• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Topping E30 DAC Review

samsa

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Mar 31, 2020
Messages
506
Likes
589
I understood that he used a laptop instead of a desktop, but I could be mistaken, often am.

Laptop or desktop, the way he described his power source was:

which is to say, it's at least as dirty as any USB power source you could come up with. And, even with the dirtiest source of USB power, he measured a SINAD of 112dB. Either you have golden ears, or the difference between "dirty" and "clean" 5V power supplies is inaudible.
 

Kouioui

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 9, 2019
Messages
164
Likes
185
Location
Central FL
Either you have golden ears, or the difference between "dirty" and "clean" 5V power supplies is inaudible.
Just reporting what I experienced with my desktop setup, no claims of anything except using full gain on my monitors, I heard a significant reduction in noise floor between PRE and HPA using the switch on the L30 driven by the E30 in pure dac mode. Could be something besides E30 the culprit here, I'm willing to admit I'm not an expert on power supply design. I'm sure other powered monitor owners might be using the E30/L30 stack and was wanting to save them some grief.
 

VNV73

New Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
3
Likes
4
Greetings. I want to share my observations.
I experimented with filters for a long time and my favorite was filter 6. With this filter there is more transparency, more subtle details, more open sound and deeper scene. I output the sound from Sotm SMS 200. With some sound sources and filter number 6, there was a skinny bass and a deficit of the lower mids. This does not happen with Sotm.
 

samsa

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Mar 31, 2020
Messages
506
Likes
589
Just reporting what I experienced with my desktop setup, no claims of anything except using full gain on my monitors, I heard a significant reduction in noise floor between PRE and HPA using the switch on the L30 driven by the E30 in pure dac mode. Could be something besides E30 the culprit here, I'm willing to admit I'm not an expert on power supply design. I'm sure other powered monitor owners might be using the E30/L30 stack and was wanting to save them some grief.

Well, OK. With no audio signal present, you certainly can turn up the gain on your preamp (L30) enough so that you can hear the noise from the E30. That's just not a normal listening situation.

If you compare @amirm's dashboard

index.php


with @JohnYang1997's

index.php


you see peaks in the former that are absent in the latter. They're at -120dB, so normally inaudible. But they're also 20dB above the noise floor. So they'd be perfectly audible if you cranked up the gain enough.
 

Atanasi

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 8, 2019
Messages
713
Likes
792
And, even with the dirtiest source of USB power, he measured a SINAD of 112dB. Either you have golden ears, or the difference between "dirty" and "clean" 5V power supplies is inaudible.

I noticed a benefit for using a separate USB power supply. If I use a multi-port USB charger to power both a laptop (through USB PD) and E30, and connect another bus-powered DAC to the laptop, and connect both DACs to Atom Amp at the same time (one through RCA, another through 3.5mm), I get a ground loop. Using a different power supply either for the laptop or E30, or disconnecting the second DAC removed the ground loop. Using a powered USB hub port to power E30 made the ground loop worse.
 
Last edited:

Strato007

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2020
Messages
45
Likes
11
I got mine from CN directly and have been trying it for some weeks... my setup is: Android box to Smart TV connected through HMDI. Audio output via optical to E30. E30’s USB input mainly with Android and UAPP with Tidal and Pandora app.
E30’s speaker system through RCA output: Audioengie A5+. Audio output mode as DAC.
All sound pretty good. Optical input seems to be clearer and detailer than USB.
Sound in general, good soundstage and great depth!!!
Overall, very happy with my budget DAC!
Now understanding filters.
 

Attachments

  • E06D1911-84DE-4319-B0D0-C458334560E3.jpeg
    E06D1911-84DE-4319-B0D0-C458334560E3.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 211
  • CB61BC0F-7C30-4850-800A-EAABB3CE58C4.jpeg
    CB61BC0F-7C30-4850-800A-EAABB3CE58C4.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 245
  • 0BD7AA1C-18EB-42B1-8552-2D9634B3F1B2.jpeg
    0BD7AA1C-18EB-42B1-8552-2D9634B3F1B2.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 254
  • E810F795-B795-4327-BB3D-617AFADE7C6B.jpeg
    E810F795-B795-4327-BB3D-617AFADE7C6B.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 258
  • 8572DBED-9166-47A8-BB99-4C6F40326C0B.jpeg
    8572DBED-9166-47A8-BB99-4C6F40326C0B.jpeg
    2.3 MB · Views: 261
  • CF7321C2-D005-45E3-A680-00474E3D4D3B.jpeg
    CF7321C2-D005-45E3-A680-00474E3D4D3B.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 235

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Well, here's something not off-topic:

I recently acquired new speakers and a new amp.

So my installation is : PC (Creative X-Fi titanium soundcard) ==> RCA ==> Cyrus One feeding my Monitor Audio Silver 100.
I also have a gaming Sennheiser headphones plugged to my soundcard.


