This is a review and detailed measurements of the Luxsin X9 stereo "smart" balanced DAC, preamplifier and headphone amp. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $1099.
Luxsin is a new brand for the Zidoo/Eversolo company and focused on higher-end audio products. In this instance, we have a gorgeous 1080p touchscreen display that lets us navigate through rich set of features and visualizations including that nice VU meter. Further, due to inclusion of Wifi, you can control the unit using an app or with web interface.
Balanced headphone output is provided including the ability to automatically enable filters to adapt your headphone to that of Harman curve. Failing that, you can program your PEQ. Alas, I started with an older version of the firmware where these features didn't seem functional.
I am starting to call DACs with such value added features, "smart."
Back panel shows other cool features such as HDMI and analog inputs:
For those of us who only have one analog source, this is ideal and eliminates the need for a premplifier.
Nice to see trigger input and output to automate power sequencing of downstream amplifiers. Subwoofer output is provided including ability to set its gain/filtering. If you combine this with PEQ for the main channels, you have your ideal integration of sub (although you still have to know what you are doing).
Luxsin X9 DAC Measurements
The pedigree of Eversolo is apparent the moment you see superb dashboard results:
This lands the X9 near top of our ratings:
Sorry, forgot to capture a zoomed result.
RCA results are not that far off:
HDMI results are essentially the same as USB:
Dynamic results indicate a completely quiet system even if you rob some from it for EQ headroom:
Linearity is perfect:
IMD distortion is kept very low:
As is loaded output at 600 ohm:
I only tested the default filter which performed as it should:
Wideband response is excellent as well:
The only tiny failing was in Jitter test when DSP is active:
Luxsin X9 Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Lots of power is available into low and high impedances:
After testing, I noticed a menu item related to automatic gain. Apparently the unit measures the impedance of the headphone and adjusts the gain appropriately. I did not try to test this.
Without explicit negative gain, we don't get the lowest noise at 50 mv output:
Luxsin X9 Preamplifier Measurements
Dashboard results are the type of performance we typically see: good enough for our analog sources but not reference quality:
Conclusions
The X9 sports a beautiful and functional display and menu system. Inclusion of Wifi means you can program and interact with the unit easier using the App or the web interface. Programmable EQ system lets you adjust the headphone response (or speaker) at hardware level, making it functional with any source system/app. Analog input and inclusion of HDMI means you can fully integrate all modern and vintage devices into it.
The price is up there and initial software bugs I found, unexpected. Compared to typical high-end DACs though, the X9 is much cheaper and far more functional.
I am going to recommend the Luxsin X9.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Luxsin is a new brand for the Zidoo/Eversolo company and focused on higher-end audio products. In this instance, we have a gorgeous 1080p touchscreen display that lets us navigate through rich set of features and visualizations including that nice VU meter. Further, due to inclusion of Wifi, you can control the unit using an app or with web interface.
Balanced headphone output is provided including the ability to automatically enable filters to adapt your headphone to that of Harman curve. Failing that, you can program your PEQ. Alas, I started with an older version of the firmware where these features didn't seem functional.
I am starting to call DACs with such value added features, "smart."
Back panel shows other cool features such as HDMI and analog inputs:
For those of us who only have one analog source, this is ideal and eliminates the need for a premplifier.
Nice to see trigger input and output to automate power sequencing of downstream amplifiers. Subwoofer output is provided including ability to set its gain/filtering. If you combine this with PEQ for the main channels, you have your ideal integration of sub (although you still have to know what you are doing).
Luxsin X9 DAC Measurements
The pedigree of Eversolo is apparent the moment you see superb dashboard results:
This lands the X9 near top of our ratings:
Sorry, forgot to capture a zoomed result.
RCA results are not that far off:
HDMI results are essentially the same as USB:
Dynamic results indicate a completely quiet system even if you rob some from it for EQ headroom:
Linearity is perfect:
IMD distortion is kept very low:
As is loaded output at 600 ohm:
I only tested the default filter which performed as it should:
Wideband response is excellent as well:
The only tiny failing was in Jitter test when DSP is active:
Luxsin X9 Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Lots of power is available into low and high impedances:
After testing, I noticed a menu item related to automatic gain. Apparently the unit measures the impedance of the headphone and adjusts the gain appropriately. I did not try to test this.
Without explicit negative gain, we don't get the lowest noise at 50 mv output:
Luxsin X9 Preamplifier Measurements
Dashboard results are the type of performance we typically see: good enough for our analog sources but not reference quality:
Conclusions
The X9 sports a beautiful and functional display and menu system. Inclusion of Wifi means you can program and interact with the unit easier using the App or the web interface. Programmable EQ system lets you adjust the headphone response (or speaker) at hardware level, making it functional with any source system/app. Analog input and inclusion of HDMI means you can fully integrate all modern and vintage devices into it.
The price is up there and initial software bugs I found, unexpected. Compared to typical high-end DACs though, the X9 is much cheaper and far more functional.
I am going to recommend the Luxsin X9.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
