Topping D30 + CCA thumbs up.

View attachment 1256352 Ok, got the topping c30, cca audio, and fospower optical cable going. Sounds very, very nice! Now to get my big speakers back up here in the living room.

Note to folks using this set up - I was listening earlier this evening and there was poor quality audio on some tracks from Spotify; fuzziness and harshness on some vocals. I thought it might be in the hardware chain somewhere, but it tuned out to be the audio quality setting got changed back to low. Once I changed it back to high, everything cleared up.

Just an FYI for those of you setting up a Chromecast; if you have less than stellar audio quality be sure to check your streaming service audio quality setting before you go chasing other possible causes.
 
Well, I have to say I'm not too impressed with the CCA & Spotify integration. You can't start the stream from a laptop or PC. You have to use a mobile device to start the streaming before it starts up on the CCA, then the device becomes available on the laptop as a device you can connect to.

I've checked around on some support forums and people have been complaining about this for at least three years, so I guess it's not getting fixed any time soon.

I was hoping for a more seamless integration. Seems like it would be easier to just get an iPad mini and leave it permanently connected to my preamp via 3.5mm and have it run Spotify. Then I could control it from any device. Hmm....
 
Or you can run spotify from chrome and cast the tab. And of course cast anything in the tab like youtube, radiostations etc.

Pretty sure you can cast from a Ipad mini to the CCA and not have to go wired if you don't want to.

I used to cast from my phone mostly. Now that I run Tidal from a PC I use USB.

Many ways to do this, the phone is a really handy way tho IMHO.

Eric
 
Or you can run spotify from chrome and cast the tab. And of course cast anything in the tab like youtube, radiostations etc.

Pretty sure you can cast from a Ipad mini to the CCA and not have to go wired if you don't want to.

I used to cast from my phone mostly. Now that I run Tidal from a PC I use USB.

Many ways to do this, the phone is a really handy way tho IMHO.

Eric

True - I just wish it was easier through the app. It's all good - first world problems, right? :)
 
I thought I would chime in and say I got a couple of Topping D50s and I can hear no difference between that and my D30. I actually returned one of the D50s and will be replacing it with a D30. I'm not too crazy about the volume control combined with source toggle (up and down for volume, left and right for source) on the D50. It's very easy to change the source when you meant only to change volume. I am going back to using the Schiit Sys for volume control.

I don't know if CCA doesn't have the output specs for the upgrades in the D50 to take advantage of or if I just can't hear the difference. At any rate I don't think the D50 is in any way an upgrade over the D30.
 
I thought I would chime in and say I got a couple of Topping D50s and I can hear no difference between that and my D30. I actually returned one of the D50s and will be replacing it with a D30. I'm not too crazy about the volume control combined with source toggle (up and down for volume, left and right for source) on the D50. It's very easy to change the source when you meant only to change volume. I am going back to using the Schiit Sys for volume control.

I don't know if CCA doesn't have the output specs for the upgrades in the D50 to take advantage of or if I just can't hear the difference. At any rate I don't think the D50 is in any way an upgrade over the D30.

I have the D30 and asked on the Audio Science Review site if the D50 would be an upgrade. Amirm, the house guru who does all the testing, said it wouldn't be unless I needed the extra features of the D50.
 
I have the D30 and asked on the Audio Science Review site if the D50 would be an upgrade. Amirm, the house guru who does all the testing, said it wouldn't be unless I needed the extra features of the D50.

Yeah that's my impression. The D30 is a great choice.
 
Enjoying my CCA and D30 daily. The CCA with it's long power cord and optical cable were getting tangled as well as falling on the floor so I came up with a solution. I drilled holes in a Shure cart box and tucked the extra cables inside and velcro'd the CCA to the top.

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Smashing some rock and roll this morning through Spotify --> CCA -- > Topping D30 --> Parasounds --> Cerwin Vega's.

Sounds great (to my old rock and roll ears).

CCA.jpeg

SG 2018-11-28 07.30.02.png
 
Enjoying my CCA and D30 daily. The CCA with it's long power cord and optical cable was getting tangled as well as falling on the floor so I came up with a solution. I drilled holes in a Shure cart box and tucked the extra cables inside and velcro'd the CCA to the top.

View attachment 1341536

I like your solution. The CCA is kind of goofy with cables coming out both ends of it. I can never get it looking neat and tidy on my shelf because of the cables.
 
My CCA is always just down in the mess of wires behind whatever the components are. It's no like it has any buttons I need to actuate.

Since my D30 is on a smart switch along with the rest of the stereo I've been thinking of moving that "behind the scenes" too.
 
My CCA is always just down in the mess of wires behind whatever the components are. It's no like it has any buttons I need to actuate.

Since my D30 is on a smart switch along with the rest of the stereo I've been thinking of moving that "behind the scenes" too.

Good idea.
 
Here's what my system looks like. We're really going for minimum visual impact as far as "gear" goes. They Dynacos are there like any other artwork in the house but it's decidedly not tech. I searched for quite some time to find small affordable subs with good range. The wood stands soften and integrate the Dynacos into the overall decor.

We even got white speakers to integrate them, but it also helped that they were well reviewed and won a speaker shootout I staged with their competitors. We had some friends over, it was fun.

 
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