Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

[mgmate]

I started to keep a record of the unit going into standby by itself. Here's what I have so far.

4/16 - 12am
4/28 - 3:44am
5/8 - 10:11pm
5/20 - 3:22am

I wonder if it's a pattern? Seems to be happening fairly consistently every 10-12 days.

Hi Nebula, two quick questions.

1. Which headset were you using when the unit has gone to standby?
2. Were you active listening to music or it wasn't reproducing anything?

Regards,

Manuel.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Quick question, will this have a newer version with headphone protection? I got a gsx 1000, and the music quality is lacking so I am looking at this; however the defects here, Reddit and mass drop discussions prevent me from pulling the trigger.

There will be one.

 

[Fregly]

My unit has developed static in the right channel. Though it comes and goes. This was a Massdrop buy. What a pain, as I assume it will need to be shipped to China.

 

[Veri]

My unit has developed static in the right channel. Though it comes and goes. This was a Massdrop buy. What a pain, as I assume it will need to be shipped to China.

Massdrop has it own service I think. Depends on how long you own it?

 

[nebula]

Hi Nebula, two quick questions.

1. Which headset were you using when the unit has gone to standby?
2. Were you active listening to music or it wasn't reproducing anything?

Regards,

Manuel.

Headphones: Philips Fidelio X2HR
It has happened both while listening to music and when there was no audio playback. Using USB with Windows.

 

[guitarshredda15]

Well, my DX3 has arrived. Solid piece of kit for sure. Was smaller than I was expecting, which is nice because it doesn't take up too much space on my desk! The new firmware was already installed on it, only seems to click when changing from the headphone out to line out. I also like the remote, its small and plastic, but its clicky and works just fine.

Trying out the Inception soundtrack as my first listen, I can say it sounds different compared to my old Fiio E07K! First thing I noticed was that the bass sounded different, much more powerful and tighter. Now I am jamming some Tool, the guitars on the song Schism seem to have a lot more detail that I had never heard before, at least, this is what my bias and unreliable ear and brain is telling me

Have yet to test the line out to my monitors or the bluetooth, but so far so good. Hopefully this thing doesnt break

 

[Veri]

Trying out the Inception soundtrack as my first listen, I can say it sounds different compared to my old Fiio E07K! First thing I noticed was that the bass sounded different, much more powerful and tighter. Now I am jamming some Tool, the guitars on the song Schism seem to have a lot more detail that I had never heard before, at least, this is what my bias and unreliable ear and brain is telling me

Imo the great thing about the DX3 is that besides the latest-gen 4493 dac chip, its amp is also really quite good (I couldn't tell it apart from the THX myself). So when you have a superb DAC and a matching amp in one device, it's likely that this one will in fact give you an audible improvement. For a non-absurd price!

Consumer audio has gone a long way

 

[tktran303]

So when you have a superb DAC and a matching amp in one device, it's likely that this one will in fact give you an audible improvement. For a non-absurd price!

Compared to my DACs and headphone amps of early 2010s, its 99% close to SOTA.
100% audibly transparent.
10% of the cost

I’m hoping mine will continue to be fault free (purchase from Massdrop with the March 2019 drop, shipped mid April)
(Have been running it continuously for 1 week)

 

[guitarshredda15]

Imo the great thing about the DX3 is that besides the latest-gen 4493 dac chip, its amp is also really quite good (I couldn't tell it apart from the THX myself). So when you have a superb DAC and a matching amp in one device, it's likely that this one will in fact give you an audible improvement. For a non-absurd price!

Consumer audio has gone a long way

It seems so! The quality is top notch. I mean, I know everyone here is all about objective A B testing and what not, but I instantly heard that this sounded different from my E07K, and the E07K was a great little amp dac from just a few years ago.


One question for everyone, are your volume knobs a bit loose? Mine moves around a little bit, it still works though.

 

[azxswq]

My unit has developed static in the right channel. Though it comes and goes. This was a Massdrop buy. What a pain, as I assume it will need to be shipped to China.

I enjoyed it for 3 months... also from Massdrop.

Had to ship it out today. $23.50 from USPS.

Will post back on when I get my "replacement" and hopefully it won't have a problem for a long time.
Mine was a 1901X version. (From my own decoding, pretty sure it was manufactured in Jan. 2019)

For the time that I had it. It was great. But now I am burned, will pay more attention.

 

[Fregly]

I enjoyed it for 3 months... also from Massdrop.

Had to ship it out today. $23.50 from USPS.

Will post back on when I get my "replacement" and hopefully it won't have a problem for a long time.
Mine was a 1901X version. (From my own decoding, pretty sure it was manufactured in Jan. 2019)

For the time that I had it. It was great. But now I am burned, will pay more attention.

