Topping E30 DAC Review

[SgtPepper]

It’s fried for sure. Warranty won’t help you there. I wish they still sold the D90’s with the AK chips inside. Anyone know if and when we could see flagship AK chips again inside a topping dac?

Looks like the fire caused a lot of damage:

https://evertiq.com/design/49888

 

[Crimson]

Here's what I understand:

The 1st two digits of the serial number are the year of manufacture, So S/N: 20xx... is 2020, SN: 21xx... is 2021

All E30s with S/N beginning 20xx... will have the AK4118.

According to JohnYang, (and he wasn't 100% sure at the time of writing), but

any E30 with a S/N below 2103xx... should have the AK4118, and anything after 2103xx... will have a CS8416.

As I said though, he wasn't sure where the exact S/N cut off was.

I guess the best test is to hook it up to a stand alone cd player via digital coax (not a blu-ray player, dvd player or cd drive in a laptop)

and see if it plays a cd without intermittent sound break up - that was the fault I got with the CS8416. This wouldn't be totally conclusive

as you may still have a CS8416 inside your e30 that works with your cd player, but I think it's a pretty good test without having to take the E30 apart.


-that's what I know. This bit is now a guess:

if the 3rd & 4th digit of the S/N is the month of manufacture, then you might be ok with your S/N 2101 as (if I'm right) that'd be January 2021, and I don't think the change happened until around March (S/N 2103) - that's if my guess about how the S/Ns work is correct.

Thank you for your reply
May have to dissamble at it and look at it for more accurate thing,may post a pic after I had see the chip :3

 

[somebodyelse]

It’s fried for sure. Warranty won’t help you there. I wish they still sold the D90’s with the AK chips inside. Anyone know if and when we could see flagship AK chips again inside a topping dac?

It looks like it'll be a while as most of the range are now listed as End Of Life.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...n-on-status-of-various-products-online.24496/

 

[Yog]

It looks like it'll be a while as most of the range are now listed as End Of Life.

This is really bad luck.

To be honest, we will probably not hear a difference in the sound.
I mean these E30 with AK4118 and CS8416 mounted.

But still, the great desire to have a better AK4118 won for me.

I started hunting for used devices and just picked up my package today.
My second E30 is silver for a change.

 

[half_dog]

I don't know if it's allowed but I have spoken to BrightAudio Store form AliExpress and they told me they have some E30 with AKM in stock.

 

[Moosi]

I can confirm that all E30 before 2103XXX (including 2102) are having the AKM receiver. Source is official Topping support.

all up to 2102XXX = AKM
all from 2103XXX = Cirrus Logic

 

[ShinMolina]

Hi all!

I had an E30 ready to buy from Aliexpress until I read this thread. I am wondering if you could help me with my decision after seeing the possible SPDIF issues due to the AK4118 to CS8416.

My plan is to use the Optical input with my TV and the Coaxial one with a raspberry + hat running Volumio. I have no intend of using the USB connection.

Should there be any problems with those configurations and a new E30 with the CS chip? I have a DX3 Pro with zero issues since I bought it a couple of years ago. The E30 seems the best option from price vs performance at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hi all!

I had an E30 ready to buy from Aliexpress until I read this thread. I am wondering if you could help me with my decision after seeing the possible SPDIF issues due to the AK4118 to CS8416.

My plan is to use the Optical input with my TV and the Coaxial one with a raspberry + hat running Volumio. I have no intend of using the USB connection.

Should there be any problems with those configurations and a new E30 with the CS chip? I have a DX3 Pro with zero issues since I bought it a couple of years ago. The E30 seems the best option from price vs performance at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

At this stage I recommend you continuing using DX3 Pro if you are not planning using it else where.
The Cs8416 situation is an annoying issue to happen.
If you really want one, you can try it out. If it doesn't work you can return it.

 

[ShinMolina]

At this stage I recommend you continuing using DX3 Pro if you are not planning using it else where.
The Cs8416 situation is an annoying issue to happen.
If you really want one, you can try it out. If it doesn't work you can return it.

Wow, such a fast response!

I'm using the DX3 with my PC. I need another DAC for my TV and streaming setup in my living room.

Tried an SMSL M100 without issues with my intended setup. I would prefer ending up getting the E30 because of better performance and design, las one is personal preference only. Such a same the chip problems, shouldn't read this thread hahahaha!

