Topping E30 DAC Review

[PeteL]

My model #UN60KU630DFXZA for the TV. I looked through the owner's manual and didn't find anywhere where it specfiically says what format it send out. There's a test function for the sound and it works and I reset the sound settings. Still the same problems in the applications. Even in the free TV plus app Samsung has. I guess anytime there is video associated with the sound it will not work.

I don't have another DAC to test it out.

your manual says: "Digital audio is only available with 5.1-channel broadcasts" Which is odd, but the E30 is a 2 channel device, not 6, that would be the reason I believe.

 

[Migel83]

Yes,you can only goes coax when your tv has a coax output after this i think you have no problem with it.

 

[Tiller]

AFAIK, not an issue, so there's nothing for Topping to correct.

Dear dpippel,
Do not get me wrong. I thank you for the information and I do not debate with you.
My standpoint is clear: if you can hear sounds coming from your loudspeakers the source of which is not your recordings (not just distortions) then it is an issue. Out of my some 10 DACs I used to have 2 did the same and it was very irritating in the long run. It is not AKM or ESS, but implementation.
Of course the problem can be eliminated calling it a "feature" and voila no issue.
Peace.

 

[samsa]

Thank you for the good news.
Yet, sorry to ask, but what about the (non)-issue of pop sounds?

There were two separate "pop" issues.

• One was at power-off. This was fixed by a firmware update (v. 1.07).
• The other was a *much softer* pop upon changing bitrates.

The latter *is* a property of the DAC chip. It varies between completely inaudible (if you use any volume attenuation downstream of the DAC) to barely audible (if you use the PRE mode of the DAC itself as the sole volume attenuator).

If you find that untenable, I guess you are in the market for a different DAC.

 

[TheMarshal]

I updated the firmware and the pop issue is almost gone for me. Although, as the user above me pointed out there are still some soft pop issues, but those don't bother me at all.

Although, I have a different issue. I will try to explain it as best as I can. Here is my full-setup if that helps:
DAC: Topping E30 (in DAC mode) connected to my PC via USB.
AMP/Preamp: JDS Atom
Speakers/Monitors: Dynaudio BM5 MK3.
Cables: Klotz AC100 with Rean connectors.
Headphones: DT 770 32ohm

The Dynaudios have a standby function, so when there is no signal for a couple of minutes, they enter in sleep mode. In the past, when I used the Fiio K3 and my motherboard's DAC, whenever I started playing sound, the speakers instantly powered on and the sound kept playing.

However, now with the E30, you can hear the switch that the speaker's entered in power-on mode (and the diode turns green), but there is no sound playing. Interestingly, after I restart the E30, the speakers start playing.

I am positive that this isn't JDS atom related issue, as I had used the atom paired with Fiio K3 and my motherboard's line out for a couple of months. The issue happens only with the E30.

@JohnYang1997 - pinging you, as this might be of importance to you. Or maybe, I am doing something wrong.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I updated the firmware and the pop issue is almost gone for me. Although, as the user above me pointed out there are still some soft pop issues, but those don't bother me at all.

Although, I have a different issue. I will try to explain it as best as I can. Here is my full-setup if that helps:
DAC: Topping E30 (in DAC mode) connected to my PC via USB.
AMP/Preamp: JDS Atom
Speakers/Monitors: Dynaudio BM5 MK3.
Cables: Klotz AC100 with Rean connectors.
Headphones: DT 770 32ohm

The Dynaudios have a standby function, so when there is no signal for a couple of minutes, they enter in sleep mode. In the past, when I used the Fiio K3 and my motherboard's DAC, whenever I started playing sound, the speakers instantly powered on and the sound kept playing.

However, now with the E30, you can hear the switch that the speaker's entered in power-on mode (and the diode turns green), but there is no sound playing. Interestingly, after I restart the E30, the speakers start playing.

I am positive that this isn't JDS atom related issue, as I had used the atom paired with Fiio K3 and my motherboard's line out for a couple of months. The issue happens only with the E30.

@JohnYang1997 - pinging you, as this might be of importance to you. Or maybe, I am doing something wrong.

Some sort of interference, maybe ground related, caused the DAC malfunctions. A restart resets all register values hence it works again.

 

[TheMarshal]

Some sort of interference, maybe ground related, caused the DAC malfunctions. A restart resets all register values hence it works again.

Do you know of a suggestion that I can try to fix this issue?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Do you know of a suggestion that I can try to fix this issue?

Maybe try a different supply, different usb port, or use toslink. See if that helps.

 

[Quomz]

Do you know of a suggestion that I can try to fix this issue?

Maybe related to the auto-on/off function of the E30? You could test if disabling that will change anything.

 

[Madtowner]

Hello All,

First post. Been following thread- ordered the black E30 from Apos on May 29th, which was back-ordered. They told me that it would be back in stock on June 5th and upgraded me to Express shipping. Shipped out morning of June 6th and I received it today (Wisconsin). Pretty quick actually. I can confirm it is a 2004... serial number.

