Loxjie D30 DAC and Headphone Amplifier Review

[michman66]

Excuse typos. DAC not decks

 

[navin]

I have the topping D50s I just got a JDS LDAC and I must say it has bettered the d50s by far. I would highly encourage someone to give the JDS a try they have a two-week return policy I really feel you would be very pleasantly surprised and it's an American company!
Number two the power supply is AC which makes a big difference no switching wall wart. I agree it's not all in the deck chips it's in the power supply which makes a much bigger difference in my humble opinion.
The customer service and communication with JDS has been outstanding something to consider.

I assume you mean the JDS Element II. It's $399 from what I know.

Element II _ Shop JDS LABS

We redesigned Element II to maximize your desktop audio experience. Element II packs the performance you expect from JDS Labs into a precision machined aluminum chassis, with an equally impressive 32/384k DAC, and button activated preamp RCA outputs. Enjoy the comfortable knob and seamless...

jdslabs.com

 

[michman66]

No I did mean the EL DACII, I know it doesn't have a headphone amplifier or Bluetooth. I was speaking directly about my impressions about the Topping D50s I own vs the ELDAC II. DAC TO DAC.

EL DAC II+ _ Shop JDS LABS

We designed the Element Line for precision fit and function. EL DAC II+ furthers the exceptional performance of its predecessor with relay muting, an XMOS based UAC2 engine with PCM and DSD support, transformer isolated coaxial input, and a higher performance optical input. Optionally choose...

jdslabs.com

 

[Fraxo]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Loxjie D30 DAC with Bluetooth and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by the company. It costs US $160 from the one site I can find that is selling it currently.

The D30 is a departure from previous Loxjie products with odd shapes and such:

View attachment 87538

The high resolution display is informative and quite nice. A cool feature is that it remembers the headphone volume level and pre-out independently. So there is no risk of blowing up one or the other with inappropriate level set for the other device.

I love that it has an included mains power supply so you don't have to deal with an external supply:

View attachment 87539

Clearly good attempt has been made to get the functionality right first before worrying about looks.

DAC Audio Measurements
The output was a bit higher than 2 volt that we aim for in our testing so I dialed it down a bit to get to 2 volts:

View attachment 87540

This reduced the SINAD by 1 dB which is inline with what Loxjie has published. At 114 dB, this firmly places the D30 in excellent category of all DACs tested:

View attachment 87541

Dynamic range falls in the same category:

View attachment 87542

Intermodulation distortion is excellent:

View attachment 87543

32-tone signal resembling "music" shows very low distortion levels, albeit with a bit of uptick in midfrequencies:

View attachment 87544

Jitter on both USB and Toslink was more than what I like:

View attachment 87545

THD+N versus frequency was fine in one channel but worse in the other:
View attachment 87546

Precision as reflected in our linearity test is excellent:

View attachment 87547

Usual set of filters are provided:

View attachment 87549

Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with power output using 300 ohm:

View attachment 87550

My target here is 100 milliwatt and the D30 misses that by fair bit. So it will get loud but will have limits. Fortunately there is no sign of distortion so you would be good to max volume.

Switching to 33 ohm we get:

View attachment 87551

Signal to noise ratio for very low output level is not that great:

View attachment 87553

View attachment 87552

Bluetooth Audio Measurements
There has been requests on and off for Bluetooth performance measurements. Given the lossy nature of the codecs used in BT, what you see reflects that performance and not the DAC itself. As such, the results should be transferrable to many other DACs with Bluetooth inputs (or Bluetooth devices in general). The source here was my Samsung S8+ so there may be some variation depending on how good the encoders are in my phone.

Let's start with the default and most common codec, aptX:

View attachment 87554

The spectrum shows the typical signature of this codec with filtering of frequencies above 5 kHz. We have lost some 50 dB in fidelity versus uncompressed as well. Noise has sharply increased.

Here is the original music codec in BT, namely SBC:

View attachment 87555

The filtering is gone but replaced with a lot of junk. Performance is up 4 dB in total.

Both SBC and aptX are non-perceptual codecs. They don't have a psychoacoustics model to decide what to keep and what not to. They rely on inherent redundancy in the music data to compress it (in case of a single sine wave used here, that should have been most efficient). In contrast, the next choice, the AAC codec, is an excellent perceptually based lossy codec which makes encoding much more "expensive" in the form of CPU cycles but should generate better results:

View attachment 87556

We do get better performance to the tune of 11 dB better SINAD. But this is still horrible. A single sine wave should be a walk in the park for a perceptual codec. There is no excuse for noise around the shoulders of our main tone. The other spikes are harmonic distortion which may be generated by the analog output of the Bluetooth module used.

