Topping D30 Pro

Disclaimer:  The Topping D30pro was provided for purpose of this review by Apos Audio.  Apos sells the D30pro in combination with the A30Pro amplifier  and XLR interconnect cables as an Apos Ensemble.   The Ensemble contains everything needed to start using the D30Pro/A30Pro immediately and retails for $779.99.   I have no affiliation with Topping or Apos Audio, nor have I received any compensation beyond the unit itself for this review.  Units were returned to Apos upon completion of this review.   If you have an interest in Topping, check out their website or to purchase your own Topping 30Pro Ensemble check out Apos Audio

 

Unbox/Packaging:

Those familiar with topping products will recognize the packaging of the D30pro as it follows the trend with a white box with blue Topping name on top.  Details of what is in the box are provided by a label on the side.   Lifting the top reveals the DAC tucked into a foam surround protected by a plastic bag with a compartment next to the dac for the accessories   A little more unpacking and you have the USB cable, power cable and remote unpacked.   The addition of a set of XLR cables so you don’t have to go dig for them would be appreciated but otherwise it is a fairly complete kit.  Unlike its bigger siblings, the D30Pro has an auto sensing power input so setting a 110/230V switch is not necessary before use.

 

Build:

The front of the unit is understated as well with a display screen on the left and volume knob to the right.    The rear of the unit is a little busier with XLR outputs, RCA outputs, coax and optical inputs, usb input and power input and switch from left to right.    For being such a compact unit all connections still have plenty of space to be used simultaneously if desired.    The Frame is all anodized aluminum with no plastic parts save the feet.     The shell gives the unit some heft and I had no issues with the stack wanting to move or slip once setup like can sometimes happen with smaller products (magni).     While the Size of the D30Pro is obviously targeted at desktop use, it worked equally well replacing my Bel Canto in my home setup.  The remote is the universal Topping remote and is lightweight plastic.   The issue I have is use of this same rem0te across all products means  some buttons do nothing and there is no intuitive way to use the remote.

 

Internals:

I had originally thought I’d pull the board and take some internals shots but that proved to be fairly difficult and with this being a loaner, I didn’t want to risk damage to the unit so I quickly gave up on the internals photos.    The D30pro is a departure from the norm for Topping as it uses four Cirrus Logic 43198 chips instead of the more common ESS and AKM series chips.  To my knowledge the D30Pro is the only current DAC in the Topping lineup using the CL series chip.      The 43198 is a capable performer but is now about a generation behind the ESS and AKM offerings so has limited DSD and no MQA support.  Still for a lot of us MQA is a non-issue and most of our audio collection is well below DSD256 in quality so D30Pro offers plenty of capability for most listeners.  The use of four dac chips to support 2-channel output helps further lower noise levels and allows the D30Pro to have an overall THD+N of <0.00009 which is by any comparison fantastically low.   The D30pro also sports a signal to noise ratio of better 120dB which is also quite respectable.       While the numbers are quite good, I have to think that the decision to go with the Cirrus 43198 may have been in part due to parts shortages as even in bulk the CL chip costs nearly as much as newer generation chips were they available in normal quantities.

 

 

 

Inputs:

supported bit rates and sample frequencies vary depending on input used:

USB Supports:  16-32 bits at 44.1-384Hz  for PCM,  64-256 DSD Native,  64-128 DSD Dop

Coax/Optical inputs support: 16-24bit at 44.1-192kHz and are PCM only

Probably the most glaring omission here is the lack of MQA support that has been recently added to several of Topping’s other product lines.    Some will also bemoan the lack of DSD512 support as some recent competitors have added DSD512 along with PCM 32/768kHz support to products at roughly the same price.

 

Settings:

While the D30pro is quite customizable, getting to the settings is a bit of an exercise.  With the unit off, press the volume knob in and hold it while turning the unit on.   This puts the unit in setup mode and the volume knob becomes the scroll wheel and select button for the various settings.    While in setting mode, the user has the option to set the dac filter with nine(9) possible settings to choose from,   DAC vs pre-amp mode, Auto power on/off mode, display brightness,  and output used.   Output can be XLR, RCA or both.     Once settings are chosen, power-cycling the D30pro locks those settings in and allows the user to resume normal operation.   The downside is to change settings one needs access to the rear of the unit.  The upside is it cannot be placed in DAC mode by accident and destroy your hearing because you hit the wrong button on a remote.

The D30pro is designed to be controlled using the remote as the volume wheel on the front of the unit has fairly limited functionality.    The remote is the standard Topping 15 series remote with power and mute at top, a four button wheel immediately below for settings, then three rows of buttons below the wheel.  The first row has a headphone button that isn’t used on the left and the line out button on the right which is used to select XLR or RCA outputs.  The second row has the FIR filter select button at left and the M button at right that isn’t used.    The final row of buttons has the Auto button at left which controls auto power on/standby and at right the brightness control.

 

 

Sound:

Sound discussions of DACs are always difficult as the best possible answer is that it contributes nothing to the sound at all.   Reality is most hardware introduces some residual artifact and isn’t perfectly clear, but Topping has done a good job of making those artifacts extremely difficult to pick out of the mix.   I decided to try the D30Pro in my home system as a replacement for my Bel Canto 2.7.   The rest of the components are a Bryston BP26 Pre-amp and MPS2 power supply, a Levinson 23 amp,  and Magnepan 3.7 speakers.    This is a fairly clinical sounding chain without a lot of added warmth but with a ton of detail and transparency.     Trading the D30pro into the Bel Canto spot using the XLR outputs is immediately notable as the D30Pro is a touch warmer and thicker in the mids than the Bel Canto.   The Cl chip has shown similar results in other devices like the Opus #1s that has a nice balance between weight and warmth on one side and detail and clarity on the other.    I found the Bel Canto to be a bit more detailed but a bit more clinical sounding and slightly less engaging than the D30Pro.    Running the same chain using the RCA outputs results in very similar tonality if requiring slightly more amplification to reach the same level.

Replacing my ADI-2 with the D30Pro/A30Pro combination paired with an Sennheiser HD800 and Beyerdynamic T5, I was surprised to find similar clarity with a very slight mid lift to the D30Pro/A30Pro combo.    The most notable advantage of the ADI-2 is the resolution with more micro-detail  when compared to the D30Pro.   The D30pro sounds a bit more fluid sounding if delivering fewer nuances in the process.

 

Conclusions:

Topping has been making a name for itself with a string of dacs and dac/amps that test remarkably well, pack a lot of features, and are extremely competitively priced.  The D30Pro continues that trend in some regards but the switch to Cirrus Logic DAC chips is not without an impact.   The D30Pro sacrifices some detail and capability due to that choice of chip and as such gives some of its competitors an opportunity.   Those looking for DSD512 or MQA support will likely skip over the D30Pro due to its lack of those features but for most of us the vast majority of our music collection will perform perfectly well on the D30pro and sound quite good doing it.  While the D30pro is in a crowded field at the $399 price point, it offers enough to make it a strong contender and certainly is worth an audition.   The combination of D30pro/A30pro and XLR cables offered in the Apos Ensemble make it an even more enticing proposition.