Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

[Eddy H.]

OK - I no buy the D90SE then

Buy Buy Buy!

 

[S-unny]

Hello,
I recently purchased the topping D90SE with great enthusiasm partly because it has PreAmp capability. However, I have run into an issue in that I am unable to use its PreAmp to drive my powered speakers ! I am attempting the following config

bluetooth --> topping D90SE --> NAD C298 Power Amp --> Loud Speakers

I use my iphone to bt the music over but there is no sound out the speakers. Why not ?

The display shows -00.0 dB and I am unable to toggle (or use remote) this into positive territory. I can lower the numbers and go to -50dB and lower. What does increasing -ve here even mean ? I am quite stumped ! I thought with the PreAmp capability the D90SE should drive my power amp ...

Thank you for your help & guidance

 

[linger63]

First things first.
Get volume off 0.00 right NOW as that is MAX VOL and IF you get sound going........... you will blow something.
Volume starts in the minus as far down as you can go......... IIRC something like -99??

Anyway AFTER dialling volume down go into D90SE's setup menu and select DAC/PRE.

That should do it.
I am guessing a little bit as I had a D90 but I assume they operate similarly.

 

[S-unny]

First things first.
Get volume off 0.00 right NOW as that is MAX VOL and IF you get sound going........... you will blow something.
Volume starts in the minus as far down as you can go......... IIRC something like -99??

Anyway AFTER dialling volume down go into D90SE's setup menu and select DAC/PRE.

That should do it.
I am guessing a little bit as I had a D90 but I assume they operate similarly.

Thank you very much for the warning. I made sure that the PRE mode was activated & I then started from -20 dB down and incrementally increased the sound level. I can hear through the speakers loud enough. My config is

iphone --> bluetooth --> d90SE --> NAD c298 --> loud speakers

However, I have run into another conundrum since I use my iphone to send music over bluetooth .
I can now control music 2 ways
- by adjusting the volume on my iphone ( i am assuming that here I am increasing volume of the input digital signal )
- by using the topping D90SE remote ( i am assuming that here I am adjusting the volume of the output analog signal )

What is the right way to manage this ? My reading/browsing suggests that volume control of the digital signal is lossy. So I just want to use the d90se volume control. However, I dont know how/what then to adjust the iphone volume levels so that the digital input signal is not messed with.

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[linger63]

Thank you very much for the warning. I made sure that the PRE mode was activated & I then started from -20 dB down and incrementally increased the sound level. I can hear through the speakers loud enough. My config is

iphone --> bluetooth --> d90SE --> NAD c298 --> loud speakers

However, I have run into another conundrum since I use my iphone to send music over bluetooth .
I can now control music 2 ways
- by adjusting the volume on my iphone ( i am assuming that here I am increasing volume of the input digital signal )
- by using the topping D90SE remote ( i am assuming that here I am adjusting the volume of the output analog signal )

What is the right way to manage this ? My reading/browsing suggests that volume control of the digital signal is lossy. So I just want to use the d90se volume control. However, I dont know how/what then to adjust the iphone volume levels so that the digital input signal is not messed with.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Your (bolded) assumption re digital volume seems correct to me.
Can't help you with adjusting iphone vol level though.
If you can't totally disable it maybe you could at least run it at max to avoid more loss.

Good luck

 

[sjeesjie]

This is really great performance! But the review is from june 2021, maybe there are dacs with better sinad now?
@Amir Is it possible to get a sticky post on top to see what the current best dac is?

 

[linger63]

What does it matter if there is.
Any sinad measurements superior to the Topping D90SE will be inaudible anyway.

The "best" DAC should always be the one YOU can afford that has all the features YOU want and matches up well with the rest of YOUR gear.

 

[staticV3]

This is really great performance! But the review is from june 2021, maybe there are dacs with better sinad now?
@Amir Is it possible to get a sticky post on top to see what the current best dac is?

Every DAC review Amir does includes a ranking of all tested DACs.
Here's the most up to date ranking that's part of the Topping DX5 review from 26.03.2022:

D90SE is still on top.

 

[sjeesjie]

Every DAC review Amir does includes a ranking of all tested DACs.
Here's the most up to date ranking that's part of the Topping DX5 review from 26.03.2022:
View attachment 200718
D90SE is still on top.

Yeah I know, but how do you know what the most up to date graph is? The threads in this forum are ordered by latest post so I’m not even sure what the last review is?

 

[Jimbob54]

Thank you very much for the warning. I made sure that the PRE mode was activated & I then started from -20 dB down and incrementally increased the sound level. I can hear through the speakers loud enough. My config is

iphone --> bluetooth --> d90SE --> NAD c298 --> loud speakers

However, I have run into another conundrum since I use my iphone to send music over bluetooth .
I can now control music 2 ways
- by adjusting the volume on my iphone ( i am assuming that here I am increasing volume of the input digital signal )
- by using the topping D90SE remote ( i am assuming that here I am adjusting the volume of the output analog signal )

What is the right way to manage this ? My reading/browsing suggests that volume control of the digital signal is lossy. So I just want to use the d90se volume control. However, I dont know how/what then to adjust the iphone volume levels so that the digital input signal is not messed with.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Phone at max, use dac to decrease volume. The digital signal is messed with anyway since you are using Bluetooth.

 

[staticV3]

Yeah I know, but how do you know what the most up to date graph is? The threads in this forum are ordered by latest post so I’m not even sure what the last review is?

Click on "Reviews" in the top left corner.
There you find all of Amir's reviews ordered from latest to oldest, plus some featured reviews from time to time.
Now, scroll down until you find the latest DAC review made by Amir.
At the time of writing this, that review is of the Topping DX5 posted on 26.03.2022.
Open the review, scroll down to the rankings and that's the most up to date version.

 

[RandomEar]

Yeah I know, but how do you know what the most up to date graph is? The threads in this forum are ordered by latest post so I’m not even sure what the last review is?

Maybe easier: Go to "Review Index" -> "Electronics" and click on the "Rankings" button in the top left. The default order (ranking metric) should be "All devices | SINAD (Max)" and most devices at the top of this ranking will be DACs. You can also further filter the rankings by device category, if you like.

 

[staticV3]

Maybe easier: Go to "Review Index" -> "Electronics"

Easier yes, but that index is not up to date. The latest entry is from 20.10.2021.

 

[RygelXVI]

...and now we know why the odd 5.2v output, seems Topping knows all the tricks of how to get the Maximum Performance out of the APX555...
Scroll to 22:40...

 

[staticV3]

Good thing both Amir and Wolf test at both full output and standardized 4Vrms

 

[SlothRock]

That video is incredible. I think measurements are important but some here take them as gospel just as some take "their ears" as gospel. There are always outliers in both scenarios.

 

[S-unny]

And the 5v setting actually reaches 125db SINAD... what sorcery is this??

View attachment 135775

Kenny, If I may inquire, what is the test equipment and software that you use ? I would like to set something similar in my shop. Thank you.

 

[Jimbob54]

Kenny, If I may inquire, what is the test equipment and software that you use ? I would like to set something similar in my shop. Thank you.

Per his screen shot? That's an AP 555 dashboard and it's an image from the website of https://www.l7audiolab.com/ who is on here somewhere.

 

[AlephAlpha001]

This ought to liven things up. Had been getting rather quiet around here.

 

[Jimbob54]

This ought to liven things up. Had been getting rather quiet around here.

?