Topping D90SE Review (Balanced DAC)

[faheem]

Congratulations @JohnYang1997. That drive to constantly reach a new benchmark, even when it goes beyond what is needed or expected, comes from within those individuals pride and commitment to their craft. It's been great watching Topping's growth, in engineering terms.

 

[DeepSpace57]

Why the hell D90SE is not discounted in summer same at Ali ? @JohnYang1997 every topping products will be at discount but D90SE seems not

 

[threni]

Why the hell D90SE is not discounted in summer same at Ali ? @JohnYang1997 every topping products will be at discount but D90SE seems not

Why the hell? Like it's just literally inconceivable to you that a company wouldn't discount upon launch a best of breed product that's probably going to go straight out of stock?

 

[Arnas]

Hell of a work John! 1 thing i like to adress is power cable socket.
I got OG Dx7 and socket wobble when you move cable on mine unit.
I see some companies add sockets with screws.
That would be excellent for future thanks.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hell of a work John! 1 thing i like to adress is power cable socket.
I got OG Dx7 and socket wobble when you move cable on mine unit.
I see some companies add sockets with screws.
That would be excellent for future thanks.

We have received a few such reports before. We even paused product to investigate last year. However when we tested every single one for 2 batches, every single one is solid and tight. So must be outliers.

 

[Arnas]

We have received a few such reports before. We even paused product to investigate last year. However when we tested every single one for 2 batches, every single one is solid and tight. So must be outliers.

Thanks, hopefully in a couple years i will be able to buy stack of D90se and A90se
lost quite a bit money buying crap based on subjective bullshit.
Love this none crap approach! Keep up the good work!

 

[abdo123]

I'm sorry but there is something I just don't understand...
If you say that all those dacs are transparent and sound the same why would you even recommend the d90se(for instance)?
Why isn't the conclusion of your review some thing like:
"I don't recommend this dac since you can get other dacs with the same features and 'way too transparent' for 400$ less. Go spend this money for speakers or... charity".

there are more factors that people should consider such as features, ease of use, availability and compatibility with their own gear and life style.

Amir recommends products (mostly) based on performance, which is fair, unless the product really gave him hell while testing you won’t see him not recommending a well priced well performing product.

 

[HDavidson]

I will wait for the new version of TOPPING DX (x) PRO with an improved headphone amp and improved pre function.

 

[Soulone]

Why the hell D90SE is not discounted in summer same at Ali ? @JohnYang1997 every topping products will be at discount but D90SE seems not

More info on this ( summer discount I mean ) please ?

 

[DeepSpace57]

More info on this ( summer discount I mean ) please ?

all stuff will be on sale by 12 per cent from the regular price. @JohnYang1997 can you tell me why D90SE is not at discount?

 

[JohnYang1997]

all stuff will be on sale by 12 per cent from the regular price. @JohnYang1997 can you tell me why D90SE is not at discount?

Or should I ask, why should there be a discount....

 

[DeepSpace57]

Or should I ask, why should there be a discount....

Yes mate! cause all SMLS, Topping etc. devices will be discount at AliExpress on 21/June through the following 5 days. The promotion is run by AliExpress like Black Friday. However, D90SE seems like not being included in the sale. Can you contact any retailer?

 

[slamman]

TBH, I don't get it either, but I also understand that many people don't see it that way. These are the most popular reviews on the site. It shows that deep down, this hobby is more about the gear than it is the audio or music. I do think there are many that truly believe DACs make a big difference in the overall sound they hear(tbf the belief alone kinda makes it true), and to those people, these reviews are the golden ticket for finding the best sounding DAC. I also think there's a crowd who know it doesn't matter, but just want new gear that scores higher. I got the sense that @abdo123 's nearly perfect comment was somewhat in jest(maybe not), but I get that sense that many really are willing to spend $800 on something they know won't make any difference. Some do it to support good engineering, which a product like this definitely is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty big gear-ophile myself, and it's definitely not "all about the music" for me. But, spending $800 on something that doesn't change the audible sound at all is above even my limits of new gear addiction.

