Topping D30Pro Review (Balanced DAC)

[Slayer]

Here here. But of course the discount will vary from person to person, coupons used, etc

TOPPING D30pro 4×CS43198 Hi Res DAC DSD256 & PCM 32Bit/384kHz Decoder XU208 D30 PRO with Preamplifier Function|Conversor digital-para-analógico| - AliExpress

That link is no sale. I also checked everyone on aliexpress and not one seller is offering what you say they are. The only discount is a $2 off.

 

[Human Bass]

That link is no sale. I also checked everyone on aliexpress and not one seller is offering what you say they are. The only discount is a $2 off.

Oh well. Ali Express discounts work in mysterious ways.

 

[Helicopter]

Oh well. Ali Express discounts work in mysterious ways.

Agree. I got offered huge discounts today but can not find them now.

 

[PhuFighters]

floaty af! /s
They make it hard to switch between DAC/preamp mode. You cant do it with the controller unlike every other setting. You have to power cycle the device with the manual switch to get into settings and then navigate to the appropriate setting, then restart the device. This makes it quite hard to do a side by side comparison. DAC mode is slightly louder than preamp.
There's 10% of me that feels like it sounds better but that could just be psychological and it's too hard to test correctly. EDIT: this probably isn't real. Dont listen to this when making a decision about this product!

Can you please explain in further details how to get this thing in DAC mode? I can't figure it out for the life of me hahaha SMH

 

[Deleted member 29583]

I am not a blogger, but, I would like to briefly offer some observations and my own experience in regard to the Topping D30Pro.
I purchased through APOS.
My unit was drop shipped from China.
My unit is defective.
It drops out, then re-acquires the digital signal.
My existing equipment does not suffer from this fault. ( Cambridge CXC and a Schiit Modi 3 )
APOS has been non responsive.
APOS may be someone's idea of a joke in the same manner as Schiit. Look up the slang.
If I knew the D30Pro was not warehoused here, I would never have purchased it.
Live and learn.

I think it is important to realize that no matter how good the test equipment is, a sample of one is a statistical quagmire.
Amir gets a good one, I get a bad one.
50% defective rate.
These units are obviously not tested well enough, if at all.
Certainly not by APOS in Oakland, Ca.

I too am a test equipment fanatic, but was blinded by the APx555 and temporarily lost sight of the statistics surrounding testing.
A sample of one is valid for that unit and that unit alone.

I hope you all have better luck with your DACs.
Caveat Emptor

 

[Racheski]

I am not a blogger, but, I would like to briefly offer some observations and my own experience in regard to the Topping D30Pro.
I purchased through APOS.
My unit was drop shipped from China.
My unit is defective.
It drops out, then re-acquires the digital signal.
My existing equipment does not suffer from this fault. ( Cambridge CXC and a Schiit Modi 3 )
APOS has been non responsive.
APOS may be someone's idea of a joke in the same manner as Schiit. Look up the slang.
If I knew the D30Pro was not warehoused here, I would never have purchased it.
Live and learn.

I think it is important to realize that no matter how good the test equipment is, a sample of one is a statistical quagmire.
Amir gets a good one, I get a bad one.
50% defective rate.
These units are obviously not tested well enough, if at all.
Certainly not by APOS in Oakland, Ca.

I too am a test equipment fanatic, but was blinded by the APx555 and temporarily lost sight of the statistics surrounding testing.
A sample of one is valid for that unit and that unit alone.

I hope you all have better luck with your DACs.
Caveat Emptor

You can literally go to Apos' website in the middle of the day and chat with someone live, so I don't believe you that they have been unresponsive. If your unit is truly defective, they will refund/replace the unit per their terms & conditions. I'm sure Apos support will get back to you.

 

[Acerun]

SMSL SU-9 NOW $413 on Amazon. Response to D30pro?

 

[Slayer]

You can literally go to Apos' website in the middle of the day and chat with someone live, so I don't believe you that they have been unresponsive. If your unit is truly defective, they will refund/replace the unit per their terms & conditions. I'm sure Apos support will get back to you.

Well to be fair, it is plausible Redleg is telling the truth. I went there a few times today to discuss expedited shipping. Low and behold there was no live chat feature anymore. So either they got rid of it or they are having some website issues. Who knows what is going on.

