Topping D90se - Rehashed & Unconvincing

TIME STAMPS:

The Promises - 1:50
Build Quality - 6:31
Performance - 8:00
Amp Matching - 19:51
Menus, Bluetooth & MQA - 21:12
Value & Conclusion - 24:14

******

Twitter: @NoThemeReviews

When You Walk Into The Room: NA
The Only Thing That Matters: NA
Drum Solo: NA

#headphones
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#meze
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#sennheiser
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#audioquest
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#focal
#dragonfly
#oriolus
#amplifier
#microphone

[juanmillaruelo]

AKM burned down. Topping had to redesign its top of the line product.
This is definitely an unplanned bit of churn. Of course when you sit down to redesign you strive to better the product it replaces, even by a little bit. It's "sound signature" is absolute transparency. It does not color the sound in any way.
Yes, they should improve the remote. I find no other serious fault. (BT, perhaps?) BTW, the A90 is an excellent headphone amp. No synergy is claimed. Do you expect a company NOT to suggest the product it makes?
They are no longer the bargain they used to be, but honestly, haven't you noticed the recent price hikes across the board caused by manufacturing and distribution problems?
Balanced (differential) does NOT change the sound signature. It is used to reduce noise OR to feed more power to hard to drive headphones, power amps or powered monitors.
I think that Topping has attained "orbital velocity". Trust has built up. What price reputation, reliability, confidence, service, etc? Other, cheaper brands are still "in the process". Some will "make it", others won't. Regarding cost/performance ratio...have you taken a look at Holo May, Mola Mola Tambaqui, TOTL Chord devices? Let's put a bit of perspective here.
BTW, I have an RME ADI2 FS DAC in my main system as well as sundry components of diverse provenance, some of them Topping and others not.
Please make more videos selecting and comparing "value for money" gear such as you started to do at the very end. That would be TRULY useful, not "Topping bashing" for its own sake. ;-)

[keithjones]

No theme reviews is where its at for information, I don't click on your page to hear BS why I should buy it. Like a used car salesman. ZEOS is a sellout, REAL REVIEWS HERE

[johnathonroman]

To be honest, most of the other reviewers tend to be glorified showcases trying to push a product regardless of whether it's worth it, or even good. From time to time they'll throw in a small con, but then they'll follow it up with some subjective reason why it's not important.

I like your reviews because you talk your mind and are objective and base your response solely on your experience with the product and your experience with related products for comparison, and not simply showcase the product's list of specs that the vendor provides, and going "oooohh with each one.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your reviews.

[GoDaagen]

Loved this, a breath of fresh air. Keep on doing what you are doing 👍🏻

[FabioKasper]

Selectable output voltage might be beneficial for Liquid Platinum owners who struggle to past 9 o'clock on the volume knob.

[Shoaibexpert]

Oh man....that Sandu is so overt marketing it hurts...🤣

[MistaLova-Lova]

Have you heard any R2R DACs? I have an Ares II and whether it's in the NOS or one of the OS modes, it clearly sounds different from D/S DACs. Ignoring a slightly different sound signature (ever so slightly warm, never harsh, giving the impression that the timbre is more "correct" - but let's ignore that as that could be achieved with EQ as well), it has a holography that makes chipset-based DACs sound flat and two-dimensional in comparison.
From what I've heard this type of presentation of sound applies to pretty much all R2R DACs.
Have you experienced that as well? If so - what do you think is the reason behind that? Why would one technology seemingly offer something that the other seemingly "loses in translation" whereas it's the latter technology that's supposed to be more precise and extract more from a digital source?

[newton]

Awesome review I don’t know if you could but it would truly be amazing and I would really love to hear your feedback as I am in the audio industry myself to review the topping d70s It’s more affordable but in my opinion it has a better sound I’d like to hear what you say comparing both of them and see what differences you pick out and which one does better than the other at different things

Another one to consider that a stupid expensive is Gustard x26pro

But I will say this their preamp is outstanding definitely better than most I’ve heard it’s very clean does the job but yes you’re right the remote quality is absolute trash but it’s a pretty damn good preamp also better than the Freya from schiit that’s my Opinion.

