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Topping E30 II DAC Review

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 4.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 22 6.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 103 31.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 186 57.2%

  • Total voters
    325

notsodeadlizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2023
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yo guys, is there any benefit to use the e30ii with a 5v power supply as power delivery? Or is the USB power delivery through the connection with my pc enough?
The Chinese declare the parameters of an external power supply 5V 1A.
In accordance with the USB 3.1 specification you'll have 5 V 0.9A from your pc.
The difference is small and everything will work.
 

Synxk

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Feb 20, 2023
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The Chinese declare the parameters of an external power supply 5V 1A.
In accordance with the USB 3.1 specification you'll have 5 V 0.9A from your pc.
The difference is small and everything will work.
only got 5V 3A power supply with me currently, will go with the usb hub of my pc then I guess, thanks! :)

edit, seems like only the voltage is important, will use that for the power supply then! great!
 
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S=klogW

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Feb 22, 2023
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I owned and sold the E30 and then a couple weeks ago I tried the E30 II. I hated both of them.
Hi everyone! New recruit here, been lurking for years though. I just received my E30 II in the post yesterday and decided to measure it. Mine wasn't quite as good on USB as Amir's sample: my left/right channels have SINAD = 117.6dB/115.9dB (I would have liked to see better than this 1.7dB difference). Then I measured the Coaxial input using my Topping D10B as a known good USB to Coaxial SPDIF source: my left/right channels with Coaxial input have SINAD = 107.7dB/105.9dB (I was not impressed by this 10dB worsening). Finally, the Toslink input, using the D10B again for USB to Toslink conversion: my left/right channels with Toslink input have SINAD = 97.1dB/96.4dB. That's about 20dB lost from using Toslink and we are heading for $5 dongle territory. Naturally, I'm returning it (luckily bought through Amazon so an easy return!). Just wondered if anyone else has tried to measure their E30 II and would share their results.
 

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notsodeadlizard

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2023
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Hi everyone! New recruit here, been lurking for years though. I just received my E30 II in the post yesterday and decided to measure it. Mine wasn't quite as good on USB as Amir's sample: my left/right channels have SINAD = 117.6dB/115.9dB (I would have liked to see better than this 1.7dB difference). Then I measured the Coaxial input using my Topping D10B as a known good USB to Coaxial SPDIF source: my left/right channels with Coaxial input have SINAD = 107.7dB/105.9dB (I was not impressed by this 10dB worsening). Finally, the Toslink input, using the D10B again for USB to Toslink conversion: my left/right channels with Toslink input have SINAD = 97.1dB/96.4dB. That's about 20dB lost from using Toslink and we are heading for $5 dongle territory. Naturally, I'm returning it (luckily bought through Amazon so an easy return!). Just wondered if anyone else has tried to measure their E30 II and would share their results.
It's even interesting to try to find out what they managed to do with such a good AKM chipset. Somehow, they managed to do it.
 

Veri

Master Contributor
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Feb 6, 2018
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sing the D10B again for USB to Toslink conversion: my left/right channels with Toslink input have SINAD = 97.1dB/96.4dB.
There has to be some 16-bit truncation going on, seems very weird indeed..
 

staticV3

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Aug 29, 2019
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@S=klogW looks like a typical GND loop and resulting common-mode noise distorting your measurements, so a bad measurement setup more than a bad DAC. See here.
 
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S=klogW

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Feb 22, 2023
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@S=klogW looks like a typical GND loop and resulting common-mode noise distorting your measurements, so a bad measurement setup more than a bad DAC. See here.
My measurement setup is two laptops, running on their batteries; the Cosmos APU and ADC running on a Li-ion powerpack; source laptop playing back the REW-derived 24bit 1kHz sinewave 44.1kHz 0dBFS; the destination laptop running REW and the RCA output levels adjusted for 2.1V rms output. If my setup is bad so as to cause ground loops, then as per your Archimego link, I would see greatly elevated mains harmonics on the Toslink measurements when compared with the mains harmonics in the good USB measurements; This is not the case.

