Topping E30 II DAC Review

[restorer-john]

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a problem this time. But I cannot say for 100%.

LOL. What? Like your PA-5 'baby'? What an utter and complete fiasco.

Address the problems with Topping's failures and stop hiding! It's so unbecoming.

 

[EJ3]

Do you have a double blind, randomised controlled trial for that advice?

Some studies of Quercetin
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21625024
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21606866
(3) http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-1015003
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18187018
Also, people are not all 100% the same, what works for some, doesn't work for others.
That is where EMPERICAL knowledge (EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE (Psychology Dictionary) EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE By N., Sam M.S. - 279 1. Philosophy. Knowledge gained from experience. 2. Sciences. Knowledge gained from experiment and observation.) comes in.

In other words: as a sceptic (I am, too [even when I have read positive/negative things about something] {which is why I like this site, it gives me the information I need to decide whether I will likely like something or not, at which point I can decide whether I will try it or not, if it is has a feature that I want in my system that I am not already happy with}) : You must try it for yourself and see if it works for you.

 

[bboris77]

LOL. What? Like your PA-5 'baby'? What an utter and complete fiasco.

Address the problems with Topping's failures and stop hiding! It's so unbecoming.

Ouch. While I do applaud the presence of any company's representatives on these forums, I also was disappointed with the lack of communication from the designer on the PA-5 issue. While people may say that this is not a proper discussion for this thread/stick to this product and so on, it does indicate that Topping's reputation has been dented as a result of these failures and, more importantly, their response to it.

As someone that appreciates any design that makes excellent audio reproduction accessible to the masses with a low price point, I would love to regain the confidence in the brand so that I could buy Topping gear in future without any reservations.

 

[SpeaKa]

Not bad. I would very interested to know how an E30/PA3s combo performs compared to the MX5.

 

[restorer-john]

Ouch. While I do applaud the presence of any company's representatives on these forums, I also was disappointed with the lack of communication from the designer on the PA-5 issue. While people may say that this is not a proper discussion for this thread/stick to this product and so on, it does indicate that Topping's reputation has been dented as a result of these failures and, more importantly, their response to it.

Absolutely. ASR is a 'forum' and that means a public meeting place for robust discussion. (from Latin- ancient Rome).

Amir cannot continue to favourably review products provided free by this brand or its distributors, and to not hold them to account when products he gave glowing recommendations to, fail en masse and leave people out in the cold. All credibility is shot to pieces when that happens.

 

[MajorP]

Absolutely.

Amir cannot continue to favourably review products provided free by this brand or its distributors, and to not hold them to account when products he gave glowing recommendations to, fail en masse and leave people out in the cold. All credibility is shot to pieces when that happens.

Yeah I also hated the fact that they silently swapped out the S/PDIF receiver chip in the E30.
I bought the unit because of the good review on this site and was disappointed to find out it has Toslink issues...

 

[lc155]

So basically Topping measures well but has QC issues? Are they the Hifiman of sources?

 

[Veri]

Yeah I also hated the fact that they silently swapped out the S/PDIF receiver chip in the E30.

Ok but what about the fact that there are no equivalent alternatives to the AKM receiver that was used before?
You can't exactly blame them for the AKM factory fire lol. Supply chain is a mess ...

 

[respice finem]

Perhaps Topping should change their name to Golfing

BTW: These days, it seems, everybody has QC issues occasionally.

 

[Sokel]

So basically Topping measures well but has QC issues? Are they the Hifiman of sources?

If it wasn't for these issues (mostly amps) and the problems with the dealers that handle them this little thing would be already in my cart.
So I'll wait a few months to see actual user cases and then I may buy it for my desk.

 

[MajorP]

Ok but what about the fact that there are no equivalent alternatives to the AKM receiver that was used before?
You can't exactly blame them for the AKM factory fire lol. Supply chain is a mess ...

I totally get that they had to switch to a Cirrus Logic chip.
It's just the way how they did it.
As a customer I would have preferred the change of the model name.
Schiit did it the right way. The Modi 3 DAC was renamed to Modi 3E. You look that up and know right away that they changed the chip.