First, would this DAC be a good step-up over my X-Fi?

Second, when I push the volume above ~50% of my amp, I get a really annoying noise, audible both through my speakers and my headphones while plugged to my amp.
It came with a UK plug, so I had to buy an adapter (French here). This noise is only present when I select the PC source, not Bluetooth. Do you think it comes from my soundcard?
I noticed you didn't get a reply so I'll try to give my best one! For your "annoying noise" you get when you push your amp above 50% volume, is that like a hum sound? It sounds like it might be a ground loop problem, so try running everything that is physically connected together from just one electrical outlet, which should hopefully remove any ground loops.

Regarding E30 being better than Creative X-Fi, well it depends whether you're talking about music or gaming. I'm assuming your Creative card has virtual speaker simulation capabilities, and if that's the case then you won't get that with the E30, but if your Creative card doesn't have virtual speaker creation then there's not much point in having a gaming sound card and then the E30 would likely outperform it in every audiophile measurement I would expect - therefore you could say that the E30 would be an upgrade.
 

kndy-

Member
Joined
May 31, 2020
Messages
9
Likes
1
I noticed you didn't get a reply so I'll try to give my best one! For your "annoying noise" you get when you push your amp above 50% volume, is that like a hum sound? It sounds like it might be a ground loop problem, so try running everything that is physically connected together from just one electrical outlet, which should hopefully remove any ground loops.

Regarding E30 being better than Creative X-Fi, well it depends whether you're talking about music or gaming. I'm assuming your Creative card has virtual speaker simulation capabilities, and if that's the case then you won't get that with the E30, but if your Creative card doesn't have virtual speaker creation then there's not much point in having a gaming sound card and then the E30 would likely outperform it in every audiophile measurement I would expect - therefore you could say that the E30 would be an upgrade.

Thanks for the answer, sadly I can't plug it to a different outlet yet so I'll stick with it as it's not that annoying.

For the gaming part, I've never used any "gaming enhancements" provided by Creative, I think they suck so yeah, I think I'll go for this little DAC, thanks!
 

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Thanks for the answer, sadly I can't plug it to a different outlet yet so I'll stick with it as it's not that annoying.

For the gaming part, I've never used any "gaming enhancements" provided by Creative, I think they suck so yeah, I think I'll go for this little DAC, thanks!
You can't plug everything into one electrical outlet? Just buy some extension cords that give you more plugs then literally run everything that's physically connected together off that one outlet (from the extension cords), unless of course you're going over your safe amp rating (or Watts) for your electrical outlet.

Yes, if you don't use any of the gamer features then it makes sense to get a quality audiophile USB DAC, it's the best you can get, not gonna get much better than the E30.
 

kndy-

Member
Joined
May 31, 2020
Messages
9
Likes
1
You can't plug everything into one electrical outlet? Just buy some extension cords that give you more plugs then literally run everything that's physically connected together off that one outlet (from the extension cords), unless of course you're going over your safe amp rating (or Watts) for your electrical outlet.

Yes, if you don't use any of the gamer features then it makes sense to get a quality audiophile USB DAC, it's the best you can get, not gonna get much better than the E30.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger. Will give my feedback this week :)
 

Axaion

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
7
Likes
1

rajapruk

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 22, 2018
Messages
472
Likes
489
Any thump, pop or crack at startup, shutdown, sample-rate-change, or loss of power of this dac?
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Messages
26
Likes
9
Anyone got the e30 working with an iPhone? I have a iPhone XR with an original Apple camera adaptor (not usb3) and I’m getting the err error when trying to connect. Setting I’ve missed?
 

SloPoke

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 28, 2020
Messages
61
Likes
48
Anyone got the e30 working with an iPhone? I have a iPhone XR with an original Apple camera adaptor (not usb3) and I’m getting the err error when trying to connect. Setting I’ve missed?
I've got a Apple XS Max iPhone and a iPad that's about 4 years old and have driven an E30 with both.
Anyone got the e30 working with an iPhone? I have a iPhone XR with an original Apple camera adaptor (not usb3) and I’m getting the err error when trying to connect. Setting I’ve missed?
I just tested my iPhone XS Max and a 3.5 year old iPad using the Original USB Camera to lightning adapter and the USB 3 version of the adapter: the USB 3 version worked on both and the original Apple USB Camera adapter did not.

This was just a quick test. Maybe the original Apple camera adapter can work with the E30, but it didn't off the bat in my try. But, the USB 3 version worked with no quirks on both the iPhone and iPad.

The original adapter had given me functional issues when using with a Chord Mojo, though it could work. the USB 3 version was more broadly reliable in my use.

I don't know if the original USB-Camera adapter is the issue for you, but if you can trial a USB 3 version, that looks like it works without issue. And as bonus you can also power the iPhone when playing with the USB-3 adapter,
 
Top Bottom