Topping E30 II DAC Review

[bombili]

Is the heat generated the same using either power supply?

yes

 

[bombili]

I carefully retested both today. I was wrong. The warm-up is the same on both. Best performances for both devices with power bank. And I couldn't hear any difference in sound between the two devices.

 

[Doorstop5848]

Waiting for the E30 II lite review

 

[Toku]

E30 ll Lite has been released and HP has already posted the FW update for E30 ll Lite, but please do not install this for E30 ll by mistake.
I was in a hurry and didn't read the description carefully and made a mistake. The E30 ll was completely trashed, but I received the original FW from Topping and was able to rescue the E30 ll.

 

[plitsch platsch]

The remote of this gear is a mess. I love my E30, but you have to target the remote directly to the device, no excuses. It is anniying. Are all Topping devices act the same?

 

[Toku]

The remote of this gear is a mess. I love my E30, but you have to target the remote directly to the device, no excuses. It is anniying. Are all Topping devices act the same?

Remote controllers made in China, not just Topping, have a narrow operating range and cannot be said to be very sensitive remote controllers.
Normally, you can think of the range of +-30 degrees from the distance of 3m as the operating limit.

 

[Mark S.]

Someone mentioned that the E30 II goes to standby after a given period of no signal - is this whether or not the source is powered on? IOW, will it 'go to sleep' connected to a PC while the PC is on?

I ask because (as I've stated elsewhere) I prefer that low-power devices stay powered on 24/365, in my (fairly long) experience power on/off cycles tend to dictate the life of electronics rather than hours powered on, and given my typical usage, if it does indeed auto-sleep simply from no data signal it might be cycling on/off dozens of times a day (thousands a year).

Also, (I've read right through the thread) is there a consensus whether drop-outs from bad Toslink sources (like my Samsung TV) are an issue?

 

[Surreal]

I recently purchased an E30 II but discovered in Windows Sound settings that there is no option for channel balance like there was on my old DAC. I installed the Topping driver but there is still no option for balance. @JohnYang1997 Is this addressable via firmware or driver? If so could you add it please? My left ear is not as good as my right and this is unbearable for me without balance.

 

[Veri]

I recently purchased an E30 II but discovered in Windows Sound settings that there is no option for channel balance like there was on my old DAC.

Yeah not all DACs have this option I'm afraid :/

 

[threni]

Remote controllers made in China, not just Topping, have a narrow operating range and cannot be said to be very sensitive remote controllers.
Normally, you can think of the range of +-30 degrees from the distance of 3m as the operating limit.

It's the receiver (on the topping face) which is the problem, not the topping remote. I use the E30 remote to control my own IR receiver and I can point the remote just about anywhere in the room and the light bounces its way into my receiver just fine.

 

[Robbo99999]

Yeah not all DACs have this option I'm afraid :/

That is crazy isn't it, I always had thought it was just an inherent part of the Windows operating system, and therefore not related to the DAC at all, but obviously it is indeed related to the DAC.

 

[Atanasi]

That is crazy isn't it, I always had thought it was just an inherent part of the Windows operating system, and therefore not related to the DAC at all, but obviously it is indeed related to the DAC.

DACs have different implementations of the USB mixer interface. Some DACs have indepedent volume controls for each channel, others have only one common volume for all channels or they don't implement the mixer interface at all. Drivers can also implement features that are not present in hardware, but I suppose reference drivers just reflect the hardware mixer. Equalizer APO is one way to add balance control when the hardware doesn't have it.

 

[Sokel]

I recently purchased an E30 II but discovered in Windows Sound settings that there is no option for channel balance like there was on my old DAC. I installed the Topping driver but there is still no option for balance. @JohnYang1997 Is this addressable via firmware or driver? If so could you add it please? My left ear is not as good as my right and this is unbearable for me without balance.

View attachment 308235

I wonder if that setting is exposed here so that you can enable it:

XMOS driver settings for no cutoff/delay

I was contemplating on creating a "tutorial" of sorts for all XMOS drivers on devices that have a cutoff -- latency between the start of a sound and the dac "reacting" and actually playing said sound... So here it is: XMOS drivers use a control panel not unlike this: Usually the "Options"...

www.audiosciencereview.com

DISCLAIMER:
Maybe that can cause harm depending on the H/W that follows,so is just a thought.

 

[Robbo99999]

DACs have different implementations of the USB mixer interface. Some DACs have indepedent volume controls for each channel, others have only one common volume for all channels or they don't implement the mixer interface at all. Drivers can also implement features that are not present in hardware, but I suppose reference drivers just reflect the hardware mixer. Equalizer APO is one way to add balance control when the hardware doesn't have it.

Yep, indeed, EqualiserAPO can do that for you if your DAC can't. Very good free program.

 

[Surreal]

@Sokel It's greyed out on both 7 and 10 (more recent driver).

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. I tried it out and indeed it works. I wasn't looking forward to having to use external software (due to processing overhead) but this program seems unobtrusive enough. I guess the beauty of this is it works on Windows 7 and doesn't reduce audio quality so much (since I had to lower the volume of the right channel to compensate).

 

[Veri]

I guess the beauty of this is it works on Windows 7 and doesn't reduce audio quality so much (since I had to lower the volume of the right channel to compensate).

View attachment 308412

Shouldn't affect SQ at all! It's great software

 

[AnalogSteph]

Note, avoid having an overall net gain (may cause clipping). You should be able to leave preamplification at 0 dB, just pull down the louder channel until balance is OK. Any reduction in level this causes has to be taken up by the following signal chain instead (amplifier / DAC).

 

[LegionOfHell]

Should I worry about the high jitter through the optical-in ? The measurements show that the jitter through optical-in stays below -97 dB. At what dB is jitter audible ?

I may want to output virtual 7.1 signal from my Xonar U3's optical-out to E30II's optical-in.. Or I might output SBX surround through my Creative G6's optical-out to Toppings optical-in...Will I encounter any jitter problems ?

Are there any similar performing DACs in the same price range without the optical-in jitter problems ?

 

[AnalogSteph]

Should I worry about the high jitter through the optical-in ? The measurements show that the jitter through optical-in stays below -97 dB. At what dB is jitter audible ?

Substantially higher than that. -97 dB may not even exceed your noise floor.

DEMO / MUSINGS: Let's listen to some jitter simulations with sideband distortions...

A blog for audiophiles about more objective topics. Measurements of audio gear. Reasonable, realistic, no snakeoil assessment of sound, and equipment.

archimago.blogspot.com

Are there any similar performing DACs in the same price range without the optical-in jitter problems ?

You'd have to go for something ESS-based (the internal ASRC does a pretty good job cleaning up jitter)... and pray that both U3 and G6 have clean enough outputs to not require an adjustment of DPLL bandwidth. If in doubt, SMSL DACs seem to feature that on a regular basis, including the SU-6. Their D-6 also does not have isssues with SPDIF jitter levels despite using an AK4493.

 

[LegionOfHell]

You'd have to go for something ESS-based (the internal ASRC does a pretty good job cleaning up jitter)... and pray that both U3 and G6 have clean enough outputs to not require an adjustment of DPLL bandwidth. If in doubt, SMSL DACs seem to feature that on a regular basis, including the SU-6. Their D-6 also does not have isssues with SPDIF jitter levels despite using an AK4493.

I am looking at SMSL SU-1 now, The measurements show that the jitter through optical-in stays below ~ -140 dB compared with E30II's -97 dB. Will SU1 pair well with my U3 and G6 ?

Which one would you go for personally ? SU1 or E30II ? and why ?