Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

[amirm]

I have several of these Chinese cable adapters (not solid fit/screw-on type but actual cable adapters) and the connector ends are not finished properly/tightly, contact is often far from perfect, ...
Better to make yourself or look for an affordable custom option really. Really not impressed with these Chinese silver plated adapters you find all over Amazon and Aliexpress.. :/

Yes, I had the reverse adapter of that kind go bad. I use them for testing and was noticing that the measurements were changing all of the place and traced it to that adapter. Now I have dedicated cables without adapters. Was not easy to find BNC to 3.5mm and 1/4 inch plugs but found someone on ebay making them with Canare cable and it has worked out well.

 

[Johnb]

Based on the excellent performance of all your reviews on Topping products, i am very excited about NX3s amp that I ordered that, sadly, will not ship till the end of Nov. I am surprised that they didn't send you a review sample. If and when you do test it, I noticed a funky distortion Vs Frequency sweep that Topping does not have on their website, but had provided to aliexpress sellers. Essentially 0.0003% THD+N at 1khz (300 ohm @50mW), but up to 0.0008% up to 20 -20khz. Also, since it it similar rated power, would be curious if low noise holds up near the rated limit as well as this unit above.

I am also curious if for example NX4 DSD could be run continuously of USB adapter power, as a kind of mini desktop, same for the NX3s

Also, unfortunately 5 ohm output impedance, which is no problem for me, but kind of ruins it for the target audience at $55 Massdrop.

I am commenting on this thread because I also wanted to mention that I like that you are showing THD sweeps at both gain levels.

 

[Jimster480]

This Sennheiser adapter is one of the best. Well build and very little excess strain on the 3.5 jack.

https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Cable-Adapter-Female-6-3mm/dp/B008JGWY2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540561261&sr=8-1&keywords=senheiser+1/8+1/4

Keeps getting more expensive though. Used to only be $15...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074RYQZCK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought these and they work great... But they are "a little touchy" as one of the reviews suggested.

 

[WondrousHippo]

Thanks but I was speaking of dedicated bluetooth transmitter. On my Android S8+ phone that is how I am switching codecs. Problem is that it refuses to use anything beyond Aptx and SBC even though there are others in the list. I can select them with no error but they will revert back to what was there before.

I am assuming this is a conflict between what Android supports and what the phone Bluetooth stack supports.

Either way, it is a huge mess when it comes to deciding what codec you want to use. The moment they went beyond SBC, they should have made this a proper user interface to select codecs.

Did you have "Best sound quality" enabled for the DX3Pro in your Bluetooth settings? It's annoying to enable for each device for sure.

https://gfycat.com/FeistyEntireDeinonychus

I've been eyeing a couple of Bluetooth transmitters as I'd like to be able to have a wireless setup: this one looks good because it has an aptX HD or Low Latency priority switch, and optical passthrough: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQYYDNJ/

 

[amirm]

this one looks good because it has an aptX HD or Low Latency priority switch, and optical passthrough: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BQYYDNJ/

I saw that but at the end ordered a different one that should be here this weekend. The one I ordered has Optical input and output which was unique.

 

[BurritoJustice]

I saw that but at the end ordered a different one that should be here this weekend. The one I ordered has Optical input and output which was unique.

Which one did you decide on? I'd love to find one with LDAC in particular as it is the highest spec on my S9+ as it inexplicably lacks AptxHD, but I can only find ones with aux output and no optical passthrough.

 

[amirm]

This is the one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KO1JNCA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Luke]

The 6.3 jack especially is a bit of a pity. But well, maybe most of us fall into more of a pro/hobbyist group, and most consumers use 3.5mm, I don't know..

I sent them an e-mail about this. They said there wasn't enough room for a 6.35mm jack with the screen, and that a smaller volume knob wouldn't be good. So it seems like they would have liked a 6.35mm jack too, but a compromise had to be made.

 

[Leit]

@amirm May not be relevant for many but still asking. How is the weight of this unit? Does it move around because of the weight of RCA and other cables? Does it have rubberised feet or such to stand still on a table?

 

[maverickronin]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074RYQZCK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought these and they work great... But they are "a little touchy" as one of the reviews suggested.

Electrically, those kind are usually just fine but mechanically they can cause trouble. Hanging a big lever off a small 1/8" plug necessitates you be be very careful around it to avoid any accidents that could break the plug or the jack.

 

[Thomas savage]

We’ve had limited discussion wrt wireless audio, I’d like to see a comprehensive study of popular methods and implementations , it would be helpful for normal folks.

Not sure how practical that would be but I’m sure @amirm can work out how to test the various popular systems and let us see what we get once it’s all flown through the air.

 

[amirm]

@amirm May not be relevant for many but still asking. How is the weight of this unit? Does it move around because of the weight of RCA and other cables? Does it have rubberised feet or such to stand still on a table?

It has good sized rubber feet relative to its small enclosure. It stays put well enough.

 

[mindbomb]

@amirm
are there physical controls on the dac itself, or are they only on the remote?

 

[xineis]

I sent them an e-mail about this. They said there wasn't enough room for a 6.35mm jack with the screen, and that a smaller volume knob wouldn't be good. So it seems like they would have liked a 6.35mm jack too, but a compromise had to be made.

This is probably THE greatest downside for me, in terms of "features" (most of my headphones are natively 6.50mm).

 

[JustIntonation]

What I'm really curious about is a subjective listening comparison between the Topping D50 and DX3pro as a DAC with (preferably nearfield) speakers.
Level matched and with a variety of music. At 0dBFS and at -20dBFS or so.
Is that IMD bump of the mobile ESS DAC chips audible or not? I've come to suspect it is audible, as added "excitement" and "forwardness" in the upper mids / lower treble. (probably best to use speakers for this which are resolving in this area, not something like the JBL LSR305)

 

[amirm]

@amirm
are there physical controls on the dac itself, or are they only on the remote?

As I mentioned before, you can fully control the unit without the remote. The volume control can be clicked by pushing it in and depending on how/how many times you do that you can change things. Download the Topping DX7s manual and it should be very similar to DX3Pro.

 

[Jimster480]

Electrically, those kind are usually just fine but mechanically they can cause trouble. Hanging a big lever off a small 1/8" plug necessitates you be be very careful around it to avoid any accidents that could break the plug or the jack.

YOu won't break the jack on most amps. But yes depending on what device it is you might need to be careful with it.

 

[Darwin]

Spent 3 hours getting my Macbook Pro working to no avail. Its bluetooth stack will not connect to Topping DX4 or ES100. I tested it with two bluetooth headphones my wife has and it would reject the connection with one of them just as the same.
It is a shame because Apple has a great BT developer utility that lets you select codecs, check throughput, etc.

Thats odd. Unlike iPhone or iPad MacBooks will do Apt X also.

 

[amirm]

Thats odd. Unlike iPhone or iPad MacBooks will do Apt X also.

Strange indeed. I asked Topping and they said it works fine with MacBook Air. Quite frustrating that the Pro can't even connect to these.

 

[pii75]

Hello to everybody, I am new of the forum and I find these technical reviews fantastic.

Going back to measurement results, I can not understand why the line level output is worst than the headphone output.
The FFT shows more noise on the line output, while the headphone output looks much better with lower noise floor and less spikes and this is confirmed by a higher measured SINAD.
So according to these results it seems better to feed an amplifier from the headphone output instead of rca line...