Topping D90 Balanced USB DAC Review

[win]

This review pushed me over the edge to upgrade my current dac (jds labs el dacii) beacuse I wanted a balanced output one anyway.

See you in a decade when any further advancements to DACs beyond this D90 are relevant to humans

 

[Cut-Throat]

What is that thing above the D90? And what equipment rack/holder is that? Looks real cool...

I had an Acrylic shelf made. And atop the shelf is an Allo Digione (Which is a Raspberry Pi with a Digitial Output Board) - A Network Music Streamer. It is my only Audio Source. Any Radio Station in the world as well as Spotify and Qobuz and my 5,500 Album Music Library.

 

[jtwrace]

If anyone has a D90 for sale please let me know. Oh, and it works well with a streamer such as the Allo?

 

[bahamot]

If anyone has a D90 for sale please let me know. Oh, and it works well with a streamer such as the Allo?

Works with SBC running Android too.

 

[Cut-Throat]

If anyone has a D90 for sale please let me know. Oh, and it works well with a streamer such as the Allo?

AbsolutelyDACs works well for streamers. I'd go so far as to say it was made for them!

 

[jtwrace]

AbsolutelyDACs works well for streamers. I'd go so far as to say it was made for them!

Not all dacs work with streamers, hence the question.

 

[wemist01]

Yes, Topping has supplied the PDF to "printer spreads" for a single sheet of paper that gets folded up in the product box. The PDF document is unwieldy since some pages are sideways. But Acrobat's interface is highly capable. If a PDF presents a challenge, the tool you need is likely there.

First, make sure you recognize the difference between accessing and reading PDF files in your web browser using the Adobe Acrobat plugin and downloading the file and opening it in the Acrobat Reader application. You may or may not be loading the PDFs into your browser. If you are, back up, right-click on the link to the file and choose "Save link as..". Your file-reading options are going to be far more robust using the Acrobat Reader application.

Zoom and rotate options are available under the View menu, and both will have keyboard shortcuts. If you make your tool choice the hand, you can freely move the page around, zoom in and out, rotate right and left, all very quickly. You just need to mentally note the shortcuts. You probably have the same shortcuts I do:
Zoom In: Control + Plus
Zoom Out: Control + Minus
Rotate Clockwise: Shift + Control +Plus
Rotate Counterclockwise: Shift + Control +Minus

 

[Cut-Throat]

Not all dacs work with streamers, hence the question.

Well, let's say any Streamer that I would be interested in will have Digital Outputs. In fact I am not aware of a streamer that does not have a Digital Output.

 

[jtwrace]

Well, let's say any Streamer that I would be interested in will have Digital Outputs. In fact I am not aware of a streamer that does not have a Digital Output.

You're missing the point...it's not about the streamer having a digital output. It's about the DAC being able to work with the streamer on an OS level and that being fully Linux supported.

 

[dmac6419]

Yes, I have "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device":
View attachment 67099
The Tidal Settings in the File Menu takes you to the settings dialog:
View attachment 67101
^^^ then click the Streaming Tab to select the Sound Output device for exclusive use,
and then click (More Settings) to get into this dialog:
View attachment 67098
When I toggle the Tidal "Use Exclusive Mode" option in the Tidal Streaming settings dialog the FiiO M15 USB DAC mode display changes from 384k/32bit to indicate the change, in this case to 88.2khz/32bit, and if I toggle the "Use Exclusive Mode" off while the Master Track is playing the FiiO M15 USB DAC mode display changes back to 384k/32bit.
And, here is the youtube playback error when Tidal has Exclusive Mode use:
View attachment 67113
Immediately as I disable "Exclusive Mode" toggle in Tidal I can refresh that youtube page and it will begin playing with audio.

I'll report back when I hook up the D90 MQA and see if that works the same.

Probably related to Fiio M15

 

[Cut-Throat]

You're missing the point...it's not about the streamer having a digital output. It's about the DAC being able to work with the streamer on an OS level and that being fully Linux supported.

