TOPPING D30 DSD Audio Decoder USB Coaxial Optical Fiber XMOS CS4398 24Bit 192KHz Decoder

The Topping D30 is a very good DAC for the price. It is clean, neutral and balanced. The only negative I experienced is a popping or clicking noise when playing DSD files. At the start and stop of play there's a pop or click that varies in volume and can occur in one or both channels. It's sometimes very soft but noticeable and sometimes louder but never at the level of hurting your ears. It does not occur between songs in a playlist or during continuous play. Only when starting and stopping DSD play. I thought the D30 was designed to suppress these clicks and pops but I guess I was wrong. It's more of an annoyance that anything else. I returned the first D30 that was shipped to me for this reason but the replacement does exactly the same thing so it appears to be inherent to the design of the D30. The playing of FLAC files does not generate any noise.As far as sound quality is concerned, the D30 is similar to the D50 even though they use different DAC chips. The D30 uses a single Cirrus Logic CS4398 chip while the D50 uses dual ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M chips. For reference purposes, I'm using a USB connection from my laptop to the D30 and RCA cable from the D30 to a Burson Audio HA-160 amp. I used Sennheiser HD650 and HD800S headphones to evaluate the D30's sound quality. While the D30 and D50 may sound similar, they are not the same. In an A-B comparison, the differences are noticeable but not so great that you want to immediately upgrade from the D30 to the D50. The D50 sounds a little fuller, has more air, is more resolving, has more detail and a smoother high end. These differences are noticeable with the HD800S but not so much with the HD650. The D30's treble was sometimes "edgy" or "grainy" (not shrill) depending on source material while that same source on the D50 sounded noticeably smoother. Again, this was much more noticeable with the HD800S than the HD650. Had I been using only the HD650, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. Soundstage and depth are about the same with the nod going to the D50. As far as SQ is concerned, if the D50 is assigned a value of 100, the D30 would be an 80 to 85.One other thing I noticed about the D30 and the D50 is that their respective USB drivers must be reinstalled from time to time. Both the D30 and D50 will occasionally stop playing DSD although FLAC can still be played. Reinstalling the USB driver fixes the problem but when it happens every few months it can be somewhat troublesome. It may be my laptop but I don't think so because I don't have problems with the USB drivers for my iFi micro-iDSD Black Label and Matrix M-Stage HPA-3U DAC/amps.In summary, if you don't play DSD files or don't mind the pops and clicks when you start/stop DSD play, the D30 is a good choice in the under $200 range. Build quality is good, functionality is good and sound is good. However, if you're using high end headphones like the Sennheiser HD800S or Berydynamic T1 2nd Generation, you should consider a better DAC. The D50 would be a good starting point.Personally, I can live with the pops and clicks when playing DSD files but I already have to deal with occasionally reinstalling the USB driver for the D50 and don't want to have to do the same for the D30 so it was returned.

after 1.5 months, it died. It can not lock onto audio signal and my PC says USB device not recognized. It is probably not a common issue but it is still under warranty. I emailed them multiple times and called them but no response. So if you want customer support, buy something else.update: I exchanged emails with a customer service rep finally but so far, no resolution.I wanted to buy Topping D10 instead but now going to buy another brand.Update: Here is what I did. I tested D30 and it still works with a tosslink connection so I bought a Behringer UCA202 that connects to USB on my PC and it has a tosslink output. I connect tosslink to D30 and then to the receiver. The bad part is UCA202 has only 48Khz output so I am limited with that. If your PC has optical output, you can connect directly to D30. Hope this helps if you have a failure of the USB connection

