Speakers second. Amp third and dac fourth. Although some cheap amps sound good when replacing their internal dacs. That said the number one thing to making a system sound great is the Room. A dedicated room with proper build and treatment makes all the difference.
About Apos: I purchased the E30 DAC from them when it first came out. It was priced at $130 at the time. Apos seemed to think that the delivery of the product was taking too long (although I was fine with the time it took and never contacted them). They unexpectedly knocked off $30 from the price. So I ended up getting the E30 for $100. I have never heard of such a thing happening. If I were to ever buy a product that they carried, I would certainly buy it from THEM. I felt guilty not having mentioned this before now. They deserved credit for this kindness. Thanks Apos. The E30 is definitely better than my aging Onkyo TX-SR 805 A/V receiver's internal DAC; it's smoother, less hard sounding. I'll be happy with it until I upgrade my system.
Here at the CAM we don't feel that audio equipment should cost as much as an out of pocket or out of network Colonoscopy (medication cost, doctor fee, facility fee, anesthesia fee).
I have one and like it very much. I use it as a DAC for Audirvana going into my Reisong A10 tube amp. Sounds very good plus, BONUS!! I now have a remote volume. Winner, winner...
@cheapaudioman Thanks for all of your honest and detailed reviews. DACs like all other audio gear - sooooo hard to choose one. With nearly zero local HiFi retailers anymore I guess we'll have rely on dealers like Apos for the buy-try-return shopping way of life now. I bet the UPS executives are livin' large these days on the shipping $. 😁
@@bmpk4954 If you have efficient speakers, absolutely look at the A-10. You do need efficient speakers, because the A-10 only has 6 wats/channel. That being said, they do a fine job driving my Klipsch RB 61 IIs (95db sensitivity).
I got the E30 DAC today. My first dac ever. I have an old marantz sr7500 with some ok sony ss f7000 speakers using amazon hd from my pc and wow. I can really hear the difference with acoustic guitars. I love when you can hear every little creak and string rattle of an acoustic guitar and this dac makes it sound so good. I'm just using amazon hd from my pc
I own a Topping DX3 Pro that I use for my headphone set-up. But in the future I plan on going the 2 channel Sony route + Elacs, and I'll drop my Topping "on top" as a a preamp so I can run optical in from my tv, and usb in from my iMac where all my Flac files live. And still have the Sony's phono inputs available for my U-Turn turntable that's supposed to ship the end of Feb.
Bought the E30 about 1.5 years ago, using it with a Yamaha A-S1200, and an HTPC with around 3,500 FLAC files on it powering a pair of beastly 5 foot tall two piece (12" woofer has a separate cabinet, mids and tweeters and crossover in narrower upper cabinet) 3 way tower speakers that I first built in the late 80s, which have been refurbished with new caps and drivers over the years. The system is crisp and quite resolving, with frequency response measured via REW at 34 to 20,000 Hz. Using Equalizer APO and REW to tune the thing. I love having an HTPC feeding the system, so many uses for the PC, including checking email in 4K on the 65" TV. I didn't need it as my amp has a remote, but I tested preamp mode for grins and it sucks, don't use it. The DAC mode works very well, but the drop off in clarity / fidelity in Preamp mode is notable on a system that has some real resolution to it. I am quite pleased with the E30 in DAC mode, it is crisp and clean sounding but not brittle or harsh sounding on my system, even when the A-S1200 is turned up just shy of clipping and giving it's all. Sometimes I like it loud - especially when SRV is involved. Stevie Ray Vaughan at high volume is a good system smoothness test - LOL Have considered moving to a more expensive DAC, but see no real reason to as the E30 does just fine.
Another great review Randy. It's very impressive how what you've done with this channel with only 12k subs. Be careful, this may turn into your full time job lol.
Hi Randy. I have a suggestion that might be worth for you to look into. Why not make a chart/rank of all the dacs and speakers you have reviewed and will review in the future. That way it will be easier for us to track the products you have tested and could help us choose the proper gear to add to our systems at the right price for us. I hope you can do this since the number of products you have reviewed is getting more and harder to find in your videos. Your videos are really helpful especially to us who are not able to test them personally. More power to you.
Another great review, I"m wondering if the Topping will pair better with my Cambridge Amp and speakers since they are warm, or would the Schitt Modi 3+ work better?
