Topping E30 II DAC Review

[vuittion]

Thats good to hear. Thank You.

 

[Johannesthalos]

Toku is the Hajime Saito of audio products.

 

[conuss]

The E30 ll's COAX/OPT S/PDIF connections have been greatly improved over the E30, so I'd like to see how they work.

Where does this actually come from?..

 

[Steve96]

I have the original Topping E30 and L30. Does the E30II have a significant sound improvements over original, considering the Velvet Sound and (though the same 4493 chip) the dual chips, to consider 'upgrading?'

 

[Ashimaru]

I have the original Topping E30 and L30. Does the E30II have a significant sound improvements over original, considering the Velvet Sound and (though the same 4493 chip) the dual chips, to consider 'upgrading?'

Noise and harmonic distortion are slightly lower than OG E30

 

[Toku]

Where does this actually come from?..

E30 II Multi-input PCM768\u0026amp;DSD512 DAC-TOPPING

 

[conuss]

E30 II Multi-input PCM768\u0026amp;DSD512 DAC-TOPPING

Remarkable stability against the background of the provided level of confidence! )) - https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...topping-e30-ii-dac-review.36028/#post-1261246

 

[dcolak]

This DAC has a problem with volume handling in the pre-amp mode.

TIDAL plays via USB on Mac.

Some songs are too low in volume, other are too loud.

It's as if E30II does not know what is 0dB.

Very disappointing.

 

[dcolak]

I liked the way the E30 worked, so I bought a total of three.
The E30 works very well in preamp mode when plugged directly into a power amp.
Some users consider the extremely small click noise that occurs when switching songs to be a problem, but I think it works perfectly. Compared to other DAC products, the E30 works perfectly and is an excellent DAC.
I also have two E50s, which are the higher end models of the E30s, and plan to purchase more E30 lls.
The E30 ll's COAX/OPT S/PDIF connections have been greatly improved over the E30, so I'd like to see how they work.

Be careful. E30 II has a problem with TIDAL.

Sometimes 0dB is too low in volume, switching from one song to another.

I am waiting to see if there is a bugfix for it.

 

[staticV3]

This DAC has a problem with volume handling in the pre-amp mode.

TIDAL plays via USB on Mac.

Some songs are too low in volume, other are too loud.

It's as if E30II does not know what is 0dB.

Very disappointing.

The DAC just plays what your Mac is sending to it via USB.
If you have inconsistent volume, then it's Tidal who is to blame, not the DAC.

 

[dcolak]

The DAC just plays what your Mac is sending to it via USB.
If you have inconsistent volume, then it's Tidal who is to blame, not the DAC.

That is simply not true.

I don't know if tidal sending 24bit vs 16bit files makes TOPPING E30 II lose the correct 0dB or what, but it does have problems.

No other DAC has that problem (SMSL, Bechmark, NAD, other toppings and many others I use).

 

[dcolak]

I figured it out. E 30 II has a problem when receiving HiFi song after a MASTER song from TIDAL.

The difference is in frequency and bitrate.

Its 0dB volume gets too low.

 

[Toku]

That is simply not true.

I don't know if tidal sending 24bit vs 16bit files makes TOPPING E30 II lose the correct 0dB or what, but it does have problems.

No other DAC has that problem (SMSL, Bechmark, NAD, other toppings and many others I use).

Unfortunately your description gives too little information.
It would be nice if you could explain in a little more detail what you did to reach that conclusion.
I suggest playing music files stored on the MAC directly on the MAC instead of Tidal once to see how the E30 ll behaves.

Based on the information I got from you now, I also guess that MAC + Tidal is the cause.
The E30ll can only reproduce the input signal as it is.
If you set the volume to 0.0db you will never change it. There is also no function to change the sampling rate arbitrarily.

> No other DAC has that problem (SMSL, Bechmark, NAD, other toppings and many others I use).
What is the specific model name?

However, in the past, there was a ridiculous mistake in the volume control of the Topping E50 immediately after its release, and the firmware was corrected immediately. But in your case such a mistake is inconceivable.

 

[dcolak]

Unfortunately your description gives too little information.
It would be nice if you could explain in a little more detail what you did to reach that conclusion.
I suggest playing music files stored on the MAC directly on the MAC instead of Tidal once to see how the E30 ll behaves.

