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Topping E30 DAC Review

Toku

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cyberzigot

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Guys I noticed a strange behavior. Maybe its just me but when using the remote to press the Red button to put the unit in standby, the sign E-d is shown on the display. What does this signify ? After E-d is displayed it no longer responds to any button press. I can'y bring it back on. Only way is a power cycle.
 

Jarrett

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You don't need to hear it. You can see what the filters do here.

index.php
 
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MondoAudio

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Younger ears may pick that up, but after I wasted an afternoon trying to hear differences in filters, I figured I can cross that off my list of things to care about.

LOL. I think the challenge in an objectivist forum is that we end up chasing the numbers. Even when the best advice tells us that "values below X" are inaudible, we want to get to X-0.1.

At least our dogs will be grateful!
 

BDWoody

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LOL. I think the challenge in an objectivist forum is that we end up chasing the numbers. Even when the best advice tells us that "values below X" are inaudible, we want to get to X-0.1.

At least our dogs will be grateful!

I try to add a touch of reality to my expectations now and again...
When I can drop something else off the 'things to care enough about to spend real $$$ on' list, I'm always happy.
So far I'm happy to not be worrying about:
Cables and connectors of all kinds (competence is King)
MQA
Super high sample rates
DSD
DAC's generally (again, beyond threshold competence)
Audiophile Ethernet switches
Cable risers
Similar nonsense...

It really is nice to be able to relax and put my resources to effective use.
 

ReaderZ

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I think the polarity inversion is indeed annoying and would not recommand buying until new revision hit the market.


But I see people complain about pop sound when turning it on and off???!????

It's your usage issue, you should turn off amp/active speakers first and turn they on last. Not that I follow this 100% of time but if you don't, any issue arise from it is your own fault.
 

LeandroFlu

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I think the polarity inversion is indeed annoying and would not recommand buying until new revision hit the market.


But I see people complain about pop sound when turning it on and off???!????

It's your usage issue, you should turn off amp/active speakers first and turn they on last. Not that I follow this 100% of time but if you don't, any issue arise from it is your own fault.
Friend, with or without inverted polarity, the analyzes were incredible, I didn’t see a review that didn’t impress on sound quality, I don’t think your placement is for that, but respect.
 

Toku

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Guys I noticed a strange behavior. Maybe its just me but when using the remote to press the Red button to put the unit in standby, the sign E-d is shown on the display. What does this signify ? After E-d is displayed it no longer responds to any button press. I can'y bring it back on. Only way is a power cycle.
Your report has never been reported before. I'd recommend contacting Topping directly.


I think that most people cannot recognize the difference in the inverted polarity that is a problem in E30. It's a trivial matter. I don't trust the polarity test introduced here because the difference in sound is too big.
Can you recognize the difference in sound when connecting + and-oppositely at the speaker connection terminal?
I make the speaker system myself, but some of the purchased speaker units have opposite +/- polarities.
Only the USB input is a problem on the E30, but all three of USB, COAX, and OPT must have the same polarity.
 
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PeteL

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I placed an order on Amazon about a month ago, I've been told that my shipment is on hold while topping try to fix the Polarity issue, however, I don't have a firm answer wheter it's just updating the firmware to fix USB, or if the unit I'll eventually receive will have proper absolute polarity on all input. If some of you have some insight, or have talked to topping, I'd like to eventually have a clear answer because I would cancel if they where gonna ship unfixed. Please don't ask me to go and do abx test for polarity, In all honestly I don't care if I can hear it or not, I want it to be right, it's not the Dac job to decide what part of the signal is plus and which is minus, I want a DAC to give me the same push pull phase than what was at mastering, In audio there is no binary threshold like a pass/fail, and the threshold of audibility for anything scales differently and depends on many factors, like the audition acuity of the listener, the rest of your system, the gain structure and many many other parameters. I just want that part to be right, even if it's a budget DAC
 

facboy

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I placed an order on Amazon about a month ago, I've been told that my shipment is on hold while topping try to fix the Polarity issue, however, I don't have a firm answer wheter it's just updating the firmware to fix USB, or if the unit I'll eventually receive will have proper absolute polarity on all input. If some of you have some insight, or have talked to topping, I'd like to eventually have a clear answer because I would cancel if they where gonna ship unfixed. Please don't ask me to go and do abx test for polarity, In all honestly I don't care if I can hear it or not, I want it to be right, it's not the Dac job to decide what part of the signal is plus and which is minus, I want a DAC to give me the same push pull phase than what was at mastering, In audio there is no binary threshold like a pass/fail, and the threshold of audibility for anything scales differently and depends on many factors, like the audition acuity of the listener, the rest of your system, the gain structure and many many other parameters. I just want that part to be right, even if it's a budget DAC

@JohnYang1997 said it's a couple of production batches away? Personally I doubt they are going to hold your shipment for that long, if I were guessing it would just be the firmware fix for USB.
 

cyberzigot

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Update on my situation. Topping has acknowledged that my unit is defective. Really disappointing. I thought the were better than SMSL :(
 

Toku

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Update on my situation. Topping has acknowledged that my unit is defective. Really disappointing. I thought the were better than SMSL :(
My E30 had a problem playing DSD2.8 and consulted Topping. They first told me to send it back to China, but once I explained that it costs $ 30 to ship from Japan to China, they sent me a new and improved E30.
 

cyberzigot

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My E30 had a problem playing DSD2.8 and consulted Topping. They first told me to send it back to China, but once I explained that it costs $ 30 to ship from Japan to China, they sent me a new and improved E30.

You bought it directly from them ? Of through a reseller ?
 

Toku

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You bought it directly from them ? Of through a reseller ?
No, I purchased from Amzon.jp's Chinese shop.
I've talked to Topping many times about product issues. Therefore, I also consulted directly with the technical staff of Topping regarding the reproduction trouble of DSD2.8 of E30 this time. They are always gentle and always answer politely technical questions.
 

PeteL

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@JohnYang1997 said it's a couple of production batches away? Personally I doubt they are going to hold your shipment for that long, if I were guessing it would just be the firmware fix for USB.
Ok thanks, I did cancel my order, debating if i go for something else. In my setup I won't be using USB, just spdif so the firmware fix is useless for me. It's unfortunate because for features, aesthetics, and specs that's exactly what I was looking for.
 
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