Topping E30 II

have only had this item a couple of days and bought it to link between laptop and the Topping L 30 II I already own. It surprised me the difference it made to the quality of sound playing music from the computer to the amplifier Both the Topping L30 II and E30 II perform far beyond what their £149.00 price tags suggest they will I've been using the L30 II amplifier for a while now and it's output via either headphones or desktop speakers is superb now with the E30 II DAC in the chain the sound is so SO clear and clean it's incredible No hesitation in recommending this very affordable very capable DAC (or its companion Amp)

I cannot rate this highly enough, an exceptional piece of kit, I'm running it with a small class d amp (pa3s) the size of a book, and getting amazing clarity to my ageing but good speakers. If you frequent the high street major audio chains, you may have heard a 5 figure setup, my setup now sounds like that, and far better than ~1-3k combinations of traditional devices I've tried recently. I'm running a CCA (Chromecast Audio) via optical in, and getting 96/24 sound streamed via roon. I can't overstate the difference this has made, in visual terms it's like going from 720p to a flag ship 4k oled w/ hdr and dolby vision, it's a huge leap forward. Two of the major chip makers are ESS, and AKM, ESS were leading for a while, then AKM created VELVET dac chips, a class of them, to beat ESS sabre's. This has 2 of the ak4493s chips in it, and competes with many new DACs up to 2x it's price easily. Highly recommend, if you're considering it, you won't regret it. n.b. AKM Velvet and ESS Sabre have slightly different sound signatures, some people prefer one vs the other. However both are exceptional and this device is a great implementation.

I owned an SMSL ESS9043 dac last year and returned it because I found the sound quality, although initially impressive, to be clinical and uninvolving. Sadly this dual AKM dac suffers from the same shortcomings so I have concluded that if you only need CD (44.1kHz) and broadcast/strreaming (48kHz) playback, stick to the older, simpler DACs from 10+years ago, eg Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 1, Musical Fidelty M1 DAC for a more enjoyable listening experience.

The Topping E30 II has transformed my listening setup. Paired with my amp, the sound is crystal clear, detailed, and natural, with a noticeable improvement in separation and soundstage compared to my previous DAC. It handles high-res files effortlessly, and everything just sounds more alive. I really like the compact, minimalist design – it doesn’t take up much desk space but feels solid and well-made. The included remote is a nice bonus for switching inputs or adjusting volume without reaching over. Setup was quick and painless – just plug in via USB or optical and it works right away. For the price, the performance is incredible and easily competes with more expensive DACs.

Arrived none working, I suspect it was previously returned not working and was simply shipped out again. Buyer beware.

I bought this DAC specifically so that I could start to explore and play DSD music files as my old Cyrus DAC can only play PCM. I have to say that for a budget price this DAC's sound quality is exceptional. DSD playback is extraordinary for the price. And I have to add that its PCM conversion compares very favourably with my Cyrus DAC which was many times the cost of this small DAC.

Very nice product I recommend it to everyone, you can be surprised how it can change the sound to a much better, clearer, cleaner and especially detailed!.

I bought this DAC to see if the hype that these chinese DACs get is true. After playing the first song on this thing, i was shocked on what improvement i heard. The soundstage became very wide and open, i heard details that i never heard before on music that i thought i known very well. Music which was recorded and mastered well was the best match to this DAC, mp3s and bad recordings did not reveal anything additional to what i heard before. This DAC has modern 2022 AKM chips, combined with good designed circuitry, makes it measure excellent.