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Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

Thank you always ASR.
And congratulations to Mr. JohnYang1997 & TOPPING team!
d90se_00001hc.jpg
 
nagster said:
Thank you always ASR.
And congratulations to Mr. JohnYang1997 & TOPPING team!
View attachment 137178
Click to expand...
Not to insult the maker, to my non-engineering eye it looks nice and clean but also not really fancy / a bit "cheapish". Like, is that 899USD ?
However, apparently it doesn't have to look fancy to be a very good product :D Furthermore, one of the big advantages of the Topping products for me is the small convenient formfactor, it doesn't take up a lot of space on your desk. Maybe that's also big part of the engineering challenge: to get very good quality/functionality to fit into such a small form factor.

As I am in the market for a new Amp, I hope Topping will not wait too long to release an A90se with a fix for the ground loop issue which for some users / connections occurs and any other improvements they could think of like (hint) e.g.
- a somewhat bigger, nicer volume knob.
- switch only for HPA/PRE and an separate switch for power on / off.

ps: I know have the Klipsch Heritage dac/amp. Those switches and the volumeknob feel so nice ! :)
 
Last edited:
Had anybody the chance to compare the posted photo of the D90SE internals with the (prototype ?) samples circulated for reviews ?
 
MBL'er said:
Had anybody the chance to compare the posted photo of the D90SE internals with the (prototype ?) samples circulated for reviews ?
Click to expand...
The one Amir has is the production unit straight pulled from the production line.
Wolf's is a prototype. We have changed a few things after that.
 
Mattx said:
Not to insult the maker, to my non-engineering eye it looks nice and clean but also not really fancy / a bit "cheapish". Like, is that 899USD ?
However, apparently it doesn't have to look fancy to be a very good product :D Furthermore, one of the big advantages of the Topping products for me is the small convenient formfactor, it doesn't take up a lot of space on your desk. Maybe that's also big part of the engineering challenge: to get very good quality/functionality to fit into such a small form factor.

As I am in the market for a new Amp, I hope Topping will not wait too long to release an A90se with a fix for the ground loop issue which for some users / connections occurs and any other improvements they could think of like (hint) e.g.
- a somewhat bigger, nicer volume knob.
- switch only for HPA/PRE and an separate switch for power on / off.

ps: I know have the Klipsch Heritage dac/amp. Those switches and the volumeknob feel so nice ! :)
Click to expand...
You can use RCA to XLR cable for ground loop issue.
 
Board looks super nice. Is that an internal company photo or an actual unit? The board looks very clean (defluxed, excellent soldering). Seems Topping is improving with every generation in these areas.

@JohnYang1997 , aside from the SMPS in place of the linear supply, and the summing after I/V conversion, how else does this differ from the DX7 Pro implementation? Do you think overall performance is improvement is realized in real use?

I notice there is no 9311 in this version. Is that because of the change in supply? I don't see many other designers using it either, but ESS says it can guarantee performance regardless of design choices, so I am sure you have decided you're already meeting or surpassing its performance with your design.

Also, what are your feelings on a professional version? Your DACS are fantastic, and aside from much lower output level they would be a knockout in the studio. We need to keep our levels matched and meters calibrated, and even 5V output is on the low side for our environment.

I can't wait to get mine next week.
 
Pjetrof said:
Could you use this dac straith in your amplifier?
Click to expand...


amirm said:
Sure. Anytime a DAC has a volume control, you can do this.

The only reason to use a pre-amp after it is if you have analog sources you want to switch to in addition to DAC. If all you are doing is playing digital files through the DAC then a pre-amp is not needed. Nor recommended in my book.
Click to expand...


Can you explain this more? What is the minimum output that you would need to not need a preamp? And what does the volume control have to do with it?
 
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