TOPPING E30 II DAC: Packaging and Accessories

I was expecting to see two similarly sized white boxes as before but TOPPING surprised by going with two very different sized black product boxes here. The E30 II box in particular is quite small and has a textured finish over it. It's a two-piece box with the company logo on the front of the lid, on the side is a sticker confirming the exact product inside along with contact info for TOPPING. Lift up the lid to reveal the contents inside snugly packed in individual compartments, with cardboard all around for further protection.


TOPPING includes a warranty card with the E50, as well as a multi-language user manual (online copy found here) that walks you through initial setup and use of the DAC. This is all the more handy given the TOPPING E30 II has more functionality than, say, the JDS Labs Atom DAC+ or evenElement II we saw before, let alone the more portable sources examined to date. Take the remote control for example, which is pretty much a necessity here to make the most of the DAC. It has dedicated buttons for a lot of things, including shortcuts and navigation between inputs and outputs, changing the display brightness, and so on. It is predominantly plastic and won't win any build quality awards, taking two AAA batteries that TOPPING does not provide in the box.


As with most standalone DAC units, the TOPPING E30 II takes external power. However, TOPPING does not go with an AC mains power adapter and instead relies on a 5 V plug heading to a USB Type-A port, which is then directed to a spare USB port on your PC or a USB wall adapter as long as it feeds in 5 VDC. I would have liked a good quality power supply used here, since USB power can be "dirtier" in terms of the phase irregularities hardcore audiophiles will protest against, though I have yet to really come across any tangible differences. The pricing of the E30 II also somewhat makes it hard to go with anything else admittedly. The digital input comes in the form of a Type-B to Type-A male/male cable, which in turn indicates the adoption of Type-B connectivity on the DAC.