Anyway, by way of a control for this measurement setup, I measured my other DAC, a Topping D90SE, Toslink in to RCA out, level adjusted to 2.1V; directly substituting for the Topping E30 II and got, by comparison, a very lovely outcome.

So I say good measurement, bad DAC.

Has anyone else got Topping E30 II measurements to share?
 

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Sokel

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My measurement setup is two laptops, running on their batteries; the Cosmos APU and ADC running on a Li-ion powerpack; source laptop playing back the REW-derived 24bit 1kHz sinewave 44.1kHz 0dBFS; the destination laptop running REW and the RCA output levels adjusted for 2.1V rms output. If my setup is bad so as to cause ground loops, then as per your Archimego link, I would see greatly elevated mains harmonics on the Toslink measurements when compared with the mains harmonics in the good USB measurements; This is not the case.

Anyway, by way of a control for this measurement setup, I measured my other DAC, a Topping D90SE, Toslink in to RCA out, level adjusted to 2.1V; directly substituting for the Topping E30 II and got, by comparison, a very lovely outcome.

So I say good measurement, bad DAC.

Has anyone else got Topping E30 II measurements to share?
Have you checked the coax and Tos DPLL settings? (if they have any,I belevie they do but I'm not sure,I'm confused by so many models)
 

S=klogW

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Feb 22, 2023
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Have you checked the coax and Tos DPLL settings? (if they have any,I belevie they do but I'm not sure,I'm confused by so many models)
I read through the E30 II pocket manual and saw no mention of DPLL settings. I have a SMSL SU-9N DAC and that certainly allows DPLL adjustment.
I am loathe to buy another E30 II just to see if I get the same problems again; this emptor is caveat! I am intrigued though as to whether a SPDIF problem as seen with my unit is an abberation or a regular occurence.
 

computer-audiophile

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The Toslink input of the E30II has been known not to work with some TVs, for example, although DACs from other manufacturers do. (This is also the case with me)
Technical reasons (excuses) have been given for this, but I don't like them. I want it to work.

Now if the Toslink input also turns out to be bad in terms of S/N, that would be another minus point.

Funnily enough, I didn't worry so much about such things with my earlier DACs when I wasn't reading ASR. ;)
But I didn't have any problems with them either.
 

notsodeadlizard

Senior Member
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Feb 18, 2023
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There are no secrets here.
A rather specific programmable Xmos chip is responsible for the conversion to I2S, and qualified development, testing, etc. are needed here. That is, in order for the conversion to I2S to work well, everything that the Chinese cooperative does not have is needed.
They had a normal code for USB, and someone did the rest at random (and this was of course not Topping's cooperative)
The rest is simply impossible to spoil.
Of course, it's possible to make the output amplifier primitive and not how it can be done well (for example, like in this DIY I2S DAC https://nihtila.com/2020/12/28/w-dac-s-4493/ ). But a decent op amp will save the day.
Of course, a good power supply of this design will cost more than cheap microcircuits, and therefore no one will supply you with good power at such a price.
The conclusion is simple - this is USB DAC, and no more.
This is far from the best USB DAC.
And probably not even very good.
But it costs less than a good USB dongle DAC.
 

notsodeadlizard

Senior Member
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I prefer to stick to proven facts or accurate observations.
There are facts only.
There is Xmos universal programmable chip as inputs converter to AKM's DACs I2S inputs.
There are obvious issues with the quality when DAC is sourced from non-USB inputs.
The output analog amplifier here is very poor.
Firmware was never updated.

But you can use it.
It's not terrible.
It's just cheap and made with no love for what they do.
 

Hapo

Senior Member
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Jan 11, 2022
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...could this happen with the E 30II as well...?!?...
 

Hapo

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Jan 11, 2022
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...I have mine set @ -5db...that seems to match the output to the other sources (CD player and FM tuner) that don't use the E30 II...

...why would you set the power amp to max volume...???...that would seem to court disaster...


...well, now I know...
 

Seysin

Member
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Sep 18, 2021
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Seems like AK4118 is back. Massproduced and in stock:

Will Topping change back to this for coming products?
 
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