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Topping DX5 Review (DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this product:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 16 4.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 7 1.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 88 23.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 261 70.2%

  • Total voters
    372

pacman

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
76
Likes
84
Location
Sao Paulo/Brazil
By the way, did you contact Topping or the retailer?

When my A50 was defective, the processing via Shenzenaudio was completely unproblematic...
It's out of warranty. Contacted Topping, they want to sell me a front panel board for U$58 + U$15 of shippment. Tried to explain the problem as detailed as a could, but their english is worse than mine and I'm trying to figure out if this new board would fix the problem.

Send the unity to China is out of question, I live in Brazil. Never had any problem with audio gear in my entire life, it's really disappoint. I'll try to fix it and sell and never touch on a Topping device anymore.

Had a DX3 Pro that had the same issue, this is a recurrent problem with all Topping products. One guy told me "hey, you could use the remote control". My man, I use my stuff on a desk and I want my stuff to work properly. There's no excuses for things like this, try search Google and you'll see the extent of problem.
 

Bow_Wazoo

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
758
Likes
661
I was just wondering what you expect? A free repair, or a free spare part, for 1 device which is out of warranty?!
Or do you expect a device to never break?!
 

pacman

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
76
Likes
84
Location
Sao Paulo/Brazil
I was just wondering what you expect? A free repair, or a free spare part, for 1 device which is out of warranty?!
Or do you expect a device to never break?!
Given the number of reports of the problem, Topping should send me the goddamn knob and I'd solder it by myself, but instead, they want sell me the entire front panel board.

Oh, and if you're fine with 500 bucks devices stopping working within 2 years because of a crap and cheap button, do yourself and myself a favor, don't quote me.

If anyone is wondering, my problem is exactly of this guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/iip3xp
Contacted him on reddit and fortunately he returned the device and bought other from another brand.
 

cheapmessiah

Active Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2021
Messages
231
Likes
378
Location
Mordor
By the way, did you contact Topping or the retailer?

When my A50 was defective, the processing via Shenzenaudio was completely unproblematic...
Did you have to send it to China? Was it expensive?
 

et_uptown

New Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2022
Messages
3
Likes
8
It's a firmware bug.
Install V1.37
Funny (not funny) -- the same huge / instant volume jump happened to me within the first hour of using my DX5 on v1.35 and almost melted my LCD-X's AND blew out my ears. I contacted Topping about this immediately and it was apparently not something they had heard about. This was only a week or so ago. Anyways I did update to v1.37 but had to use the D90 DFU since the DX5 DFU for MacOS wasn't working.

Fortunately, on v1.37 I've been stable for about a week now, and without any near-deaf experiences.
 

pavelk

New Member
Joined
May 9, 2022
Messages
3
Likes
0
So I have the DX5 sitting on my desk and I am just in process of ordering Hypex Ncore NC252MP amplifier...

The first impressions from DX5:
  • it does not look cheap.
  • firmware update to the latest version was easy
  • The volume button is OK, but nowhere close to the nice feel that my old DENON/SONY gear has...
  • I need to buy new headphones or I am simply deaf - I am unable to hear any difference with my old Yamaha hph-mt120 using DX5 versus using a cheap headphone output in the DENON RCD-M40-DAB :-(
  • The unit supports the auto-standby feature, but it means that it is constantly hot/warm (in the standby) - anybody else experiencing this?
 

Toku

Major Contributor
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Messages
2,392
Likes
2,776
Location
Japan
  • The volume button is OK, but nowhere close to the nice feel that my old DENON/SONY gear has...
A rotary encoder is used for the volume control of DX5. This is a mechanical rotary switch. By operating this, an up-down signal is generated and a command is given to the MCU (CPU) that controls the DX5. It is fundamentally different from the analog variable resistors used in DENON / SONY.
 

pavelk

New Member
Joined
May 9, 2022
Messages
3
Likes
0
A rotary encoder is used for the volume control of DX5. This is a mechanical rotary switch. By operating this, an up-down signal is generated and a command is given to the MCU (CPU) that controls the DX5. It is fundamentally different from the analog variable resistors used in DENON / SONY.
I understand that… but lets admit that the Toppings mechanical part of the rotary switch is nowhere close to being “top notch”…
 

hidehide

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2021
Messages
22
Likes
1
I understand that… but lets admit that the Toppings mechanical part of the rotary switch is nowhere close to being “top notch”…
I find that it is common issue for China product that doesn’t have a proper volume knob. My car’s dsd player always failed to register the turn I made. Is there any better option out there?
 

lordhumungous

Active Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Messages
234
Likes
231
This is a very good dac for the money but I sure wish the volume level would change when you plug in headphones to where you had it before instead of using the remote to switch to headphone use versus line out use.
 

hidehide

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2021
Messages
22
Likes
1
This is a very good dac for the money but I sure wish the volume level would change when you plug in headphones to where you had it before instead of using the remote to switch to headphone use versus line out use.
This and the volume knob alone might steer me towards the JDS EL stack…
 

carmol

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
12
Likes
6
Hello I bought DX5,
I update from 1.35 to 1.37 firmware,
now there's a new option in setup
dither (L).
Does somebody knows about this feature and/or
has an upgraded manual ?
tx
P.S. very nice dac anyway.. yes, quite expensive,
but very complete, top performances both as dac and phone amp,
nice display, remote and good looking too IMHO
 

JoetheLion

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 16, 2020
Messages
123
Likes
182
Location
Rhineland
Hello all,

apparently my DX5 tried to update (without asking), but that did not work. The display alternates between "upgrading...", "upgrade success", "CPLD update" with constant click sounds, and at the end the display says "upgrade failed". Does anyone have an idea how I can get the device working again?
 

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eddychow

New Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
3
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0
Hello all,

apparently my DX5 tried to upgrade (without asking), but that did not work. The display alternates between "upgrading...", "upgrade success", "CPLD update" with constant click sounds, and at the end the display says "upgrade failed". Does anyone have an idea how I can get the device working again?
Same here, just got my DX5 dead a few minutes ago and come here to check if anyone experienced the same...
 
Last edited:

Cherubael

New Member
Joined
May 6, 2022
Messages
2
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0
But it does not have a Network Interface so how is it happening? could it be the driver on the computer that is doing this?
 

eddychow

New Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
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0
But it does not have a Network Interface so how is it happening? could it be the driver on the computer that is doing this?
No, it does not have a network interface.

I unplugged it and placed it closer to my nose. It smells like some components inside got burned.
 

eddychow

New Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
Messages
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0
Glad I didn't attempt the firmware update. Geez. Awful.
I believe it was not caused by firmware update. It seems like something inside suddenly broken down, and the device was in a faulty state, causing the random "upgrade" on screen messages.
 
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