Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

[JohnYang1997]

What $100 amp should I pair this with ? JDS Atom, Liquid Spark or ???

This depends on the headphone earphones you are using.
If you can hear noise from dx3pro, sure get atom. If you can't hear noise. There is no need.

 

[RayDunzl]

Not familiar with digital volume control

If you turn down the volume onscreen someplace (PC/Laptop/Tablet/Phone) , I'd wager it was done digitally.

 

[crusey_aus]

I'm pretty sure thats not what Amir is referring to in his comment about volume control in the "digital domain"
AFAIK he means the bitstream is altered on the digital side of the device before it is amplified and outputted to the analog outputs
My question is does this type of volume control work well when used as a preamp type output to active speakers etc .....
In the case of the DX3pro I would have two options of connecting it to my speaker setup
Option 1 - RCA connector (specified as 2v)
Option 2 - Headphone out connector (Variable)
And in the case of the SU-8 I could use the XLR (Specified as 4v)
I am concerned that I will not have similar control over the volume as I currently do using the headphone out on my TV

Cheers

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm pretty sure thats not what Amir is referring to in his comment about volume control in the "digital domain"
AFAIK he means the bitstream is altered on the digital side of the device before it is amplified and outputted to the analog outputs
My question is does this type of volume control work well when used as a preamp type output to active speakers etc .....
In the case of the DX3pro I would have two options of connecting it to my speaker setup
Option 1 - RCA connector (specified as 2v)
Option 2 - Headphone out connector (Variable)
And in the case of the SU-8 I could use the XLR (Specified as 4v)
I am concerned that I will not have similar control over the volume as I currently do using the headphone out on my TV

Cheers

You can always control the volume. : )

 

[dmac6419]

This depends on the headphone earphones you are using.
If you can hear noise from dx3pro, sure get atom. If you can't hear noise. There is no need.

HD 650

 

[Kanbara]

So I just got the Topping dx3 pro at home, Used it and I think its great. I just hooked up my power speakers as well to the RCA.
I read somewhere I should keep my windows volume to 100% and only change it at the dac/amp. So I think I'll do that. (not completely understanding why) But how does it work with my powered speakers? They have a volume button on the speakers themselves too. Should I just adjust those to get the right volume in sync with my headphones or should those be maxed out as well? @amirm

 

[Roen]

Understand digital volume vs analog volume and digital approximation.

100 is always 100% but 27 may not be 27%

 

[Desmoface]

Hello everyone - I’m not very techie, do you think this would be plug and play with windows 7? Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[Veri]

Hello everyone - I’m not very techie, do you think this would be plug and play with windows 7? Thanks in advance.

Steve

If your windows is updated, yes. And otherwise, just browse topping support and download/install the driver.

Very hassle free.

 

[Yuno]

Hello everyone - I’m not very techie, do you think this would be plug and play with windows 7?

No, Windows 7 is not USB Audio Class 2.0 compliant, you will need to download driver from topping.

 

[tktran303]

Just received mine following the March 2019 Massdrop. Plugged in and played with it for 30 minutes now...

Very impressed with the manual. The English is probably better than mine, complete with Audio Precision measurements...

For starters, it just sounds superb on my HD600 and HDH58x Jubilee. Powerful, clean & clear. Smoother than my iMac's headphone output, much better punch in the low end. Of course can go louder too.

Some funny behaviour, whilst playing, the volume suddenly muted. The screen display still showed -12dB, yet my computer showed that the unit had muted.

I unmuted it via the slider and the volume came back...

 

[TP-Wong]

@TP-Wong
My dx3 is a new batch, serial no is 1902XXXX. I found an issue of BT mode yesterday as that's the first time I was using BT. The screen shows resolution was 44.1Khz, and I heard relay clicking noise constantly even I didn't play anything. The output mode is DAC, is there any solution of this issue?

Sorry for the late reply. I saw your post today.

Different with USB input, when there's a signal input to Coax, Opt, BT, the relay close(click), and when this signal lost or mute, relay
open(click). So you may hearing the click sound of BT's mute. You will not hear it when normal playing. So sorry we do not have solutions for your case.

 

[TP-Wong]

Hey All,

Just want to share my experience with Subj. I've tested 3 devices in a row 1901 and 2x1902, all three devices died in less than 100 hours.
Also last device successfully burned right channel in my Sony MDR-EX750, fortunately my Oppo PM-3 were not affected by that.
Be aware.

Sorry to hear that.

Most of our users never met this situation, but you met three times, I believe there must be something of your use environment or usage habits make DX3 Pro defect.

In response to this situation, we have invited users of similar encounters to cooperate, I think we will find reasons soon.

 

[TP-Wong]

Hi folks!
My DX3 Pro having a bad days.. Today it had a noticeable static discharge through left metal cup of my Beyerdynamics DT 1990. So left channel started buzzing and dropped in amplitude. Volume regulation work. Buzzing appear on the left channel every time headphone output is activated.
I took the unit home from work to make some brief tests with a scope and it came out that RCA output seems to be not affected. The headphone left channel is now biased approximately -1.2V while the waveform is still present.
I'm not very good at repairing things, especially without schematics, but it looks like this is just one side of an output transistor pair.
The first question I have is how to get the PCB out? I see 4 screws on the front panel PCB and 2 that hold the front panel itself. But I don't have any of the screwdrivers that long. How to disassemble the thing?
The second question is what part of the PCB is under suspect? OPA2140 and forward to the jack connector?

I found your record in the after-sales list, our after-sales colleagues will soon replace you with a new one.

