Review on Topping E30 HiFi DAC AK4493 Chip Audio USB Optical Coaxial DAC DSD512 768KHz Portable Desktop Decoder Audio DAC With Remote Control(Silver) by Elton Luo

I was interested in this product as a preamplifier for my media center which takes a Toslink signal from the TV which is converted to analogue and fed into my Crown XLS1502 amplifier driving a pair of JBL Studio 530's . not bad, but in preamp mode (the only mode with volume control) it falls apart completely. The sound is harsh and tiring to my ear. This is really frustrating because I need to be able to adjust the volume on this unit and as it sounds awful in preamp mode it's useless for any occasion where volume control is required. Incidentally, the remote had an uneven connection at a distance of 8 feet from my media center. It's hardly worth bringing up, though, because if you're buying this unit for a remote control, don't! Sounds terrible. IA/B compared this unit to the old Pioneer Elite 49TX and it wasn't even compared. I tried running it through a 49TX amp instead of a Crown xls1502 and it still sounded bad. I just couldn't do anything. trying to make this unit sound good in preamp mode and I just couldn't. In DAC mode it sounds pretty good. Almost as good as 49TX. I give it 1 star because it is sold as a DAC with a preamp and sounds terrible when used with a preamp. I really wanted to like this device. It would fit perfectly into my entertainment channel. Spring.