Shenzhenaudio Topping EX5 Review (DAC and Headphone Amplifier)

[AdamG]

Already been consolidated.. there is not a single post on this page of the thread that has anything to do with the review. Previous pages also have lots of posts which has nothing to do with the review.

Not to be harsh or anything (I'm a mod on another forum so i have some experience) but how is this adding to the work when this IS the work of the moderator(s)? Don't become a moderator if you don't have the time or will to do this kind of work IMHO.

Hi Lupin,

Good suggestion. However, I am leaving some posts that appear off topic up for a reason. Other parties need to see what’s happening here as background information. Once our internal investigation of events is completed I will come back and do some clean ups. For the now moment I am going to go back several pages and start deleting off topic posts. Hope that helps enough.

Not going to comment on your take about Moderators.

 

[raif71]

Hi Lupin,

Good suggestion. However, I am leaving some posts that appear off topic up for a reason. Other parties need to see what’s happening here as background information. Once our internal investigation of events is completed I will come back and do some clean ups. For the now moment I am going to go back several pages and start deleting off topic posts. Hope that helps enough.

Not going to comment on your take about Moderators.

OK, I got up this morning and I saw my comment on a post got deleted (the dejavu and glitch in the matrix comment) .1st off, I'm gonna apologize coz it's off topic (the reason given) however I do see that some "likes" that comment had, got washed away too. I'm ok with letting go the likes but perhaps some other people don't if their posts got deleted too. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jimbob54]

Other combo units with a peq?

 

[Ra1zel]

Other combo units with a peq?

RME ADI-2, HA-DSP, THX 788, Quadelix 5K... and lots of this stuff in studio equipment

 

[Jimbob54]

RME ADI-2, HA-DSP, THX 788, Quadelix 5K... and lots of this stuff in studio equipment

Well the 788 and RME are in a very different market bracket price wise, the other 2 are portables but I dont disagree that in an ideal world desktop DACs / combis could come with PEQ- but not at this price /performance ratio for the DAC and head amp. CAnt comment on the HA-DSP performance wise , the Qudelix is a great bit of kit bit not comparable to this on power/ spec.

EDIT- post below says it best. At what cost? If this was $500 and had app controlled PEQ I would buy two here and now. I find the RME EQ too fiddly for me, great kit that it is. If I could leave the PC off and use Spotify Connect or similar direct to a DAC with PEQ my life would be so much easier!

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

The thing about adding peq to a DAC, particularly something like this Topping, is that it’d surely make it unnecessarily expensive. That’s a guess, by the way.

Many of these DACs are fed by USB - some only by USB - which means you’re feeding it from a PC or laptop, something 99% of potential customers will own.

And you can peq for free on that.

So yes, I’d love it. But I don’t see it happening at this end of the market.

HOWEVER, I could see Topping offering some eq software built into a driver, or similar.

 

[Ra1zel]

Well looks like any comments that mention Topping in way that is less than very vaforable gets deleted without notice. Thats sad.

EDIT- post below says it best. At what cost? If this was $500 and had app controlled PEQ I would buy two here and now. I find the RME EQ too fiddly for me, great kit that it is. If I could leave the PC off and use Spotify Connect or similar direct to a DAC with PEQ my life would be so much easier!

Yeah I agree I just wish that the market would shift towards better feauters than another +100db SINAD device that is the same as the other 8 +100db SINAD devices. I think its time to move on and do something more, things like that should be getting cheaper but someone has to start first, RME is good start, now others should improve on that baseline.

 

[buxtehude]

I am really temped to get this but I am going to pass. I will wait for non MQA DACs from Topping. I don't care if I have to pay more or less. I just don't want MQA and that logo just ruins the look of the device. It's like getting Nike Air Jordan 1with OJ Simpson written on it....

 

[VariousArtists]

Got the EX5 today, the BT connection is pretty solid (I did replace the stock antenna with a larger one, not sure if that made any difference). I don't need to comment on the sound as it's covered extensively already and it's more than good enough for my ears.

