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Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

g_t_j

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Jul 3, 2019
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I just experienced the random shutdown that many of you have had with the DX3 Pro.
It just happened while I was playing music. I had to switch on the device by pressing the knob once and DX3 continued from where it was when it had switched off.

I didn't see that coming as I have had the unit nearly 3 weeks now and has received hundreds of hours of playtime already Untill now I haven't had the slightest problem.

Fingers crossed it won't happen again but I would lie if I claimed I'm not worried...
 

Wolven

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Nov 10, 2018
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I just experienced the random shutdown that many of you have had with the DX3 Pro.
It just happened while I was playing music. I had to switch on the device by pressing the knob once and DX3 continued from where it was when it had switched off.

I didn't see that coming as I have had the unit nearly 3 weeks now and has received hundreds of hours of playtime already Untill now I haven't had the slightest problem.

Fingers crossed it won't happen again but I would lie if I claimed I'm not worried...

Yes, it is completely random. You can expect the shutdowns every 2-3 weeks.
My first unit did it, and the tested replacement unit does it too.
I worried about it too, but now I'm just chalking it up to live and learn. Odds, are it will be fine until the warranty expires.
 

g_t_j

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Jul 3, 2019
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Yes, it is completely random. You can expect the shutdowns every 2-3 weeks.
My first unit did it, and the tested replacement unit does it too.
I worried about it too, but now I'm just chalking it up to live and learn. Odds, are it will be fine until the warranty expires.

If it does it every 3 weeks or, say, once a month, I'm totally fine. I hope it just won't get any more frequent or any worse down the line.

I know some have already replaced the PSU with a Mean Well brick and continued having the occasional drops but to my restricted knowledge, these switch offs probably are having to do with momentary voltage drops or spikes that a better PSU will potentially be able to address or even eliminate.

If that's the case, the automatic on/off relay of the unit is susceptible to voltage variation curves.
I have measured the voltage of the stock PSU with my multimeter and it reads substantially higher that the nominal 15V - 15.21 which is of course within range but at the higher end of the tolerance limits Taking into account that it is a cheap SMPS which barely outputs 1A, it does not particularity ooze quality (very lightweight and cheap plastics) or is worth of any trust. It's similar to one I have for powering a series of infra red lights for my security cameras.

At such low rated amperage capacity I'd bet the voltage drops can be a regular case, especially when the unit consumes current close to the PSU real capacitance.

That's the most reasonable theory I can think of.

I just ordered a Mean Well PSU which is substantially more powerful (rated at 1.66A) and hopefully it will also have a better voltage stabilization circuitry and overall power handling.
 

Wolven

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Nov 10, 2018
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If it does it every 3 weeks or, say, once a month, I'm totally fine. I hope it just won't get any more frequent or any worse down the line.

I know some have already replaced the PSU with a Mean Well brick and continued having the occasional drops but to my restricted knowledge, these switch offs probably are having to do with momentary voltage drops or spikes that a better PSU will potentially be able to address or even eliminate.

If that's the case, the automatic on/off relay of the unit is susceptible to voltage variation curves.
I have measured the voltage of the stock PSU with my multimeter and it reads substantially higher that the nominal 15V - 15.21 which is of course within range but at the higher end of the tolerance limits Taking into account that it is a cheap SMPS which barely outputs 1A, it does not particularity ooze quality (very lightweight and cheap plastics) or is worth of any trust. It's similar to one I have for powering a series of infra red lights for my security cameras.

At such low rated amperage capacity I'd bet the voltage drops can be a regular case, especially when the unit consumes current close to the PSU real capacitance.

That's the most reasonable theory I can think of.

I just ordered a Mean Well PSU which is substantially more powerful (rated at 1.66A) and hopefully it will also have a better voltage stabilization circuitry and overall power handling.

Let us know how it goes. If it works for you I may replace it too, although like you said some people have replaced it and still are having issues. I'm going to just live with it for now.
 

Toku

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I used 2 DX3 Pros for 8 months with a UBS connection to a Windows 10 PC. And I experienced Self sleep many times. The trouble was reported to this forum. S / N of two DX3ro is 1808 -----.
However, since this symptom does not occur when OPT and Coax are connected, it is considered that the cause is a problem with the USB setting of PC, and if "USB selective suspend 'setting" of Windows 10 is set to Disable, it will be normal for two months thereafter.

USB selective suspend is normally set to "Enable" in windows 10.
But I really have to wait a little longer to see if this is really the cause. The power supply uses the accessories of the product.
Windows 10 has used Ver 1809 and Ver 1903.

Please search the Web for the contents of "USB selective suspend 'setting".

