Luxsin X9 Smart Stereo DAC & Preamp

[Vanadiel]

I've been hunting for a dac/amp to replace my aging smsl su8 v2 + THX 789 setup as one of the channels for the xlr out is dying in the thx.

Main headphones are HD800s, ZMF Verite open, and Arya Stealth. May add a Noire X at some point as well.

Seems like the x9 checks all the boxes and measures well and I really like the idea of the eq profiles. But now I'm reading a x10 is coming that'll improve on it and also some seem to think the x8 is a better unit than the x9.

What do? The single end on my amp does still work so I'm in no rush if it'll be better to wait

I don't know about the X8 being better. It's a different unit, but the X9 also fully supports AI for the EQ profiles now.
And they are still updating the X9 and it sounds like they are doing X9 web UI updates.
Unless you absolutely have no use for the X9 extra's, I still think the X9 is a better unit.

Should you wait for an X10? I would rephrase that question and say should you wait for the X12?
There's always going to be new models coming out, with new or different features.
If you wait, you will be waiting forever. I think it's better to make the right purchase based on what is available, unless a new model is days away than you might want to wait a few extra days to see what's new.

 

[The Colombian]

I'm another happy owner of Luxsin X9. Before I had Burson Conductor CV2+ which was ok but Luxsin has much more options included both software and in hardware for example balanced outputs.

Dear Luxsin Team- we can already use EQ for headphones from predefined list.
Is it possible to you to add options to select model of our headphones plugged into X9 and select a target headphone model to emulate the sound of it - something like "morphit" function in UAPP?

 

[VilmFilm]

You mean you really wish they come out with a less expensive DAC/preamp with all of the X9's bass management features, that does away with the headphone amp/features (and maybe even uses a less expensive DAC chip) in order to reduce cost?

Sure why not lol. The x8 is still cheaper and it already has eq and dsp capabilities. It just needs one more rca sub out port with its own channel and handle crossovers. Maybe sacrifice some inputs or maybe get rid of analog inputs in favor of the purpose of a DAC and only do digital inputs.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

Sure why not lol. The x8 is still cheaper and it already has eq and dsp capabilities. It just needs one more rca sub out port with its own channel and handle crossovers. Maybe sacrifice some inputs or maybe get rid of analog inputs in favor of the purpose of a DAC and only do digital inputs.

Have you considered a miniDSP Flex?

 

[gtg465x]

Have you considered a miniDSP Flex?

I have an X8 and had trouble deciding between it and the Flex for my desk. I know I want to do some type of studio monitors with room correction in the future, but not knowing which ones or whether I will want a sub or not made the decision especially hard.

The Flex is great for room correction and sub integration, but some monitors I’m considering have their own DSPs and can run their own room correction (iLoud MTM, Neumann KH 80, etc), so many of the features of the Flex would go to waste in that case.

I would have also needed to buy a headphone amp if I had gotten the Flex, which would have made it more expensive than the X8 ($660). The Flex Balanced with Dirac Live is $769, so you’re looking at $900+ with a headphone amp (maybe Topping L50II or JDS Labs Atom 2). So for similar money, you could buy an X8 plus ARC Studio or Oria Mini to go with it later if you decided you needed the room correction and sub integration features.

I also think the X8 just looks a lot nicer than the Flex and provides a much better user experience. I’ve heard the Flex volume knob kind of sucks because it can only adjust in 0.5 dB increments, so you either have to turn it really fast to engage it’s acceleration or turn it a bunch to change volume. I like that the X8 knob is not only more ergonomic, but you can also customize the sensitivity. The X8 will also automatically switch between headphone and monitor profiles by simply plugging or unplugging the headphones, vs having to manually select a profile on the Flex. The X8 also has a Loudness feature that I really like, as I will probably be listening at low levels often since this is for my computer speakers. Lots of other little nice to haves on the X8 as well, whereas the Flex is pretty barebones outside of its primary feature…. room correction.

 

[Luxsin]

Regarding room correction, we plan to add FIR file import support in the future. The goal is for this feature to be available across the entire Luxsin desktop product lineup.

It will take some time, as our team is currently very busy and we need to prioritize ongoing projects first.

We will also be showcasing several new engineering prototype products at the Vienna show in June. Although they are still expected to be a few months away from official release, their overall design and most of their functionality will be ready to demonstrate publicly. One of these new products will include a dedicated subwoofer input.

BTW, @amirm
Just wondering if you might have an opportunity to measure the X8 at some point in the future. We know you’re very busy, so no pressure at all, just curious if it’s on your radar.

