The audiophile world continues to bring "hi"- priced- "fi" quality closer to the 100-500 range for all tech components of the audio system... this dac at $130 and a $250-450 crown xls series amplifier will give comparable quality signal to any speakers well into the $3000 price range. what a great time to be in this space
the crown is very good as a subwoofer amp, it has lot of harmonics and inaccuracy in high frequencies. Should get hypex nc400 if it’s absolute sound “on a budget”
Hi again sir Just to tell you when I saw your review of the D30 I was convinced and I got it after that and you are true to your words about the D30. Now that after I watch this review of the E30. I ordered it and yes it’s amazing than the D30 👍👍👍 I don’t what next I will buy after watching your review and I truly enjoy watching your works. Keep it up pls. Many thanks from Singapore. 😊
I have one of these feeding my two channel stereo powered by a nice Yamaha A-S1200 amp. For the money this is a very good DAC. If it wasn't, it would sound like crap on my system, which is quite detailed and revealing. I may upgrade to a spiffier DAC down the road for an even more in depth sound stage (the Schiit Bifrost has my eye) but this inexpensive E30 and proper speaker placement suffices nicely for now. The E30 is not harsh or fatiguing at high volume levels either. I am not an audiophile, but most definitely am an audio enthusiast, and in my opinion the E30 gives you smooth and quite detailed sound. While it may not be the last word in DACs, the E30 does not cost 2 grand either. I am duly impressed that you were impressed that the E30 sounded good through your highly detailed KEF speakers. Those babies will highlight any weaknesses for sure. Do not use the E30 in Preamp mode though, it sounds like crap run that way. Run it in DAC mode. If you can adjust the volume level with the remote (a great thing to have by the way!) you are in Preamp mode. Hold down the power sensor for a few seconds and it will switch over to DAC. Also, use a decent separate power supply, no not use a phone charger with the USB cord or worse yet plugging it into a laptop to power it, that helps the E30 deliver it's best.
I purchased one to replace my oldish Arcam rDAC after seeing so many positive reviews, but no comparison between them.. I'll be keeping the Arcam and the topping goes to Marketplace..
Perfect review as usually. It looks Topping E30 is a top-notch DAC. If you could compare it with Loxjie D10, what would be the result? Thank you. I very appreciate your precise work. Greetings from the Czech rep.!
after ordering it and listening to it a bit, I must say, I am a bit dissapointed. From what I hear, (I know this is subjective, so IMO) it does bring nice separation is vocals, has somekind of wide soundstage (but not fantastic), but it does have somekind of curtain in front of the sound. It might be my crappy phone charger, I will have to try it out with others. Nonetheless this not somekind of critic towards your review, because that in itself is on point, detailed, loved it. Just I don't find it a dealbreaker.
Great review! I have tested the Topping D10 some time ago and didn't like it at all even though it had raving review around the internet. I found the sound to be very sterile and unexciting. But this one paired with the Topping A50 should be a good budget combo. Unfortunately I've just ordered the K5 Pro and now I'm a bit on the fence about my purchase. Looks like Topping upped their game.
I am still waiting on my order of the Topping E30, I bought it on good faith that it would improve upon the D30. I also own the ifi ZEN DAC and a Schiit Modi Multi-Bit. I'm guessing the order of performance will be the Schiit, then the Topping and last the ifi...time will tell! Cheers on the review
Distro User would appreciate your impressions between this and the mimby once you get your e30. I also have the mimby and am pondering on this product as well thanks
I bought this silver one and waiting for the shipping. It looks amazing. Very nice design. Measurements are literally perfect. No other dac measuring like this. They will release L30 amp to stack with this. I'll also buy that one if it's well done like this.
Pozdrav, pratim već duže vreme tvoj kanal i zaista imaš sjajne rivjue raznih uređaja. U ovom videu spominješ low noice napajanje za ovaj dak pa me interesuje šta bi preporučio za njega, a da ima kod nas da se kupi?
Pozdrav. Kod nas je izbor napajanja jako slab, da ne kažemo nepostojeći. Na pamet mi pada iFi iPower i njegova skuplja varijanta iPower X. Ne znam da li ih neko uvozi ali ima na KP da se nađe.
Great review - I am going to invest in an E30 to go with my iLoud active mini monitors. Am hoping it will an improvement over the on-board DAC in Squeezebox Touch that feeds them.