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/usb-selective-suspend-windows-explained/
 
Last edited:

Wolven

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Nov 10, 2018
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I used 2 DX3 Pros for 8 months with a UBS connection to a Windows 10 PC. And I experienced Self sleep many times. The trouble was reported to this forum. S / N of two DX3ro is 1803 -----.
However, since this symptom does not occur when OPT and Coax are connected, it is considered that the cause is a problem with the USB setting of PC, and if "USB selective suspend 'setting" of Windows 10 is set to Disable, it will be normal for two months thereafter.

USB selective suspend is normally set to "Enable" in windows 10.
But I really have to wait a little longer to see if this is really the cause. The power supply uses the accessories of the product.
Windows 10 has used Ver 1809 and Ver 1903.

Please search the Web for the contents of "USB selective suspend 'setting".

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/usb-selective-suspend-windows-explained/

Interesting, thanks for the information. I disabled "USB selective suspend", under windows 7. We will see what happens.
However, my previous DAC was connected to the same USB port and there was never an issue.
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing if this does anything.
 

Wolven

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Interesting, thanks for the information. I disabled "USB selective suspend", under windows 7. We will see what happens.
However, my previous DAC was connected to the same USB port and there was never an issue.
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing if this does anything.

I would like to add that if this doesn't help, you could go to the Device Manager and under 'Universal Bus Controllers' go to all the HUB's and check under properties 'Power Management' and dissable 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'.
 

Gray

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Jun 22, 2019
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Not that I have one but is it possible to connect the dx3 to a bluetooth headphone and play music from USB?
 

Toku

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Not that I have one but is it possible to connect the dx3 to a bluetooth headphone and play music from USB?
You can not use it like that.
Bluetooth only receives signals from audio devices.
 

Yuno

Active Member
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Oct 26, 2018
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I used 2 DX3 Pros for 8 months with a UBS connection to a Windows 10 PC. And I experienced Self sleep many times. The trouble was reported to this forum. S / N of two DX3ro is 1808 -----.
However, since this symptom does not occur when OPT and Coax are connected, it is considered that the cause is a problem with the USB setting of PC, and if "USB selective suspend 'setting" of Windows 10 is set to Disable, it will be normal for two months thereafter.

USB selective suspend is normally set to "Enable" in windows 10.
But I really have to wait a little longer to see if this is really the cause. The power supply uses the accessories of the product.
Windows 10 has used Ver 1809 and Ver 1903.

Please search the Web for the contents of "USB selective suspend 'setting".

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/usb-selective-suspend-windows-explained/

I had USB suspend set to disabled and my dx3 pro was auto suspending regardless of that.
 

Gray

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Jun 22, 2019
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If the headhone output is slightly better than the rca-out, wouldn't it be interesting to just connect the headphone-out to your amp?
 

JohnYang1997

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Audio Company
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If the headhone output is slightly better than the rca-out, wouldn't it be interesting to just connect the headphone-out to your amp?
They are essentially the same. And you surely can do that.
 

Cidious

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Jan 18, 2019
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I have been using 3 DX3 Pros of which one every day many hours. The other for prolonged. Listening session. When tweaking the shit out if it. Never had a single shutdown. 1812 and 1901 different computers. Standard power brick or LPS. I really tried to replicate the issue but in all this time (over 6 months now) I haven't had a single shutdown with any of the 3 devices.. I consider myself lucky?

Windows 10 all last versions. Using a hub and/or USB signal purifier before going into the DAC. They were never plugged into the machine directly.

I have no idea which one of these things made sure the shutdowns didn't happen. But I expected a shutdown on 1 of them at least.

Very satisfied with the product. Daily driver on my desktop. And one of the units is going to be used in the car system on the 12V battery. Connect through bluetooth then feeding my Alpine amps, speakers and woofers. I don't see why not.
 

Bamyasi

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Feb 19, 2019
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Never had a single shutdown. 1812 and 1901 different computers. Standard power brick or LPS. I really tried to replicate the issue but in all this time (over 6 months now) I haven't had a single shutdown with any of the 3 devices.. I consider myself lucky?

My DX3 Pro (second replacement unit, previous two DoA or shortly afterwards) has developed this random shutdown ritual only very recently, after approximately 7 months of constant use without a single issue. Stay tuned, you will see it!
 

Gray

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Jun 22, 2019
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Anybody that bought one recently and got a serial number higher than 1904...?
 

azxswq

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Feb 24, 2019
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I got a return direct from Topping. (The return process took 5 weeks.)

Serial 1902X

First one died after 2 months, this one is good for 3 weeks so far.

When it works, it is great. Keeping my finger crossed.
 

Veri

Master Contributor
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Feb 6, 2018
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Topping made a power supply with 2x 5V, 1x 12V output. https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/toppi...-supply-for-topping-d50-d50s-dx3-pro-d30.html

Looks rather silly in the promo material lol
wZwhMNw.png
 
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