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Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

I should elaborate. Based on my own experience, we are all getting too worried about differences in level of 10 dB or less. If the DAC has a volume control don't worry about it.
 
Is anyone using the i2s input on the dac? Just curious if there is any advantage to using it.
 
TunaBug said:
If the goal is only to play SACD discs, it seems easier to rip them to DSF files and play them back from a computer to DAC over USB. I'm curious about i2s playback though, even if only as a hypothetical use.
Click to expand...
Easier if using a PC in the system but not necessarily the individually preferred method for SACD player owners.
 
I was thinking about getting a digital to digital converter with i2s output and running my TV, streamer and laptop into it. Just wondering if I'd get any improvements.
 
Eddy H. said:
I was thinking about getting a digital to digital converter with i2s output and running my TV, streamer and laptop into it. Just wondering if I'd get any improvements.
Click to expand...
Improvements? No way.
 
Is everyone leaving there dac on 24 hours a day? Just curious. I leave mine on auto and have never turned it off since I got it a few months ago and haven't had any problems.
 
Eddy H. said:
Is everyone leaving there dac on 24 hours a day? Just curious. I leave mine on auto and have never turned it off since I got it a few months ago and haven't had any problems.
Click to expand...
I do the same as you. Best of both worlds. Stays a little warm without temp extremes.
 
Interesting purchasing story... I ordered two D90SE's from Amazon Canada about 2 months ago which came directly from China. I only paid the price asked on Amazon. No shipping charges, no taxes and no duty... 1 month later the same ad on Amazon started charging all the above fees. (About $300!).. Looks like I totally lucked out as China had listed the D90SE's values as $10.00 each!, lol, but now it's being sold locally by Amazon with all fees attached... Glad I bought 2 of them! :) - Huge unexpected savings!
 
Last edited:
Due to the difficulty of translation, I did not understand . Which of the 7 filters does Amirm recommend
 
cap1980 said:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...phile-dom-wa-topping-d90se-mini-review.11358/
Click to expand...
I just read this while listening to my D90SE. I can't understand how this guy couldn't hear the amazing sound stage and detail of this DAC. It's by far the best sounding DAC I've ever heard... All I can think of is that he didn't have his system set up properly to accomodate a DAC that doesn't add anything to the signal. Or maybe a bad room, or dare I say not waiting long enough to 'break in' his DAC. Seems mine improved emmensly over a 2-week period of listening. Increased dynamic range will often sound 'weird' and unnatural to those who don't understand what uncolored sound is suppose to sound like. Like the dynamic contrast seen on Best Buy TV displays. Impressive for 10 minutes, but inaccurate as hell when viewing skin-tones, etc... Nope, the D90SE is unbelievably good, accurate.
 
rlwings said:
I just read this while listening to my D90SE. I can't understand how this guy couldn't hear the amazing sound stage and detail of this DAC. It's by far the best sounding DAC I've ever heard... All I can think of is that he didn't have his system set up properly to accomodate a DAC that doesn't add anything to the signal. Or maybe a bad room, or dare I say not waiting long enough to 'break in' his DAC. Seems mine improved emmensly over a 2-week period of listening. Increased dynamic range will often sound 'weird' and unnatural to those who don't understand what uncolored sound is suppose to sound like. Like the dynamic contrast seen on Best Buy TV displays. Impressive for 10 minutes, but inaccurate as hell when viewing skin-tones, etc... Nope, the D90SE is unbelievably good, accurate.
Click to expand...
Ive had the d50s, d30pro, d70s and the d90se is by far the best dac I've heard. The d30pro comes in second. Imo
 
amirm said:
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping D90SE flagship balanced USB DAC. It was sent to me by the company for testing and I believe costs US $899.

The D90SE comes in the same clothes as current class of Topping products which is just fine with me:

View attachment 135755

We have the usual inputs and outputs including Bluetooth:

View attachment 135756

The architecture here is based on ESS ES9038PRO DAC instead of AKM silicon. Hopefully this means better availability of parts and DACs.

Topping D90SE DAC Measurements
Out of box output voltage is our standard 4 volts but there is also a setting to adjust that to 5 volt (see test of that later). Let's start with USB input and balanced XLR output:

View attachment 135757

Oh wow! We have a record breaker here when it comes to SINAD:
View attachment 135759

View attachment 135760

The Audio Precision analyzer puts severe strain on getting such high numbers due to its own self-noise so I was surprised to see 123 dB limit broken. Distortion is down to an incredibly low -140 dB!

