Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

[MMP]

I guess they thought............."well everyone on ASR hates MQA anyway"!!!!

Haha. True but my concern was if anything else was affected. I don't care about MQA.

 

[MMP]

I just received update from Topping that they have fixed the problem with the update. It's on their site. I will give it a shot

 

[MMP]

Well, I was one of the first to jump onboard with the firmware v1.86. Other than the non-display of the MQA logo, it does play my MQA files. The sampling rate changes from 44.1khz to 176khz indicating the MQA is working.

Anyway, the latest firmware v1.87 was just available and the MQA logo came back.

For what it's worth, been playing around with the sound tuning, they do change the sound, not as clean but do have some interesting effect. Could be fun having to change the tuning once in while to experience music playback. Been listening with the Valve tuning for the time being. Really do reminds me of how my LP Vinyls sounded like on my father's old valve hifi set with all the distortions LOL.

I fixed it too. I really don't care about MQA but I wanted to be sure nothing else was messed up because this specific upgrade was for the SE model.
As for the sound enhancers....I notice nothing.

 

[damieneo]

I fixed it too. I really don't care about MQA but I wanted to be sure nothing else was messed up because this specific upgrade was for the SE model.
As for the sound enhancers....I notice nothing.

I'm not sure if the tunings are enhancers. They are more like simulations of different sonics when they are playback through valve or transistor systems. My system is from Windows PC > USB > Topping HS01 > D90Se > A90 > Adam Audio T5V, all connected with Van Damme cables. The effects are subtle through XLR but do seem more pronounced through RCA and higher output voltage setting. It is quite noticeable on orchestral recordings, when the timbres of the brass and strings sounded a bit differently than the unchanged setting.

 

[Rottmannash]

Well, I was one of the first to jump onboard with the firmware v1.86. Other than the non-display of the MQA logo, it does play my MQA files. The sampling rate changes from 44.1khz to 176khz indicating the MQA is working.

Anyway, the latest firmware v1.87 was just available and the MQA logo came back.

For what it's worth, been playing around with the sound tuning, they do change the sound, not as clean but do have some interesting effect. Could be fun having to change the tuning once in while to experience music playback. Been listening with the Valve tuning for the time being. Really do reminds me of how my LP Vinyls sounded like on my father's old valve hifi set with all the distortions LOL.

How does one select these new effects? Will they work using optical or coax?

 

[mocenigo]

First you need to have an Intel Mac. After that you connect your Mac to the USB on the DAC and run the app you dowloaded and choose from the app the .bin file you also downloaded.

What, you have found some software that does NOT run under Rosetta?

 

[damieneo]

How does one select these new effects? Will they work using optical or coax?

It's in the set-up menu. Power off and then power on while pressing the Selection Button at the same time. Once in the menu scroll down until you see sound settings. There you can select either OFF, Valve or Transistor. After selecting, Save and Exit to reboot with the new settings.

They work in USB, Coax or Optical. Even Bluetooth.

 

[reasons]

What is the difference in the topping d90le and d90se? Is it only the mqa support for $100 more?

 

[elvisizer]

First you need to have an Intel Mac. After that you connect your Mac to the USB on the DAC and run the app you dowloaded and choose from the app the .bin file you also downloaded.

actually it looks like the mac download is messed up- I just downloaded it on both an intel mac and an apple silicon and on both that is not actually a valid mac app- won't open on either, and the actual executable thinks its a text file.
edit: oh it's just permissions- added execute perms to the actual executable and it works fine now on both apple silicon and intel. messy, topping, messy!
also the readme in the mac download talks about running 'the .exe'

 

[Eddy H.]

It was easier to update than I thought it would be. Checking out the valve profile now. Thanks Topping!

 

[crispynz1]

It was easier to update than I thought it would be. Checking out the valve profile now. Thanks Topping!

Can you please point me in the direction of a how to for windows? TIA

 

[brood2022]

actually it looks like the mac download is messed up- I just downloaded it on both an intel mac and an apple silicon and on both that is not actually a valid mac app- won't open on either, and the actual executable thinks its a text file.
edit: oh it's just permissions- added execute perms to the actual executable and it works fine now on both apple silicon and intel. messy, topping, messy!
also the readme in the mac download talks about running 'the .exe' :facepalm：

right click the Topping USB DFU.app -> show package content -> find ToriLogic USB DFU.terminal in MacOS file

​

 

[elvisizer]

@brood2022 right- like I said it didn’t have execute permissions.

 

[crispynz1]

Can you please point me in the direction of a how to for windows? TIA

Sorted

 

[Eddy H.]

I think no effect sounds the best. Tube isn't bad though. It's nice to have options

 

[ToriCatcher]

Can someone elaborate on the different sounds signatures added by the update? I unfortunately have the E50, and I'm very curious.

 

[nelamvr6]

In my opinion Topping has seriously mis stepped here. They have misjudged the market for this DAC. I believe the market for this DAC is serious audiophiles who will view these added colorations as superfluous and stupid.

This DAC drew the notice of a lot of people specifically because of its extremely accurate reproduction of audio. And now they've added colorations?

I suppose that they want to expand the market for this DAC to include people who are ill-informed, and that's certainly within their rights. But that's a hard pass for me.

 

[Jimbob54]

In my opinion Topping has seriously mis stepped here. They have misjudged the market for this DAC. I believe the market for this DAC is serious audiophiles who will view these added colorations as superfluous and stupid.

This DAC drew the notice of a lot of people specifically because of its extremely accurate reproduction of audio. And now they've added colorations?

I suppose that they want to expand the market for this DAC to include people who are ill-informed, and that's certainly within their rights. But that's a hard pass for me.

You know they are optional? If the stock setting beats the current model for absolute performance it will still sell.

 

[nelamvr6]

You know they are optional? If the stock setting beats the current model for absolute performance it will still sell.

Yes, I understand that. But I am disappointed that Topping is even thinking along these lines. They shouldn't be wasting resources figuring out how to add colorations. If anything, they should be working to remove even the hint of coloration. It's the same old BS that I've been rolling my eyes at for fifty some odd years.

Does the new firmware actually fix any known issues, or is the only purpose to add these colorations?

EDIT: I just went to the Topping page, and I see that they did add at least some substantiative features, channel balance could be beneficial to some. And for those experiencing the display issue that's mentioned on Topping's site, I suppose that's worthwhile.

But overall, I don't find this update to be worth my time at all. Just my $0.02, YMMV etc...

 

[Rja4000]

Although I'm aligned to pursue transparency, I don't see why they shouldn't offer this as a switchable option.

You know, I guess, that distortion is often added intentionally during music production process, and in quite heavy amounts ?
It's just a creative effect, just like bass and trebble, reverb or dynamics. Or noise.

You'd be very surprised how flat some productions would sound without any distortion.

So why not ?

Putting THD in the perspective

Some pages for reference https://clarityfidelity.blogspot.com/2016/05/audeze-lcd-2-fazor-over-ear-headphones.html https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=gre_nada&logNo=221293072936&navType=tl https://clarityfidelity.blogspot.com/2016/06/stax-sr-404-signature-over-ear.html...

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