[sekim]

Seems like I read in this thread of someone who used a high current opamp in their D30 and later the D30 died (too lazy to dig for it). To that person I would suggest checking the negative voltage to the opamp. The D30 has a built in voltage converter that takes +15vdc in and converts to -15vdc so the opamp has +-15vdc which allows for it to run at very good specs.

This voltage converter is built of discrete parts and seems fairly robust except for its diodes. If you don't measure -14vdc to -15vdc or so and instead measure around +1.2, its probably the diodes. They are surface mount but you can take them out and use 1n918 or 1n4148 (Radio Shack) with very short leads and just solder to the pads where the surface mount ones were.

I thought I bricked a new D30 when I was changing opamps back and forth after socketing...it died when I switched it on after a change and when I picked up the naked board there was an allen wrench under it...it had shorted out and I quickly discovered the above described and had it going again in 30 minutes. Excessive current on the negative rail from using a high current requirement opamp could cause the same failure. The audible symptom is low volume, highly crackling sound where you can still recognize what material is playing. Worth a shot to check it.

 

[sekim]

Yes i did
But it was fun

See my post on page 23, you might be able to fix the dead one.

 

[jekjek]

Thx sekim
But i have thrown away the old dac

 

[sekim]

Thx sekim
But i have thrown away the old dac

Sorry to hear that. BTW, there is quite a market on EBAY for non-working "desirable" electronics (cameras, studio gear, etc.), I had no idea until I was shopping for a used camera and a studio ADC/DAC.

 

[DonWerner]

Sorry to hear that. BTW, there is quite a market on EBAY for non-working "desirable" electronics (cameras, studio gear, etc.), I had no idea until I was shopping for a used camera and a studio ADC/DAC.

+1

 

[tehsprayer]

Just ordered a D30 to replace my Schiit Modi. Hopefully I wont have remorse for not going with the Modi 2 or OL DAC. Have heard some mixed feelings on this dac, mostly good though

 

[Transmaniacon]

I have one of these coming tomorrow to replace my HiFiMeDIY Sabre U2 DAC. It will be feeding my Schiit Asgard 2 and Sennheiser HD 6XX.

I had originally planned to go with a BiFrost to match my Asgard, but after doing some reading it seems the Schiit DACs really don’t measure well at all.

I came across this Topping D30 and it sounds like a great option for considerably less money. I own a Topping TP23 which I used with some bookshelf speakers on my desktop way back when, so I’m excited to try this. I think it will make for a nice upgrade over the Sabre DAC I’m using now.

 

[Ektalog]

You should be fine, fear no remorse. For about $100 it is a major SQ bargain from the get go, and it may be taken further. I have one as "spare" and I am trying to upgrade it by "rolling opamps". Right now it is breaking in a spanking new Sparkos. It should be a telling sign that I am willing to spend almost as much on the opamp as the D-30 costs.

 

[sekim]

You should be fine, fear no remorse. For about $100 it is a major SQ bargain from the get go, and it may be taken further. I have one as "spare" and I am trying to upgrade it by "rolling opamps". Right now it is breaking in a spanking new Sparkos. It should be a telling sign that I am willing to spend almost as much on the opamp as the T-30 costs.

FWIW, I tried the usual suspects for this sort of thing (LME49720, etc) from the major suppliers and settled on the OPA2227 for use in the D30. The LME49720, OPA2228 and OPA2227 are all worth a listen IMO. Of course ymmv, jmo, etc...

 

[tehsprayer]

Just received it today, works great. Nice to not have any more problems with my schiit modi 1 and trying to power it with only usb. To my ears it sounds perfectly neutral and don't see myself upgrading any further from this, at least for a very very long time.

Paired with my Valhalla 2 + HD800.

 

[Ektalog]

Tks for the input, Sekim! I already had plans to try some of those if the Sparkos falls short. So I am glad to get more input. The current goal is to see if I can get a stable class-A output state, which the Sparkos may provide. However, even if it did, that's only part of the story. The LME7xxx have been good to me in other applications and may be next, depending how it goes. At this point, out-of-the-box and without any optimizations, the Sparkos is not yet where I need it to be but it has already delivered much improved performance across-the-board, with a potential for more. We'll see...

(I should add that I am using for a speaker system, not cans. However, eventually, the modded D-30 will be sent to someone who depends on his cans. He already owns a D-30 and should be able to tell more by A/B'ing stock vs modded units.)

 

[eldus]

Thought I would throw my impressions in the hat. So far I have not tested the D30 in my headphone setup (modi2 >Bottlehead crack>HD6XX) but have used it every day in my 2 channel setup for the past two weeks (Marantz cd4300 or Chromecast audio>topping d30>Marantz pm7001>monitor audio bronze 6). I can say with a great degree of confidence that it improved the cca immensely in my 2 channel setup. Greater resolution, greater soundstage and better bass. The differences in my Marantz CD player were much more subtle but definitely there. I had my 7 year old switching between RCA into the amp and coax into the D30 as I listened. To my ears the D30 I was less brittle up top, but sound stage was similar. Bass was slightly better.

So then I put my 7 year old in the sweet spot in front of the speakers and asked him to explain the differences he heard (listening to Jack White's Lazaretto) going between the RCA to the amp and the D30. He picked up differences right away and was able to convey them using 7 year old non-audiophile terms. "On that one(D30) I heard the sound waves that I felt in my body and it felt like the sound was coming from different places in the room. On the other one (RCA to amp) it felt weaker, kinda boring."

That was with no coaching and me not telling him there was another device involved or even what a DAC does. I was pretty impressed at his ability to discern the difference.

I realize this is non headphone related but thought it might be useful to others on the fence. I think it's a no brainer for someone wanting to improve their CCA.

Sounds like you have a budding "sound" lover. protect his ears

 

[eldus]

sorry for the double post, but would this be a considerable upgrade from a Fiio e17k? line out(--> Magni 3) I've been eyeing up the ol DAC from JDS labs as well.

 

[JediMa70]

I'm struggling to find a decent amp dac, I'm using for few days a FX Audio X6 from a friend, is Topping D30 better?

 

[Reinhold]

yes!

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...c-compared-to-topping-d30-and-fiio-e10k.2097/

but its only a dac. you need an additional amp like the a30 from topping for example.