I tried LDAC but it did not work so I assume it is not supported in D30. If possible I like to see the DAC display the codec in use for Bluetooth.

Headphone Listening Tests
The D30 had no trouble powering my very low sensitivity, low impedance Drop Ether CX. It got loud enough to be very usable with no hint of distortion. Normal listening would be at 80 to 90% volume. Note however that with music recorded at low level, I had to ride the volume to max. Same situation existed with Sennheiser HD-650 headphones. No distortion, loud enough to almost get uncomfortable and excellent fidelity.

Conclusions
The Loxjie targets the most common configuration and features one needs for a desktop product: DAC, headphone amp and bluetooth. The DAC performance is excellent. Anything better would cost you hundreds of dollars more. The headphone amplifier has very good noise and distortion but limited power. And too high a noise floor for sensitive IEMs. Still, as an included amplifier, it does the job for most people.

I debated if I should give the D30 the golfing panther or "I like it" one. At the end, I remembered all the requests I get for a great all-in-one DAC and headphone amp at a reasonable price and this fits the bill most perfectly. To get better, you need to go to a stack of two boxes at a cost of $200. And analog volume control which may cause channel differential.

I am happy to recommend the Loxjie D30.


------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Spent the entire yesterday canning our latest harvest. Had planted a bunch of beautiful carrots back in spring. Did not eat them fast enough so decided to pickle them. Here is a shot of them ready to go:

View attachment 87558

They have stronger color variations before pealing. Many have orange insides despite the skin being different on the outside. I did get a kick out of the green one being that way on the outside and inside. Bye carrots! See you next late spring.

Helper is out there digging the new trench for the septic pipe. It is right at the foundation of the house and above deck. And the heat pump. Hopefully when it is all done the side of the house won't cave in! Your prayers in the form of monetary donations would be much appreciated: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Loxjie D30 DAC with Bluetooth and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by the company. It costs US $160 from the one site I can find that is selling it currently.

The D30 is a departure from previous Loxjie products with odd shapes and such:

View attachment 87538

The high resolution display is informative and quite nice. A cool feature is that it remembers the headphone volume level and pre-out independently. So there is no risk of blowing up one or the other with inappropriate level set for the other device.

I love that it has an included mains power supply so you don't have to deal with an external supply:

View attachment 87539

Clearly good attempt has been made to get the functionality right first before worrying about looks.

DAC Audio Measurements
The output was a bit higher than 2 volt that we aim for in our testing so I dialed it down a bit to get to 2 volts:

View attachment 87540

This reduced the SINAD by 1 dB which is inline with what Loxjie has published. At 114 dB, this firmly places the D30 in excellent category of all DACs tested:

View attachment 87541

Dynamic range falls in the same category:

View attachment 87542

Intermodulation distortion is excellent:

View attachment 87543

32-tone signal resembling "music" shows very low distortion levels, albeit with a bit of uptick in midfrequencies:

View attachment 87544

Jitter on both USB and Toslink was more than what I like:

View attachment 87545

THD+N versus frequency was fine in one channel but worse in the other:
View attachment 87546

Precision as reflected in our linearity test is excellent:

View attachment 87547

Usual set of filters are provided:

View attachment 87549

Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with power output using 300 ohm:

View attachment 87550

My target here is 100 milliwatt and the D30 misses that by fair bit. So it will get loud but will have limits. Fortunately there is no sign of distortion so you would be good to max volume.

Switching to 33 ohm we get:

View attachment 87551

Signal to noise ratio for very low output level is not that great:

View attachment 87553

View attachment 87552

Bluetooth Audio Measurements
There has been requests on and off for Bluetooth performance measurements. Given the lossy nature of the codecs used in BT, what you see reflects that performance and not the DAC itself. As such, the results should be transferrable to many other DACs with Bluetooth inputs (or Bluetooth devices in general). The source here was my Samsung S8+ so there may be some variation depending on how good the encoders are in my phone.

Let's start with the default and most common codec, aptX:

View attachment 87554

The spectrum shows the typical signature of this codec with filtering of frequencies above 5 kHz. We have lost some 50 dB in fidelity versus uncompressed as well. Noise has sharply increased.

Here is the original music codec in BT, namely SBC:

View attachment 87555

The filtering is gone but replaced with a lot of junk. Performance is up 4 dB in total.