Based on the information I got from you now, I also guess that MAC + Tidal is the cause.
The E30ll can only reproduce the input signal as it is.
If you set the volume to 0.0db you will never change it. There is also no function to change the sampling rate arbitrarily.

> No other DAC has that problem (SMSL, Bechmark, NAD, other toppings and many others I use).
What is the specific model name?

However, in the past, there was a ridiculous mistake in the volume control of the Topping E50 immediately after its release, and the firmware was corrected immediately. But in your case such a mistake is inconceivable.

DAC: Topping E 30 II
Player: TIDAL
OS: MacOS

Steps to reproduce:

1. Play a song with (MASTER) quality marker
2. Play a song with (HIFI) quality marker

Observe that the 0dB volume for song in step 1 is MUCH louder than 0dB volume for the song in step 2.

P.S.
Sampling rate is dictated by the OS not by the DAC.

MAC + TIDAL is NOT the cause.

Other DACs that work just fine:

Benchmark DAC 1 HDR, NAD M51, SMSL SU-8, Topping DX3 pro, Chromecast Audio.

This is a DAC issue.

 

[Toku]

DAC: Topping E 30 II
Player: TIDAL
OS: MacOS

Steps to reproduce:

1. Play a song with (MASTER) quality marker
2. Play a song with (HIFI) quality marker

Observe that the 0dB volume for song in step 1 is MUCH louder than 0dB volume for the song in step 2.

P.S.
Sampling rate is dictated by the OS not by the DAC.

MAC + TIDAL is NOT the cause.

Other DACs that work just fine:

Benchmark DAC 1 HDR, NAD M51, SMSL SU-8, Topping DX3 pro, Chromecast Audio.

This is a DAC issue.

Thank you for providing the information. I understand your situation.
I'm looking for the symptoms you're experiencing from my knowledge and experience, but I can't find anything that matches.
I take a moment to think about the possible causes of the symptoms.

 

[HappyMetalGuy]

DAC: Topping E 30 II
Player: TIDAL
OS: MacOS

Steps to reproduce:

1. Play a song with (MASTER) quality marker
2. Play a song with (HIFI) quality marker

Observe that the 0dB volume for song in step 1 is MUCH louder than 0dB volume for the song in step 2.

P.S.
Sampling rate is dictated by the OS not by the DAC.

MAC + TIDAL is NOT the cause.

Other DACs that work just fine:

Benchmark DAC 1 HDR, NAD M51, SMSL SU-8, Topping DX3 pro, Chromecast Audio.

This is a DAC issue.

Hi, have you tried to play with loudness normalization in Tidal? (Tidal->Settings->Streaming->Loudness Normalization) I had some problems with it some time ago.

 

[dcolak]

Thank you for providing the information. I understand your situation.
I'm looking for the symptoms you're experiencing from my knowledge and experience, but I can't find anything that matches.
I take a moment to think about the possible causes of the symptoms.

More information I have.

If I click on the "use exclusive mode" in TIDAL settings, it fixes the problem (raises the 0dB volume for HIFI songs, compared to MASTER songs).

@AngryMetalGuy -> I had loudness normalization off.

There is something going on here...

 

[dcolak]

I have another problem now. E 30 II randomly disappears from MacOS. Had to turn it off and on several times and now it no longer works... Mac says Device not found. Can´t play anything over it. It's display shows USB and Volume / PCM.

After several on and off, it is recognized again and works again.

 

[Roland68]

I have another problem now. E 30 II randomly disappears from MacOS. Had to turn it off and on several times and now it no longer works... Mac says Device not found. Can´t play anything over it. It's display shows USB and Volume / PCM.

After several on and off, it is recognized again and works again.

2 thoughts on this.
Have you tried a different USB cable? Various defects/cable breaks can occur, which lead to diffuse behavior. Also, the USB cable should not be too short, better at least 50cm.
It is possible that "Tests/Settings" or unplugging/plugging in the USB cable will cause the interface on the Mac to crash or put it in an undefined state. This can be reset after a period of time or fixed by restarting. The problem can also be triggered by point 1.

 

[staticV3]

Also, the USB cable should not be too short, better at least 50cm.

Why?