Topping E30 DAC Review

[odyo]

16 days is reasonable. I ordered mine from AliExpress and it's already been 15 days. Still "handed over to airlines". Looking forward to using it as a preamp for some active speakers.

They didn't even ship mine so i cancelled it.

 

[odyo]

Hello, new member here, signed up as I recently purchased the E30 after seeing the test reports here and been closely following the thread.
i have a background in pro audio (recording, mixing mastering) and electronics hobyist for over 40 years.

Unfortunately I can confirm the above is true, i made a recording of a file directly from the outputs of the e30 to my sony PCM D100 and the recorded stereo file when viewed in DAW compared to the original file was inverted polarity...

I am absolutely gobsmacked that the design could make it to production with such a fundamental 'flaw' regardless if its audible or not its the inverse of what the digital source bits say it should be.

considering returning the unit now as i dont want to wire up cables to flip the outputs for analogue recording etc

I was all excited about jumping in on a very new product that tested so well but feel quite burned now as an early adopter to find out this DAC is inverting the outputs a month later

What the hell topping, what possible reason could justify not picking up and correcting this at pre production ?

What is the problem i don't get it. Can it affect the simple listening experience ?

 

[NgxHS7]

Hmmm, can anyone check the D50s for the polarity issue? I can get that locally here in Japan.

 

[odyo]

Hmmm, can anyone check the D50s for the polarity issue? I can get that locally here in Japan.

Can anyone explain polarity issue ELI5

 

[PyramidElectric]

Can anyone explain polarity issue ELI5

When speaker should push out, instead it goes in. You'd think this would *really* mess with things, but apparently it's very difficult to detect (with your ears at least).
Still, once you know it's 'wrong' it certainly has the potential to become one of those niggling annoynaces.

 

[Pimmsley]

What is the problem i don't get it. Can it affect the simple listening experience ?

The problem for me is specific, when recording the outputs of the E30 you end up with an inverted stereo recording... this is a process integrity issue that can be corrected in audio software (but not if you are recording to tape/analogue), but is a a pain/additional step and would be an embarrassing mistake to unwittingly make on a client project delivery

some claim to be able to hear it but even in my capacity as a mastering engineer with 2 commercial releases I can't hear a difference... but as an example of what can occur and why it's important the 2009 stereo remaster CD of the Beatles Revolvef was accidentally inverted and was corrected for the USB and following releases, here's a link full of discussion RE -
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...-polarity-besides-the-stereo-revolver.301436/

Even if it's not audible in simple terms it sucks...

 

[Pimmsley]

The problem for me is specific, when recording the outputs of the E30 you end up with an inverted stereo recording... this is a process integrity issue that can be corrected in audio software (but not if you are recording to tape/analogue), but is a a pain/additional step and would be an embarrassing mistake to unwittingly make on a client project delivery

some claim to be able to hear it but even in my capacity as a mastering engineer with 2 commercial releases I can't hear a difference... but as an example of what can occur and why it's important the 2009 stereo remaster CD of the Beatles Revolvef was accidentally inverted and was corrected for the USB and following releases, here's a link full of discussion RE -
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...-polarity-besides-the-stereo-revolver.301436/

Even if it's not audible in simple terms it sucks...

I meant to say thank you to the user that discovered and reported the inverterted polarity output issue in this thread, in my haste to join and contribute I forgot my manners... iI have enjoyed reading ASR forum the last month, cheers all !

 

[odyo]

When speaker should push out, instead it goes in. You'd think this would *really* mess with things, but apparently it's very difficult to detect (with your ears at least).
Still, once you know it's 'wrong' it certainly has the potential to become one of those niggling annoynaces.

Interesting. So driver works reverse. How this affects planars though ?

 

[Jarrett]

It took mine a little over 3 weeks, so get comfortable if you're used to 10 - 14 days delivery from China.

 

[dpippel]

I'm very interested to see how Topping addresses this reverse polarity issue.

 

[LeandroFlu]

Another problem detected? the analysis impressed me, it seemed too good to be true ...
It seems that there was a lack of attention to topping in the final tests before launch.
40 days and I still haven't received mine, with these news I start to regret it.

 

[NgxHS7]

Another problem detected? the analysis impressed me, it seemed too good to be true ...
It seems that there was a lack of attention to topping in the final tests before launch.
40 days and I still haven't received mine, with these news I start to regret it.

Me too. I will probably request a refund once it arrives if it can't be fixed via firmware.

 

[Pimmsley]

No update from Topping reps on this ?

 

[NgxHS7]

I contacted a seller about this. So topping should be aware of this by now.

 

[yejun]

@amirm Can you include polarity test in the future dac reviews?

 

[JohnYang1997]

What in the hell? Are we doing this again? It's been debunked countless times the polarity is not an issue. It's inaudible. To test this you can easily invert the polarity in any DAW and do a blind test for yourself.

 

[NgxHS7]

What in the hell? Are we doing this again? It's been debunked countless times the polarity is not an issue. It's inaudible. To test this you can easily invert the polarity in any DAW and do a blind test for yourself.

I don't think many will worry about the effect on sound, but some may use this in a recording setup. There is also the question as to WHY it was done in the first place. Was it due to poor quality checks, or was there a specific technical reason for it.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I don't think many will worry about the effect on sound, but some may use this in a recording setup. There is also the question as to WHY it was done in the first place. Was it due to poor quality checks, or was there a specific technical reason for it.

Just invert in the digital domain it's fine. And sure we can try to investigate and try to fix it. But it's not an issue. And shouldn't prevent any people from enjoying. This was simply not a thing to care about in the design I suppose. As long the left and right polarity is consistent.

 

[yejun]

Just invert in the digital domain it's fine. And sure we can try to investigate and try to fix it. But it's not an issue. And shouldn't prevent any people from enjoying. This was simply not a thing to care about in the design I suppose. As long the left and right polarity is consistent.

I remember Paul from ps audio discussed in his show said reversed polarity can cause speakers have different Doppler shift from its own movement.

 

[Pimmsley]

I don't think many will worry about the effect on sound, but some may use this in a recording setup. There is also the question as to WHY it was done in the first place. Was it due to poor quality checks, or was there a specific technical reason for it.

100% correct, thank you