Yes, Pardon me I am completely missing your point. I am not aware of any Streamer that has a Digital Output that a DAC could Not handle. Can you link to one, so I know what you're talking about.

 

[hmscott]

Probably related to Fiio M15

Thanks for reminding me to check this on my D90 MQA

It took just a minute to verify the same thing happens with the D90 MQA.

The D90 MQA is acting the same as the FiiO M15 with regards to this "Exclusive Mode" Tidal App behavior.

I can switch mid-stream from MQA to PCM and back by dropping out of Exclusive Mode (flipped the Stream settings option) and switching it back on again.

When I have Tidal App running on Windows 10, enable Exclusive mode - the D90 MQA shows "192khz / MQA." and trying to run another audio application fails - youtube for example shows a renderer failure, same as on the M15 as the USB DAC.

And the same as with the M15 the D90 MQA switches from "192khz / MQA." to "384hkz / PCM" as soon as I switch out of Exclusive mode in Tidal App, and I can refresh the tab running that youtube video and it plays fine.

Update to add Topping D90 MQA Tidal Settings dialog, Enable "Use Exclusive Mode" and "Passthrough MQA" for D90 MQA use:

 

[IslandMD]

I had an Acrylic shelf made. And atop the shelf is an Allo Digione (Which is a Raspberry Pi with a Digitial Output Board) - A Network Music Streamer. It is my only Audio Source. Any Radio Station in the world as well as Spotify and Qobuz and my 5,500 Album Music Library.

Which software are you running on the RPi?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Which software are you running on the RPi?

PiCorePlayer which is LMS.

 

[IslandMD]

PiCorePlayer which is LMS.

Thanks. I'm using "Volumio Free" in my Odroid C2 streamer which works great as a DLNA renderer for JRiver/JRemote but unfortunately, to add Tidal or Qobuz support you need to subscribe to their MyVolumio service. I'd rather not add another subscription service.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Thanks. I'm using "Volumio Free" in my Odroid C2 streamer which works great as a DLNA renderer for JRiver/JRemote but unfortunately, to add Tidal or Qobuz support you need to subscribe to their MyVolumio service. I'd rather not add another subscription service.

I think you'll like PiCorePlayer. It is the most feature rich and supports more software than any streaming software I've come across. It is also free, but I donate to the Group of Developers. They are on the Squeezelite forums on a Daily Basis for Support.
I've tried Volumio at various times, and found it rather Buggy. I tried to use it last month under the free trial for 30 days and was unable to get QOBUZ Working at all. They did get back to me in a couple weeks and told me that they had fixed a bug in this area.

 

[EchoChamber]

Thanks. I'm using "Volumio Free" in my Odroid C2 streamer which works great as a DLNA renderer for JRiver/JRemote but unfortunately, to add Tidal or Qobuz support you need to subscribe to their MyVolumio service. I'd rather not add another subscription service.

Unfortunately Volumio's user experience is lacking... I had the subscription but using Tidal on the Volumio iOS app was far from the Tidal iOS App experience, I ended up streaming using AirPlay so I could use Tidal and Amazon HD native apps. I'm now trying Roon (not free) which is at a whole other level, they actually have product designers in their team. Running RoPieeeXL on my Pi 3 B+ works really well and has a ton of features using the Roon DSP filters.

 

[auronthas]

Not all dacs work with streamers, hence the question.

D90 works well with my streamer Auralic Aries Mini via USB and stream wirelessly to my NAS. D90 connect to both A90 headamp (RCA) and Krell integrated amp (XLR) respectively to headphone system and speaker system.

Awaiting another pair of XLR cable to bridge A90 (XLR out) to Krell (XLR in), D90 (XLR in) A90 (XLR out).

 

[Leha62]

PiCorePlayer which is LMS.

I use the Album player for Linux, it is based on PiCorePlayer developed, one of the best players, renders

 

[Leha62]

my first impressions of using the D70 / D90 https://www.drive2.ru/b/562636318803231009/