• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

Heals0911

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Messages
5
Likes
5
Long time lurker, first post.

Just received my DX3 Pro and there was indeed excessive clicking in foobar (between every song change and sample rate change) and out of foobar when using Wasapi. I installed the drivers from the Topping website, and all clicks are gone except between sample rates and when the signal stops/starts back up.

I seem to remember that other AKM products I owned had relay clicking, my Sabre products did not...not sure if there is a correlation.

Also, anyone notice the topping control panel that installs automatically? Curious about its functionality/effects if any.
 

pauze

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
25
Likes
24
The unit does a whole lot really well -- for my use, it's close to ticking all the boxes. The only thing lacking is I need balanced output due to where I live and the equipment I have at my home office, but my intention is to use mostly this at my away office where there is less noise. I can get over the clicking for various reasons (hello Emu 1616m), and my use cases minimizes them anyway (ASIO/exclusive on Windows; very minimal clicking using Android/UAPP). If you have office mates that would be bothered by the clicking in this unit (in whatever use case you plan for this), I would think they would be very annoyed at simple typing on the keyboard or mouse clicking, since both are more frequent and possibly louder than the clicks from the DX3, which points to bigger problems in your environment than what you perceive this unit to have.

Let's not drown out the use cases that actually work. This box suits me well. Happy to offer input/testing to help folks decide whether to take the plunge if your use cases seem to match mine. If you can manage to get some discounts (I purchased mine for around $160 after coupons), it's a great value and tough to beat in its price range.
 

john100a

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
Messages
35
Likes
6
Can anyone summarize the shitstorm that ensued? What flaw(s) were found within the unit?
 

Krunok

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 25, 2018
Messages
4,600
Likes
3,065
Location
Zg, Cro
The only thing lacking is I need balanced output due to where I live and the equipment I have at my home office, but my intention is to use mostly this at my away office where there is less noise.


If you need balanced output you may want to check SMSL SU-8 V2.
 

bennetng

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
Messages
1,634
Likes
1,692

Wolven

Active Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2018
Messages
226
Likes
113
They themselves have come in and said it was a problem they had with the AK4493 chip. They tried to resolve it, now get feedback from customers that their fix is not as elegant to the end-user (relay clicks). It is perfectly doable to still improve on the problem via firmware or software update. It will probably happen anyway since they have provided updates for the D10/D50 in the past too.

The people whining here are just freaking impatient and think they deserve a product without faults, at the lower cost price range, and at early adopter stage of a brand spanking new product, generally imported straight from China.

Get real guys.

It's not like I'm criticizing them for it. If you going to quote me, then do the entire thing, for I'm actually rather sympathetic to their situation.

Furthermore, you are the one patronizing them for being from China, without realizing. As if being from China, means lower standards automatically. I'm sure Topping's goal is to be the leading affordable hi-fi manufacturer, so any negative talk is a bit of a blow, which could have been avoided.

And yeah, I don't particularly care about the click because the way I use it, doesn't really matter, but there were a lot of people for whom it is a deal breaker.

I like the sound and I'm keeping it.
 

Veri

Master Contributor
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
9,596
Likes
12,036
It's not like I'm criticizing them for it. If you going to quote me, then do the entire thing, for I'm actually rather sympathetic to their situation.

Furthermore, you are the one patronizing them for being from China, without realizing. As if being from China, means lower standards automatically. I'm sure Topping's goal is to be the leading affordable hi-fi manufacturer, so any negative talk is a bit of a blow, which could have been avoided.

And yeah, I don't particularly care about the click because the way I use it, doesn't really matter, but there were a lot of people for whom it is a deal breaker.

I like the sound and I'm keeping it.

Full quote;

I only mentioned China as in buying from the source right from the release, i.e. very early adopter, is all. It is made in // from China.
Mine probably arrives today. Maybe I'll hate it myself lol that would be ironic. Will report.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,386
Location
Seattle Area
@amirm a little late in the thread but any possibility to see effects of F1-F6 filters like you tested the SU-8's seven filters? Not sure it means a lot, but so far I think we've only seen ESS Sabre filter implementations rather than AKM's.
Sure. Stand by....
 

