Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

[shocker]

I think this is very dumb that a DAC/AMP combo unit that has bluetooth can only receive signal. It is already connected via USB/optical to the machine, could be a lot better without much effort if they made it a transmitter as well.

 

[amirm]

I think this is very dumb that a DAC/AMP combo unit that has bluetooth can only receive signal.

It is exceptionally common for AV devices to only implement receiving. This is true of countless AVRs, TVs, car stereos, etc. There are costs and tons of testing involved in implementing the other direction.

 

[BurritoJustice]

I think this is very dumb that a DAC/AMP combo unit that has bluetooth can only receive signal. It is already connected via USB/optical to the machine, could be a lot better without much effort if they made it a transmitter as well.

What do you perceive as the benefit of having the DX3 act as a bluetooth transmitter, as opposed to using a bluetooth transmitter included in your laptop/desktop or phone?

 

[flipflop]

Does the clicking happen with USB only?

It also happens with S/PDIF, just less frequently. And judging from Topping's reply in this thread, the "fix" won't fix the S/PDIF issue either.
It's an irredeemable garbage product.

 

[vafan13]

There is no clear distinction between them. The D50 is superior in low level detail. The DX3 Pro has less intermodulation distortion. I like the fact that DX3 Pro has a remote.

Thanks. I'll stick with the D50 I had on order while it was on sale, as no remote isn't a big issue, given it'll be within arm's length most of the time.

 

[shocker]

What do you perceive as the benefit of having the DX3 act as a bluetooth transmitter, as opposed to using a bluetooth transmitter included in your laptop/desktop or phone?

1. Plugging a small+mobile receiver to your headphones
2. Not having to have a bluetooth standard on your machine (like a desktop that does not come with it)

 

[BurritoJustice]

1. Plugging a small+mobile receiver to your headphones
2. Not having to have a bluetooth standard on your machine (like a desktop that does not come with it)

Once you are using Bluetooth headphones the DAC and amp components in the DX3 are literally useless. So yes, it might be convenient if you don't already have a Bluetooth transmitter and don't want to buy a $10 transmitter on AE but at that point no other circuitry in the DX3 is in use so I don't see why it should be specifically tied to the unit.

 

[Jimmy]

Don't be fooled by software like Jplay, just read what Jriver developers have to say :

https://jriver.com/jplay.html

Sound quality wise, in windows Foobar2000 & wasapi are the best you can get, or if more functionality and better library management is needed, Jriver is a good commercial option, there's also Roon which is more expensive among others.

ASIO is an interface that provides bit perfect playback but is geared more towards professional use, so wasapi is usually more practical for music listening where things like latency are mostly irrelevant.

I'm guessing Marcin and Joseph would agree. Jplay was developed for optimizing Windows machines.

 

[jsmiller58]

Wow. The emotion on this thread. And in an earlier one a poor guy getting the smack down for posting a subjective review. Spirit of the Season, I suppose, you know, that season when everyone is usually quite stressed out... I think in the future I will have my browser, between Thanksgiving and New Year's, redirect all audio forum addresses to the Hallmark channel...!

Still awaiting my unit. Ordered on Nov 12 and stuck somewhere, in Limbo, between Aoshida and their carrier... Quite interested to see what my experience will be with it.

 

[NDRQ]

Noise will be there but you will NOT be able to hear it.

But then why is that measurement is important? Why is the 18-19 bit is excellent? Why worse, 16-17 bit devices got hate?
Many times read in measurements that "oh look at that, how bad linearity, its terribly flawed unit"...or stg like that.

 

[bellyofthebizd]

But then why is that measurement is important? Why is the 18-19 bit is excellent? Why worse, 16-17 bit devices got hate?
Many times read in measurements that "oh look at that, how bad linearity, its terribly flawed unit"...or stg like that.

Read first posts, btw many results of this measurments are not as important

@Krunok does not have the whole picture.

Linearity doesn't matter in high volume at all as 16bit is sufficient for human ear. but it is very important in low volume.

if you have music with low volume, or simply set your dac to output in very low volume, you'll have a very small signal with a lot of noise.
In this case, if your amp amplifies it to make the singal amplitude as high as normal volume, it will also amplify the noise floor, and the noise certainly becomes audible.

For instance, a very high end dac may have -140db noise with 0db signal, and -190db noise with -80db signal. if you amplify the signal to 0db using your amp, the noise becomes -110db. Even though it's not as good as -140db, the noise is still inaudible.

However, a DAC with bad linearity may have -140db noise with 0db signal, and -160db noise with -80 db signal. If you amplify the signal to 0db, the noise becomes -80db, and may be audible. In this case you have a problem.

I would say for a $180 DAC Amp combo you don't expect much. If you always use your DAC in very low volumes you can stay away from it.

