Topping D90 Balanced USB DAC Review

[Veri]

I have a bunch of otherwise noisy Samsung (and other) 5V power supplies that I have tried to use on my radios that use USB power, and those cheap 5v power supplies are all too noisy - too noisy to use to power and listen, only good for charging.

Quite frankly, I've never had those noise issues with just those standard type of chargers. And Amir tends to use the generic ones to have a 'normal' use case of a standard type supply, that tends to be cleaned up with regulators inside the device. Something that has zero noise rejection properties and that needs some PSU upgrade is simply not well made... or the manufacturer just wants to up-sell you something.

BTW, have you actually used that USB cable to get rid of PC GPU noise?

If you do test it, please post here as I couldn't find a USB cable with no power wires.

I own that cable but never had to use it, haha... it's just lying in a desk somewhere. I can test it functions but don't have GPU noise.

 

[fendy323]

hello guys,
my setup is topping combo a90+d90,
sudenlly my headphone no sounds, but a90 and d90 power still on.
i already tried to change from usb source to bluetooth, but still no sound, what should i do?

 

[Harmonie]

hello guys,
my setup is topping combo a90+d90,
sudenlly my headphone no sounds, but a90 and d90 power still on.
i already tried to change from usb source to bluetooth, but still no sound, what should i do?

Did you try to swap, XLR <> RCA in and out?
Your HP cable ?

 

[Inkey31]

hello guys,
my setup is topping combo a90+d90,
sudenlly my headphone no sounds, but a90 and d90 power still on.
i already tried to change from usb source to bluetooth, but still no sound, what should i do?

You check your dac input? Check the USB cable, ensure Windows isnt taking over the driver for whatever reason.

You using ASIO drivers? In what app?

 

[YSC]

I suspect you did some kind of switched input?

 

[Final]

Try another source on the same input to verify it`s DAC related. If so, and you use a PC check that your program is using D90 for sound.

 

[gypsygib]

This showed up in my email recently so it prolly a delayed reply but my two cents regarding golden samples would be every electronic device has some variation so whats the percentage of expected similarity controlling for environmental factors for dacs/amp, assuming the question is measurement variation. I presume far less variation than say CPUs/GPS. But if it was as high as headphones, it would be fairly large. If it's quality standards, 3% defective rate within a year seems standard. Only concern would be how defective in terms of collateral damage to plugged in devices which should be far less than 1% or even zero.

 

[hmscott]

The Topping replacement for the D90/D90 MQA, the D90SE has been released.

D90SE Fully Balanced DAC -TOPPING (tpdz.net)

The D90SE has new ES9038Pro, Sinad 126dB@1khz (vs D90 122dB@1khz), Dynamic Range 134dB@1khz (vs D90 127dB@1khz), 2nd gen XMOS XU216, same CSR 8675, MQA is Included and USB/Optical/Coax/AES now support MQA Render/MQA Decode/MQA Studio, IIS Supports DSD1024, higher analog output options with 5V/4V XLR and 2.5V/2V RCA

Spoiler: Topping Measurements, D90SE and D90

D90SE:

D90:

D90SE:

D90:

Additional Topping D90SE measurements:

I received D90SE email updates from APOS, and Hifigo has the D90SE up for order:

TOPPING D90SE DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) – Apos Audio
Topping D90SE DAC — HiFiGo

The AKM AK4499 based D90/D90 MQA have sold out everywhere(?)

The price for the D90/D90 MQA was $699/$799, and now the D90SE (MQA Included) is $899.

Topping has removed the D90/D90 MQA product listing, so I thought I would preserve the Topping D90/D90 MQA info here, thanks to Hifigo.com for keeping the D90/D90 MQA product listing online:

Spoiler: D90/D90 MQA information, from the Hifigo D90/D90 MQA product listing, Topping sourced

https://hifigo.com/products/topping...4499-bt-5-0-dsd512-32bit-768khz-pre-amplifier

Update: The Topping product page has 2 different USB DSD statements, Specifications Chart says DSD512 (USB), another graphic says USB supports up to DSD1024 & PCM 768khz...which is it?

Spoiler: Conflicting USB DSD specifications:

Update 2: The discrepancy has been corrected on the Topping site, and the change has already been rolled out to the retail sites as well!!, that was very fast

 

[JohnYang1997]

The Topping D90SE is out

D90SE Fully Balanced DAC -TOPPING (tpdz.net)

The D90SE has new 2 x ES9038Pro, 2nd gen XMOS XU216 adds DSD1024 (USB), Sinad 126dB@1khz (vs D90 122dB@1khz), Dynamic Range 134dB@1khz (vs D90 127dB@1khz), same CSR 8675, MQA Standard and USB/Optical/Coax/AES now support MQA, IIS Supports DSD1024, higher output options with 5V/4V XLR and 2.5V/2V RCA

Spoiler: Topping Measurements, D90SE and D90

D90SE:
View attachment 135707
D90:
View attachment 135708
D90SE:
View attachment 135711
D90:
View attachment 135686
Additional Topping D90SE measurements:
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I received email updates from APOS, and Hifigo has the D90SE up for order:

TOPPING D90SE DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) – Apos Audio
Topping D90SE DAC — HiFiGo

The D90/D90 MQA has sold out everywhere(?)