Not wishing to tread on toes here but I would go for either the E30 or if you save a bit longer, the D50s. Apparently the Schiit has an more rolled off (warmer) sound so for a warmer set up it wont be the best choice if your looking to squeeze a little more detail and clarity. Alternatively grab the E30 and with the money you could save not buying the D50s grab a pair of Dali Spektor 2 speakers. In regards to Cambridge speaker I have a set of SX60s and they are ok and go well with cheap chinese class d amps like the Nobsound NS01g pro, surprisingly well to be honest and actually better than my Denon DM41, who would have guessed it, but they are not the clearest speaker in that price bracket. Your amp maybe fine with the Dalis but knowing older Cambridge I would ditch the speakers first. I'm just waiting for an new Cambridge Audio Topaz AM10 to arrive which i will be using with the E30. Not an high end set up by any means but paired right it will very much work. At the moment i will use my Tannoy Eclipse 3 floorstanders which are easy to drive at 90db, give very good low end at 38hz and cheap! In fact only cost me £140 from ebay but trust me they can rattle a palace when desired and given a good source have got me to the point of not thinking about other speakers, that's satisfactory. Don't get me wrong my Cambridge SX60s are very listenable but Dalis or even Mission LX 2 are a little clearer but again not drastically but if i consider the weak point between the AM10, E30 and SX60s, the SX60s would be the first to go.
I can't honestly tell the difference between DACs once I get past sound cards and phone/tablet DACs and even some of them are good enough for me. The $20 Signstek from Amazon sounds just fine to me Maybe I'm not educated enough on the subject but I look for my needs as far as inputs/outputs and then price before anything else.
DACs are tough to tell a difference for sure and if I didn't have 2 others running from the same source it would be very difficult. I think that's one of the only ways to tell the difference. The bottom line is that most modern dacs dedicated for music are going to be a step up from internal dacs in computers, phones, and tvs. the important things about some of these dacs in this price range is their ability to act as a preamp and that opens up a world of possibilities
Don’t feel bad. Dac differences are usually subtle compared to speakers. Its hard to hear a difference unless you have pretty resolving speakers/headphones and amp. Normally its slight differences in sound stage, imaging, bass, resolution. The biggest difference for me is glare in the treble. Even then I doubt most people would bother with the slight difference.
I checked out the Apos Audio site right away, very nice! If I get an E30, I'm getting it from Apos. As soon as I watched your review, RU-vid "recommended" I watched Zeos' review of the Topping E30. Then they "recommended" I watch Zero Fidelity's review of the same item. There were ever more "recommendations", but I only watch reviewers who's RU-vid channels begin with the letter "Z". I make an exception for you. Slightly off topic: watched Zeos' review of his new Klipsch RF-7's, and he's using dual SMSL Sanskrit's, a RED one and a BLUE one, for each channel. Yes, a $109 DAC for each of his $1800 speakers, and he love's it. (The price on the Sanskrit's has gone up since Zeos bought them, $140 each now.) As for my own perspective about the E30: rather have that single USB-B type connector for computers/electronics and a dedicated power connector than the twin Micro USB's on the Sanskrit, one of which must be used to power the little guy, unless connected to a device that can give it both data & power, which most computers can do easily enough. The Schiit Modi uses micro USB connections too, in the manner as the Sanskrit. One thing that got my attention: Topping makes a special linear power supply, the P50, designed to power most of their DAC's and headphone amps. I'm not sure the $130 power supply will make the E30 sound better, but it could be beneficial for their headphone amps. Sadly, it's not powerful enough for speaker amps. So here's my list of DAC's to consider: 1. Topping E30 - $150 2. SMSL Sanskrit - $140 3. Schiit Modi 3 - $99 (no remote control for this one) I'd probably be happy with any of them, since I don't own a dedicated external DAC at this time.
Nice, I got mine yesterday. Connected it to my chromecast audio with a toslink cable. I run a denon pma 720 (1989) amp. Sounds awesome! Grts from the Netherlands
When you review the ifi Zen and ifi Zen blue Please let us know if it is the same DAC chip? If the Zen blue is good I won’t have to purchase a streamer. I can continue to just use my IPad. Fingers crossed.
@cheapaudioman... Energy RC-10 bookshelf speakers on Amazon for $190. They are not bass monsters but something special is going on with the mid range and treble. Woofers need some break in time. Soundstage is great. Build quality is great. Originally $600 for the pair. I’d never pay that but, for $190 you can’t go wrong. Please give them a try before they’re gone.
I really think you should do a room / gear walk through. I've been curious about your setup for a little while now. Keep up the good work. Love the content.
I got my E30 for 129usd before Christmas. After getting LPS from AliExpress for 50usd it sound more substantial, bass foundation is more hefty and mids and highs sound clearer , soundstage is much larger . Amazing how 180usd DAC can sound these days....