Did you send it to Topping or back to Massdrop? I was informed by Massdrop my unit was past the return limit. I emailed back saying a few pointed things and they changed their minds. However yesterday there was no static. Weird.

 

[azxswq]

Did you send it to Topping or back to Massdrop? I was informed by Massdrop my unit was past the return limit. I emailed back saying a few pointed things and they changed their minds. However yesterday there was no static. Weird.

Topping.

I bought it from Massdrop back in late Feb.

Just wanted Topping to give me the best and latest.

 

[k3nb5t]

One question for everyone, are your volume knobs a bit loose? Mine moves around a little bit, it still works though.

Mine moves around some. In my estimation, there is about 1mm of rotational slop and about 2mm up/down/left/right. No detectable slop when pressing the knob inward. Tolerance is pretty tight for a stepped knob IMO and feels like good quality

 

[pacman]

One question for everyone, are your volume knobs a bit loose? Mine moves around a little bit, it still works though.

Mine is so loose that take zero effort to pull it out

Fixed by putting a little piece of paper to fill the gap

 

[guitarshredda15]

Ok at least I know mine is not the only one with a loose knob. Now lets see if this lasts! I left it running yesterday for a couple of hours to see if it would shut down, nothing happened. Still working fine as I type this as well, it seems to be a 1903x serial, so not sure when that would have been manufactured.

The Bluetooth works fantastically with my Galaxy s9+, couldn't hear too much difference when running on my monitors. I accidentally double tapped the line out button on the remote, big regrets nearly blew my speakers and my ear drums :| I dont see myself doing that again though, I think the full line out being a double tap on the remote is fine.

 

[Tks]

Ok at least I know mine is not the only one with a loose knob. Now lets see if this lasts! I left it running yesterday for a couple of hours to see if it would shut down, nothing happened. Still working fine as I type this as well, it seems to be a 1903x serial, so not sure when that would have been manufactured.

The Bluetooth works fantastically with my Galaxy s9+, couldn't hear too much difference when running on my monitors. I accidentally double tapped the line out button on the remote, big regrets nearly blew my speakers and my ear drums :| I dont see myself doing that again though, I think the full line out being a double tap on the remote is fine.

Yeah hopefully some day we'll have more folks involved with bluetooth testing (not whole new methodologies, but simple quality comparisons or something basic at first). The bluetooth works flawlessly for me, really an amazing input I think no DAC under over $200 can afford not to have by 2020 anymore. I really like how fast it pairs with my phone, and zero hicups on iOS when playing music.

 

[guitarshredda15]

Yeah hopefully some day we'll have more folks involved with bluetooth testing (not whole new methodologies, but simple quality comparisons or something basic at first). The bluetooth works flawlessly for me, really an amazing input I think no DAC under over $200 can afford not to have by 2020 anymore. I really like how fast it pairs with my phone, and zero hicups on iOS when playing music.

Yeah it should be a normal feature for sure, especially since Bluetooth tech is finally at the point where it sounds decent. I waited so long for a package like this to arrive that combined everything I needed in one small box. Pre-amp and full line out feature without having to unplug headphones was a big one for me, It was so rare until like 2 or 3 years ago, at least in this price range.

 

[auronthas]

Let us know how you like it

Received DX3 Pro with series 1903, everything tested is OK in my HIFI system, too bad my digital source from SONOS only capable play 16-bit 48kHz, may look for network media player Auralic Aries Mini one day .

Tested on USB input from DAP Hiby R6 (photo attached) able to play DSD512, PCM 24bit 96kHZ files, finally able to hear AKM 4493EQ sings, very detailed and wider soundstage from my old Wolfson DAC.

I could hear minor click, but have gotten used to this clicking sound on my DAP Sony WM1A .

Will test its headphone amp one day.

My remote control come with button cell and not AAA batteries.

 

[kukocz]

Received DX3 Pro with series 1903, everything tested is OK in my HIFI system, too bad my digital source from SONOS only capable play 16-bit 48kHz, may look for network media player Auralic Aries Mini one day .

Tested on USB input from DAP Hiby R6 (photo attached) able to play DSD512, PCM 24bit 96kHZ files, finally able to hear AKM 4493EQ sings, very detailed and wider soundstage from my old Wolfson DAC.

I could hear minor click, but have gotten used to this clicking sound on my DAP Sony WM1A .

Will test its headphone amp one day.

My remote control come with button cell and not AAA batteries.

View attachment 26571

Interesting... Have you got plastic caps on rca connectors? How does your power supply look like?

 

[auronthas]

Interesting... Have you got plastic caps on rca connectors? How does your power supply look like?

Yes, total four nos. plastic caps, two for coaxial and two for RCA . Power supply unit I think it's standard with adaptor for two-pin British type.

I bought another Linear Power Supply 15V DC 1A, too bad the connector to DX3 Pro slightly bigger and need to find an adapter/reducer LOL