Still like mine. I sometimes use the coax in with the tv!
Hi all,
I was looking at USB conditioners for my E30 (they disable the power on a computer’s USB out, leaving it signal-only, eliminating a source of noise). They’re really cheap (£20-25) so I thought it would be worth a go…
However, the Sbooster VBus2 that I bought doesn’t seem to be compatible (should have read the compatibility list first, duh): with it plugged in, the E30 shows ‘– – –‘ on the USB LED. Does anyone know of a compatible conditioner? Google doesn’t turn up anything…
TIA,
Tim
Actually, shortly after posting, by chance I stumbled on the fact that my Mac Mini supports optical out via the headphone port. So I’ve just ordered a 3.5mm to optical cable, which should have the same effect as a conditioner (it’ll be signal,only).
Not to add insult to injury, but this…
does not induce a lot of confidence when someone could not remember the word “path” exists and “SMT Technology” (= Surface Mount Transistor Technology???) is a feature.
Edit: Reddit thread There is NOTHING in there except a ground-spring to connect the aluminum case to USB-Ground.
Hi M0N,
I am new to DAC’s and I also got a Topping E30. The sound stage and the stereo (meaning left and right speakers) imaging is very good when I use sources connected to the E30 via optical cable and Coax (both cd players). However, I lose stereo imaging when I play from my laptop connected to the DAC via USB. I lose the sense of left and right channel like everything is coming from the center. Dis this happen to your E30? Any help how to fix this?
Thanks,
Jonas
What specific cd transports? To me that sounds like the cd transports are outputting a superior digital signal to the dac compared to the PC, or potentially a specifically noisy/poor quality output on the pc. A nicer quality digital signal will improve sound quality, so that’s my guess. Do you have drivers installed on the pc, and are you using an exclusive mode?
If you wanted to experiment and improve sound a bit, you could try grabbing a ddc for the pc to allow you to give a better sound quality, but that’s going to be potentially just as much as the dac in cost to grab
Thank you for the reply. The cd transports are basic Panasonic dvd players. I think the problem is with my pc (hp laptop). I tried to send music using my laptop and it also doesnt have stereo, everything seems to sound from the center of the sound stage. I will try to sort out my laptop first.
Thanks again…
You are testing with the same tracks from the cd correct? Are you playing ripped versions of the cd, or are you playing from a cd drive on the laptop? Also if you are playing ripped music from the cd, it is lossless correct?
And when using them on a PC, are you still powering them with an external power supply or are you relying on power from the pc usb only? (Just wanted to check here)
Also paging @Pokrog so he can tell you about a potentially worthwhile option that would allow you to use optical or coax on the E30 from your laptop that might be cheap enough to try out
Hi all.
I just got the E30 to take advantage of Apple Hi Res.
I’m playing music from my iPad, using a lightning USB adaptor into the E30, then RCA cable to my Denon AVR.
It’s playing the Hi Res fine. Just wondering now if it is possible to play the Dolby Atmos albums this way too as I have a 5.1.2 set up.
Will the E30 only pass on the stereo format or should it manage the Atmos too?
Cheers.
Welcome to the forum! As far as I understand DACs (or most of them) only decode up to two channels, so you cannot pass the full Dolby Atmos into one DAC. You could in theory use multiple DACs if you could get the channels separately in the digital realm.
This was better discussed in this topic:
Alternatively, you can look into Surround sound receivers or processors. And you could use the E30 for music listening and change to the internals of the receiver just for movies.
Can you pass spatial audio to headphones from device-e30-amp-headphones ?
Hi All – just putting this out there : is there a maximum USB cable length for the E30? I’ve had to temporarily re-site my Mac Mini and bought a 10m USB cable to attach it to my E30.
Now, when I choose ‘USB’ on the E30, I get ‘- - -‘ with ‘USB’ flashing. Also, under Sound Preferences on the Mac, the E30 doesn’t appear.
Any ideas what’s going on?
TIA
(On a plus note, the E30 goes into standby mode, now, whereas it didn’t before with the other USB cable).
Uhh 10m is a length where it can be problematic with the data transfer, could be you’ll have to use an active USB cable with a repeater, or use a shorter one like 5m, with that length there should be no problems
Thanks, I’m not sure that 5m will reach… I’ll measure when I get home… odd about the standby mode, though…
For USB 2.0 I believe 10m is the theoretical limit (or close), but in most situations it’s probably already past the limit in one point (either of the devices or the cable). If moving the Mac Mini is not an option, there are some alternatives.
One option is to look for a active USB cable. They basically have an active circuit in the middle that acts as booster. But you will need to connect this part to power. It usually it comes with supply unit, it’s just cheap and not convinient.
Other option is to use a DDC and change to another type of digital signal. Looking at other connections, I think Toslink is around the same limit, so it’s not a good idea. Coaxial Digital seems to go from 10 to 15m so it would be more suitable. Bet would be AES since the connectors it uses are for long distances, but I believe the E30 dos not have this input, correct?
Finally, you could go with a streamer. This is a whole other level, you need to check if it works with you streaming platform or look for something like Roon to use with your library. Probably the most expensive option, but the one with less cables.