Thanks! I don't have experience with those monitors but really hope you'll hear the difference for the better. Feel free to write back with your impressions.
just got the e30. comparing it to my memory of the d50s and side by side the modi multibit, the modi multibit is still head and shoulders above the e30 especially if you put weights on them (like what you did with the modi 3). you should look into multibit / r2r dacs in the future. switching between e30 and modi multibit, I feel like there is a curtain that is uncovered between me and the music, dynamics return, there is depth and larger scale to the soundstage and all the digital glare disappears. i'll try to make a sound comparison
its also possible my power supply (iphone charger) is not as good as what you used in yours. The Modi Multibit already comes with linear psu out of the box. that said, e30 is a great kit especially for the price, its a keeper for a delta sigma alternative.
Just now I connected the e30 to a power bank and it transformed it to a worthy comparison :o looking forward to your mimby review. keep up the great channel
Thanks for the review. Ordered the E30 yesterday based on your review. This will be my first DAC. Can you please explain what the different filter settings do to the sound? Is it affecting the sound in a similar fashion to a graphic equalizer? Many thanks. Subscribed!
Digital filters are not similar to equalizer but have something to do with how DAC filters unwanted high frequencies (linear phase, minimum phase, slow, sharp...) and their effect is very subtle. To be honest, most of the times I don't notice much difference and some of them sound the same to me. Linear phase sharp is usually a bit sharper sounding than the others, minimum phase slow is usually a bit more mallow... You can try for yourself but don't be surprised if they all sound the same to you. :) Enjoy your new DAC!
Wonderful and comprehensive review!! You mentioned a linear power supply. What would you recommend? I'm starting this off in my stereo system paired with a transport. Many thanks!
Nice review thanks. Ordered one, and the clone headphone amp- Beyer dynamic 2 model. I will listen with Sennheiser 650 and now look for a quite power supply. Regards from wet Rochdale UK.
Attention! Anyone reading these comments ever heard the Audio Alchemy DAC's? The DTI PRO DDE 3.0 Combo ran close to $1k. Yes. They were made in the late 90's. Can this e90 sound better? Thank you
great reviews....with all things equal in the chain..which of the 3 will give best resolution, bloom, body, good pace/timing, and bang for the buck...Topping E30, Schiit Modi Multibit, or Khadas Tone Board...thanks...
To get the most out of your DAC, including the Topping E30, I recommend to get a good linear power supply unit. Using a battery will give you a flat sound without dynamics and refinement. A good analogy is to compare the quality of light on the screen of a laptop. Feeding it with the mains is much better than with the internal battery.
Hello I want really thank you for reviewing products that seems almost none consider. Your review seems really genuine and would like to ask you a suggestion if you will have time to read and answer me. My setup is really simple: Spektor 1 speaker (200€) + Fosi T20 Amp (80€). I always listen to those thought an iPad with Spotify, connected directly to the Amp (jack-RCA). Ok, given all of that my first question is: Do I'll benefit from a DAC given my simple setup and player? If the answer is yes, would you be able to give me some suggestions? Just as a guideline of what I'm looking for, just in case. - I honestly don't think is it worth spending much more than 100-150€ for a DAC given my setup, am I wrong? - I would like a powered one, because as I sad, plan to use it with the iPad and would not be able to power a DAC (and don't want to attach it to a powered multi hub USB, want to keep it simple). - I will always use DAC in my home with my speaker, so I do not value thing like DragonFly, I don't mind audio quality "on the go". - Also I do not value DAC proprieties like volume and remote control, screen and headphone jack. I'm just fine with a metallic, "audio transparent" box with no features other than connect two end point, if that make sense to you. I watched almost all of your DAC review and... - I like the Topping D10s and good price, but since it is USB powered it is a huge minus for me. - I really like the Schiit Modi 3 but unfortunately in my region (Italy) it is hard to find and much more expensive (around 150€ vs 100$ that should be like 90€) so I do not think it is still worth it. - The Topping E30 and iFi Zen seems to be my best options, but they are maybe on the pricier side (150-170€). In top of that, I plan to connect it with a couple of AudioQuest cable (the cheapest one) and that would be around 50€ for the Forest lighting-USB one (Yes, it is really expensive. but not that much different from buying the Apple original lighting to USB adapter and than buy a USB-USB cable, just the adapter it cost around 45€, so at that point I prefer buying a single, good quality cable for literally a couple euros more) and 30€-ish for the RCA-RCA, so another 80€ to stack. If you have red all of this (really thank you!) what would it be your suggestions? What DAC should I buy, if I need one in the first place. Obviously, it's not needed to be one of those I have listed, I'm open to suggestions!
Hi, thanks for this great review ! Do you think it would be a good idea to associate the Topping E30 with SMSL SA300 + Monitor Audio Bronze 2 ? I'm affraid that it would sound too "clear" with a lack of warmness. I'm actually hesitating with a micromega MyDac which is apparently know to sound more "analogic" or warmer. Thanks by advance for your response!
