Topping D90SE Measurements (DAC) State Of The Art.

Topping D90SE Measurements (DAC) State Of The Art.

Topping D90SE Measurements (DAC)

PXL_20220326_194351960.NIGHT_2.jpg

Hi folks,

I just got my hands on the mighty Topping D90SE and wanted to share my objective analysis. Some might wonder what would be the point to post this, when we already have a complete test at ASR, with our host’s skills and his APx555… Well, at least three reasons, I would say:

1) I need an undisputed reference to set the benchmark for my further gears analyses.
2) That way, I am curious to find if I may reach the limits measurable by my ADC (no doubt I should).
3) In any case, repeatability is always a good thing ! This should remove some doubts about Amir receiving a cherry-picked product from the manufacturer… In case you’re wondering, this unit is brand new from Amazon FR in March 2022, so nine months after Amir tested it. By today, MSRP is 899€.

Disclaimer: Measurements you are about to see are not intended to be as precise or extensive than what you get from a 30k€ AP. There is obviously both hardware and software limitations here, so not quite apples to apples comparison with Amir’s testing. For example, I estimated SINAD (AKA THD+N) to be usually 5 to 6dB worse with my measurements rig, when compared to ASR reviews of the exact same products. Still, this data is enough to have a pretty good idea if the gear is bad or not, stellar, broken, or sub-par…

– ADC : E1DA Cosmos (Grade B), set to 4.5Vrms input for measuring XLR, or 2.7Vrms for RCA. Minimum phase filter.
– Software : RMAA 6.4.5 PRO and Multitone Loopback Analyzer 1.0.13.
– Method : 8 runs for each test, then I chose the closest to the average. All tests are running 24bits / 44.1Khz.
– Topping D90SE : Fixed XLR outputs (4.2Vrms) and USB input for most tests, unless specified otherwise.​

RMAA Summary​
Test
Results
RMAA rating
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB
+0.04, -0.02​
Excellent
Noise level, dB (A)
-125.0​
Excellent
Dynamic range, dB (A)
124.5​
Excellent
THD, %
0.00005​
Excellent
THD + Noise, dB (A)
-115.7​
Excellent
IMD + Noise, %
0.00031​
Excellent
Stereo crosstalk, dB
-125.9​
Excellent
IMD at 10 kHz, %
0.00023​
Excellent
Wow. Both THD and THD+N are the best I’ve measured so far and would translate, per my own estimations, to at least 120dB SINAD in a proper measurements rig. Needless to say, RMAA’s rating is somehow outdated to evaluate this stunning level of performance. We reach -125dB Noise, which is the limit of my Cosmos ADC (Grade B)… at least in Stereo Mode. It is now pretty clear that I have to set my Cosmos in Mono Mode to find out the real D90SE abilities. To push the Cosmos to its absolute limits, I also measured the “5V mode” (really 5.2Vrms):​
Test
Topping D90SE XLR
Topping D90SE XLR (Mono)
Topping D90SE XLR 5V (Mono)
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB
+0.02, -0.02​
+0.02, -0.02​
+0.02, -0.02​
Noise level, dB (A)
-125.0​
-127.4​
-127.7​
Dynamic range, dB (A)
124.5​
126.6​
126.7​
THD, %
0.00005​
0.00004​
0.00003
THD + Noise, dB (A)
-115.7​
-117.7​
-119.3
IMD + Noise, %
0.00031​
0.00028​
0.00027​
IMD at 10 kHz, %
0.00023​
0.00019​
0.00016​
Stereo crosstalk, dB
-125.9​
/​
/​
I have no words. With setting to 5V, THD is simply out of this world at only… 0.00003% (-130dB!), but the biggest surprise was to realize that, yes, I can measure up to 119dB SINAD at home… About 127dB for both SNR and DR are still the limitations here, being the absolute limits of my Cosmos. Before setting back to Stereo/4V, for a more apples to apples comparison with others DACs, let’s have a look at this masterpiece:​
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)​
THD+N XLR 5V.png