Both SBC and aptX are non-perceptual codecs. They don't have a psychoacoustics model to decide what to keep and what not to. They rely on inherent redundancy in the music data to compress it (in case of a single sine wave used here, that should have been most efficient). In contrast, the next choice, the AAC codec, is an excellent perceptually based lossy codec which makes encoding much more "expensive" in the form of CPU cycles but should generate better results:

View attachment 87556

We do get better performance to the tune of 11 dB better SINAD. But this is still horrible. A single sine wave should be a walk in the park for a perceptual codec. There is no excuse for noise around the shoulders of our main tone. The other spikes are harmonic distortion which may be generated by the analog output of the Bluetooth module used.

I tried LDAC but it did not work so I assume it is not supported in D30. If possible I like to see the DAC display the codec in use for Bluetooth.

Headphone Listening Tests
The D30 had no trouble powering my very low sensitivity, low impedance Drop Ether CX. It got loud enough to be very usable with no hint of distortion. Normal listening would be at 80 to 90% volume. Note however that with music recorded at low level, I had to ride the volume to max. Same situation existed with Sennheiser HD-650 headphones. No distortion, loud enough to almost get uncomfortable and excellent fidelity.

Conclusions
The Loxjie targets the most common configuration and features one needs for a desktop product: DAC, headphone amp and bluetooth. The DAC performance is excellent. Anything better would cost you hundreds of dollars more. The headphone amplifier has very good noise and distortion but limited power. And too high a noise floor for sensitive IEMs. Still, as an included amplifier, it does the job for most people.

I debated if I should give the D30 the golfing panther or "I like it" one. At the end, I remembered all the requests I get for a great all-in-one DAC and headphone amp at a reasonable price and this fits the bill most perfectly. To get better, you need to go to a stack of two boxes at a cost of $200. And analog volume control which may cause channel differential.

I am happy to recommend the Loxjie D30.


------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Spent the entire yesterday canning our latest harvest. Had planted a bunch of beautiful carrots back in spring. Did not eat them fast enough so decided to pickle them. Here is a shot of them ready to go:

View attachment 87558

They have stronger color variations before pealing. Many have orange insides despite the skin being different on the outside. I did get a kick out of the green one being that way on the outside and inside. Bye carrots! See you next late spring.

Helper is out there digging the new trench for the septic pipe. It is right at the foundation of the house and above deck. And the heat pump. Hopefully when it is all done the side of the house won't cave in! Your prayers in the form of monetary donations would be much appreciated: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

I'd appreciate ANYONE's help on understanding the usage of sensitive IEMs like 7Hz Timeless (14.8 ohm, sensitivity 104dB) with the Loxjie D30.
I understand people say it's not ideal but why exactly? What exactly would I experience? Only extra low volume hiss? - I think I could live with that... Would it change the sound signature or mess with frequencies? - because that would be a dealbreaker...
I want to be able to enjoy the good DAC + Amp performance and not be altered due to sensitivity issues but I have no clue what to expect and you awesome nerds know the answers to that.

I've been looking all over the internet and couldn't find a source to break this down technically so please if you wanna assist a fellow nerd - help me with the technicalities and I'll be forever grateful.

Thanks!

 

[Veri]

I'd appreciate ANYONE's help on understanding the usage of sensitive IEMs like 7Hz Timeless (14.8 ohm, sensitivity 104dB) with the Loxjie D30.
I understand people say it's not ideal but why exactly? What exactly would I experience? Only extra low volume hiss? - I think I could live with that...

The 50mW measurement indicates hiss/noise with most sensitive gear. However, your 7Hz Timeless are not so sensitive and require more power than 50mW so it's likely not a problem for those IEMs. Should work fine.

 

[Fraxo]

The 50mW measurement indicates hiss/noise with most sensitive gear. However, your 7Hz Timeless are not so sensitive and require more power than 50mW so it's likely not a problem for those IEMs. Should work fine.

Thanks! Much appreciated so it sounds like it's definitely something I can live with.

I hate the 260$ price tag though. Still considering what else might be worth it for that price range that can do both speakers and a very good sounding DAC+AMP...

 

[Veri]

Thanks! Much appreciated so it sounds like it's definitely something I can live with.

I hate the 260$ price tag though. Still considering what else might be worth it for that price range that can do both speakers and a very good sounding DAC+AMP...

Speakers? Oh, you must be looking at Loxjie A30. This is D30. I'm not sure if the A30 headphone's port was tested anywhere. It could be similar to D30's though.

 

[Fraxo]

Speakers? Oh, you must be looking at Loxjie A30. This is D30. I'm not sure if the A30 headphone's port was tested anywhere. It could be similar to D30's though.