Hi!! I've been watching you for a while and decided to get the K5 Pro after watching a bunch of reviews. Yours was what sealed the deal for me!! But now I'm looking to upgrade my DAC/AMP to the E30/L30 stack :o Will it be a good enough upgrade to the the integrated chip in the K5 Pro? Currently going to use the K5 Pro as a standalone amp if I do end up buying the E30 first. I'm just not sure if it's going to be a noticeable improvement without the L30 amp. :(
i didn’t know it at the time haha. went for the drop 789 + motu m4 after a few combos, but just ended up selling the amp anyway since the motu did everything i needed + monitoring
@@ethanavi well you bought and kept what you need for your purpose, i do wonder how are audio interface's dac/amp sound quality compared to a real dac+amp stack of similar price
Hi, thanks for your great reviews. I´m considering adding a new dac to my system (already have a Audioquest Dragonfly Red) . Between Ifi Zen DAC and Topping e30 , which do you prefer as a standalone PC DAC ?. My main concern on these units is the reliability issues. On your testing, did you hear any "popping" sounds when changing tracks and/or sampling rates ? Or any other issue ? Dragonfly Red works flawlessly as a DAC and has a very balanced sound.
should i get this or the fiio k5 pro? i will be using the fiio fh3 iem, sony xm4, and maybe philips shp9500 and dt 990 pro 250 thanks in advance, keep up the awesome videos!
Thank you for a great review. I thought the D30 was getting a bit long in the tooth, so not surprised by the arrival of the E30. I am not familiar with the sonic signature of your Cyrus amp, I've heard your speakers but only in a store. I use a Bryston B60 with 75th anniversary Wharfedale 9.1 / Energy ESW V8 from your review it sounds like the E30 would sound sweet! in my system. One question is the face actually glass? or some kind of plastic? . What linear power supply you have please? LOL I know you didn't want how it sounds vs …..but come on you have to comment vs the Topping D50s.
Thanks! Cyrus is fast and punchy amp, if I had to explain it quickly. Yeah, the front is some sort of fiberglass (that's what I wanted to say actually). I avoid comparing directly with D50s cause I don't have it with me any more so can't tell the exact difference, but... I thought Burson Playmate to sound just a bit more precise and refined than D50s. Now I hear E30 having slightly better detail retrieval and soundstage width than Playmate... However, I still keep D50s in high regard for its build and BT option.
Well done... was or is you source always streaming music over you computer?? How are you normally attached to it and what do you out put it to... I am trying to play steaming music from my laptop to my 2 channel stereo system.... NAD OR YAMAHA to Klipsch speakers.
I use PC sometimes directly over USB cable to the DAC. That works well. But most of the time in my room setup it's a dedicated streamer controlled via smartphone (Raspberry Pi + Allo DigiOne SPDIF board + Allo Shanti linear power supply).
You need RCA output for both... So either you have a pass-through pair of RCAs on your headphone amp (Schiit Magni 3 has those for example), or you use some sort of RCA switcher, or RCA splitter cable which is the cheapest solution I guess...
Probably not. I liked D30 too much in its time to put it against E30 now. :) E30 is a lot better in any way I can think of - details, sound-stage, imaging...
Great review like always, can you please tell me how this compares to the Khadas Tone board DAC? From the sounds of it (pun intended) they both sound balanced and detailed. ESS ES9038Q2M in the Tone Board vs. AKM 4493 in the E30. Thanks in advance and for your reviews. Trying to see if this would be an upgrade or a side grade.
Thanks! E30 is a bit more open sounding, more extended in the high frequency region, and it's able to make wider soundstage. If I had to choose one now I'd choose E30 no doubt. KTB is still great device on its own though.
I guess it also depends a lot on your own taste. I'm often anxious to give this kind of direct advice cause different people, different ears, different tastes...
Another nice review Srboljub. Praise indeed if it matches or betters the Burson DAC in your Playmate. Did you use the amplifier in the Burson when you tried the E30? Have you thought about using the V6 Opamps in the Burson? It would be interesting to hear the difference. The Topping E30 seems like a great buy!
You can't use just amp inside of Burson because there is no analogue line in. So it's DAC out or DAC/AMP together. And it's great amp for sure... For example E30 + Schiit Magni 3 are no match for Playmate... Because Playmate's amp is obviously better than Magni 3. Haven't tried V6. I hear they sound great but it's not cheap for 4 of them...
