may i ask if anyone has had issues doing the D90's firmware updating?
i read an owner's review that said it was very time consuming to go online and try to figure out what needed to be done and he had to jump through hoops to learn how to do it with his Windows pc.
i'm concerned because this process would ideally be a no-brainer, much like updating any Android cellphone's apps. i don't want to get all tangled up in spending hours upon hours trying to update this device. my gut tells me, but i may well be wrong, if this owner wasn't able to get good help from Topping themselves, that i wouldn't be able to get help from them either. i don't know though how good, for example, iFi's help would be in case their Neo had to be updated.
here's the quote from that owner's review:
"...
You can only achieve MQA via a USB cable (I'd recommend buying a better cable than what Topping includes, Really Topping?)...
If you're new to music sources, MQA files, and how to get MQA results, it takes patience and study. This isn't quite "plug & play". Apos or Topping are not the best when it comes to support. I attribute this to audiophile equipment in these categories are niche and they don't have the staff resources or ability to provide great support? Fortunately, you can learn some via established YouTube reviewers.
The interface / handshake between your music source settings and device settings may take patience to set up, depending on what you use: Mac OS or Windows.
Topping sent a D90 MQA version V1.24 firmware update - oy. What a mess. VERY kludgy process. Again, some YouTube reviewers can help to a degree. All said, I love the results, sound, power, build quality, design but if this is your first entry into headphone amps & DACs, do so knowing it will take time to learn and utilize the system..."
All this fuss with firmware updating gives one unnecessary stomach acid.
+1
+Do you NEED to update a all ?
+1
+Do you NEED to update a all ?
Yes but i can't listen / test by myself without buy it (700€, it's an expensive test for me)
It is a non trivial amount of money. But on a Taiwanese forum somebody with a dCS Vivaldi at home considered it close to the dCS (still felt pressured to change the 1612 opamps with 1602s for some reason).
Do you have a link to this? Really curious.
The MQA version of D90 I ordered from Apos in October came fully updated.just wondering...may i ask if the good folks here think that if i were to order a d90/a90 set now, would the d90 would come with this firmware update already installed? (so i won't have to go through updating it myself)
thank you.
@frogmeat69: thanks! that's comforting that they have their currently shipping units already updated. one less thing to do, one less unknown, and one less bit of stomach acid.
it's likely that for the next 2 years or so, this D90 might not have anymore firmware updates!
E30 issue is reproduced. But what's wrong with D50/D50s? Never heard of it.
What is this issue? Sudden explosive sound, highly distorted but with the music somehow recognisable behind the noise?
Sometimes this happens with my D90 as well with PCM768. Not that I care much about such crazy upsampling...
Ah. I have exactly the same with my d90, but, as you said, only on PCM 768 (and then only sporadically). It does not bother me because I never use that kind of upsampling either. I thought I was the only one!
Looking at the E30 thread it looks like this is it. Provably some error in the coding of the XMOS chip that causes some bit shift of the data at that frequency.
Note that upsampling to 768khz (or 768khz files) serves to nothing, except to waste cpu cycles (or storage).
if it were indeed an error on the XMOS programming, does that mean it is UNABLE to be updated via a future firmware update? i wonder if the company even is aware of this programming error, assuming they don't monitor this thread carefully.
Pretty sure there is no separate D90 MQA thread. You'll find comments on both in this thread, as humongous as it is. You may also find that there is a lot of negativity against the whole MQA-processing issue, but that's up for you to evaluate. I am a happy owner of the Topping D90 MQA with no regrets (except for one, next paragraph). I'm not really an MQA proponent (not really at all), but I wanted a unit capable of decoding MQA, and I think Topping has now sorted out most of the D90 MQA's issues (which were mainly due to the XMOS XU216 chip).this thread is NOT for the D90 mqa version?
I'm in a similar boat. My stack is all black except the d90, which I think looks great in silver, but oh well.My only issue is that I got the D90 MQA in silver for my upstair's bedroom setup, and now I'm thinking it's better suited for my living room setup, which would've been better in black