Stuart

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
15
Likes
13
Can anyone summarize the shitstorm that ensued? What flaw(s) were found within the unit?

Only the clicking as admitted by Topping rep.

Good product if you use it in a way that doesn't trigger the clicking (or if/when Topping sort it out).

edit: quick edit as pointed out in the thread the remote cycles through line / DAC and depending on the volume of your speakers you need to be careful.
 
Last edited:

gramp

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
43
Likes
20
I really like this all in one solution.. But I just can't purchase one of these with this clicking issue going on.

I went with d50 + Jds Atom instead. 2 boxes instead of 1, but the pair will also have better performance.

Don't need bluetooth.
 
Last edited:

flipflop

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Messages
927
Likes
1,240
Can anyone summarize the shitstorm that ensued?
The shitstorm is ongoing.
What flaw(s) were found within the unit?
Clicking whenever a sound starts or stop playing when using USB.
Clicking whenever the sample rate changes when using S/PDIF.
Lack of batteries for some remotes.
Not being able to select all the filters without the remote.
 

dkinric

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Messages
666
Likes
1,446
Location
Virginia, USA
It's getting more difficult to ignore the inane, useless bickering here. Seriously, no one cares what you did or didn't say. Really.

May I request we stick to the use, functionality and quality of the product at hand? As early adoptors, there is much we can learn from each other about it.

I may be in the minority with usage here, as I am not using a PC as a source, but an iphone streaming HQ Spotify. After reading Amir's report on the digital output of the chromecast audio, I picked one up on sale for $15 (plus the special Toslink cable I had to buy), with the intention of casting from iphone to CC to Toslink in on DX3PRO.
I got the Toslink cable last night, and it works. However, it seems there are some limitations with this setup. I could not engage the Spotify EQ in this setup, which I was using to put a little more bass in my HD6xx. Also, I wanted to try out Sonarworks EQ system and see if that made any difference. It looks like with the Sonarworks app, you play music through the app (was able to link to my Spotify account), but I was not able to cast to the CC through Sonarworks. I'm also reading that Google CC only casts at a max of 256kbps, whereas Spotify HQ is 320kbps. Probably not an audible difference, but one wants to feed it the best signal possible and avoid as much resampling as possible.

If anyone else has experience with with this kind of signal chain, please weigh in. Otherwise, I may just go with the Apple camera connection kit and deal with the wires.

FWIW, I do hear occasional clicking from the unit itself, but it is really really faint and not bothersome to me. I hear no clicking or unit noise through the headphones.
 

THW

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Messages
412
Likes
630
aside from “annoying other people at work” (which I’m doubtful of because it’s not like it’s much louder than your typical office sounds or anything) or when browsing (which I can see why it is annoying to some people), I’m still not seeing why the clicks are somehow a deal-breaking issue, however if they’re actually damaging the device that’s another story, but we don’t know about that so can’t make assumptions there

It’s just ridiculous shitting all over an otherwise excellent product for a flaw whose significance is still considered questionable

Yes it’s probably a flaw and should be fixed, but don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, frankly I’m beginning to think that you’re just looking for an excuse to attack the host
 

Bigsy

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2018
Messages
69
Likes
31
Long time lurker, first post.

Just received my DX3 Pro and there was indeed excessive clicking in foobar (between every song change and sample rate change) and out of foobar when using Wasapi. I installed the drivers from the Topping website, and all clicks are gone except between sample rates and when the signal stops/starts back up.

I seem to remember that other AKM products I owned had relay clicking, my Sabre products did not...not sure if there is a correlation.

Also, anyone notice the topping control panel that installs automatically? Curious about its functionality/effects if any.
I'm afraid they probably haven't, perhaps you just have something in the background holding the stream open now. Topping rep already explained why its not possible to fix via driver and hopefully we'll see a firmware fix.
 