-Luxsin

 

[gtg465x]

Regarding room correction, we plan to add FIR file import support in the future. The goal is for this feature to be available across the entire Luxsin desktop product lineup.

It will take some time, as our team is currently very busy and we need to prioritize ongoing projects first.

We will also be showcasing several new engineering prototype products at the Vienna show in June. Although they are still expected to be a few months away from official release, their overall design and most of their functionality will be ready to demonstrate publicly. One of these new products will include a dedicated subwoofer input.

BTW, @amirm
Just wondering if you might have an opportunity to measure the X8 at some point in the future. We know you’re very busy, so no pressure at all, just curious if it’s on your radar.

-Luxsin

Wow, that’s great to hear! That would be amazing. I think this kind of continued support and adding features via software updates will earn you a lot of loyal customers.

 

[VilmFilm]

I have an X8 and had trouble deciding between it and the Flex for my desk. I know I want to do some type of studio monitors with room correction in the future, but not knowing which ones or whether I will want a sub or not made the decision especially hard.

The Flex is great for room correction and sub integration, but some monitors I’m considering have their own DSPs and can run their own room correction (iLoud MTM, Neumann KH 80, etc), so many of the features of the Flex would go to waste in that case.

I would have also needed to buy a headphone amp if I had gotten the Flex, which would have made it more expensive than the X8 ($660). The Flex Balanced with Dirac Live is $769, so you’re looking at $900+ with a headphone amp (maybe Topping L50II or JDS Labs Atom 2). So for similar money, you could buy an X8 plus ARC Studio or Oria Mini to go with it later if you decided you needed the room correction and sub integration features.

I also think the X8 just looks a lot nicer than the Flex and provides a much better user experience. I’ve heard the Flex volume knob kind of sucks because it can only adjust in 0.5 dB increments, so you either have to turn it really fast to engage it’s acceleration or turn it a bunch to change volume. I like that the X8 knob is not only more ergonomic, but you can also customize the sensitivity. The X8 will also automatically switch between headphone and monitor profiles by simply plugging or unplugging the headphones, vs having to manually select a profile on the Flex. The X8 also has a Loudness feature that I really like, as I will probably be listening at low levels often since this is for my computer speakers. Lots of other little nice to haves on the X8 as well, whereas the Flex is pretty barebones outside of its primary feature…. room correction.

Yeah people always say "just buy the flex buy the flex" but there's more to it. Looks wise luxsin is pretty good and clean. It's an actual all in one unit with headphone amp. Room correction is cool and all with the Flex but honestly I just want a high pass and sub out. I've also heard some reports of flex volume going randomly to max volume but idk if that got fixed or not but idk. I just think there should be more of a market with dacs that almost all the new ones included some kind of DSP and smart features. Why not just use those to your advantage and put crossovers.

 

[VilmFilm]

Regarding room correction, we plan to add FIR file import support in the future. The goal is for this feature to be available across the entire Luxsin desktop product lineup.

It will take some time, as our team is currently very busy and we need to prioritize ongoing projects first.

We will also be showcasing several new engineering prototype products at the Vienna show in June. Although they are still expected to be a few months away from official release, their overall design and most of their functionality will be ready to demonstrate publicly. One of these new products will include a dedicated subwoofer input.

BTW, @amirm
Just wondering if you might have an opportunity to measure the X8 at some point in the future. We know you’re very busy, so no pressure at all, just curious if it’s on your radar.

-Luxsin

Dam 7 new ones? Excited to see what they are

 

[ADanalog]

To Luxsin :

Please correct me with my observation below, I think I am correct (feature changed without an app change or FW change) .

The entire user interface is not part of the app, rather it is "online", and therefore whatever Luxsin is releasing is immediately affects how the product behaves in real time.
As a user the feature set that I see, will change (for better or worse) - based on whatever Luxsin is hosting on that moment.

Point of example:
Good: When a couple of days ago Luxsin released an update, it immediatly affected to the control "app", and fixed a very long list of issue.
The bad: Today , an update was forced on the app and just broke the manual equalizer: manually changing the equalizer completely not affecting the sound, and the feature that worked very good is totally broken now, and there is no way for me to "revert back" to a version that worked.

I am not sure about other users, but for me, I want to be in control over the product and first decide whether I am willing to change how it behaves (I.E. install an update ). And, when to revert back to a version that did work.

The way it is executed now, is showing the drawbacks.

 

[The Colombian]

I'm another happy owner of Luxsin X9. Before I had Burson Conductor CV2+ which was ok but Luxsin has much more options included both software and in hardware for example balanced outputs.

