Issues using the Zen Blue as a source for Topping e30

[spagettilegs]

I'd like to use my Ifi Zen Blue as a bluetooth source and connect it to my Topping e30 DAC.
I've tried Coax and Optical as there is no USB on the Zen. When I select either of these sources on the e30, all I'm getting is a flashing source indicator on the e30 and it eventually goes into standby mode after a minute or so.

I'm new to this audio game so am I missing something obvious here?

 

[Al ears]

Welcome to the forum,
"I'm new to this audio game so am I missing something obvious here? "
It would appear so, why are you trying to attach a DAC to another DAC?
What exactly is your source of music? The iFi Zen Blue cannot be a source, it is a converter.
Why do you need the E30 in a set-up?

 

[spagettilegs]

Welcome to the forum,
"I'm new to this audio game so am I missing something obvious here? "
It would appear so, why are you trying to attach a DAC to another DAC?
What exactly is your source of music?
Why do you need the E30 in a set-up?

hi,

Thanks for the reply. The Zen blue isn't a DAC per say. It's more of a bluetooth receiver and I'm using an iphone as the source.

 

[Al ears]

hi,

Thanks for the reply. The Zen blue isn't a DAC per say. It's more of a bluetooth receiver and I'm using an iphone as the source.

That's your issue. It is a DAC and it uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip and will convert a digital input to analogue.
What I think you need is a simple bluetooth receiver to attach to the Topping
CORRECTION: Apologies I see your point. Didn't realise it could act as a pass through point for digital.
Ignore my comments above.
However it does seem an odd way of adding bluetooth functionality to the Topping

 

[spagettilegs]

That's your issue. It is a DAC and it uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip and will convert a digital input to analogue.
What I think you need is a simple bluetooth receiver to attach to the Topping

ahhh...thanks very much!

 

[Al ears]

ahhh...thanks very much!

See my recent reply.
Stupid question but I assume the switch on the back of iFi Zen is set to digital?

 

[spagettilegs]

See my recent reply

I originally had the Zen Blue for a while and while it has exceptional quality as a bluetooth receiver I thought a pure DAC attached to it may bump up the quality of the sound.

The problem is as I said, the Topping doesn't seem to recognise the Zen as a source..

 

[Al ears]

I originally had the Zen Blue for a while and while it has exceptional quality as a bluetooth receiver I thought a pure DAC attached to it may bump up the quality of the sound.

The problem is as I said, the Topping doesn't seem to recognise the Zen as a source..

If the Zen is actually passing digital data to the Topping then I cannot understand why it is not being recognised as such and decoded as normal.

 

[PlastermanOG]

See my recent reply.
Stupid question but I assume the switch on the back of iFi Zen is set to digital?

That is correct, if you want to output to an external dac you need to set the rear switch to digital.

 

[jjbomber]

See my recent reply.
Stupid question but I assume the switch on the back of iFi Zen is set to digital?

That was going to be my question as well. So maybe not so stupid.

 

[spagettilegs]

Yeap, as it turns out, thats all it was. I thought I had already tried that but I was wrong. In the end, it still had that flat bluetooth sound so, bluetooth is handy but sound is no better when playing it through the Dac.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Al ears]

Yeap, as it turns out, thats all it was. I thought I had already tried that but I was wrong. In the end, it still had that flat bluetooth sound so, bluetooth is handy but sound is no better when playing it through the Dac.

Thanks for your help.

Glad to be of use and glad it was something simple...
I'm no expert but I think its because you cannot pass hi-res data over bluetooth...

 

[Al ears]

That was going to be my question as well. So maybe not so stupid.

Indeed, sometimes pays to ask stupid questions...

 

[spagettilegs]

I bought the Ifi Zen as it supports the APTX HD codec (supports audio at 24-bit/48kHz as do iphones via bluetooth) so I thought it might be worth a try. To me, it still sounded a bit flat compared to plugging the iphone directly into the DAC via the apple USB adaptor which is actually quite good.

 

[Vincent Kars]

supports audio at 24-bit/48kHz

It does but observe this is about the file format supported.
All Bluetooth transmission is lossy compression.
CD = 1411 kbs
APTX-HD=576 kbs,

Likewise LDAC supports files up to 24/96 but the Bluetooth transmission is gapped at 990 kbs