Topping E30 Review

Topping E30

User experience and connectivity

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The E30 is a strictly wired affair – while some users might bemoan the fact that Bluetooth is not included, this omission has presumably helped to keep the E30’s price as low as it is. I was able to easily connect the E30 to both my Macbook and Android easily without the need for drivers. While I don’t have any coaxial digital sources, I was appreciative of the optical connection which allowed me to connect a Google Chromecast Audio, turning the E30 into a terrific little affordable digital streaming pre-amp – a combination I can highly recommend, but since they’ve stopped becoming manufactured Chromecast Audios are becoming harder to find these days. 

The User Interface is fairly straight-forward – a short-tap on the front panel switches between inputs, and long-press powers the E30 on and off. A longer press during standby will toggle between DAC mode, with a fixed 2V line-level output, and pre-amp mode which lowers and raises volume in half-decibel increments. The brilliant thing about the E30’s remote volume ability is the fact that it can turn ‘dumb’ pieces of equipment into rather clever ones. Take the Burson Bang power amplifier, for example – it’s a pure power amplifier, whose only on-board control is a power switch. Stack an E30 on top and it becomes a potent little desktop HiFi rig which was a highly enjoyable pairing with my KEF LS50’s which I’ve been using lately in a nearfield set-up. 

Topping E30

Topping E30

No less than six filter settings can be chosen from using the ‘F’ button on the E30’s remote. The stock ‘Short delay sharp roll-off’ filter setting (F-3) sounded great to my ears, and to be perfectly frank it sounded the same as all the other settings. Sure, it’s a nice touch to include these options, but if your ears are up to the task you might be lucky enough to notice a nominal difference between them. 

The AC power cord supplied with the E30 is terminated in a type-B male USB connector, allowing the unit to be powered by your laptop or any number of other power-supply sources. I would highly recommend adding a proper power supply to the E30 because it did create some pretty horrid digital whining and clicking when the volume pot was turned up on my Questyle CMA600i headphone amplifier, but while music was playing at normal listening levels it wasn’t audible.

Topping E30

Topping E30

Listening and performance

In standard DAC-mode, I tested the E30 upstream from a range of headphone amplifiers and headphone combinations or order to see if the E30 would yield any particular weaknesses in its sonic presentation and to determine whether it had any particularly stand-out characteristics. Using the most revealing source-chain I have on-hand – the Sennheiser HD800s and Questyle CMA600i, the little Topping unit certainly impressed me with its clarity, well-organised and vivid imaging, and overall sense of organic and likeable sound. 

Listening to Alice in Chain’s 1996 live recording of ‘Down in a Hole’ from MTV Unplugged, the E30 sorts-out the instrument and vocal tracks into clearly defined spaces on the sound stage in terms of both width and depth, and presents utterly realistic acoustic guitars. Switching quickly to the CMA600i’s internal AK4490-based DAC with the two devices grouped together on Roon, there’s a noticeably more vivid sound with more energy in the presence region on the CMA600i. The treble is etched-out with more definition with the Questyle’s on-board DAC, but it’s slightly more grating than the slightly more smoothed-out presentation on the E30. 

When played alongside the multibit DAC on the Schiit Asgard 3 the E30 is harder to pull-apart, having nigh-identical timbre. However, after spending more time listening between the two the E30 did reveal greater structural definition and space between tracks, compared to a more integrated soundscape on the Schiit’s internal R2R DAC.   

The greatest compliment I can give the E30 is that I forgot that I was listening to it. Like other highly competent DACs (often far more expensive than it), it simply gets out of the way and rewards the listener with a vivid, realistic and technically-astute sound – just make sure you give it a clean power supply. 

Topping E30

Topping E30

The Verdict

It’s a great time to be a budding personal audio enthusiast when affordable audio gear is as well-packaged, well-specced, and well-performing as the Topping E30. In fact, audiophiles with a little more experience who know that investments in transducers and amplifiers will yield greater net audio performance in their system should absolutely consider the E30 as an affordable and utterly competent DAC that ought to last them a very long time without the worry of ‘upgrade-itis’ creeping-in. I finished the listening component of my review several days ago, and yet I still have the E30 sitting right here on my desk feeding much more expensive equipment, and I’m not about to take it out in a hurry – it sounds awesome.