On the other hand, @amirm's test may not tell the true story. There are various places that he did very silly things in past measurements (SMSL products and Google products, as far as I can tell). It's good that @amirm publishes objective measurements, which force manufactures pay great attention to their engineering. Good for consumers. However, people should read @amirm's post critically. When @amirm is your only source of trust, you need to question yourself more while reading the measurements. Because he may be wrong, sometimes unintentionally, but this may be disaster to either the consumer (in case manufacturer design a bad product but @amirm failed to find out the problem) or the manufacturer (in case they design a good product but @amirm's post say otherwise).

What about a - 99db scale of a dac vs results of linearity?

 

[NDRQ]

But usually a DAC dont have volume control so i cant do too much with that...or u meaning the windows or the music player sotfware volume control?

Of course everyone can make mistakes, but this is still more objective than some random audiopatriarch who saying that a dac has dark sound with a small hint of spark and lots of plancton..or stg like that.

 

[Veri]

He's just a guy doing this in his free time you know. What he chooses to publish is his thoughts and his opinion on the measurements, I thought that was quite clear.

I think some people are a little too demanding

 

[NDRQ]

Read first posts, btw many results of this measurments are not as important

But then what is real important and if mostly nothing, then what is the purpose of the measurements? E-*****? Because if most of them are not important, maybe all of this doesn't tell anything about the sound.

For example it seems like higher end Schiit models are a ripoff, based on the masurements.
But if measurements are not that important then how can someone say that those units are bad?

 

[yue]

Read first posts, btw many results of this measurments are not as important

What about a - 99db scale of a dac vs results of linearity?

scale does not matter to noise/linearity. I don't have a DX3Pro but I think the -99 db you see on DX3 Pro screen is for the amp.

He's just a guy doing this in his free time you know. What he chooses to publish is his thoughts and his opinion on the measurements, I thought that was quite clear.

When he is the only voice in the industry, people should be more critical, and he should be more responsible for whatever he ditches/recommends.

But usually a DAC dont have volume control so i cant do too much with that...or u meaning the windows or the music player sotfware volume control?

For most DACs it's DAC's rather OS's responsibility to do the scale computation.
The computer sends music data and volume levels to DAC and DAC does a scaling computation.
And with different algorithms and hardware designs the results vary.
If you multiply the data in 16bit/24bit field you lose precision.
That's the most important reason DACs are moving to 32 bit internally.

 

[bellyofthebizd]

But then what is real important and if mostly nothing, then what is the purpose? Because if they are not important, maybe they totally not related to the sound of the dacs.

They dont tell anything unless there are huge audible distortions or something else. Bits are just way for packing data, dsd have 1 bit files f.e, dynamic range of 99 db is linear in this dac as i see

 

[Bigsy]

When he is the only voice in the industry, people should be more critical, and he should be more responsible for whatever he ditches/recommends.

Absolutely, and its still blowing my mind he is still recommending buying this product with such a fundamental problem.

 

[bellyofthebizd]

scale does not matter to noise/linearity. I don't have a DX3Pro but I think the -99 db you see on DX3 Pro screen is for the amp.




When he is the only voice in the industry, people should be more critical, and he should be more responsible for whatever he ditches/recommends.




For most DACs it's DAC's rather OS's responsibility to do the scale computation.
The computer sends music data and volume levels to DAC and DAC does a scaling computation.
And with different algorithms and hardware designs the results vary.
If you multiply the data in 16bit/24bit field you lose precision.
That's the most important reason DACs are moving to 32 bit internally.

But to hear this unlinearity you must raise volume of the amp (with perfect linearity for best measurements) to a 100 db and above for less than 3db noise. This is why its not relevant

 

[jsmiller58]

When he is the only voice in the industry, people should be more critical, and he should be more responsible for whatever he ditches/recommends.
.

Uhhh... Only voice? Where'd you come up with that? Of all the bizarre comments I have read on this thread, that one stands out as truly strange. And that is saying something.

There are many audio reviewers, each with their own methodologies, skills, and yes, even biases. As a consumer it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you research what you buy. When you rely upon the opinions and writings of others you need to make sure that their assessments are based on conditions similar to yours. And, if the purchase is of sufficient value or importance to you that you get multiple inputs from different parties.

Sorry, I just had to comment. I will go back to quietly watching the spectacle that this thread has become.

 

[NDRQ]

Uhhh... Only voice? Where'd you come up with that? Of all the bizarre comments I have read on this thread, that one stands out as truly strange. And that is saying something.

There are many audio reviewers, each with their own methodologies, skills, and yes, even biases. As a consumer it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you research what you buy. When you rely upon the opinions and writings of others you need to make sure that their assessments are based on conditions similar to yours. And, if the purchase is of sufficient value or importance to you that you get multiple inputs from different parties.

Sorry, I just had to comment. I will go back to quietly watching the spectacle that this thread has become.

But how can you make researches, when u only can read about planctons, and glare and dark sound and many other impossible to grasp biased subjective audiophile terminology? Thats why ASR is better source, because these measurements are objective things, no nonsense, easy to see through the things. With other subjective reviews we can go back and let the companies steal our money for trash products. U know Yggdrasil is the best dac for 2k bucks, based on 90% of the reviews...