Bigsy

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2018
Messages
69
Likes
31
aside from “annoying other people at work” (which I’m doubtful of because it’s not like it’s much louder than your typical office sounds or anything) or when browsing (which I can see why it is annoying to some people), I’m still not seeing why the clicks are somehow a deal-breaking issue, however if they’re actually damaging the device that’s another story, but we don’t know about that so can’t make assumptions there

It’s just ridiculous shitting all over an otherwise excellent product for a flaw whose significance is still considered questionable

Yes it’s probably a flaw and should be fixed, but don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, frankly I’m beginning to think that you’re just looking for an excuse to attack the host
Maybe you just need to start coming to terms with the fact people have different opinions to you?
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,386
Location
Seattle Area
Maybe you just need to start coming to terms with the fact people have different opinions to you?
Everyone has heard your opinion. You have stated it many times. Topping is here, acknowledged their design decision and are working on another approach. Your comments are not helping accelerate a solution, or even identify why it happens more or less in some systems.
 

LSB

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2018
Messages
18
Likes
10
I have repeatedly stated that the dx3 pro is my everyday dac and amp. ...

Im interested you like the DX3 pro. I'm looking for an alternative to Sabre based DACs. I just havent stayed with any DACs Ive had with Sabre chips. I don't understand why as the Sabre chips measure so well and anyway its the implementation and output stages that should dominate the sound, right? The AKM chips seem different. So Im interested what you like about the DX3 and would be grateful for your thoughts please.
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2018
Messages
67
Likes
32
Im interested you like the DX3 pro. I'm looking for an alternative to Sabre based DACs. I just havent stayed with any DACs Ive had with Sabre chips. I don't understand why as the Sabre chips measure so well and anyway its the implementation and output stages that should dominate the sound, right? The AKM chips seem different. So Im interested what you like about the DX3 and would be grateful for your thoughts please.
Wolfson's are good too but not now as popular maybe.. After all there's no bad dacs until there's good engeering, caps, power suply etc, its like amd vs nvidia or ryzen vs intel within the same range. I have Onkyo tx-nr646 with akm dac and sound in stereo is dull and not engaging, i blamed it for it earlier but the true reason is low cost driven amp section.
 

Barce

Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2018
Messages
18
Likes
30
I've been watching this thread in silence, but the tacky piss & moan circus from a few hysterical chicken littles has been downright embarrassing. Taking repeated shots at amirm for his pro bono & voluntary public service without looking to engage in positive discourse is the mark of someone not worth acknowledging.

I picked up a DX3 Pro from the Aoshida store on the 11/11 day sale, and I've had it about a week. It's been living up to the high expectations set by these measurements. It DID NOT come with a battery for the remote which seems to be variable among those receiving a unit so far - best to have some loose CMOS/watch batteries lying around, as one commonly would. :p

Unlike most here, I haven't yet run it through foobar with an ASIO or WASAPI mode, but simply streaming audio from my internet browser (Firefox64) with default windows permissions. I too have experienced the excessive relay clicking issue under these circumstances in USB output when pausing/seeking/changing tracks. It isn't present in OPTICAL mode past the unit initialization after turning it on. It's annoying for sure, but it's quite inaudible unless you're listening at extremely low volumes with your head next to the device.

That being said, I've been happening into a repeatable circumstance wherein the relay clicking completely stops during USB output and everything works with smooth, silent sailing from there on out. I haven't isolated the cause and I don't have foobar currently set up to play around with the various wrappers, but I can attest that it seems to stop clicking after I've had the DX3 turned on for a while, and perhaps the constant is that I switch between BT/OPT output a few times. I've been using every day primarily in USB, and silent operation has become the norm rather than the exception. This shows that the excessive clicking is not an intractable defect that cannot be remedied by firmware patching, or otherwise circumvented. It also acts as supporting evidence that Amir has not necessarily been fed a "golden sample" by Topping - my unit has absolutely been clicking like all the disgruntled have talked about, but for the majority of its uptime it goes away and I'm enjoying smooth, clean USB output in utter silence. There's no need for widespread panic and melodramatics as a prospective buyer of this device. It's not a performance dealbreaker (unless new independent tests prove the clicking unit to have deleterious effects), and it clearly can be bypassed. There's a lot to stay positive about.

The DX3 Pro sounds fantastic, and has a charming form factor. Aside from the phantom clicks, the only flaw in my book is the sole 3.5mm jack. Kind of wish they went the extra mile there, since it's so much easier to adapt to 6.35mm than vice versa.
 
Top Bottom