The E30 gets an easy recommendation from me as an affordable and highly versatile DAC, and its remote functionality and overall usability make it an easy choice over pretty much everything else under $200. Thanks again to HiFiGo for sending us this sample!

 

4/5 - (122 votes)
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Hailing from Sydney's eastern beaches, Matty runs his own beer business, 'Bowlo Draught', as well as working in creative advertising. When he's not enjoying his hifi and vinyl collection at home, he can probably be found rolling-up on the green at his beloved Bondi Bowling Club.

12 Comments

  • Reply May 25, 2020

    dmac6419

    This DAC is probably better than most boutiques dacs today,not yesteryears ago, they’re afraid of the Chinese.

  • Reply May 25, 2020

    Darwin

    I’ve heard some amazing sounding MQA on Tidal with DAC’s that can do the full unfold. You should try it.
    My concern with Topping is they seem to have a very high failure rate including dead out of the box.

  • Reply July 13, 2020

    GJMiles

    Having just ordered one, you had me worried for a moment when you said AC power cord! I had to quickly double check an image of the back.

  • Reply August 1, 2020

    Lance

    Why would it have a sound signature? It’s a DAC, it’s designed to replicate an analog signal into 1s and 0s as accurately as possible. It essentially has no sound signature as there are no distortion products within audible range (-112db SINAD, very low IMD), the only thing that would color sound at all are the filters and whether those are audible is entirely in the air (probably not as they don’t even roll off until 22khz)

    • Reply January 11, 2021

      Matty

      That might be true in the digital realm Lance (on paper), but converting those 1’s and 0’s to music requires a power supply as well as an analogue stage – each of which can influence what feeds your amplifier. A well implemented example of each should ideally be as neutral as possible. Adding to these, DAC and chip manufacturers often employ proprietary or house ‘filters’ to their digital conversion which can alter the sound, slightly.

  • Reply January 10, 2021

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  • Reply March 2, 2021

    Matrais

    Just bought my E30, what a fantastic sound ! And if you try it with jRiver, converting everything to DSD512 (or even simple DSD64) and you’re in DAC mode, even less electronics is used, see the AK4493 block diagram. It’s a wonderful sounding tiny little DAC, it has been delivering music for about 6-7 hours so far from my powerbank’s 1A output (dead silent), I’m astonished about this little power consumption.

    I’m just simply loving it. Amazing toy, it stays with me for sure.

  • Reply October 10, 2021

    Indrajit

    Hi. Will a USB phone charger offer clean supply to the Topping E30? What’s better between a usb phone charger and a powerbank for power supply for the Topping E30?

    • Reply October 10, 2021

      Matty Graham

      That depends on the quality of the phone charger in question Indrajit! A portable fast-charging battery is probably the best option for the E30.

      • Reply October 11, 2021

        Indrajit

        Thanks for responding. 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 can be inconvenient.

        • Reply November 27, 2021

          Deccatree

          Yes, it can! It‘s just a large capacitor, without noise etc. from the main power.

  • Reply May 14, 2022

    OldHardwareTech

    Great review! I’ve had my E30 a little over 2 years now. I received it just as the world was going into COVID lockdown and it has served me well, often 16 hours a day. Your description of how it “gets out of the way” is spot on, a few times I’ve toyed with the idea of a different more expensive DAC but I end up thinking “why”. In spite of the fact that it costs less than 1/10th what my amp did it does a spectacular job. Recommending a separate power supply is another thing your review got right. A decent quality wall wart like the ones Samsung used to include with their phones works great and you get none of the noise you would when powering it from a PC. I bought the unit on the strength of it’s specs and it has surpassed all my expectations. If you’re someone in the market for an inexpensive DAC this one certainly deserves consideration

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