Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp

[TiborG]

The Bluetooth on DX3 cannot even be turned off and will appear first on each transmitter. Even in off state DX3 !! Only pulling out the 15V adapter will help. But the reward is AptX-HD ..

 

[kukocz]

But the V2 is not released by now, is it?
I wrote a few days ago, but Shenzhen Audio increased the price of this unit, so maybe...

No, V2 has not been released yet.

 

[therlane]

The Bluetooth on DX3 cannot even be turned off and will appear first on each transmitter. Even in off state DX3 !! Only pulling out the 15V adapter will help. But the reward is AptX-HD ..

Thanks for the response.
I've contacted their support, and if we confirm the bluetooth is broken, I'll get a replacement from Amazon.

 

[Paulkouhan]

Hi,

I brought this week end my modded topping dx3pro to a small meeting of audio enthousiasts in France.

The purpose of the day was to compare dacs.
There was a musical fidelity M1, musical fidelity V90, Tc electronic BMC2, Kaneda 220, Philips IS5021, a Chinese ESS9038PRO and a Anedio DAC 2.

The topping was the best for me and for some others. The Kaneda was very good also, and the BMC2 not far.

I powered the topping with the standard wall wart, then switch to a battery pack of 4 18650 3.2V lifepo4. I tested it the day before and found an improvement. The other people there found an improvement too.

Yesterday I tried some samsung 18650 3.7V liion.
At full charge, the voltage is 16.8V !

Do you think this can be an issue ?

Amirm, did you ever make some measurments with batteries ?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hi,

I brought this week end my modded topping dx3pro to a small meeting of audio enthousiasts in France.

The purpose of the day was to compare dacs.
There was a musical fidelity M1, musical fidelity V90, Tc electronic BMC2, Kaneda 220, Philips IS5021, a Chinese ESS9038PRO and a Anedio DAC 2.

The topping was the best for me and for some others. The Kaneda was very good also, and the BMC2 not far.

I powered the topping with the standard wall wart, then switch to a battery pack of 4 18650 3.2V lifepo4. I tested it the day before and found an improvement. The other people there found an improvement too.

Yesterday I tried some samsung 18650 3.7V liion.
At full charge, the voltage is 16.8V !

Do you think this can be an issue ?

Amirm, did you ever make some measurments with batteries ?

First of all I highly recommend to use stock power supply and specified supply voltage. If you want to use battery I still recommend regulator for it.

However, dac normally runs at 5v, the amp section can run a bit higher like +-7.5V from 15v in this case. There should be internal regulations for dac chip and peripherals. As the amplification circuit can certainly run at +-18V max. So I don't think it is bad. EDIT: given the power of this thing I suspect that it's running at +-15 or something similar using SMPS. So BE CAREFUL.

More over, if you have tried, you should already know the answer. If it did work then it should work.

 

[simonchretien]

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.

After 7 months mine is still randomly shutting down like that, more or less every 1-2 weeks. I guess you could call that a "feature" lol.
2 times I even got it to shutdown while I was listening music on Tidal. At least it didnt die.

 

[guitarshredda15]

After 7 months mine is still randomly shutting down like that, more or less every 1-2 weeks. I guess you could call that a "feature" lol.
2 times I even got it to shutdown while I was listening music on Tidal. At least it didnt die.

Did it shut down from the start? Does it shut down after many hours of listening? I sleep with ambient music playing at night from my speakers in my room, and Bluetooth from my phone to the DX3 and it plays all night (the usual 7-8 hours), I wake up and it's still playing in the morning.

 

[dmac6419]

Did it shut down from the start? Does it shut down after many hours of listening? I sleep with ambient music playing at night from my speakers in my room, and Bluetooth from my phone to the DX3 and it plays all night (the usual 7-8 hours), I wake up and it's still playing in the morning.

Haven't had a problem with mine yet

 

[simonchretien]

Did it shut down from the start? Does it shut down after many hours of listening? I sleep with ambient music playing at night from my speakers in my room, and Bluetooth from my phone to the DX3 and it plays all night (the usual 7-8 hours), I wake up and it's still playing in the morning.

Yeah its been doing that since I got it. I always leave it on, it can shutdown with playing or idle, doesnt matter. Of course auto-shutdown is off.

 

[06S2k07Si]

...so...I'm glad I decided to open up my DX3 Pro (latest from Drop.com)...I still haven't taken it completely apart yet, but I plan to...the hex wrenches I bought still weren't long enough. The Toslink connector wasn't even soldered in at all! (PIC BELOW) Not a big deal to correct for me. I certainly understand that these types of issues should not be happening...but...again, thanks to this forum, the information is shared enough so that we can at least have some knowledge to correct some of the issues as they come up. I also just opened up my new DX7s (also latest from Drop.com) and did not see any issues...other than a bit of residual residue from soldering (I cleaned mine up). The heatsinks were mounted perfectly flush/flat to the chips so I did not see any reason to insert the thermal pads or compound. Both units seem to be working fine at this time...although I have only been using USB and Bluetooth.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

