Amazon shipped me a used Topping D10 Balanced

Topping D10 Balanced, Schiit Jotunheim, Loxjie A40

On April 18th I ordered an ES9028 DAC card from Schiit with installation (for the warranty), for a Jotunheim headphone amplifier. As of this writing I’m still #2 in a queue that apparently hasn’t moved in ~9 days (but has grown to 5). But using the Schiit with single-ended inputs was decidedly meh. Into my low sensitivity HE400se headphones (got mine for $79 open box), I had to crank the volume all the way up on high gain to have a comfortable listening level. At 32 Ω, the Jotunheim puts out a maximum of 2W RMS/channel in single ended mode, which jumps to 6W in balanced mode. At 300 Ω (for, e.g., Sennheiser HD600s or HD660S2s), it’s 330mW SE and 1.2W balanced. The ES9028 card will supply a balanced signal and unlock the full capabilities of the amp. But I don’t have it yet.

With an eye towards a dedicated listening station I’m planning, I figured I’d pick up a Topping D10 Balanced DAC to use in the interim, that I could repurpose into a small stack (maybe with the Topping L50?) Bought one brand new from Amazon:

Amazon order details showing Condition: New

What I got was decidedly not “New.” (See below for receipts.) I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it. It seems to work fine, but I paid for new, not “New – Very Good” or “New - Like New.” So I’ll probably return it. :/ Meanwhile, it works well enough. The 6.35mm-to-XLR adapters sticking out the back are a bit awkward, but otherwise it just does its job. I’m listening to some FLAC files on Cog, and enjoying the full output of the Jotunheim. With appropriate EQ settings in Sound Source, my headphones sing.

The DAC as I opened it (the box came wrapped in a clear bag, too, which was kind of weird):