@iiWi Reviews: I see. What a pity they didn’t provide analogue in. I suppose that it would add extra cost and the designers thought it might get limited use. Burson had a sale recently of their V6’s (and V5’s I think) at good prices. If you haven’t already done so, it might pay to get on their mailing list to get notification of sales.
How would you compare this with the Magni 3? I am using it with a home theater system with mps 5 Yamaha monitors. Thanks for reviewing affordable equipment.
Hi, thanks a lot for another great review! One question- does it automatically turn on and off when it detects signal on USB input ? If I power it with wall-wart, do I need to turn it on and off every time I turn on/off my PC ? Looking forward, Przemek
@@iiWiReviews thanks for your reply, however I was searching the web and according to shenzhenaudio.com/products/topping-e30-dac-ak4493-xu208-32bit-768k-dsd512-touch-operation-with-remote-control-hi-res-decoder this model should have the feature: E30 has the function of auto turn on and off. It will automatically enter into stand by when the input signal is lost or unavailable in 1 minute. Once detecting any signal of inputs, it will turn on and switch to this input.
When its comperes with that khadas soundboard you reviewed last year, how it standards, is it mach better?From 2020 year perspective, what is best bye around 100 euro pricetag by your opinion?
Yes it is quite a bit better than KTB when put in good enough system. First things that come to my mind is clearly wider sound-stage and better extension (more details, more atmosphere from recordings). Currently I think this is the best buy.
I am trying to find some very high quality audio sample that I can use to test this DAC. This is my first DAC and I have a 'beginner audiophile' set up. If anyone can provide a link to any free, downloadable sample, it would be much appreciated.
I want to use it with my Samsung tv for optical to analog audio converter. Does it make better sound for my sony hifi system. Because my hifi system does not have optical input options. I never buy a DAC before. I already buy a cheap converter but it does not give louder sound. please give me your advice.
I currenty have a fiio K5 pro and am interested in the specific differences to the E30. Is it brighter/more flat then the k5 pro's slightly warm pre out? Also any other differences? I personally enjoy the dac section of the K5 pro alot due to how detailed and correctly imaged the sound is. Is the E30 even more detailed?
In terms of darkness/brightness, they are both quite neutral and there is no big difference there. I really think K5 pro's line out is good enough and appropriate for most entry level systems... it's a well rounded type of sound that has no real faults on its own. It's just if you compare it directly to E30 you notice it can't dig as much details, and that E30 is better with imaging and layering - everything's a bit more precise. But hey, there's always something better out there... BTW, I kept using K5 pro in my desktop system, love it...
Hi. May I know if a cheap wallwart of 5v 2a offers better power supply than a powerbank? Can a cheap wallwart offer better power supply than a powerbank because powerbank is inconvenient.
Would you say that this DAC is better than the DAC that comes with the iFi Zen DAC? Because I am thinking of buying the Zen DAC in the near future and after that I will be getting the Drop + THX 789.
Is there a way to play this through my phone, like on spotify wanna connect it to something at work job site phone e30 amp speaker. What would you suggest
Hmmmm Im super hesitate between this E30 and D50s. Would like to get one to replace my FIIO Q1MK2. My Setup is PC->Fiio Q1mk2->AQ RCA Cable->Pioneer Reciever-> ELAC Uni-Fi . I used to own Fiio Q5 and Q1mk2 at the same time but i let go of Q5 as that lack of high frequency comparing with Q1mk2 even if it got better body and bass control. but tranparency of Q5 is less than Q1mk2. . Any suggestion in sound quality btw D50s and E30 if budget is not a problem just sound quality (ps. some said this e30 soundstage is even wider than D50s?) (I used to be fan of wolfson Dac chip.my favor lean toward warm sound. not a fan of thin sound)
It is a tough call to be honest. To my ears D50s has weightier bass line and slightly fuller sound, but E30 is wider and more spacious sounding, with more air. I think it all comes to your personal preference in the end. Personally, I probably lean towards E30 a little bit more.
I haven't tried SMSL SP200 but E30 doesn't have any specific sound character so they should match fine. You'd just have to use regular RCA as there is no balanced connection with E30.
Very small ones... I can't really hear difference with all of them but I do notice with some. For example: 1st and 4th are sharper and more open, 6th is a bit more mellow. But the difference is really small and if the rest of the system is not super transparent it might be very difficult to notice it.
More details and wider soundstage. It also sounds more analytical overall. I'll have a review of SMSL Sanskrit 10th MKII soon, I believe people that liked Khadas would maybe like it more than E30.