...so...I'm glad I decided to open up my DX3 Pro (latest from Drop.com)...I still haven't taken it completely apart yet, but I plan to...the hex wrenches I bought still weren't long enough. The Toslink connector wasn't even soldered in at all! (PIC BELOW) Not a big deal to correct for me. I certainly understand that these types of issues should not be happening...but...again, thanks to this forum, the information is shared enough so that we can at least have some knowledge to correct some of the issues as they come up. I also just opened up my new DX7s (also latest from Drop.com) and did not see any issues...other than a bit of residual residue from soldering (I cleaned mine up). The heatsinks were mounted perfectly flush/flat to the chips so I did not see any reason to insert the thermal pads or compound. Both units seem to be working fine at this time...although I have only been using USB and Bluetooth.

View attachment 27997

Not even soldered? Man if this was a Schiit device? TOPPING really should release a V2 asap. I am amazed that this device gets so much love, with so many repeatable issues from so many different people.

 

[06S2k07Si]

Not even soldered? Man if this was a Schiit device? TOPPING really should release a V2 asap. I am amazed that this device gets so much love, with so many repeatable issues from so many different people.

Correct...the picture shows exactly how it looked as I took it apart. Topping definitely has some quality control issues to work out. The love surely comes from the performance...when working correctly.

 

[Gray]

So Topping STILL has quality issues.
Topping should really review their internal working and put somebody at the end of the chain to check and test EVERY product that goes outside.
In a small audio community several mistakes like that are deadly to a brand.

I was planning to buy a DX3 Pro at the end of the year, hoping it would improve...but obviously I'll have to change plans if I still see issues showing up.

 

[Jimmy]

It's not just that the toslink connector is unsoldered, also the usb and power connectors show a careless/sloppy hand soldering job, with possibly cold joints. I would clean and resolder everything that looks suspicious.

 

[06S2k07Si]

It's not just that the toslink connector is unsoldered, also the usb and power connectors show a careless/sloppy hand soldering job, with possibly cold joints. I would clean and resolder everything that looks suspicious.

No...the USB is soldered...if you are referring to all of the really small points, those are not solder joints, those are test points and do not get soldered. Those are connected to the traces in the PCB and nothing gets attached to them. Yes the power connector is crooked, but fine. The soldering is ok and I don't see any "cold" joints...but yes this is clearly a case of someone not paying attention to their work. If this was either a medical device or military spec this would clearly not pass. This picture is from my phone which doesn't have a macro function so it is a smidge blurry. It's the best I could do with my phone. I'll admit that the cleanliness is not great and yes I do agree that everything should be checked. All of the SMD/SMT devices look good. Just FYI, I've spent a large part of my professional life in PCB inspection and rework (IPC-A-610 standards). I've seen much worse. Although it's not right, I would still recommend this unit if you are willing to check it out and can fix the soldering issues yourself...as this unit does sound great...especially for the money.

 

[Jimmy]

What i meant is that the usb and power connector soldering didn't look very good (shiny and with the right shape), probably they are outsourcing the final assembly, and it's good to point out these things so they can improve their processes/quality control.

I'm waiting for the DX7 Pro to arrive (won't buy directly from China, anyway), and seeing this certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[06S2k07Si]

What i meant is that the usb and power connector soldering didn't look very good (shiny and with the right shape), probably they are outsourcing the final assembly, and it's good to point out these things so they can improve their processes/quality control.

I'm waiting for the DX7 Pro to arrive (won't buy directly from China, anyway), and seeing this certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

Ok...I certainly understand that...and agree. I also agree that pointing it all out is a good idea as well. Thanks!

I'd like to see the DX7 Pro when it comes out too! I purchased the DX7s because of the price to performance ratio and the balanced outs for my desktop powered speakers. I also wanted a rotary volume control...and now that I have it I've been using the remote that came with the DX3 Pro to run the volume instead of the knob! ...so I ordered a remote for it! ...thinking back, I maybe should have just got a D70!

 

[jarnos]

Unfortunately I have read some recent reviews about this device that it goes to standby mode and wouldn't come out of it.

 

[06S2k07Si]

Just wanted to give some initial impressions... I haven't had this unit very long and I sure hope mine lasts long, but this thing sure sounds great! I have only used it from my PC via USB and have listened to many tracks anywhere from MP3 320 to 16/44, 24/96, 24/192, DSD 128 and DSD 256. For $175 shipped...even with the fact of needing to correct the soldering issues, man it's sure worth it! I just received a new set of FIIO's FH7 IEMs and spent about 45mins this evening listening...fantastic combo! I purchased the DX3 Pro primarily to use with IEMs and some lower impedance headphones. I will compare this to my DX7s at some point as well to see if I can notice any differences. So far I'm glad I bought it! That's all for now.

 

[starfly]

Is this DX3 Pro still worth it considering some issues people have had with it? What are the main things to look out for when purchased new?

Also, does the volume control also control the line out, or does that stay unaffected? And will it independently control headphone out and line out, or is it just one volume level for the whole dac/Amp?