I did notice one quirky behaviour though - if I use the remote to put the device to standby (without disconnecting from the phone first) and then wake it up, the BT connection re-establishes automatically, but only after the device goes to auto-standby again, which takes a while, and the amplification/output part of the device remains in standby, only the BT chip is active somehow.

At this point, there is no output to the headphone even though the phone thinks it's playing via BT, i.e. it does not exit standby when the phone starts to send audio via BT, and I have to manually wake it up again using the remote. Am I doing something wrong or it is not working as intended?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Got the EX5 today, the BT connection is pretty solid (I did replace the stock antenna with a larger one, not sure if that made any difference). I don't need to comment on the sound as it's covered extensively already and it's more than good enough for my ears.

I did notice one quirky behaviour though - if I use the remote to put the device to standby (without disconnecting from the phone first) and then wake it up, the BT connection re-establishes automatically, but only after the device goes to auto-standby again, which takes a while, and the amplification/output part of the device remains in standby, only the BT chip is active somehow.

At this point, there is no output to the headphone even though the phone thinks it's playing via BT, i.e. it does not exit standby when the phone starts to send audio via BT, and I have to manually wake it up again using the remote. Am I doing something wrong or it is not working as intended?

Wow thank you very much for discovering this. Will fix it asap.

 

[cestmoi]

Well looks like any comments that mention Topping in way that is less than very vaforable gets deleted without notice. Thats sad.
...

Pretty much.

The last event showed us how much protection the brand can get here, even though one of its last interactions killed some cans.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Pretty much.

The last event showed us how much protection the brand can get here, even though one of its last interactions killed some cans.

?

 

[fljoe]

Very interesting device .. nice combo .. measurements look similar to the S.M.S.L M500 I own, but love the form factor .. smaller and will sit nicely on my desk. Assuming the XLR headphone out in front is NOT balanced.

 

[hidehide]

Is the XLR powerful enough to drive a LCD3 headphone? See the review say it’s for convenience and not much power?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is the XLR powerful enough to drive a LCD3 headphone? See the review say it’s for convenience and not much power?

From the review "The EX5 produced exceptionally good performance with both my Drop Ether CX and Sennheiser HD650. There was good amount of volume available in low gain and in high gain, it was skull rattling powerful for the second or so I cranked the volume up. Detail, bass performance, absence of distortion -- there were all there. If the sound sucks, it is your content."
The power is certainly good enough for most of the use cases.
Both 6.35mm and XLR outputs have same power. But this is one of the best headphone amplifier sections in a combo dac amp.

 

[homingmissle]

I have just ordered one through HiFiGo to the UK. They have told me that it only comes with the Chinese AC Cable. What would be an appropriate UK spec AC Cable to use? Would a 250V 10 Amp be safe to use with the device? What would be recommended? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

[Ryogo]

Just received my unit yesterday.

Nicely built, looking good.

Found a small issue - while playing music from pc tried to switch gain from "lo" to "hi" and there was no sound after that (switching back from "hi" to "lo" not helped) until I switched off to stand-by and switched back on.

 

[VariousArtists]

I have just ordered one through HiFiGo to the UK. They have told me that it only comes with the Chinese AC Cable. What would be an appropriate UK spec AC Cable to use? Would a 250V 10 Amp be safe to use with the device? What would be recommended? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

I use a 250V / 10A power cord

 

[mj23pj]

Hey @JohnYang1997,

Is the front 4 pin xlr headphone output balanced? I am currently enjoying the ex-5 but was wondering if I can use a 4-pin xlr to 4.4mm pentaconn adapter to connect my hd800s headphones.

Thanks!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hey @JohnYang1997,

Is the front 4 pin xlr headphone output balanced? I am currently enjoying the ex-5 but was wondering if I can use a 4-pin xlr to 4.4mm pentaconn adapter to connect my hd800s headphones.

Thanks!

You can use 4pin xlr to 4.4mm adapter. But it would be the same as 6.35mm to 4.4mm adapter.