Topping E30 II DAC Review

[Overseas]

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

I found first the gear measured on another site, forum, blog whatever. Speed is of the essence for forums and sites from the internet point of view...

 

[Plcamp]

Is there a spec for toslink jitter tolerance that, if met, would assure the vast majority of devices work? I presume it would be easy to test jitter tolerance?

 

[REK2575]

I found first the gear measured on another site, forum, blog whatever. Speed is of the essence for forums and sites from the internet point of view...

Perhaps, but I can't imagine it would make any significant difference in terms of site traffic etc. If Amir waited a day or two to publish a more complete and useful review.

 

[respice finem]

On such occasions, I think of Yoda:

https://www.memecreator.org/static/images/memes/5400348.jpg

 

[diddley]

AKM released a new version of the chip, and the old one is scarcely available anymore.

Is AKM fully up and running?

 

[restorer-john]

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..

 

[Trell]

Will finish and post more tomorrow when I wake up.

Haven’t you slept long enough?

 

[Bruce Morgen]

@JohnYang1997 I bought an E30 DAC in 2021 (S/N starting with 2106). The unit is producing drop-outs from time to time when using toslink. Any chances Topping can exchange my unit to the new model?

Best regards

Mine died completely after about 10 months. I'm corresponding with "Sylvia" via the e-mail "[email protected]" -- thanks to Amir's intervention -- so you might want to try that. I don't know what Topping plans to do about my situation yet, but I'm hoping for a prompt and sensible resolution.

 

[raif71]

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.

Is the problem at an imPA-5se ?

 

[anmpr1]

I found first the gear measured on another site, forum, blog whatever. Speed is of the essence for forums and sites from the internet point of view...

Has Fremer already started sending in copy at his new gig? The guy's an editorial speed demon, for sure.

 

[Trell]

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?

When I buy a device like this I expect it to last longer than a year, even if it costs $150.

As for inflation: does your salary keep up with it? I bet for most it will not this year at least.

 

[abdo123]

I'm sure this will be answered in due course, but what was wrong with the I to justify a II model so soon?

Series 1 at £134.10 on Amazon (10% off) so to me a bit of a bargain.

Well you need to create buzz again to raise sales, reviewers aren’t talking about a product from few years ago.

 

[delta76]

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?

Uhm, sorry, no. The standard warranty time in EU is 2 years. And it does not matter if it is $150 or $1500, the mindset of creating things that become ewaste after one year should not be tolerated.

On other side, We have bought these things because they appear to be well made, and audio gears generally lasted a long time. We should protest with our wallet

 

[anmpr1]

When I buy a device like this I expect it to last longer than a year, even if it costs $150.

You can certainly expect whatever you want. And you can at least hope it will be the case. But if it doesn't, you're only out a few Supersized meals at Mickey Ds. Right?

Personally, I don't have time for this sort of 'let's scrape the bottom of the pricing barrel, and hope we can uncover a diamond in it', sort of thing. But every consumer ultimately makes his own choices about what he can spend, and what his expectation is.

 

[respice finem]

Uhm, sorry, no. The standard warranty time in EU is 2 years. And it does not matter if it is $150 or $1500, the mindset of creating things that become ewaste after one year should not be tolerated.

On other side, We have bought these things because they appear to be well made, and audio gears generally lasted a long time. We should protest with our wallet

Generally speaking, yes. But, which manufacturer has no issues? One can easily end up with nothing to buy these days...
That said, what is absolutely mandatory is to be able to get defective stuff replaced or repaired, at least within the warranty period, no matter how cheap or expensive. Anything less is simply against EU law (and probably similarly in the U.S.)

 

[anmpr1]

Uhm, sorry, no. The standard warranty time in EU is 2 years. And it does not matter if it is $150 or $1500, the mindset of creating things that become ewaste after one year should not be tolerated.

That brings up a good point. On these sorts of items, how do you obtain warranty service? Who is responsible for shipping, and when can you expect it back? Is there a local point of sale? Can you drive down the street to your dealer and make an exchange? Or is it sent back to point of manufacture. And what happens when/if an embargo or sanction happens? Something out of a consumer's control. I mean, some of these questions can be answered, some are speculative. But each consumer is responsible for weighing it all out.

 

[respice finem]

That brings up a good point. On these sorts of items, how do you obtain warranty service? Who is responsible for shipping, and when can you expect it back? Is there a local point of sale? Can you drive down the street to your dealer and make an exchange? Or is it sent back to point of manufacture. And what happens when/if an embargo or sanction happens? Something out of a consumer's control. I mean, some of these questions can be answered, some are speculative. But each consumer is responsible for weighing it all out.

I only know how some medical suppliers and hard drive manufacturers are handling it (OK the expensive medical stuff aside, but HDDs and SSDs are similarly priced to DACs or amps). If you have an issue within the warranty period = replacement without many questions asked, and fast. They must have a certain local / regional contingent of any given product to be able to do so. What happened to me years ago in Germany, I got 2 HDDs as replacement for 2 failed (almost synchronously), of a newer and larger capacity model, but this is of course HDD specific.

Long story short: You can if you want to, as a manufacturer. Yes it will cost some money...

 

[MajorP]

That brings up a good point. On these sorts of items, how do you obtain warranty service? Who is responsible for shipping, and when can you expect it back? Is there a local point of sale? Can you drive down the street to your dealer and make an exchange? Or is it sent back to point of manufacture. And what happens when/if an embargo or sanction happens? Something out of a consumer's control. I mean, some of these questions can be answered, some are speculative. But each consumer is responsible for weighing it all out.

Most of these things are regulated by EU law.
In Europe a 2 years warranty is mandatory and a must-have.
The company that sold the item is responsible for processing your warranty inquery and your point of contact.
If the company sends the unit to the manufacturer or replaces it is up to them.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Most of these things are regulated by EU law.
In Europe a 2 years warranty is mandatory and a must-have.
The company that sold the item is responsible for processing your warranty inquery and your point of contact.

Except many customers are ordering this kind of cheap DACs straight from China (AliExpress, Aoshida, Shenzen Audio etc). That way, you could forget about your "2 years EU warranty", if you have any issue, then, you're screwed.

My two cents: It is now pretty clear that Topping does not have any consideration for either QC or user's confort. There was literally no point for replacing the actual E30, unless to fix its flaws. They should focus on designing an actually working remote, or reliable products for what matters, that will be way more relevant to the final user than 1.5dB of extra SINAD.

 

[Jarrett]

Improved SINAD seems to be more due to the dual chips (gimmick?) than an improved model