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Loxjie D30 Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the new revision of the Loxjie D30 stereo DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $260 on Amazon including Prime shipping.

The main stand-out feature as far as looks is the better home screen graphics than sister company (SMSL):

Loxjie DAC Review Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.jpg


The menus otherwise look like SMSL DACs. I don't like how the audio format and sample rate are emphasized in big letters as opposed to the volume control. Speaking of that, it is linear so while good for small adjustments, it takes forever to go from low to high volume. They should implement acceleration for it and show the level in large letters in the middle.

The back side is as you expect except the nice bonus of built-in power supply despite the small size:

Loxjie DAC Review back panel Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.jpg


Loxjie D30 Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Wow, this is quite good! Distortion is vanishingly low and noise level low enough to land the D30 in our top 20 best DACs ever measured:

Best Stereo DAC Reviewed.png


Here is the noise performance by itself:

Loxjie DAC Measurements DNR Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Considering that is unbalanced only, these are indeed quite good numbers.

IMD test shows the slight hint of distortion increase which is typical of good implementations of ESS DACs:

Loxjie DAC Measurements IMD Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


I was a bit surprised to see more spurious tones in jitter test of USB versus Coax as it is usually the other way around:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Jitter Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Linearity is absolutely perfect:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Linearity Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Only three filters are provided which is fine (caption should say Loxjie D30):

Loxjie DAC Measurements Filter Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


The default is the Fast Linear which is what I used for the THD+N vs frequency:

Loxjie DAC Measurements THD+N vs frequency Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Multitone once again shows off the extremely low distortion:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Multitone Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Let's jump right into available power:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Headphone 300 ohm Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Loxjie DAC Measurements Headphone 32 ohm Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Ah, this is substantially lower power than what we see in this class of product. Noise level is also higher than one would expect:

Loxjie DAC Measurements Headphone SNR Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


It is not terrible by any stretch but no match for the superb DAC inside.

I did some quick listening with my Sennheiser HD650. There is enough power to drive them for everyday use such as office and such.

Conclusions
It is clear that the Loxjie D30 has benefited from tight loop of measure and refine to produce a DAC with top notch performance. I like the built-in power supply to reduce desk clutter. As I noted, I wish for some improvement in user interface. Headphone amplifier has very clean output but not a lot of drive so best to use it with efficient headphones.

I am going to recommend the Loxjie D30.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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VintageFlanker

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Great review, thanks.:)

Looks like a good offering... or maybe not that much : there is a substantial price rise (100) over the original D30. Most likely no advantage in the audible realm, and headamp performance even drops a bit :

index.php
Loxjie DAC Measurements Headphone 32 ohm Stereo DAC USB Bluetooth.png


Edit: Alright, better screen, MQA support and built-in PSU, but still... I see no point for this when the cheaper and more capable DX3Pro+ exists.

I don't like how the audio format and sample rate are emphasized in big letters as opposed to the volume control
I don't like this either (no one should), or at least it should be customizable in settings. If someone from SMSL may pay attention...
 
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_thelaughingman

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Great review, thanks.:)

Good offering, or maybe not that much : there is a substantial price rise over the original D30.
Yea the price rise is probably due to MQA licensing and ES9068AS chip. Or just a matter of supply chain constraints for products.
 

escape2

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Also a general suggestion, since this is a revised D30 review, can we make a note of it in the thread title to differentiate it from the original D30 review?
 

GWolfman

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Thanks for yet another review! :)
 

_thelaughingman

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Also a general suggestion, since this is a revised D30 review, can we make a note of it in the thread title to differentiate it from the original D30 review?
@amirm i second this, can we add spec related revision to title.
 

Koo

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Has there been a desktop unit with this low power output getting a recommendation before? Even the tiny battery-powered Qudelix-5K has more power than this. I don't understand why would a device that's only good for "everyday office use" when paired with one of the most popular HiFi headphones out there would get a recommendation.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Has there been a desktop unit with this low power output getting a recommendation before? Even the tiny battery-powered Qudelix-5K has more power than this. I don't understand why would a device that's only good for "everyday office use" when paired with one of the most popular HiFi headphones out there would get a recommendation.
It is a state of the art DAC with a bonus little headphone amplifier. The former is why it got strong recommendation.
 

GimeDsp

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If you have sensitive headphones and only use HP for casual stuff this thing would be really good it looks like.
 

respice finem

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Maybe they'll release an "S" version with a more powerful headphone amp?
Sidenote: the filter comparison graph says "Sabaj D30".
 

maverik_77

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@amirm In conclusion, it reads "It is clear than the Loxjie D30" which should be "It is clear that the Loxjie D30".
 

escape2

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I don't like how the audio format and sample rate are emphasized in big letters as opposed to the volume control.
Does the volume display at least become larger when volume is being adjusted?
 

pseudoid

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...it takes forever to go from low to high volume...
I find that the volume "knob" on the front panel of my BRZHiFi PA-10 (NJW1194 @+31.5 to –95.0dB / 0.5dBstep) steps up/down the volume in 1dB increments ; whereas, the RemoteControl is in +/-2dB steps... but as always YMMV
Thank you for the exposé, sounds like a solid deal for the price.
It seems to me that a 'pass-thru' (passive? relay?) pair of RCA inputs for such a device would have been worth the (minimal) cost increase and make Loxjie even a more useful contender.
 
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