No. I meant D30, no mistake there.

 

[Bubba2022]

Appreciate the detailed review. I got my Loxjie D30 a while back which I'm using together with my Thinkpad over USB and output to Edifier r1280dbs Fixed RCA. I've got my Bose NC700 connected as well. Very happy with the sound. Cannot play loud as my room is small.

I was trying to get my heard around how does this device perform so we'll on the benchmarks, is this mainly due to the component selection, how things are connected on the PCB or any other significant reason?

 

[MDZPNMD]

Thanks! Much appreciated so it sounds like it's definitely something I can live with.

I hate the 260$ price tag though. Still considering what else might be worth it for that price range that can do both speakers and a very good sounding DAC+AMP...

You could just use an attentuator like these ifi mates or how they are called or build one yourself. Solderdude made a tutorial on his website.

 

[ElPasoEd]

I hate the 260$ price tag though. ...

I saw Loxjie D30 (ESS) for $234 at HiFi-Express today.

 

[didac]

Ciao a tutti!
I have this loxjie D30 and it's moves audio thecnica ath m50x and also Philips Fidelio X2HR.
I never set volume to maximum Power.
The question Is: at 32 ohm loxjie has 175 mW. Have I Need a more power amplificator for my headphones?

Thank you!

 

[Propheticus]

You can answer yourself. Can you play your headphones loud enough without distortion? Then no.
I also have a D30 and used a Fidelio X2 with it no problem. So I think not.

 

[Paolo]

Ciao a tutti!
I have this loxjie D30 and it's moves audio thecnica ath m50x and also Philips Fidelio X2HR.
I never set volume to maximum Power.
The question Is: at 32 ohm loxjie has 175 mW. Have I Need a more power amplificator for my headphones?

Thank you!

Nope, I’ve driven many headphones with the loxjie and never ever reached over a third of the volume level.
Right now I’m listening to some YouTube videos with a pair of Sennheiser HD 560S, if I try to get over level 20 (out of 60) it gets so loud I just can’t stand it.
The source is an Apple TV connected via the optical cable to the D30.
By the way, even with the active KRK G4 RP5 I usually listen to levels around 10 to 15…

 

[didac]

Ok thank you guys.
Volume level it's no a problem (normally It stay to 25 for audio thecnica and 30 for Fidelio, i think audio thecnica Is more sensitive).
Loxjie D30 Is connected by USB cable to notebook and the notebook read FLAC file fromnthe nas.
Player Is foobar 2000 trought ASIO driver.
Question Is If I add an amplifier, sound could be more "full-bodied"?

I have in other house a denon ceol rcd n9. Ceol reads the same FLAC file in the nas (trought personal VPN but this Is not a problem).
I don't know denon headphones out specific, peraphs It Is placebo effect, but sound looks likes more "full-bodied".

 

[Propheticus]

...

I have in other house a denon ceol rcd n9. Ceol reads the same FLAC file in the nas (trought personal VPN but this Is not a problem).
I don't know denon headphones out specific, peraphs It Is placebo effect, but sound looks likes more "full-bodied".

The headphone out of regular amps/avrs is often just taken from the speaker out with a high value resistor in line to limit the level. This means it has a high output resistance which depending on your headphones' own impedance can change the frequency response so that bass is boosted.
If you want more full body while using your D30 use a parametric EQ on your computer/in Foobar2k to add some (mid)bass.

AVR headphone output impedance guessing game :D

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I recently noticed, that the bass of my clear sounded a wee bit muddy and overbearing when listening through my AVR headphone out. I never noticed this before, since I only use it to watch movies that have insane LFE effects anyway. So I decided to measure...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[didac]

Ok thank you
I had the dubt, now I'm sure to no waste Money
Bye!!!

 

[Propheticus]

Prego, ciao!

 

[didac]

Ecco potevo scriverti in italiano

 

[didac]

Hi guys,
I have a question about links to Loxjie.

I hope no write some bullshit! But probably I'll do...

I have two notebook.
Notebook number 1 is linked to Loxjie by USB.
Notebook number 2 is linked to Loxjie by bluetooth.

I Thinking buy a cable jack to coaxial to connect Headphone output of notebook number 2 to coaxial input of Loxjie.
But I have a presentiment that is not a good idea...
Headphone output is after notebook DAC and also is analogic.

Furthermore Bluetooth connection is not bad from notebook to loxjie.
Is a bit bad if I connect mobile phone to Loxjie by bluetooth, I don't know why, but is not important for me, usully I don't link mi mobilephone to loxjie.

Ciao!