e30 is rubbish, it has cursed 2d left to right imaging with no depth to the soundstage. Its allright with bass, kinda slow, not really inpactful, sounds thin and boring.
@Kkk Not my experience at all with the e30. Seems fine with my Asgard 3. (may change my mind if/when I get a Bifrost, lol.)
I went to diy. First an ak4399 based dacs on op627 output stage, single R-core transformer. It was faster, punchier, more detailed and transpared, staged much deeper and wider than topping e30, sold my topping.
Than i have got an pcm1794 based dac with class a biased output stage working on lme49990. A single, but huge toroidal transformer and fans, on a dac, yes.
It sounds slower and darker than 4399, yet stages huge(much taller, wider, deeper). Subbase became deeper, more palpable and physical. It was cheaper than e30 and i would never come back. Give dacs a chance, it will improve your audiophiliac journey.
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@Kkk Hmm. You’ve done some work! Thanks for the info. I have to rely on pre-made, as I have little electronics knowledge/ability, but this is good to know.