Also what would be considering good to do as I would like to hear your thoughts on using this DAC and only its DAC mode and disable the preamp and using a different preamplifier does that give you better sound compared to like using the internal preamplifier/DAC some people say you get more out of the chip you get better sound more base definition a little bit more thickness meat on the bone by disabling its internal preamp and only using as a Dac that’s why people suggest getting the topping pre-90 so you can get away with that I have a hard time hearing the difference as I do have a pre-90 and I also have a D70S Am I gaining more sound quality in better definition using the D 70 S only in a DAC mode and using the preamplifier or is there no difference and I should just stick with the internal D 70 S preamp plus dac mode What’s your thoughts? If you could do a comparison on that as well if you hear a difference doing it with an external preamp or not that would be cool

[a.grayman]

Thank you for a great review. When I contacted Schiit about input voltages for their Freya+ they specifically stated 5volts from the DAC. They are also now available deeply discounted so my unit was directly in the price point of the lower priced and similarly performing options. With that, I have zero issues with my purchase as to my ears it checks all the boxes. This is a very good product but at an elevated price point at full retail.

[MattMediaAU]

Re head to head comparison: if the output stages are identical and in fact the only difference is the DAC chip implementation we have a valid head to head comparison to test that implementation. If not you are really comparing two overall designs and the output stage would be a significant part of the overall sound. Using headphones and a headphone amp rather than a speaker based set up may negate much of the purported benefits of such features as voltage selection. It would have been very interesting to do this same testing with a top notch power amp and speakers which is the intended use for many buyers.
Another major difference is the MQA decoder on the D90SE across all outputs including AES etc. Most other DACs only include it on USB and may of them only as a renderer not a full decoder. Worth it? Maybe :)
PS - love your work! :)

[jackyl]

Your review just perfectly justified why D90SE is a great DAC. I have to agree that DACs today are so much improved in the recent years that the difference is becoming less and less audible, without doing EQ. All top DACs are aiming for flat frequency response and highest fidelity; so if you hear any differences, it most likely means distortion.

But not all DACs are the same even if they perform similarily in terms of distortion(or fidelity). Most device plays perfectly under certain amount of power output; but they will start to fail if pushed for higher or lower output. So no difference being audible is very very IMPRESSIVE. I dont know but if you had experience that knob position dramatically changes the noise floor or distortion, it is a good example of such failure.

Lastly, I would like to address your question in bluetooth. It is completely nonsenese to give a bluetooth output to a DAC. Bluetooth signals are digital not analog. A DAC's job is to decode the digital format and output analog which goes into your listening device. If you are using your DAC to output bluetooth signal, you completely abandoned the purpose of your DAC, because the signal will be processed in the receiving device. On the other hand, the digital signal using bluetooth codec will not sound any difference no matter what is the output device. That means, even if your DAC is sending bluetooth signal out, it will not be different than directly sending it out from your computer/player assuming the same codec and same signal strength.

[timothyfreeseha]

Great review! This sort of assessment is what we need to vet products when attempting to figure what to buy.

[RakshitNew]

Is there more merit looking at something like the topping Dx7 pro dac amp combo for much less. Especially for folks who don't care about MQA.

[electricsnut]

A/B blinded testing is where real testing is and the placebo effect is stopped.

[JogieGlenMait]

Topping can't shake off their old habit of rehashing the same product.

[samgh]

Your content is top but i could not watch this video to the end. Because I had the feeling that I have already heard them all.

[AbsoluteFidelity]

So where do you personally draw the line of overpaying for a dac? What dac do you personally think is the best value for money before dimishing returns kick in?

[lucabattanta]

I see your comparison with the sabaj d5. I have sabaj d5 now. Do you find any sonic differences between d5 and d90se ? I’m interested in upgrading my dac but after listen this review maybe I will consider gustard a26 .

[AbideinChristFully]

The benefit of the D90 vs say bifrost or ares II is details. I don't think you mention that. Is there a difference between the Sabaj or D90se in details?

[mcarr]

I hear this review and I agree with his arguments, but, at the same time, I have an Iphone, and could just use an Apple lighting adapter and save thousands of dollars, is that compelling and convincing enough? Too much pessimism in this review, too much complaining. Evolution does not mean rehash. Skepticism is not critical thinking, but you should always be skeptical. The argument can be made on any product; why do I need a car? Every car does the same thing, and I can buy a pair of shoes and just walk where I need/want to go and save tens of thousands of dollars. Why buy an Xbox or PS5 or Switch when I can get a Tiger handheld and save hundreds of dollars. Why buy Charmin toilet paper when when you can use newspaper or any other type of paper that can do the same thing, I mean you can be saving cents or possibly dollars, is that not compelling and convincing enough? Being pessimistic and skeptical is not being critical.

Too sum up the review: Don't recommend this DAC because a DAC is a DAC and there's a bunch of them.