 

[Toku]

Hello All,

First post. Been following thread- ordered the black E30 from Apos on May 29th, which was back-ordered. They told me that it would be back in stock on June 5th and upgraded me to Express shipping. Shipped out morning of June 6th and I received it today (Wisconsin). Pretty quick actually. I can confirm it is a 2004... serial number.

Does the E30 of S/N 2004 **** have the display AUTO mode (automatic on/off) added?

 

[ikan817]

Apologies for my first post being a question.

I can't for the life of me work out why my e30 can't seem to go into positive volume. I'm sure I saw in a video review they had positive volume settings or am I crazy?

It's connected via optical spdif. Anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Apologies for my first post being a question.

I can't for the life of me work out why my e30 can't seem to go into positive volume. I'm sure I saw in a video review they had positive volume settings or am I crazy?

It's connected via optical spdif. Anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

0db is the digital maximum. It's also called 0dBFS(full scale). All other volume position is attenuated referencing the maximum, 0dB.

May I have the link to the review you are referring to with positive volume?

 

[ikan817]

0db is the digital maximum. It's also called 0dBFS(full scale). All other volume position is attenuated referencing the maximum, 0dB.

May I have the link to the review you are referring to with positive volume?

Thanks!

I cant recall exactly which review, so I'm probably just imagining it. But your explanation really makes sense to me, not sure why i was expecting it to be able to go positive.

 

[kevloke]

Newest Version
Newest version 2004+ with non-reversal polarity

 

[Nelaer]

Hi everyone!
Many thanks to Amirm for the review. Topping E30 sounds great. I'm really enjoy using this DAC.
I have only one small issue during the tests from audiocheck.net. There is mousy noise while high frequency warble tones are playing (should be inaudible). Tried with foobar2000 (WASAPI exclusive) on Windows with or without DSP resampler, also tried with deadbeef (ALSA without resampling) on Linux with or without DSP resampler. Any ideas?

 

[Dac Visitor]

Hi everyone Because of the measurements and review of Amirm and the contribution of the other participants of this forum, I decided today to buy an E30 sn 2004 here in the Netherlands. I started this hobby with a used Cambridge dac magic 100 but soon got the feeling that it could be better although the Cambridge is not bad. After reading the many reviews of different dacs such as the Hegel 25 and the Rme adi-2, I noticed that AKM chips were used in these highly rated dacs with great results. So I started looking for an affordable dac (because of corona) with a recent AKM chip. Already I came across the many favorable reports about the E30 from Topping with this purchase as a result. My set consists of a pair of modified B&W DM7 speakers from 1978 (see picture), Accuphase e 206 and Nakamichi CD 4. Tomorrow I will receive it and am very curious if the magic strikes. Will report tomorrow.

 

[Sak]

There is mousy noise while high frequency warble tones are playing (should be inaudible). Tried with foobar2000 (WASAPI exclusive) on Windows with or without DSP resampler, also tried with deadbeef (ALSA without resampling) on Linux with or without DSP resampler. Any ideas?

If possible, try to connect device to another computer. If the problem goes away, it is most likely due to the computer’s power supply.

 

[AndyLu]

Hi everyone!
Many thanks to Amirm for the review. Topping E30 sounds great. I'm really enjoy using this DAC.
I have only one small issue during the tests from audiocheck.net. There is mousy noise while high frequency warble tones are playing (should be inaudible). Tried with foobar2000 (WASAPI exclusive) on Windows with or without DSP resampler, also tried with deadbeef (ALSA without resampling) on Linux with or without DSP resampler. Any ideas?

Do you have the power plug of the DAC connected to an USB port on your computer? If so try to connect it to another USB port on your computer. Or try another computer altogether. Computer USB ports can be very noisy.
The best thing however is: use an external power supply (like a telephone charger) to power the DAC. See if that helps. The external charger has to be 5 volts (you can find those specs in the manual of your E30).

 

[multimike]

I updated the firmware and the pop issue is almost gone for me. Although, as the user above me pointed out there are still some soft pop issues, but those don't bother me at all.

Although, I have a different issue. I will try to explain it as best as I can. Here is my full-setup if that helps:
DAC: Topping E30 (in DAC mode) connected to my PC via USB.
AMP/Preamp: JDS Atom
Speakers/Monitors: Dynaudio BM5 MK3.
Cables: Klotz AC100 with Rean connectors.
Headphones: DT 770 32ohm

The Dynaudios have a standby function, so when there is no signal for a couple of minutes, they enter in sleep mode. In the past, when I used the Fiio K3 and my motherboard's DAC, whenever I started playing sound, the speakers instantly powered on and the sound kept playing.

However, now with the E30, you can hear the switch that the speaker's entered in power-on mode (and the diode turns green), but there is no sound playing. Interestingly, after I restart the E30, the speakers start playing.

I am positive that this isn't JDS atom related issue, as I had used the atom paired with Fiio K3 and my motherboard's line out for a couple of months. The issue happens only with the E30.

@JohnYang1997 - pinging you, as this might be of importance to you. Or maybe, I am doing something wrong.

This sounds very much like the problem I'm having and described in my post a bit earlier in this thread. E30 is turned on and displaying correct input channel and operating mode, but no sound until E30 is switched off and on again.