I love my E30. I have it plugged into my TA100. I would agree that it sounds a little too analytical with my B1+ speakers (the detail is phenomenal, though!). Switching to the bowers and Wilkins M1 brings just enough warmth to make it sound great. Anyone know what codes to use to program a Comcast X1 remote to the E30?
Love your channel dude. Watch every video but if you are going to do cheap audio and talk about DAC's the king is the Hifime S2. $90 and first one I purchased. ( Because i'm cheap) Since then, i bought the E30 and then the Topping D50s. It is far better than both of them with sound quality. Not features because its a little black box but we are talking the latest ESS chip the 9038. I added Hifime's USB isolator for $29 because I have a very noisy computer and this combo is the absolute best I have tried so far.
Having control over volume is awesome for a dac. I like being able to turn down the voltage the dac is sending the amp specially with headphones. If you turn the volume down digitally with your pc you start to lose bit depth on your music. I have a thx 789 and I can’t take it passed 11 o’clock with my hardest to drive headphones.
Wish I saw this comment sooner, I have a NAD C 316BEE and it sounds much better with windows 10 volume at 100% and the amp volume low than the reverse. Thank you so much for this, I haven't seen this advice anywhere else.
Did you switch cameras or lenses? Maybe it's just my eyes tonight, but it seemed like really bad depth of field, such that most of the frame was out of focus.
Hi, would please spare sometime to answer my question. I watched your review and of Topping E30 DAC and brought it to use in my. I also have Helix DSPMini installed in my. Will E30 DAC will improve the quality as DSP has inbuilt DAC to which not good as AK4493. Is it worth use highend DAC and then feed in low quality DAC ?? My E30 is still in dispatch. Pls reply.
If the SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK II is ever in your lineup, would love to know how it compares to the Topping E30. They are both similarly priced and well regarded, but can be hard to choose which one would fit a specific system.
Would love to hear it. I like the M300. I wish SMSL would use full size hookups. They work, of course, but the specific cables needed for them can be sometimes frustrating to find.
Has the 5v PSU got a ferrite just by the E30 DC plug, if not get a clip on one. Wrap the dc cable through it 3 or 4 times. There is every chance it will suppress the interference generated with the fridge switches off. Cheap easy fix.
@@johnm7723 right, sir! Fridges are tough both at start and stop. I recall way back when I was a proud owner of an i486dx4@100 it would reboot with my fridge. Worth also looking into the socket that freezer’s plugged in - there could be a loose bolt broadcasting on all frequencies with sparks.
Likely/possibly - I added one to a fairly old Denon CDC-440 and it was a fairly obvious improvement. It depends quite a bit on the rest of the system, what DAC is actually in your player, how you listen, etc.
I just don't want a dinky little thing between otherwise full size components... just for the looks and all. This is for the desktop, not the stereo...
I have a question, I need help or advice. When I listen to music (Tidal), songs that are 192khz on the DAC display are written 96.0 PCM. Is that the case or is there a bug in the DAC?
I own the E30 DAC and the L30 Headphone amp. Such a good looking stack. The good thing about the E30 ist, that you can choose different filters with the remote control. With this you can adjust the DAC to a more warm or harsh sound. Some filters even give a more base/deep sound. So there is really for everyone the right filter setting. I have to admit, I did not hear a major difference comparing it with my gaming computer soundcard, but the base was much more punchy and more analytical with the E30. Compared to this my computer original sound was kind of blurry and boostet (not analytical) in the base segment.
Try looking at the Ifi Zen Blue Dac, it really is a great product for updating an older reciever and not only giving it high quality bluetooth but also a really nice DAC for $130. Just a suggestion
I went with the bludento blt-2 on ebay straight from china! 60$ and you can make an offer; I offered 35$ and they accepted!!! It's basically the same thing , just a fraction of the price
Im new to dac's and on a starter budget and looked and looked till my eyes glazed over and ended up with more questions than answers! I actually had this unit as a STRONG contender though! At the last minute... i found a good used dragonfly red with ALL the extras for 120 shipped, so i went with it (just showed up in the mail,i have not even picked it up yet) . Hoping it will get me going ! Then later... once i learn more, i might well circle back and grab this for dedicated home use, orrrrr.... hopefully, you might have a review up on the e50, i "believe" it is?! Thanks for the info :)
@@javiern4278 I figured as much,i know im kind of doing it backwards, getting a mobile designed first but... I cant see myself carrying MORE than that around for mobile use cost wise (its over 300 here new in canada for what i got for 120) Still on most top 10 lists.... So i thought it good value considering! I am very curious about this and the e50 i saw though so it gives me more time to ponder what to grab for a "home" unit...
