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


I am thinking of buying this DAC.  I asked the manufacturer if it will decode Tidal's FLAC stream.  All they said is the DAC support PCM, but I am not sure if this is "yes" or "no' to my question!   Does anyone else know?  I am looking for a DAC that will give me the full 24/192kHz FLAC streams that some of Tidal's library is now offering (as they move from MQA to FLAC as recently announced).

 

Thx. Adrian.

adrian321

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.

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.

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.

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

@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.