2022 Golden Ear: Topping D90SE DAC

Topping D90SE DAC

$899

Topping has emerged from China as one of their most technically advanced and internationally competitive audio firms. Topping’s most expensive DAC, the D90ES ($899), ranks as having some of the best digital performance specifications of any DAC, regardless of price or technology. The D90SE would not exist except for the fact that Topping’s previous flagship, the D90MQA, used a top-of-the-line AKM DAC chip. AKM had a catastrophic fire in its factory, which curtailed all its DAC-chip production. Topping had no choice but to redesign its DACs to use ESS DAC chips. While it is indisputably true that the D90SE is a Johnny-come-lately offering from a Chinese manufacturer with a limited track record with audiophiles here in the United States, the Topping D90SE delivers on all its promises. Its goal is to sound like the ultimate, straight, clean, no-added-romance, high-resolution DAC. After extensive listening, I found the D90SE to be exactly what it purported to be—a well-designed digital audio converter that performs on a par with reference DACs I have used in the past.