Thanks, DuerumBen and fabiokelm – a 5m cable did the trick. Still doesn’t go into Standby mode when there’s no signal, though… :0(
Hi there ! I have a Chromecast audio too which I love and I pass the optical out to my Audioengine D1 dac. The problem is that my dac many times exhibits a very annoying problem when I pause or skip to the next or another song ( a loud scratchy sound). Have you experienced any of these with the Topping e30? I’m thinking of upgrading to this dac but I want confirmation that I won’t have the same issue.
Thanks!
A heads up. Apos recently said the e30 is no longer available, though I did see it on
amazon. I like mine and have had no problems with it.
Topping E30 Review: Larger soundstage than expected from a smaller DAC than expected.
TL,DR: I take one or two weeks to review equipment before sharing my thoughts here. This one took two days and I can’t listen to this DAC anymore. My ears are sensitive to treble and high frequencies, and this DAC appears to boost all these frequencies my ears don’t like.
This is a quick review of the Topping E30 (one – not the E30 II). So, my friend was about to sell it, but I borrowed it for a few days. I got an SMSL Sanskrit 10th DAC, but never heard any Topping DACs. When I saw the E30, I was surprised about its small size (that’s what she said). I saw a lot of reviews of the E30 on YouTube, but I still was expecting it to be at least as wide as a CD case. Nope. More like a PSP/minidisc case. It’s 10 cm x 12 cm x 3.2cm!
Tests were done with my Aune X7S headphone amplifier and my Nad HP50’s and Fostex T50RP’s.
Bass, mids, treble:
Basically, this might be… “the opposite” of an SMSL Sanskrit 10th. Where the SMSL is punchy with a laid-back treble, the Topping E30’s prevalence is high-mids and treble. I’ve used my SMSL for months and months and sibilance rarely (if ever) annoyed me. The E30 can be annoying, that’s the first thing I noticed. High frequencies can be painful. Female voices can be “too much”. This was never a problem with the SMSL. The timbre is just different – and it’s not my preference. For me, the timbre is off. And if your DAC makes you avoid some kinds of music, it’s not a good DAC – so, for me, this is not a good DAC. There’s some kind of digital glare over everything. Some kind of added treble, overemphasized oversampling, overdone higher harmonics. And apparently this is the Topping “signature” sound, because I remember someone telling me he liked his Topping DAC… until he realized he always wanted to listen to bassy/smooth-sounding stuff with it.
Well here’s one for the “conspiracy theorists” out there: Added treble is an easy way to make it seem like something is way more detailed than it is. I’m great at finding that because… It simply just hurts my ears instead. If you’re treble-sensitive like me and want to avoid tinnitus (or tinnitus-like sounds), my recommendation is to avoid the E30. Still, everyone got different ears (or personal preferences). If you got smooth-sounding headphones, or you’d want some more “sparkle” in all your music, this might be for you.
Soundstage and other technicalities: “The best hallway I ever heard”.
The E30 got impressive soundstage. It’s funny because… An impressive soundstage and a treble-oriented DAC is the opposite of what I’d expect from a single AKM chip, but that’s what this DAC got. This DAC also seems to be “fast” and precise. Which means great detail and great, precise instrument separation. But… there’s also an impressive lack of depth (i.e.: If you’re listening to music with headphones… that’s it, that’s all. Sounds at your left, sounds at your right, and the singer? He’s inside your head. Not “in front of you”). Still… That’s the best “left-right” hallway I ever heard. I mean, this obviously can’t compete with my 500$MSRP Moon 100D which got so much depth, sometimes it’s like listening to a hallway… in front of you (instead of “left-right” – now you know why I said “left-right hallway” – no it’s not an audiophile term). Anyway, let’s be a bit more fair and compare it with other “budget” DACs now.
Comparisons with my Xduoo XD05 Basic (AKM) and SMSL Sanskrit 10th MK2.
Even just a 150$MSRP Xduoo XD05 Basic (I got the AKM version) would be my recommendation instead. Instead of getting a Topping E30 with “just” great soundstage and detail, the Xduoo will give you “a good bit of everything” (decent depth, soundstage, detail, and timbre)… Except it’s also a battery-powered and portable DAC and headphone amplifier. For more or less the same price of the Topping E30. And if you don’t like the sound you can also swap the opamps for a few bucks. As a (huge) bonus, with all the functionalities, it’s also basically a poor man’s iFi Gryphon. But even only used as a desktop DAC, the XD05 is a great AKM chipset implementation with a decent amount of treble, where the E30 got too much treble and “sparkle” to my ears. For something even smoother, the SMSL Sanskrit 10th played it safe – its got laid-back treble even in comparison to the XD05.
Maybe with speakers?
Honestly, I mostly use headphones, so I did not even bother trying speakers with the E30. But if you want a detailed DAC for old speakers with laid-back treble? This might be a great pairing. The lack of depth might also be less of a problem in a stereo system (or, well, not a problem at all if you don’t even know what I mean by that – something about holographic 3D audiophilia and all these expensive hallucinations).
Finally, I don’t know if there’s a fix for this, but I use coax only. I don’t know if it happens with other inputs. But every damn time you stop a song, the Khz shown returns to “- - -” and in the silence, “coax” will fiash. Eternally. I hope there’s an option to turn that off (that doesn’t require masking tape).