DAC for Topping Tp20 +CA S30 speakers

[alex]

Hi,

After reading good reviews of the Topping Tp20 in this forum, I went ahead and bought the tp 20 from ebay.. ca s30 from delhi.. I connect the tp20 directly to audio out of my laptop (playing flac/mp3 on winamp) using ca interconnect cable.. tp20 is connected to s30 using good (read expensive) speaker wire. For movies, I occasionally connect the audio out on Samsung TV to tp20 using interconnect. As a music novice, the combo gives quite good sound. However, I have couple of questions pl:

The intensity of the sound produced is barely enough for a mid sized room.. I frequently have to push volume on the tp20 to full if I wanna hear some loud music. Also, sound separation isn't quite good- but I am willing to live with it due to my limited budget and essentially a occasional music /TV listener.

Could someone advise - Is a DAC required in this combo? Would investment in DAC be worthy of the sound improvement I can expect? If yes, can you pl suggest a good DAC for this combo.. willing to invest only if there will be material improvement..

Another question: My s30's are placed barely a feet apart with no space on sides (1/2 feet on back) and 0.25 feet above ground. I think this is not ideal but am constrained for space. Can someone advise if some of my sound problems are due to this placing arrangement? Any tips to improve?

Thanks in advance and happy lohri everyone

Cheers
Alex

 

[abracher9]

Hi,

After reading good reviews of the Topping Tp20 in this forum, I went ahead and bought the tp 20 from ebay.. ca s30 from delhi.. I connect the tp20 directly to audio out of my laptop (playing flac/mp3 on winamp) using ca interconnect cable.. tp20 is connected to s30 using good (read expensive) speaker wire. For movies, I occasionally connect the audio out on Samsung TV to tp20 using interconnect. As a music novice, the combo gives quite good sound. However, I have couple of questions pl:

The intensity of the sound produced is barely enough for a mid sized room.. I frequently have to push volume on the tp20 to full if I wanna hear some loud music. Also, sound separation isn't quite good- but I am willing to live with it due to my limited budget and essentially a occasional music /TV listener.

Could someone advise - Is a DAC required in this combo? Would investment in DAC be worthy of the sound improvement I can expect? If yes, can you pl suggest a good DAC for this combo.. willing to invest only if there will be material improvement..

Another question: My s30's are placed barely a feet apart with no space on sides (1/2 feet on back) and 0.25 feet above ground. I think this is not ideal but am constrained for space. Can someone advise if some of my sound problems are due to this placing arrangement? Any tips to improve?

Thanks in advance and happy lohri everyone

Cheers
Alex

Way Is see it -
Problem 1- DAC / soundcard of your laptop and its quality.
Problem 2 - Speaker placement. Place them 6ft apart and you should hear perceptible change in the soundstage.
Could be either both issues or one of them.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Tapatalk HD

 

[kvandhi]

Even the same question i do have regarding DAC. I have connected my Laptop to Stereo amp - BS. But after reading the forum,every one is recommending DAC to connect in between source and amp.
But the budget of DAC is more when compare to entry level setup guys who used only BS + AMP and Source as Laptop.

Any one shed light on the essence of DAC for laptop users.

 

[mpw]

regarding - topping sound levels ( or SPL ).. this will depend on the speaker efficiency , the size of the room and how loud you wanna go. It may be possible your speakers are new and after some play in period there may be some improvement ( not too drastic.. but some )

As arbacher said.. increase the separation between your speakers, play with them toed-in or straight as you may prefer it..

For Dac.. look up the Schiit Modi ( $99 + shipping ).. supposed to be good for the price. This could be a good way to enter the DAC territory. The ODAC $99 for basic PCB and $149 for fully finished is good too..These are USB DAC's.. only USB input..

For a higher budget $250 .. there is the AQ Dragonfly DAC which has reve reviews all over..

rgds,
mpw

 

[spirovious]

I hope you have read this-
Play It Clear

 

[burkorobe]

I have connected my Laptop to Stereo amp - BS.

 

[alex]

regarding - topping sound levels ( or SPL ).. this will depend on the speaker efficiency , the size of the room and how loud you wanna go. It may be possible your speakers are new and after some play in period there may be some improvement ( not too drastic.. but some )

As arbacher said.. increase the separation between your speakers, play with them toed-in or straight as you may prefer it..

For Dac.. look up the Schiit Modi ( $99 + shipping ).. supposed to be good for the price. This could be a good way to enter the DAC territory. The ODAC $99 for basic PCB and $149 for fully finished is good too..These are USB DAC's.. only USB input..

For a higher budget $250 .. there is the AQ Dragonfly DAC which has reve reviews all over..

rgds,
mpw

Thanks a lot for the info..
250usd is high.. plus it has only usb input and 3.5mm output.. so not sure..
but i read good reviews of the odac.. can you help explain the difference b/w the usd 99 and 149 ones? is it just the casing? Will I need to get hte usd99 one assembled? any place to buy these in Delhi or only ebay?
also, since topping tp20 and ca s30 are fixed in my setup, any other recos for budget dac that pairs well with this combo.. hw bout the schiit modi..or the topping dac..http://www.mightybigword.com/tnt/2012/03/topping-d2-dac-review/... this one has usb + optical?

cheers
Alex

 

[AmitKumar]

Hi,

After reading good reviews of the Topping Tp20 in this forum, I went ahead and bought the tp 20 from ebay.. ca s30 from delhi.. I connect the tp20 directly to audio out of my laptop (playing flac/mp3 on winamp) using ca interconnect cable.. tp20 is connected to s30 using good (read expensive) speaker wire. For movies, I occasionally connect the audio out on Samsung TV to tp20 using interconnect. As a music novice, the combo gives quite good sound. However, I have couple of questions pl:

The intensity of the sound produced is barely enough for a mid sized room.. I frequently have to push volume on the tp20 to full if I wanna hear some loud music. Also, sound separation isn't quite good- but I am willing to live with it due to my limited budget and essentially a occasional music /TV listener.

Could someone advise - Is a DAC required in this combo? Would investment in DAC be worthy of the sound improvement I can expect? If yes, can you pl suggest a good DAC for this combo.. willing to invest only if there will be material improvement..

Another question: My s30's are placed barely a feet apart with no space on sides (1/2 feet on back) and 0.25 feet above ground. I think this is not ideal but am constrained for space. Can someone advise if some of my sound problems are due to this placing arrangement? Any tips to improve?

Thanks in advance and happy lohri everyone

Cheers
Alex

Hi Alex,

i have one suggestion apart from other suggestions from our fellow members.

Borrow a cd player from a friend and try it with your Topping Amp and Speakers.

If the sound improves then i may make sense to spend money on a cd player instead of Dac.

In one of the discussion thread in our forum i read that blu ray player of panasonic (model BDT220) has an inbuild Dac. I suggest you check this with one of the owners of menitoned panasonic bluray player in this forum only. If it is true then it may be a good sense to buy panasonic bdt220. this asset will have much more features than a dac.

Hope this helps in some way.

Regards, Amit

 

[gopib]

Alex,

As I see it, do not rush into DAC territory. Play around with the current set up.
As others suggested spacing the speakers out should improve soundstage. Hope it is possible in your environment. Next I suggest that instead of PC if you can connect an iPod or mp3 player and check out the sound levels. I have found the tp/ca combo to be quite loud. Testing with the mp3/ipod would confirm if the source is an issue or otherwise. Anyhow experiment for sometime, you should be able to crack it. the ODAc pcb kit is barebones, you need to add teh casing as well as connectors and so on....hence the price differential..