 

[TP-Wong]

Is there a modification coming out? I read in the questions and answers for the DX3 post on Amazon, there is some reference to a modified unit that may be coming out in May or June of this year. Is that just heresay or is there any validity to it?

@guitarshredda15

OK let's talk about V2, I think many readers here are interested in it.

We have this plan few months ago. At that time, we want to use electronic switch to replace relay to kill the clicking sound for ever. But a electronic switch will make specs of DX3 Pro worse, so we want to use better power IC to balanced it.

Later we met user's report of DX3 Pro not able to turn on, although the probability of occurrence is very low, this issue caused users' worries. To find out reasons and solutions, we suspend the plan of V2. Now we have reasons and solutions of this issue, but we have not restarted this plan so far. That's also why we don't know when we could finish.

Now, our imagined V2 will have at least the following differences.
1. Use electronic switch to replace relay as many as possible, so users will hear less click or no more click.
2. Specs a little better than V1, at least balanced the bad effect of electronic switch.
3. Has headphone protection. We don't want our users have any worry about the safe of their headphone.

But as I said before, we don't have a time table yet. Is there anything you want to see at V2? I'm looking forward to discuss with you all.

 

[TP-Wong]

Definitely go through Topping. They will take care of your expenses of shipping and will get a faster chance at figuring out what is going on with such units.

FYI, both of my units continue to function reliably including the second one that was supposed to be broken as said by the member.

I am pretty sure there is some kind of race condition that causes failure that has to do with how the unit is used. Figuring this out will be very hard for Topping.

Yes a it is hard, but we still need to find out why. We had done a series of destruction tests and now we have a preliminary guess : )

 

[artburda]

@guitarshredda15

OK let's talk about V2, I think many readers here are interested in it.

We have this plan few months ago. At that time, we want to use electronic switch to replace relay to kill the clicking sound for ever. But a electronic switch will make specs of DX3 Pro worse, so we want to use better power IC to balanced it.

Later we met user's report of DX3 Pro not able to turn on, although the probability of occurrence is very low, this issue caused users' worries. To find out reasons and solutions, we suspend the plan of V2. Now we have reasons and solutions of this issue, but we have not restarted this plan so far. That's also why we don't know when we could finish.

Now, our imagined V2 will have at least the following differences.
1. Use electronic switch to replace relay as many as possible, so users will hear less click or no more click.
2. Specs a little better than V1, at least balanced the bad effect of electronic switch.
3. Has headphone protection. We don't want our users have any worry about the safe of their headphone.

But as I said before, we don't have a time table yet. Is there anything you want to see at V2? I'm looking forward to discuss with you all.

Please remove the second click on the remote which changes the mode from preamp to full line out. I'd like to use the dx3 as a preamp but I'm afraid the second click might happen by accident or when my girlfriend uses it when watching TV.

 

[gypsygib]

@guitarshredda15


But as I said before, we don't have a time table yet. Is there anything you want to see at V2? I'm looking forward to discuss with you all.

Really appreciate TP-Wong/Topping addressing users directly online. It makes me respect the company despite the concerns I have with my DX3 Pro.

I'd prefer a 6.35mm headphone jack and better protection from interference. I still get a faint antenna like noise in the right channel on high gain both in headphones and if using it as a DAC only. Topping asked me to send it in but I don't want to be without a DAC/AMP for two months and it's not a major issue as I don't use high gain. Even on high gain I barely hear it on my DT1990s, but low ohm headphones make it very noticeable.

Headphone protection is a major improvement, it's the reason why I'm eager to get rid of my DX3 Pro as soon as something comparable releases as it's always a concern in the back of my mind that it could break my headphones at some point in the near or distant future.

Not too concerned about accidentally hitting full line out but an option to turn off the feature might provide some additional comfort for some users.

Clicks don't bother me at all, only happens when bitrate changes for my usage, which hardly happens. If anything, I kinda like the click but I'm sure that's a minority opinion.

Please keep the 15V/1amp power supply so the meanwell I bought isn't useless

 

[guitarshredda15]

@guitarshredda15

OK let's talk about V2, I think many readers here are interested in it.

We have this plan few months ago. At that time, we want to use electronic switch to replace relay to kill the clicking sound for ever. But a electronic switch will make specs of DX3 Pro worse, so we want to use better power IC to balanced it.

Later we met user's report of DX3 Pro not able to turn on, although the probability of occurrence is very low, this issue caused users' worries. To find out reasons and solutions, we suspend the plan of V2. Now we have reasons and solutions of this issue, but we have not restarted this plan so far. That's also why we don't know when we could finish.

Now, our imagined V2 will have at least the following differences.
1. Use electronic switch to replace relay as many as possible, so users will hear less click or no more click.
2. Specs a little better than V1, at least balanced the bad effect of electronic switch.
3. Has headphone protection. We don't want our users have any worry about the safe of their headphone.

But as I said before, we don't have a time table yet. Is there anything you want to see at V2? I'm looking forward to discuss with you all.

Thank you for your reply. Very informative. I went ahead and ordered the current model anyway, no sense in waiting for V2 when it could take another year to complete for all we know. It does fill me with more confidence though that if something goes wrong I can contact Topping directly.

I am not very clued up on the technical aspects of DACs and AMPs, hence why I frequent this forum for information from more clued up individuals.
What is the "3. Has headphone protection. We don't want our users to have any worry about the safety of their headphone. " that you are referring to? I have never really heard of anyone blowing their headphones unless they accidentally blasted them on full volume from an amp, or a short circuit happens from a dodgy power adaptor while using the headphone.

 

[peterq]

I wish topping has a trade in plan for v1 customer to upgrade to v2.