I just find it so hard to get excited by their products these days. When things like the D10 came out for £100 that could also act as a DDC, it was a total game changer. More high performing/generic looking products, that you then have to play QC Lottery with is not for me anymore.
If most of us are honest, we’re not just in this hobby for the raw performance. Performance first, sure, but we enjoy the design, features and experience products offer. These conveyor belt iterations leave me a bit meh.
Performance IS experience, though. For a DAC, I mean. I don't care what it looks like. You might. But for what it's worth, the E30 looks good to me. The design is "small, metal box, clear display you can dim, works first time & every time". Features - again, I can't knock it. I only use USB in and PCM format files. I can't tell the difference between the filters - nobody can, can they - they're all way above the hearing range of all but the most golden-eared human. I paid less than £100 for it and it's just worked, every day. Conveyer belt? Well, look at Android smartphones. Many manufacturers, churning out many phones a year. At this point they're commodities; who gets excited about a phone? They have a job to do and their job is to do it and stay out of the way...like a DAC. This is how capitalism works, right? You're tooled up to build, so make loads and someone will like the particular size/cpu power/camera capability/build quality (ie metal vs glass vs plastic) combo - something you'd miss if you only built one model a year. You only need one DAC per system - I'm always amused by the "I've got DAC x but now DAC y is out...". You've got a DAC! Go and play some music!
QC lottery? Well, I guess that depends on how seriously one takes the recent spate of "taking complaints about Topping seriously" (This is related to the recent Two Minutes Hate about Topping, right?). There's simply no way of determining from posts on the internet who widespread a problem is. Go to google and search Reddit for any phone brand, any part of a phone and the word faulty. For example "reddit pixel 6a faulty screen". Better not buy a pixel 6a, right? Keep going. Let me know when you find a phone that won't develop a cracked screen, or burst into flames the moment you pick it up.
What solution are you proposing? Don't buy cheap hifi? Don't but Topping hardware? Don't buy anything made in China? Don't buy anything made less than 5 years ago?
If you're talking about every product ever made by anyone at any price point then I probably agree with you. It's a bit crap that no matter what you buy and from there you have limited rights. I get stuff from Amazon generally because at least there you have a year to return stuff. It's a lot worse in many places. You'll hear people say you get two years in the EU. Well, I'm in the EU and just try it. It's hard work. And you'll generally (in my experience/people I've spoken to/read about online) get a refurb. There's no requirement for you to get your money back, or a new one. You may or may not find this acceptable. I'd buy more expensive stuff if I thought I was going to be supported for a number of years related to the cost, but it's like DAC performance; no relationship between price and quality.