@@iiWiReviews Thanks. Because I was wonder since it's mentioned here: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-e30-dac-review.12119/page-104 (this is also worth skimming through, some products are simply badly designed: nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/nuforce-udac-2-drama.html )
I received this e30 yesterday. In Dac mode, the sound is excellent and comparable to my Cambridge 840c CD player. But the unit went dead after two hours of use. Therefore, I do not recommend to buy it.
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?
Tidal uses MQA format to compress high resolution tracks. Tidal app can only encode up to 96 kHz (so called software encoding). To get to 192 kHz a DAC needs to posses hardware MQA encoder which E30 doesn't have. Just as an example, if you were to use Qobuz which sends uncompressed Hi-Res (no MQA, higher bitrate...) your DAC would play 192 kHz perfectly.
I do think E30 is better DAC... But I wouldn't let myself be bothered by that. Zen is also great sounding device, plus the headphone output and MQA support... Has a lot of strengths on its own.
please show me how to set the E30 to the frequency of 768Khz, I have such a device and I cannot do it, the scale in WIN 10 ends at 384Khz and I do not know if my E30 is damaged or I am doing something wrong. I don't know if you will write here as an answer, or maybe a little movie on private e-mail or google-disk, but please
The DAC is not damaged, Windows simply doesn't support such insanely high sample rates. If you want to try it anyway, you can install HQ player for example and turn on upsampling to 768 kHz. Just be sure to check in Windows audio settings that you allow apps to take exclusive control over audio... That way the player can bypass Windows and its limitations. But in practice, you'll have no use of these sample rates. 196 kHz is the highest commercially supported format that you can actually find.
I bought this dac and from time to time it disconnects itself and I get the message "An audio device was disconnected or reconfigured". Is this normal or is it faulty?
I haven't experienced it. It sounds like you should try a new/better USB cable cause I had similar experience with several cables already. Provided ones in the box are usually of a low quality.
As a pure DAC it's simply more detailed and has bigger soundstage... But K5 pro is also a great device, especially for headphones because of a great amp... So nothing to worry about. :)
iiWi Reviews I have got a low impedance headphone (50ohm). Not going to hold u accountable =p but would I benefit more from a better dac e30? Or something like k5 pro?
There is a discovered issue with E30 -- apparently the output polarity is inverted. This is was discussed in ASR yesterday and Topping has immediately fixed it via a firmware update. But this might change your sound review of them, they are warmer now and that details & wide sound you have observed might be because of the leanness that is imparted by having an inverted absolute polarity. Its also probably why I found it so lean compared to the multibit and made me prefer the mimby on 1st impressions www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-e30-dac-review.12119/page-56
I've played a bit with changing polarity directly on my speakers... I also find it sound a bit fuller when I reverse polarity... while in the default state it feels a bit thinner but airier... I actually had some songs where I preferred one thing and some other songs where I preferred the other. :) Had too little time today, gonna test some more soon... Can you tell me what microphone you're using to record videos on your channel (I just watch few of them - nice)?
@@iiWiReviews Topping confirmed in the ASR thread that it was indeed unintentionally inverted. My guess is, the warm one is the correct one. I also know the Steely Dan & Jing Chi songs I used in my video like the back of my hand and I always thought it sounded off before the firmware update. Do you think reversing speaker cables does the same effect? If yes, I would prefer to use your method because the firmware update only fixed USB input and topping also confirms this since the XMOS USB firmware is the only way to reverse the polarity remotely. Optical connection still sounds lean on mine.
@@iiWiReviews regarding recording gear -- its honestly nothing special. its just the iphone XS camera which apparently has excellent binaural mic for such recordings.
@@iiWiReviews Hi. May I know if a cheap wallwart of 5v 2a offers better power supply than a powerbank? Can a cheap wallwart offer better power supply than a powerbank because powerbank is inconvenient.
Which DAC/AMP combo do you recommend for my desktop $100 or below. Currently using onboard Realtek ALC 892 and I am not satisfied with it. Sound is congested and bass is lacking
HI bro.I've been using topping e30 for several months and works great ,but If I wanna upgrade Im considering Topping D50s or SMSL Su-9 ..considering im not into MQA..what model would you reccomend? I watched your smsl su9 video and im into high punchy sound but Its 2-3 times more money than e30 or d50s
D50s is not much of an upgrade. If you can stretch to. SU-9 that would be a good upgrade. If not, wait and see my latest video about Loxjie D30 tomorrow. That one is slightly better than D50s but also cheaper.
@@douweschat8978 I finally bought It..the sound is wider and punchier (soundstage), badder and better and has mqa and Bt 24/192 ..e30 has great tonality and I loved it but this Su9 its like a demolition machine that isnt ashamed of showing their power.