The price for the D90/D90 MQA was $699/$799, and now the D90SE (MQA Standard) is $899.

Spoiler: D90/D90 MQA information, from the Hifigo D90/D90 MQA product listing, Topping sourced

https://hifigo.com/products/topping...4499-bt-5-0-dsd512-32bit-768khz-pre-amplifier
View attachment 135687
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One thing to notice is that at the end of its life, D90MQA was already 849usd. And since last time adjusting price, USD to RMB has dropped further. So it's inevitable that D90se is 899usd.

 

[hmscott]

One thing to notice is that at the end of its life, D90MQA was already 849usd. And since last time adjusting price, USD to RMB has dropped further. So it's inevitable that D90se is 899usd.

Currency conversion is a big part of it, the increase in the D90 MQA might be that too - or scarcity and the general rise in electronics due to shortages another.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Currency conversion is a big part of it, the increase in the D90 MQA might be that too - or scarcity and the general rise in electronics due to shortages another.

Yeah some components are already over 10x.

 

[hmscott]

Hi @JohnYang1997 - The Topping product page has 2 different USB DSD statements, Specifications Chart says DSD512 (USB), another graphic says USB supports up to DSD1024 & PCM 768khz...which is it?
D90SE Fully Balanced DAC -TOPPING (tpdz.net)

Spoiler: Conflicting USB DSD specifications:

Update: The discrepancy has been corrected on the Topping site, and the change has already been rolled out to the retail sites as well!!, that was very fast

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hi @JohnYang1997 - The Topping product page has 2 different USB DSD statements, Specifications Chart says DSD512 (USB), another graphic says USB supports up to DSD1024 & PCM 768khz...which is it?
D90SE Fully Balanced DAC -TOPPING (tpdz.net)

Spoiler: Conflicting USB DSD specifications:

View attachment 135734
View attachment 135735

USB supports up to DSD512
IIS supports up to DSD1024
Will change that ASAP.

 

[Nicolaas]

USB supports up to DSD512
IIS supports up to DSD1024
Will change that ASAP.

Hope they will drill the top cover. My D90 gets quite warm especially in summer. It's on for many hours a day...

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hope they will drill the top cover. My D90 gets quite warm especially in summer. It's on for many hours a day...

The transformer is swapped out for SMPS. It should have less consumption especially when running at 4V mode. I have a30pro on top of d90se running for some weeks now. Quite warm but cooler than a30pro.

 

[Nicolaas]

The transformer is swapped out for SMPS. It should have less consumption especially when running at 4V mode. I have a30pro on top of d90se running for some weeks now. Quite warm but cooler than a30pro.

Thanks John, good to know they are using Switched Mode Power Supply in the D90SE. Love my D90!

 

[ALex_hha]

One thing to notice is that at the end of its life, D90MQA was already 849usd. And since last time adjusting price, USD to RMB has dropped further. So it's inevitable that D90se is 899usd.

Do you have any plan to release D90 on ESS but without MQA ?

 

[hmscott]

Do you have any plan to release D90 on ESS but without MQA ?

The D90 and D90 MQA have different hardware. The D90 has the XU208 and the D90 MQA has the XU216 + re-engineering costs to add MQA Decoder supporting hardware, and then there is the newly acquired license from MQA to amortize over the units shipped. The D90 was re-engineered to add MQA features - possible due to the XU216 - responding to a high demand for MQA.

Actually I'm not sure if MQA licensing has a lump sum paid up to a certain number of units shipped - amortizing the cost over each unit, or if there is a lump sum + fixed per unit cost up to a certain number of units shipped.

The D90SE has the more expensive hardware already, the "2nd Generation 16-Core XMOS XU216 USB Signal Receiver", from the beginning of the product release.

Topping would need to "go backwards" to offer a D90SE without MQA, and re-engineer the D90SE to remove that 2nd gen XU216 part and re-design in the less expensive XU208, and then change the software to remove the MQA bits - and Topping would probably need to come up with new unique code to integrate the new (to this product) XU208 into the D90SE, and then optimize the code to get the same awesome performance measurements as the D90SE with the 2nd gen XU216 is getting.

In effect it would be *more* costly to re-engineer the D90SE hardware to downgrade it to non-MQA, and so there likely wouldn't be any real end user cost savings - the price might even go up - like it did when Topping spent extra $ to re-engineer the D90 into the D90 MQA.

Simply turning off the MQA bits likely won't provide any savings to the build cost of the D90SE, as the marginal cost of enabling MQA on the D90SE might be zero, so I don't see Topping releasing a D90SE Non-MQA model.

And, what would stop D90SE *non-MQA* owners from simply flashing the D90SE *MQA* firmware onto the D90SE *non-MQA* model unless there is a significant hardware difference, like swapping the XU216 with the XU208?

Besides, a D90SE *non-MQA* model wouldn't be a very "Special Edition", now would it?

 

[sq225917]

Responding to a high demand for mqa?

 

[ALex_hha]

Simply turning off the MQA bits likely won't provide any savings to the build cost of the D90SE, as the marginal cost of enabling MQA on the D90SE might be zero, so I don't see Topping releasing a D90SE Non-MQA model.

I'm not an expert, but can we take D90 and just replace AKM with ESS ? As they do in D90/MQA(AKM) ==> D90SE (ESS)