Will the Topping E30 II support Tidal's FLAC streams?

@adrian321 

There is irony in your last post as it is typically people who are obsessed with high performance specs that purchase Topping products. The only difference applying here is that when you get “downstream” the result is apparent and unsatisfactory. If you’re seeking quality audio performance look elsewhere.

"The other comments are interesting but were not related to my question." Interesting. Does this mean you like broken Dacs?

I have one of the earlier Topping E30 DACs, along with several other DACs from Schiit & HiFiBerry, and they all work fine up to 192K/24 material (I use Qobuz.) The Topping will also do some DSD, though I don't bother with that format.

I can relate to this comment. I am an Amateur Radio operator where people get obsessed with dynamic range differences in signal/noise of a dB here or there when the operator's local background noise level means they would never hear "that far down" to experience the difference anyway.

Be aware that while 32 bit resolution sounds attractive, in practice it doesn’t really matter beyond 24 bits. Even the best 24 bit DAC won’t have more than 20–21 bit effective resolution. This translates to about 126dB of dynamic range, meaning you would have to listen to your music at rock concert or jet engine levels in order to be able to hear any quantization error.

Personally, I would not choose a streaming service on the availability of 32 bit recordings. I do use Qobuz and am very happy with it. The Topping or any other DAC that handles PCM encoding will work with Qobuz just fine.

Erik & Glenn, thank you. That was very helpful.  The other comments are interesting but were not related to my question.

A streamer has to care about the format / service that it connects to. 

A DAC only cares about the sample rate, frequency and encoding (PCM or DSD).

Most streamers let you configure the maximum bits and sample rate.

Sample rate is number of points/second.  Say 44.1 kHz = 44,100 samples per second. Bit depth is how much resolution each of those points can be.

CDs were 44.1kHz at 16 bits /channel..  Common Hi-Rez is 96kHz or 192 kHz/24 bits. 32 Bits are also possible.

 FLAC can be encoded up to 32bit PMC so when they say it does PMC it does FLAC.  double check with others but that's my understanding. 

Who cares if it decodes Tidal’s myriad of confusing formats?  Just switch to Qobuz where everything just works and you have tons of hi-res recordings as well.  Put Tidal in your rear-view mirror and say good riddance.  

If you want etched details. sterile and boring sound, Topping is the way to go. I know they have mastered the 'measurements' game (looks so pretty and perfect on graphs) and are favored heavily by that 'other' site. I tried their DAC a couple of years ago and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. 

I don't know what your budget is, but if you want good sound consider Denafrips Aries or Musician R2R dacs.

I think the most important aspect of a DAC is how it sounds. The overall sound quality is of the highest importance. Then it’s ok to verify it supports typical formats.

If I was in the market again, get the best sound quality possible… making sure it supports Qobuz. Qobuz sounds better by a small amount than the rest and has over half a million more high resolution albums, making it the only choice for folks interested in high quality sound. .

You are very brave considering buying a Topping Dac. Do you know how many problems they have with poor quality control?