Forgot to say, I bought this board for the use I pretend to give the E30 but the coaxial input doesn't work with my raspberry. That's why I need a new DAC.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Wow, such a fast response!

I'm using the DX3 with my PC. I need another DAC for my TV and streaming setup in my living room.

Tried an SMSL M100 without issues with my intended setup. I would prefer ending up getting the E30 because of better performance and design, las one is personal preference only. Such a same the chip problems, shouldn't read this thread hahahaha!

Forgot to say, I bought this board for the use I pretend to give the E30 but the coaxial input doesn't work with my raspberry. That's why I need a new DAC.

Serial nunber SN2102(February 2021) and lower has the AK4118 chip. See if you can ask seller to see if there's any one of these left.

 

[ShinMolina]

Serial nunber SN2102(February 2021) and lower has the AK4118 chip. See if you can ask seller to see if there's any one of these left.

I will try. Thanks for the info!

 

[jevenator]

I have a SN2103 E30, Purchased this week from Amazon and haven't noticed any difference compared to last years model. I move it between USB w/ my PC and optical with my TV.

 

[Moosi]

Not trying to be a fanboi and I might be wrong, but to me Topping devices seem to be of higher "engineering quality" and overall more thoughtfulness about their products compared to most other chinese manufacturers. I have noticed a few indicators leading to that conclusion:

a) They use high grade OP-Amps even in mid tier devices (no bottlenecking, except maybe for the D50s but its swappable at least).
b) Their pcb layouts appear to be clean, efficient and have less scratches and less "sloppy soldering" (not that this would be a problem function-wise).
c) They concentrate their engineering ressources on far less products.
d) There is virtually no "bad DAC" in their lineup, which might be because of c)
e) No gaps, joints, seams or uneven fittings with their cases.
f) They fix their issues quite fast (most others do too)

 

[andrewskaterrr]

At this stage I recommend you continuing using DX3 Pro if you are not planning using it else where.
The Cs8416 situation is an annoying issue to happen.
If you really want one, you can try it out. If it doesn't work you can return it.

What issue is there with the CS in the 2103+ models? I can’t seem to find the reason why. What am I missing?

 

[JohnYang1997]

What issue is there with the CS in the 2103+ models? I can’t seem to find the reason why. What am I missing?

The compatibility with some spdif sources like TV and CD players. There's a big chance it's going to work fine but also not too small of a chance it's not. It's annoying because I can't say for sure if it's working with the person's setup.

 

[fominator]

Not trying to be a fanboi and I might be wrong, but to me Topping devices seem to be of higher "engineering quality" and overall more thoughtfulness about their products compared to most other chinese manufacturers. I have noticed a few indicators leading to that conclusion:

a) They use high grade OP-Amps even in mid tier devices (no bottlenecking, except maybe for the D50s but its swappable at least).
b) Their pcb layouts appear to be clean, efficient and have less scratches and less "sloppy soldering" (not that this would be a problem function-wise).
c) They concentrate their engineering ressources on far less products.
d) There is virtually no "bad DAC" in their lineup, which might be because of c)
e) No gaps, joints, seams or uneven fittings with their cases.
f) They fix their issues quite fast (most others do too)

Really? Can they fix this? That is clearly hardware issue with power. Besides strange overheat in some situations. And other HARDWARE issues, described in this topic, that remain without answers.

JohnYang1997

 

[JohnYang1997]

Really?
Can they fix this?

@JohnYang1997

A reboot can fix this. And it's difficult to reproduce. It's likely some interference corrupted the program.

 

[fominator]

A reboot can fix this. And it's difficult to reproduce. It's likely some interference corrupted the program.

I can reproduce it almost at every start. With Volumio or Libreelec or piCoreplayer. Why is it hard for you to reproduce it, but not for me? Does it mean, that something is wrong with my device or what? And why this problem occurred only after year of using? Can you explain the nature of this issue?

 

[JohnYang1997]

I can reproduce it almost at every start. With Volumio or Libreelec or piCoreplayer. Why is it hard for you to reproduce it, but not for me? Does it mean, that something is wrong with my device or what?

Possibly. Contact seller for a replacement maybe.

 

[andrewskaterrr]

Ok

A reboot can fix this. And it's difficult to reproduce. It's likely some interference corrupted the program.

Ok, it works with my pc so I’m happy. Side question. What is the default filter set to? I have my pc outputting 192khz 24bit via spidf so do I need to change it?