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Topping D90 Balanced USB DAC Review

kkeretic

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Hey guys, can someone confirm that turning-off your PC will shut the D90 down (ie soft shutdown where the front panel display goes dark)? If so, does putting your PC to 'sleep' have the same effect? I can confirm the D70 does NOT do this (unless you press and hold the front power button).
Reason I ask is my D70 doesn't 'see' my PC about 25% of the time and am wondering if the D90 will do better...

I have the D70 and just want to confirm it turns on with the PC and turns off a minute after the PC goes to sleep. Not a single problem with it's visibility for now. But I have it only for about three weeks now. Tried two different USB cables, the original one that came with the dac and some longer third party one. The dac is plugged into a usb 2.0 port, haven't tried it with USB 3.0. I really doubt there are any differences between the D70 and D90 in that regard. Are you sure you have the auto option on the D70 turned on? I also considered replacing the D70 with the D90 after initial listening due to the lack of bass-I-am-used-to-with-an-impact but gave up after inserting an inexpensive FX-Audio Tube-03 preamp/buffer with AD797+OPA627 opamps and JAN GE5654W tubes into the system. Oh, my, now it's like I have a completely different device from a league above. Maybe to try a fourth cable? I believe it is some compatibility issue. Can you try it with some other PC or laptop? If you can try to connect it through the optical (spdif) to anything (PC/TV/anything), it should behave the same (turn on/off with the signal).
 

w1000i

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Thanks for your response maxxevv.

i) Not anymore. Not a hub, but was using an iFi Micro USB 3.0. Now just straight into the USB port on my PC. Have also tried different ports. Issue still persists.

ii) I've gone through 3 different USB cables (one of which is Audioquest) trying to isolate the issue. To no avail.

As I posted earlier in this thread, I just bought the D70 and have 'til January 31st to return it for a full refund if I want and get a D90. Been weighing the option.

Thanks again for your suggestions. Still hoping someone will chime-in and answer my initial question about whether or not the D90 shuts down when the PC is powered off/put to sleep.

Did you find ifi Micro USB 3.0 benifit sound quality ?
 

sq225917

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"Jitter is proportional to level of the signal so if you lower the 12 kHz tone, they would go down in level proportionally"

Amir I find this ambiguous, do you mean proportional to the encoded signal frequency, the encoded volume level or the voltage level of the digital signal?

I'd always assumed given enough voltage to discern crossing points in the digital stream that none of the above were true.
 

Angstrom

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So reading more about this DAC post-AKM 4499, the Current to Voltage Conversion is done by 4 TI OPA1612 Op-amps. So this first external part of the analog signal chain feeding your RCA and XLR outputs, you can find a lot about them here http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/opa1612.pdf

Output of the OPA1612 then feed the 3 TI LME49720 http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lme49720.pdf Op-amp prior going out RCA and XLR outputs

Looking at the power delivery section it looks very nice, I like working with Nihon capacitors.
 

Theleb_Kaarna

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I have the D70 and just want to confirm it turns on with the PC and turns off a minute after the PC goes to sleep. Not a single problem with it's visibility for now. But I have it only for about three weeks now. Tried two different USB cables, the original one that came with the dac and some longer third party one. The dac is plugged into a usb 2.0 port, haven't tried it with USB 3.0. I really doubt there are any differences between the D70 and D90 in that regard. Are you sure you have the auto option on the D70 turned on? I also considered replacing the D70 with the D90 after initial listening due to the lack of bass-I-am-used-to-with-an-impact but gave up after inserting an inexpensive FX-Audio Tube-03 preamp/buffer with AD797+OPA627 opamps and JAN GE5654W tubes into the system. Oh, my, now it's like I have a completely different device from a league above. Maybe to try a fourth cable? I believe it is some compatibility issue. Can you try it with some other PC or laptop? If you can try to connect it through the optical (spdif) to anything (PC/TV/anything), it should behave the same (turn on/off with the signal).
I stand corrected about the D70 not having the auto shutdown feature the D90 has. It does. And yes, it turned out my 'auto option' was not set to "Auto". It is now. Connection problem is still persisting. No matter though. I appreciate all your suggestions... I've decided to upgrade to the D90 anyway. When I get it and if connection is still an issue, I'll do some more in-depth experimenting and post back what the fix was. Thanks again for your suggestions!
 

Theleb_Kaarna

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Did you find ifi Micro USB 3.0 benifit sound quality ?
It did 'quiet' the signal path removing a faint 'buzzing' issue with my last set-up, I'm guessing a ground issue. I was told (earlier in this thread) that with the later quality DACs, such as Topping, it was unnecessary, and in fact its presence it the signal path could potentially degrade the original signal. I've since removed it and the 'buzz' is not apparent with the D70. I'm planning to hold onto it for now and do some further experimenting when I have time.
 

AndyLu

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Hi guys does anyone know when the MQA version is coming out please? Thank you.

The Apos audio website states that it should be available on March 1 2020. But, as posted by JohnYang1997, no one knows if the corona virus is going to delay that:

1580639463536.png
1580639463536.png
 

Snafu

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I hope new version knocks at least $100 off from old ones price.
 

AndyLu

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I hope new version knocks at least $100 off from old ones price.

What do you mean with the 'old one's' price?

The 'normal' D90 is just new and costs USD 699,99. It is expected that the MQA version will cost $100 to $150.- more than that. But an official price is not yet known. The MQA version is not a successor for the D90. Both versions will co-exist.
 

Gradius

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each to their own please, MQA masters sounds fine to me, I like it. I don't think its fair that you come along and thread crap me.

We (yes, I'm not alone) crap the MQA, not the person. The person is just victim of what he/she doesn't know.

Btw, it has nothing to do with "thread crap" as mqa was already mentioned right on this one.
 

JohnYang1997

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MQA would certainly sound good. But is it better? Is it worth the effort? Is it worth the modification done to the DAC signal chain?
 

BDWoody

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MQA is lossy like mp3. Why spend so much to hear lossy formats is beyond my comprehension.

Because...the little light...
 

JohnYang1997

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MQA is lossy like mp3. Why spend so much to hear lossy formats is beyond my comprehension.
That's a bit too far. It's lossless if CD format is lossless. If MQA is lossy then CD is no better than lossy. It's all about reference.
 
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