I've been a life-long audiophile..., back as far as when the general population thought people like us were weirdos and crazy for analyzing sound between audio gear and god-forbid cables! Without going into it too deep, I have 2 systems which at the retail level back in the day, would easily exceed a single family home quite a few states. Amazon Music HD has re-kindled my love affair with music and audio quality. --Prior to this, I was streaming Apple Music and Spotify at normal levels through an Arcam rDAC with the rWave wireless dongle. The sound was acceptable, nothing to write about, but convenient and it got the job done.......Then Enter Amazon Unlimited HD....now, it was time to step up my game. Off went the wireless dongle which had a capacity of 24bit 44.1mhz. --I plugged into the Arcam USB input which is 24/92 and things came to life. Literally night and day, alongside Amazon HD. ---seeing as the Arcam is from about 2011, I got the bug to check out a newer DAC with better specs and capabilities, and read the Amazon reviews for this Topping D30. ---The short of it...the Topping D30 sounds great, but falls short of the Arcam rDAC even with the difference in age of 2011-vs 2017/8, and DSD, 192 etc etc....I believe the Arcam back in the day was around $600 retail. So for the Topping at $100 to be almost its equal is pretty impressive. Takeaways, both sounded great when playing say acoustic music....when the differences came alive is with more complex music passages, there was some congestion with the Topping. In summary, I returned the Topping, as my Arcam, while not spec'd as well, did sound better, but for those starting from scratch, the Topping at $100 is a great value and offers really impressive sound.

AL usarlo con amplificadores en modo directo (omitiendo cualquier procesamiento que altera la señal) se escucha un sonido muy claro y nítido sobre todo si se reproduce desde la entrada USB. En equipos con salida óptica o coaxial de 44.1Khz a 96Khz y 16 a 24 bits, si se escucha mejora en la profundidad del sonido. Los archivos de MP3 se escuchan un poco mejor pero depende de la calidad de la compresión, en archivos FLAC y DSD es donde realmente se aprecia mejor el sonido de este DAC. Uso JRiver y Pine player en Mac y amp Yamaha A-S300 en modo Direct, Mediante un adaptador a USB, conecto un iphone y puedo escuchar Spotify, iTunes y Amazon music a una mejor resolución. Estoy más que satisfecho por el equipo.

Facil de instalar. Lo utilizo con una tablet android y la app NeutronMP conectados por un cable OTG.La tablet toma los archivos por wifi desde mi NAS QNAP y por cables RCA sale a mi amplificador (Yamaha-AV).El resultado es un sonido super nítido, potente, limpio, único.No conozco otro medio para escuchar música (digital) en tan alta calidad.Recomendado 200%.No olviden comprar el cable OTG también.

This small box is indeed wonderful DAC which is capable to produce near reference sound. I use it exclusively for listening audio and video from Youtube and other free streaming resources. Do not doubt, with other high quality components in your set up D30 would perform surprisingly well giving you perfectly balanced, clear, detailed, well articulated sound (of course, if the original recording is of high quality as well).At some point, as I wrongly thought, my D30 started to malfunction and the return period was already over. But at this moment the seller Dilvshi contacted me asking if I could share my experience with this DAC. I let them know about my problem and they kindly agreed to exchange it regardless of the fact they were not supposed to do that by Amazon rules. Thank you, Dilvshi! Luckily, before sending it back I resolved the problem myself (it turned to be not in D30 but in my computer - I uninstalled and reinstalled the driver for the DAC).So far it works with no problem and I can highly recommend D30. For the money it is an excellent product.

I just received this unit this morning, my first DAC. I had it up and working in no time at all. I'm running Windows 10 Home Edition, using foobar2000 playing mostly lossless audio. Plugged the unit into the USB on my desktop PC, connected with two RCA jacks into the aux input on my Denon DRA-F101 amplifier. Everything worked perfectly, no issues at all. Sounds wonderful through a pair of Klipsch RB3 bookshelf speakers. I'm not an audiophile per se but I appreciate good sound and this meets my expectations. For the price and the ease of set up I would definitely recommend this unit.

I only use the USB input, but the soundstage with this is wide and deep with good detail, and also non-fatiguing. I use it with Jriver and up convert PCM to DSD into a Musical Paradise tube amp; Sounds incredible. Build quality seems good too.