Switching to RCA output, we naturally lose some performance:

View attachment 135761

Noise level is kept to absolute minimum producing some of the best dynamic range numbers I have seen:

View attachment 135763

Temporarily switching to 5 volt output we get:

View attachment 135764

So not a major change but if you have an amp that can accept it, you can push your noise floor down a bit more. Remember, while distortions are hard to hear, hiss from speakers or headphones is not.

Intermodulation distortion (really the noise aspect) sets a new benchmark:

View attachment 135765

There was a time when DX3 Pro was the benchmark. See how much the D90SE beats it by. It is almost left in the dust!

Courtesy of resampling in ESS DAC, jitter is a forgotten word with either input:

View attachment 135766

Combined with the ultra noise floor, we can clearly resolve the low order bits of the 250Hz square wave at 24 bits! I had to remove the ASR logo to reveal them!

Linearity locked in and ran so perfectly, I had to scratch my eyes to believe it:

View attachment 135767

You have a choice of 7 filters and I was happy to see thee of them producing the correct filtering for 44.1 kHz sampling:

View attachment 135768

Attenuation was so good that I had to lower the bottom of the scale to show where they bottom out.

The only puzzler was THD+N versus frequency:

View attachment 135769

Seems like there is some kind of ESS signature going on with some filter setting. Getting the best performance required selecting filter #7 which has a bit of roll off in frequency response.

Multitone is nailed so hard that you could almost hear it nail screaming from being hit so hard:
View attachment 135770


Conclusions
It is 3:00am but I had to stay up and post this review. It is not every day that every barrier we have seen in DACs gets shattered to new levels. We are seeing extreme attention to every aspect of this design to squeeze this much performance out of this ESS DAC. Just when we though the race was over, here comes one more over achiever! Those of you who have made it a hobby to upgrade the latest and greatest, here is another one for you! :)

At the risk of stating the very obvious, it is my absolute pleasure to recommend the Topping D90SE.

Note: this is a new product. If you are not an early adopter type of person, you may want others to go before you. My testing is focused on performance only, not reliability or functionality.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Click to expand...
Thank you for doing this. I am looking into this being my endgame DAC though still searching for cheaper alternatives. I am not technical but able to understand what you presented. Again, thank you.
 
Hello everyone.

I became an owner of 90SE two days ago and i'm quite happy with the sound. But there is an issue, it provides pretty evident click at the start of the playback.

This is using USB input and 90SE plugged directly into power amp over RCA. I tried it from my notebook running from battery and it still clicks. Tried different USB/RCA/Power cables and the click is still there. On my other two DACs there is no click in the same setup.

So is this normal or should I return it to the seller?
 
Powell2199 said:
Hello everyone.

I became an owner of 90SE two days ago and i'm quite happy with the sound. But there is an issue, it provides pretty evident click at the start of the playback.

This is using USB input and 90SE plugged directly into power amp over RCA. I tried it from my notebook running from battery and it still clicks. Tried different USB/RCA/Power cables and the click is still there. On my other two DACs there is no click in the same setup.

So is this normal or should I return it to the seller?
Click to expand...

I haven't heard any clicks on playback start using RCA or XLR outputs. How loud is this click? Are you afraid it will damage your speakers, or is it just a nuisance?
 
nelamvr6 said:
I haven't heard any clicks on playback start using RCA or XLR outputs. How loud is this click? Are you afraid it will damage your speakers, or is it just a nuisance?
Click to expand...
It's quite loud, I doubt it will damage my speakers, but it annoys the hell out of me.
At first I thought that my PC could be an issue, but as I said a tried it from my notebook disconnected from the AC supply.
 
Powell2199 said:
It's quite loud, I doubt it will damage my speakers, but it annoys the hell out of me.
At first I thought that my PC could be an issue, but as I said a tried it from my notebook disconnected from the AC supply.
Click to expand...

That doesn't seem normal to me. Hopefully, others will pipe in soon with their experiences.

Who did you buy it from? Do they have a good reputation for their return policy? Would you just like to swap it for another D90SE?
 
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