I bought the E30 and expected the good performance Amir praised.

 

[Veri]

Schiit did it the right way. The Modi 3 DAC was renamed to Modi 3E. You look that up and know right away that they changed the chip.
I bought the E30 and expected the good performance Amir praised.

Totally different thing though IMO. No core chip was changed, the DAC chip spec is still guaranteed, SINAD etc is not impacted. Unlike with Modi 3/3-ESS.
Every single electronic device you buy can have parts (capacitor, resistor, receiver, ...) substituted with compatible ones, based on current supplies.

 

[restorer-john]

Totally different thing though IMO. No core chip was changed, the DAC chip spec is still guaranteed, SINAD etc is not impacted. Unlike with Modi 3/3-ESS.
Every single electronic device you buy can have parts (capacitor, resistor, receiver, ...) substituted with compatible ones, based on current supplies.

It apparently has Toslink issues. Being as Toslink is the THE original digital data SPDIF interface, that makes it pretty much faulty out of the gate.

Don't try to make excuses for a brand that substitutes inferior components and degrades the performance without advising their customers.

 

[REK2575]

It does make you wonder what Amir's rush to get this very incomplete review out the door was. Why not take a few days until you're feeling better and can get something complete published?

Still, I'm sure Topping and @JohnYang1997 are delighted. Very good SINAD! "20 bits of dynamic range (excellent)!", "Very low distortion range limit"! What else do we need to know? Go Buy Now!

Nice to see @JohnYang pop in here for a brief sec to promote Topping's latest marginally-different-from-existing-Topping-Products. I'm sure we won't see him again until next month when Topping releases its newest marginally-different-from-existing-Topping-Products Product. We can be sure we will not see him take a minute or two to address the shortcomings of, say, the PA-5. Wouldn't want to obscure the main message: Topping E30 available for purchase now!

 

[lc155]

Lol the replies so far have shown Topping's cred has really taken a hit, huh.

 

[anmpr1]

As someone that appreciates any design that makes excellent audio reproduction accessible to the masses with a low price point, I would love to regain the confidence in the brand so that I could buy Topping gear in future without any reservations.

I don't think we should avoid the issue, but the issue is (and has been) pretty out in the open. It should not be a surprise to anyone.

There are at least two ways to view it: 1) You don't expect much support when you buy something for 'lunch at McDonald's' pricing (to use Amir's words). 2) The alternative is to buy something with local support and first rate reputation, but at a much higher price.

Of course there are other issues that may come to a head soon, that could determine the availability of these (and similarly sourced devices). Who can predict that? If you can get one for one hundred and fifty dollars, even if it only lasts a year or so, what have you lost within the overall scheme of inflationary monetary policy?

 

[Overseas]

I guess Amir rush is justified by the fact that competition already released measurements?

 

[Veri]

It apparently has Toslink issues. Being as Toslink is the THE original digital data SPDIF interface, that makes it pretty much faulty out of the gate.

Erm. Have you ever tried the optical out from a TV, a Samsung Smart TV for example? Now that the better AKM receivers are off the market at least for a while longer (if not forever), it's not just Toppings that will have a hard time locking onto signals that are plagued with jitter..

 

[REK2575]

I guess Amir rush is justified by the fact that competition already released measurements?

That's a lousy reason if so. Who are ASR's "competition," exactly?

 

[delta76]

Ouch. While I do applaud the presence of any company's representatives on these forums, I also was disappointed with the lack of communication from the designer on the PA-5 issue. While people may say that this is not a proper discussion for this thread/stick to this product and so on, it does indicate that Topping's reputation has been dented as a result of these failures and, more importantly, their response to it.

As someone that appreciates any design that makes excellent audio reproduction accessible to the masses with a low price point, I would love to regain the confidence in the brand so that I could buy Topping gear in future without any reservations.

It is likely they didn't even figure out what were wrong. Or, there are too many wrong things with it.

It is such a pity. A failure like that is definitely a great learning experience. Painful, but very helpful. Great companies are built from learning from mistakes, not hiding them.