As far as him having issues with the DAC, that's entirely possible. There's Not a product made that doesn't have the occasional defect. Usually when someone has it in for a review and testing, they are only running it for a short time. Nothing like the long hours that a buyer will be using it. So we will just have to wait for other buyers to see if they start having issues or not before we can say it is a faulty design product or not. There was also another member who started noticing some static issues. Either way both of those issue should be able to be resolved via a firmware update ( and maybe that was a partial reason for the firmware update besides adding those two filters).

With regards to his point about the apos slang meaning. Every other time i visit the site, i wonder if others are wondering what apos is supposed to actually stand for, not how it can be used in american slang. Aposaudio may want to come out and say what they intend the meaning to be. But then again, could be a marketing play on words to get peoples attention. Seems to be working for them either way. LOL

 

[Veri]

Amir gets a good one, I get a bad one.
50% defective rate.

Well that's not really a fair statistic though is it sucks to hear about your experience, though.

 

[imagidominc]

Amir gets a good one, I get a bad one.
50% defective rate.

I don't think a sample size of 2 is enough to determine a 50% defective rate. I'm sorry to hear that yours was defective and I understand your disappointment.

 

[orbscure]

I've got a good one... so adjust those stats

 

[ArturoKiwi]

I think that the real problem isn't the statistics on fault devices, but a big shop/reseller like Apos ignoring big problem like a defective unit.

 

[Cc-Mode]

Can you please explain in further details how to get this thing in DAC mode? I can't figure it out for the life of me hahaha SMH

Switch off
Push the botton and keep ..
Switch on
Wait until you have a symbol on the screen: Then you can make changes including removing PRE mode

You Better control the volume with an amp or an application otherwise you will experiment ear bleeding

 

[Cc-Mode]

Here is a quick feedback from my early and personal experiments:
- USB is superb
- Coaxial is good even with an old Philips cd player
- Optical with some iregular cuts that are not very frequent but unpleasant. Tried other configurations changing inputs, cables, cds, ... without success.
- I have 10 pre-programmed filters but no details. I asked the support for documenation and comments about the issues. No feedback yet.

So I will not update until I figure out or if I m tired with it, will send it back.

 

[Acerun]

Amazon offers a three-year warranty with the D30pro that covers all fixes or replacement/refund and shipping for $34 via Assurian. I usually don't buy the extended warranties but this one might be a smart buy. Does anyone have experience buying Assurian warranties?

 

[Cc-Mode]

Amazon offers a three-year warranty with the D30pro that covers all fixes or replacement/refund and shipping for $34 via Assurian. I usually don't buy the extended warranties but this one might be a smart buy. Does anyone have experience buying Assurian warranties?

Honestly, if you are not confident don't buy it. Wait and see or choose an equivalent DAC like SMSL SU 9 if you need all options or the excellent E30. Check previous issues with L30, topping had honorable behavior.

 

[PhuFighters]

Switch off
Push the botton and keep ..
Switch on
Wait until you have a symbol on the screen: Then you can make changes including removing PRE mode

You Better control the volume with an amp or an application otherwise you will experiment ear bleeding

Perfect! Thank you so much!

 

[Toku]

I’m reluctant to bring this up, but I’ve got a transient burst of static (three seconds) that occurs at random intervals about once or twice an hour. I‘m going to pull the D30 and connect the D10 back to see if it goes away. I’ve only noticed it with the D30 pro, but it may have existed before.

After that, did you switch to D10 and check for symptoms?

The symptomatology is
What file format does it occur in? (feg. PCM or DSD)
Does it only occur at certain bitrates?
Or does it occur at multiple bitrates?

I was very interested in your report and asked a question.

 

[robpap]

Ordered one D30pro, it should be delivered today
-R

 

[robpap]

Ordered one D30pro, it should be delivered today
-R

I am a happy owner of Merging Hapi. Its transparency is super.
As I like programming, I wanted something transparent to play with.
That's why I looked at the impressive measures of the D30pro.
I hope that I can confirm this during my testing in the next weeks.
I already tried a D90 borrowed from a friend.
I use active monitors ATC SCM50 ASL.
So I will use the D30pro in preamp mode (but initially with near-field small speakers, you know...)

Cheers
-R