Dear Luxsin Team- we can already use EQ for headphones from predefined list.
Is it possible to you to add options to select model of our headphones plugged into X9 and select a target headphone model to emulate the sound of it - something like "morphit" function in UAPP?

My question is obsolete- you can tell AI responsible for EQ the model you have and tell the target headphone, it's a brilliant feature. I wonder how many options we can achieve with this AI function.

On the other hand I have another question- since X9 has WI-FI connection feature then is it possible to use it as a renderer with UPnP server and stream music to it?

 

[Luxsin]

To Luxsin :

Please correct me with my observation below, I think I am correct (feature changed without an app change or FW change) .

The entire user interface is not part of the app, rather it is "online", and therefore whatever Luxsin is releasing is immediately affects how the product behaves in real time.
As a user the feature set that I see, will change (for better or worse) - based on whatever Luxsin is hosting on that moment.

Point of example:
Good: When a couple of days ago Luxsin released an update, it immediatly affected to the control "app", and fixed a very long list of issue.
The bad: Today , an update was forced on the app and just broke the manual equalizer: manually changing the equalizer completely not affecting the sound, and the feature that worked very good is totally broken now, and there is no way for me to "revert back" to a version that worked.

I am not sure about other users, but for me, I want to be in control over the product and first decide whether I am willing to change how it behaves (I.E. install an update ). And, when to revert back to a version that did work.

The way it is executed now, is showing the drawbacks.

I assume you are referring to our newly redesigned UI. The adaptation of the new UI for the X9 is still being fine-tuned and optimized.

Users are welcome to try the new UI, but they can also switch back to the Legacy version at any time. The Legacy UI has not been changed and continues to function as before.

 

[zonk]

The design of Luxsin unit is defenitely not my taste.

The headphone amp section of the X9 is simply not state of the art.

 

[James240]

Just a bit confused on a thing got a pair of active speakers connected to XLR out and that works okay i added a new sub to the x9 and using the sub out RCA.

Just a question on the output IO do i select XLR+RCA or just XLR, because if i use XLR+RCA the sound is incredibily like boosted and sounds like the sub is bleeding.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

Just a bit confused on a thing got a pair of active speakers connected to XLR out and that works okay i added a new sub to the x9 and using the sub out RCA.

Just a question on the output IO do i select XLR+RCA or just XLR, because if i use XLR+RCA the sound is incredibily like boosted and sounds like the sub is bleeding.

If you only select XLR out, nothing attached to RCA will receive any sound. If nothing is attached to RCA, then leave it on XLR-only. The Subwoofer output is treated separately, so setting it to XLR only will not turn off the Subwoofer output. Setting X9 to DSP Bypass will disable the Subwoofer output. Turning Subwoofer off will disable Subwoofer output. So to use a subwoofer via the Subwoofer output, you must disable Bypass and enable Subwoofer. Output XLR versus XLR+RCA has no effect on the Subwoofer output.

 

[James240]

If you only select XLR out, nothing attached to RCA will receive any sound. If nothing is attached to RCA, then leave it on XLR-only. The Subwoofer output is treated separately, so setting it to XLR only will not turn off the Subwoofer output. Setting X9 to DSP Bypass will disable the Subwoofer output. Turning Subwoofer off will disable Subwoofer output. So to use a subwoofer via the Subwoofer output, you must disable Bypass and enable Subwoofer. Output XLR versus XLR+RCA has no effect on the Subwoofer output.

Thankyou so much mate so i can use XLR out and still get sub output because it sounds more balanced than activating XLR+RCA

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

Thankyou so much mate so i can use XLR out and still get sub output because it sounds more balanced than activating XLR+RCA

Correct

 

[robbiekhan]

Wow, that’s great to hear! That would be amazing. I think this kind of continued support and adding features via software updates will earn you a lot of loyal customers.

True and this has been ongoing for a while now especially on other boards like head-fi. A whole bunch of new X8 features have been added thanks to requests by community members, along with bug fixes and issue investigations.

This is the sort of thing rarely seen by other brands regardless of price point.

 

[dmac6419]

True and this has been ongoing for a while now especially on other boards like head-fi. A whole bunch of new X8 features have been added thanks to requests by community members, along with bug fixes and issue investigations.

This is the sort of thing rarely seen by other brands regardless of price point.

The one and only Robbiekhan on ASR who'd a thunk

 

[robbiekhan]

The one and only Robbiekhan on ASR who'd a thunk

Hello hi!