[Crow T Robot]

I've been looking for an inexpensive DAC with both USB and optical inputs and stumbled on this one. I've heard god things about Topping's other offerings, but I'm having trouble finding any info on this particular model. Still, it's pretty tempting as it has all of the inputs I need, and it looks pretty snazzy.
 
Anybody out there have any experience with it?

 

[Crow T Robot]

Since I wasn't able to find much info out there about the D2, I decided to take one for the team and buy one... for science.
 
I've got it burning in now, and I'll post a small review when time permits. So far, I'm pretty impressed. Granted, I'm new at all of this, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I'm hearing noticeable improvements in detail and soundstage. Plus it seems to have tamed the slightly boomy midbass on my A5+'s a little too.

 

[naulboy]

So?  Any sign of that review?
 
Was looking to pick this up to drive a pair of DT-880s (600 Ohm) - would it be up to the job of driving a 600 Ohm pair?
 
Thanks!
Phil

 

[vinokurov]

no review (((

 

[jeremy205100]

So I got one of these a few weeks ago, and I have to say I am pretty disappointed. But I guess for the price I should've seen this coming. The build quality is absolutely amazing. It's all metal and the knob is solid. Everything feels sturdy and there are these amazing feet that come preinstalled on it to keep it level on a table. I tried it with a few different USB cables and it's just so muddy that it gets hard to listen to after a few minutes. My previous amp was just a Denon receiver, but I was using it with a higher end HRT Streamer II DAC. Nothing horribly expensive but the DAC and AMP in this were definitely worse. I read on Amazon that the power supply is why this sounds horrible. Does anyone know what kind of power supply I should buy to improve it and if that can actually improve the sound on something like this? 

If anyone has any questions about it feel free to ask.

 

[Skillcankill]

^ i disagree. Yes i know it has a cheap wall wart power supply. However i think the unit is brilliant. It has removed static from my music, as well as allowing my audio technica ath m50s to be powered properly. I am no audio expert, but i do know that this is an upgrade to almost all on board audio for a pc, especially through optical or coaxial. Through usb it isn't nearly as good. Fork out 8 dollars for an optical cable and you wont be disappointed (if you have that output)

 

[jeremy205100]

So you are using optical and having better luck? I only have tried USB so far. I'll hopefully get the optical cable soon and report back on if it makes a difference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[jeremy205100]

So I tried the optical input with my Xbox and unfortunately didn't have any better luck. The soundstage with much narrower than it usually is with my Denon receiver. It turned Call of Duty from a theatric experience into me just wanting to mute the volume. I don't believe mine was defective, but I am confused because it got such good reviews on Amazon. But I can't recommend this to anyone. Although it does give audio even with high impedance headphones, that audio is of such a subpar quality that it defeats the whole purpose of using an external DAC and amplifier. Although the build quality was superb, that wasn't why I bought it. Since I was still within my return window, I chose to return this.
 
There was also a really weird phenomenon where if I put my finger on the casing or volume knob there would be this humming noise. It would stop when I removed my finger. So I think there's some faulty electronics in this.
 
I also tried using just the DAC and putting the output through my Denon to see if the amplifier was the problem. But that sounded just as bad. If anyone has any questions about this I'd be happy to answer them though. Just post here.