…Now, let’s run the usual bunch of tests :​

Frequency response​
fr.png
Left​
Right​
From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB
-0.03, +0.03​
-0.04, +0.01​
From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB
-0.02, +0.02​
-0.03, +0.01​
Noise level​
noise.png
Left​
Right​
RMS power, dB
-122.9​
-123.8​
RMS power (A-weighted), dB
-124.5​
-125.5​
Peak level, dB FS
-87.1​
-87.1​
DC offset, %
-0.0​
-0.0​
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)​
thd.png
Left​
Right​
THD, %
0.00005​
0.00005​
THD + Noise, %
0.00019​
0.00017​
THD + Noise (A-weighted), %
0.00017​
0.00016​
Dynamic range​
dynamics.png
Left​
Right​
Dynamic range, dB
+123.1​
+124.0​
Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB
+124.1​
+124.9​
DC offset, %
-0.00​
+0.00​
Intermodulation distortion (swept tones)​
imdswept.png
Left​
Right​
IMD + Noise at 5000 Hz,
0.00024​
0.00022​
IMD + Noise at 10000 Hz,
0.00024​
0.00020​
IMD + Noise at 15000 Hz,
0.00025​
0.00021​
Intermodulation distortion​
imd.png
Left​
Right​
IMD + Noise, %
0.00032​
0.00030​
IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %
0.00021​
0.00018​
Stereo crosstalk​
cross.png
Left​
Right​
Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB
-127​
-126​
Crosstalk at 1000 Hz, dB
-126​
-124​
Crosstalk at 10000 Hz, dB
-124​
-116​

What about RCA outputs? I expect a logical drop in performance (whatever E1DA says, Cosmos ADC is not optimal for single ended measurements), the question is : by how much? Let’s find out:

THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)

THD+N XLR VS RCA.png

XLR VS RCA

Test
Topping D90SE XLR
Topping D90SE RCA
Topping D90SE RCA 5V
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB
+0.02, -0.02​
+0.02, -0.02​
+0.02, -0.02​
Noise level, dB (A)
-125.0​
-121.6​
-122.0​
Dynamic range, dB (A)
124.5​
121.6​
121.6​
THD, %
0.00005​
0.00007​
0.00007​
THD + Noise, dB (A)
-115.7​
-112.5​
-113.2​
IMD + Noise, %
0.00031​
0.00039​
0.00038​
Stereo crosstalk, dB
-125.9​
-116.5​
-116.5​
Apart from crosstalk being logically inferior, I am pleased to see that THD is still exceptionally low at 0.0007%. Using 5V Mode (2.6Vrms), THD+N is still 6dB better than my Matrix Mini-i Pro 3’s balanced outputs, which is quite an accomplishment! For my future measurements of unbalanced DACs, I am finally glad to know the reference being that high !​

USB VS S/PDIF

Test
Topping D90SE USB
Topping D90SE S/PDIF
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB
+0.02, -0.02​
-0.00, -0.03​
Noise level, dB (A)
-125.0​
-124.4​
Dynamic range, dB (A)
124.5​
123.9​
THD, %
0.00005​
0.00005​
THD + Noise, dB (A)
-115.7​
-115.8​
IMD + Noise, %
0.00031​
0.00031​
Stereo crosstalk, dB
-125.9​
-124.7​
Performance seems to drop by a little using S/PDIF. Ignoring run-to-run variations and averages, I would call both results to be similar. In any case, nothing to worry about.​

Multitone Analyzer (100 tones, 5 averages)

RCA

Multitone RCA.png

XLR

Multitone XLR.png

XLR 5V

Multitone XLR 5V.png

Multitone test of unbalanced outputs, while not perfect, is still a hair better than (again) my Matrix balanced. XLR performance is by far the best I saw in this test. I set back the D90SE to 5V for the last run and got this stellar picture you see above.

One last thing…

When running my first measurements, I noticed quite a few variations in overall frequency response. I then realized that I accidentally changed the filter with the remote. The D90SE has 7 filters called “Modes” from 1 to 7 (default is Mode 3).

D90SE Filters.png

None of them measured the same as far as FR is concerned (44.1Khz). Mode 1, in particular, is acting weird, really… My recommendation is for Mode 5 (Fast roll off linear), being the flattest :

FR Zoomed.png

… Well, that’s all, folks !

Flanker rating : State Of The Art.

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