well it only doesnt change the sound because its meant for this audience. most people here want more SINAD that they cant even hear. most more old school audiophiles buy gear and DACs to flavor the sound. there are tube dacs there are class A output stage DACS and those are the ones that interest me. ones that someone had a cool idea and wanted a certain sound messing with topologies and power supplies, not stacking OP amps in a row to decrease noise for a spec sheet. it is just different buyers preference. the only negative to the measurement people is they seem to think the other people are stupid because they dont get the 200 dollar DAC with "transparent" sound, but instead paid 5000 dollars on a tube DAC, which one of them got a unique product with a unique sound? not the 200$ guy. im a nerd i like custom circuits and class A tube stages and complexity and cool sound . i dont care about 130 sinad when i can get 95 SINAD that actually changes the sound in a cool way. either way this dac is amazing for what it does. nothing wrong with "a wire with gain" but i prefer equipment that wows me and my friends. "wow listen to that mid range!" is not something you will hear on this forum , because the mid range didnt change. and thats ok.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Yes mate! cause all SMLS, Topping etc. devices will be discount at AliExpress on 21/June through the following 5 days. The promotion is run by AliExpress like Black Friday. However, D90SE seems like not being included in the sale. Can you contact any retailer?

Ok. New released products don't do discounts.

 

[faheem]

all stuff will be on sale by 12 per cent from the regular price. @JohnYang1997 can you tell me why D90SE is not at discount?

New products are never discounted. Doesn't matter the product.

 

[bboris77]

We have received a few such reports before. We even paused product to investigate last year. However when we tested every single one for 2 batches, every single one is solid and tight. So must be outliers.

My D70 also had a slightly loose IEC plug, but there was no issue with it losing contact or accidentally unplugging itself. It was tight enough, but it did not appear as tight as most other equipment with IEC plugs.
What makes it difficult to compare with other equipment is that most of Topping gear has vertically-oriented IEC plugs which may give an appearance of more side-to-side wiggle. In reality, various equipment with horizontally-oriented IEC plugs may have the same movement, but it is not as obvious since the plug does not wiggle as much side to side in this orientation. The weight of the power cord pulls it downwards in horizontal orientation and prevents any vertical movement of the plug within the socket while side—to-side movement is negligible due to the pin configuration of the socket.

 

[officialsm]

Do you think used as pre-amplifier direct to a power amplifier could works well?

 

[charleski]

Why does everybody keep talking about cd transports? I'm geniunely curious, this dac should be able to handle any decent one, a cd rom on a pc should be all one needs.

You know the old adage about the Project Management Triangle? "Good, fast, cheap. Choose two."
In this case, the three options are, "Low jitter, low cost, broad compatibility." It's perfectly possible to build a low-jitter S/PDIF receiver that can also adapt to a wide range of inputs. But that adds significantly to the cost. The common theme from Topping's various offerings is that they seek to get the best output quality for the most reasonable price, which is the correct choice in my eyes, but it does mean that other factors have lower priority.

Some people reported S/PDIF problems with the D30. They'd really need to hook the affected transport up to an oscilloscope to be sure of what the issue really is, but problems with frequency stability is a reasonable guess. John Yang has said that the D90se shouldn't exhibit the same problems, though, so I think it's best to wait and see before getting concerned about it.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Do you think used as pre-amplifier direct to a power amplifier could works well?

I think so.

 

[Category 5]

Do you think used as pre-amplifier direct to a power amplifier could works well?

This is actually a good example of a situation where the "inaudible improvements" could become more of an asset. When controlling gain digitally (attenuating) the signal will draw closer to the noise and distortion, exploiting the outrageous SINAD. Here there is plenty of room for that, before artifacts would become objectionable. You probably could not make them objectionable in fact.