un DX3 Pro 2 dont je suis pleinement satisfait ! Je voudrais vous demander : pour quelle raison ne sortez vous pas un DAC qui contiendrait un DSP avec un égaliseur paramétrique ayant une dizaine de bandes et serait aussi capable d'intégrer une convolution ?
 

JohnYang1997

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[QUOTE = "JohnYang1997, post: 667855, membre: 5166"] Aussi la beauté de notre nouveau produit est que nous pouvons ajouter un autre filtre si nous le voulons. Tout ce qui se trouve dans la machine peut être mis à niveau (sauf le matériel bien sûr). [/ QUOTE]

Bonjour depuis la France ! Je possède un DX3 Pro 2 dont je suis pleinement satisfait ! Je voudrais vous demander : pour quelle raison ne sortez vous pas un DAC qui contiendrait un DSP avec un égaliseur paramétrique ayant une dizaine de bandes et serait aussi capable d'intégrer une convolution ?
I won't say I won't.:D
 

bennetng

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Price seems worth it. As far as using SoX, it's trvial in the sense of it working great, but it's not going to be trivial getting it running from all sources.

Audibility isn't a concern, in the same way a 0.999999kHz clocking result isn't a concern. It's mostly a concern around these parts (people wanting to see displays of excellence)

Though I will grant one thing, this Topping D30 Pro implementation, at the very least, the filters dig real deep attenuation-wise. So even if they're a little late, they go down quite a bit and seemingly stay there without any concerning anomaly. So at least you get something back when not given the "ideal" filter
For hardware, espeically a low power chip like these Cirrus Logic DACs, even if there is a freedom to implement a filter, the filter length (number of samples) is still restricted to a certain length. Think about playing an RPG game, when you "level up" you have some points to assign to your character's ability, there is a certain degree of freedom to assign the points, but the assignable points remain the same. That means, putting more strength in one aspect means putting less strength in another aspect. I think from one of the links I posted, the Okto has more ultrasonic spikes when using a filter with full attenuation at fs/2.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/okto-dac8-stereo-da-processor-measurements
 

RichB

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This is a great performer and value, except for the lack of an strict, accurate filter option that others have pointed out.

You would think that a DAC with volume control and remote might be connected to, say, an amplifier.
Like many DAC reviewed here (that also have remotes) there is no trigger.
This looks like an evolution from desktop products that has not been completed.
Perhaps, if Topping added a trigger, the rest would as well. They all seem to following one another.

If not a trigger out, how about a decent powered USB port. A Raspberry Pi3 with DietPi can run as a Roon endpoint from a standard 5 volt USB port without under-voltage warnings. My MiniDSP SHD has issues with its Roon implementation so I run a RPI3 powered from the SHD USB port. A USB port on the PRI3 is connected to a custom USB power to trigger cable that powers the AHB2 on and off. Like many modern amplifiers, the trigger is operates with 3.3 to 12 volts detection.

- Rich
 

Tatteredmidnight

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This is a great performer and value, except for the lack of an strict, accurate filter option that others have pointed out.

You would think that a DAC with volume control and remote might be connected to, say, an amplifier.
Like many DAC reviewed here (that also have remotes) there is no trigger.
This looks like an evolution from desktop products that has not been completed.
Perhaps, if Topping added a trigger, the rest would as well. They all seem to following one another.

If not a trigger out, how about a decent powered USB port. A Raspberry Pi3 with DietPi can run as a Roon endpoint from a standard 5 volt USB port without under-voltage warnings. My MiniDSP SHD has issues with its Roon implementation so I run a RPI3 powered from the SHD USB port. A USB port on the PRI3 is connected to a custom USB power to trigger cable that powers the AHB2 on and off. Like many modern amplifiers, the trigger is operates with 3.3 to 12 volts detection.

- Rich
How do we know how good a value something is if we don’t know the price?
 

Haskil

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[QUOTE = "JohnYang1997, post: 667903, membre: 5166"] Je ne dirai pas que je ne le ferai pas. :RÉ[/CITATION]

Bonne nouvelle !

ça devient urgent de le faire...
 

Billy Budapest

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@amirm BUDDY. Nice job on the video -- you're really good on camera. There's a future for you there if you want it.
@amirm And I would like to add that it’s nice for me to see/hear you.

It’s good to see you putting FACTS in your videos. There are too many B.S. reviewers out there who release videos that mostly serve as marketing for the products they review. The amount of misinformation spewed by these reviewers is sad and even infuriating. (I’m not naming names, but #1 is a guy who reviews a lot of computer audio gear and pretends to be the ultimate expert in the field but has no clue what he is talking about).
 

PeteL

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Both are clearly faulty. The only reason they get away with this crap is there is so little "up there" in the first place. Digital pioneers would be turning in their graves.

And no, Topping are just lazy. No buck passing on LPFs back to the D/A manufacturer, what a joke.
I thought digital pioneers relied solely on analog reconstruction filters that were nowhere near as steep.
 

JohnYang1997

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Can somebody please man-splain to me what the problem is with these supposedly shit filters? Assume I'm a degenerate moron that only understand the concepts of "audibility" and "good enough".
You can watch Amir's video on this matter. It's explained nicely.
 
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