@@cumulusvapes7 I understand, for the price and mobility it's fine. If you have some spare you should try tempotec sonata hd or hidizs s8 (the fancy version of the sonata). Good DACking.
Randy, in preamp mode, does it flash the bitrate and then go to zero or whatever you had the volume set as to? I've been trying to use the pass through on my Yamaha rxv-367 hand me down receiver as my amp, but when I unplug the optical out fro the TV to the receiver, the audio would stop playing. Does that mean this entire time my system was not playing through the E30? My source unit is an inexpensive Sony Blu-ray player with HDMI and coaxial out. The HDMI goes out to the receiver and coax goes to E30 and then the RCA to the AV2 on the receiver.
@@cheapaudioman no I'm running the optical from the TV to the receiver and I'm running RCA from the E30 to the AV2 port on the receiver because it's supposed to be the pass through for this particular receiver. I'm assuming HDMI supersedes the coaxial on the DVD player for sound. I tried changing the output on the DVD player to PCM but it did not seem to make a difference
What's a " D Roll" ? I don't think I have one. I have a DAC, it's a PS Audio. should I get a D Roll too? I think I'm missing something. I looked and Amazon doesn't sell them.
For 129$ I had payed for the E30 I can say it is very good , in my setup it is connected Via USB from my Lenovo M900 Tiny PC , and RCA to my ADCOM GFP 565 preamp the sound is amazing whether I play from Spotify , Foobar or RU-vid, but ! as I switch the E30 for pre amp mode it is crapy and I do not recommend doing that.
Greetings from Germany. I really like the "dry" presentation you are doing :) I'm using the E30 DAC with a IOTAVX SA3 (no PA3), KEF LS50 and a SVS 1000? sub. Most listening to CD's using a Sony CDP 897 (must be about 28 years old) as a transport via optical. The DAC in the IOTAVX SA3 is much better then the one in the Sony CD player but the E30 sounds even better. I can't here a difference between the filters in the E30 but there must be there for a reason, maybe someone can figure that out? The thing I don't like about this E30 DAC, there is no power supply that comes with it. At the moment I'm using a cheap USB adapter. Topping selling a power supply but that cost more than the E30. Question: Does anyone think this can be better by using an other CD transport, like the Audiolab 6000 CDT?
Yes it does. I was using a NAD 516BEE as a transport for the E30 when I first bought the DAC. Last month I picked up the Audiolab 6000CDT and it stepped up the E30 with a fuller sound, especially in the low end. Very happy with this combo.
The e10 is intriguing to me because it has optical and coax out, meaning it could be used as a USB noise filter... admittedly a more niche application.
Was fortunate to score a used Mcintosh pre and power and this E30 streaming with audvirna sounds magnificent...spot on comment regarding pairing this dac with "warm" equipment
usually, but not always, your “smart phone” or laptop or desktop computer has an inferior DAC that it uses to convert digital to analog signals AKA DAC. So, portable DACS bypass the inferior junk and allows better music, (signals) etc to come out of the external DAC and into headphones or into an amp and out to speakers; It’s noticeable with smart phones if you use a good DAC to bypass it; especially with high quality recordings IMO
@@av8rbri473 Thank you....I guess I wonder if I need one if I'm 'streaming' using an amazon fire unit into my tv connected to my Marantz integrated via digital coax...mainly using Amazon, RU-vid, and Spotify....lol it gets confusing...
I don't have any time with the d90 unfortunately but I do with the d50s. The d50s has more functionality but the sonic improvement is only slightly better.
for something smaller, analytical and more affordable the SMSL AD18 amzn.to/3ov7aeP for something more traditional and something you can grow with over time the Emotiva TA-100 emotiva.com/products/ta-100?aff=9
Great video as always question I have the IOTAVX PA3 Amplifier do you think I could use this Dac as a pre-amplifier for it If I use it in pre amp mole does it cancel out the Dac in it
If you use it as a Pre the DAC still functions, but it degrades the sound. I do use it as a pre when watching movies. For music, it’s set to DAC. I can’t hear the difference between the filters. When playing DSD there’s only 2 filters. I power it with a power bank. It lasts all day and night. I like how it displays the bit rate.
I'm sorry to say that your review doesn't sound convincing really and you don't even sound confident and truthful in what you say. Feels like you just do the review for the sake of making some money.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
