Luxsin X9 Smart Stereo DAC & Preamp

[TheWalkman]

Good performance but $1100 is just too much, IMHO. (I’m not impressed with the aesthetics of the box, either. Just a bit too much of a Star Wars vibe for my house.)

I’ve been spoiled by too many other near perfect preamps like the far cheaper Toppings, SMSLs, etc. for half the price (or less).

Pass.

 

[Chr1]

A slightly lower price, bugless software and in black, and I'd be considering it.

Reckon six months from now there will be similar devices at a much lower price. My 2c.

 

[Leeken]

Would there be any audible difference to a Wiim ultra? Doesn’t seem so,unless you really need balanced output,fine at best for me.

 

[welwynnick]

Good performance but $1100 is just too much, IMHO. (I’m not impressed with the aesthetics of the box, either. Just a bit too much of a Star Wars vibe for my house.)
I’ve been spoiled by too many other near perfect preamps like the far cheaper Toppings, SMSLs, etc. for half the price (or less).
Pass.

Spec for spec, the Topping equivalent to this is the DX9, and that costs about the same.

 

[Brian Hall]

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

A suggestion for a couple of extra measurements: Physical size and weight.

 

[TheWalkman]

Spec for spec, the Topping equivalent to this is the DX9, and that costs about the same.

The Topping E70 I’m using daily has an MSRP of $349 and does everything I need and more. (And the plain, black box with a single, black knob, magically blends into the background where 98% of the time it goes unnoticed.)

 

[Jeromeof]

The web interface it presents is universal so works on any platform.

Does the web interface 'find' the Luxsin on the network or do you connect the S9 to PC via USB? Just curious as to how to load the PEQ filters from their web page?

 

[gpauk]

Does it support streaming over wifi - eg from Jellyfin?

 

[TNT]

Luxman wanna be?

Isn't this (circled green) also unwanted and thus, a type of distorsions?

Why is it there?

//

 

[VientoB]

Default filter seems to roll-off slightly from 10kHz? (actually you could argue the roll-off starts around 3.5kHz)

 

[welwynnick]

I wouldn't like to be a brilliant audio equipment manufacturer and have to wake up every morning worrying about whether I can impress the ASR crowd.

 

[Purité Audio]

Tough crowd.
Keith

 

[Bruce Morgen]

But why would you buy this if you don't need the functionality? Plenty very good DAC/Headphone amplifiers on the market..

Exactly. I don't even need sky-high SINAD -- although that's very impressive as a design accomplishment -- which IMO is irrelevant unless you have a perfectly quiet listening space or are an intense headphone listener, neither of which apply to me. If the HVAC is running, there goes your ambient noise floor anyway, because the noise coming out of the ductwork is way louder than any noise coming out of your speakers between tracks.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

@Luxsin does the unit have an adjustable high-pass filter for the main output when using the stereo subwoofer outputs? Is the filter slope adjustable? If not, what is the filter slope fixed at? Am very curious what level of control the bass management features have, as I currently am running stereo subwoofers in my setup and the implementation works but isn’t ideal (using two separate WiiM streamers in a room grouping). This unit has the potential to significantly reduce complication for me if the unit does high-pass filter the main output.

 

[Svensson]

With room measurements and PEQ to handle peaks, this might be excellent for a 2.0 or 2.1/system. LOVE the idea of a browser interface! . Right now, my use case might be to swap the (original) topping E50 with the miniDSP Flex.

 

[robbiekhan]

It *might* be limited to HP out but if so, and you don't need headphone out, you can use it as line out.

BTW, I forgot to mention that volume is controlled using R2R relays.

The latest firmware 1.0.0.9 has settings memory per output and you can create a custom PEQ which is just for say speakers etc. There are several memory slots for quick recall for headphones/speakers/IEMs etc in the HP-EQ section when enabled.

EDIT: Did I misunderstand that? Does the X9 have an HDMI eARC input (like from a TV), but NOT a regular HDMI input (like from a Blu-ray player)?

You can choose the mode of the HDMI port in the menu:

 

[welwynnick]

You can choose the mode of the HDMI port in the menu:

Thanks, understood.
What I'm really trying to find out is whether there's an option to use a vanilla HDMI input, such as when playing a CD on a DVD player with a conventional HDMI output.
I'm guessing not.

 

[Moravid]

Balanced headphone output is provided including the ability to automatically enable filters to adapt your headphone to that of Harman curve

How does this feature work, do you choose from a list of headphones? Also, are there cheaper alternatives I'm looking for a device to EQ my HD700 to use connected to my TV

 

[eddantes]

As a cheap bastard - the ONLY thing to complain about this thing - is the price. It's about 2x of what I'd like to see, being a bastard, and cheap. Otherwise - well done! It's a wonderful device to front your system. At this price - I would expect it to be a streaming device as well, though.

 

[F1Fan72]

Im confused by this.. Why buy this when Eversolo has the Z8?.. Except for the Trigger in, what else would you need over the Z8?