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Review and Measurements of Topping DX3Pro DAC and Headphone Amp
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Just receive my Dx3 pro LDAC version today. Everything seems Ok. Bluetooth pairing is easy and LDAC Bluetooth codec is automatically selected (I am using android 10 with developing option on so I can check this). But when using USB input with 24bits/96khz FLAC, Wave then whatever the player I use (Foobar, MPC, Groove, ...) Dx3 only shows 44.1khz PCM. Somebody help me, please.
Either set your windows settings to 24/96 or use the foobar wasapi plugin. the plugin will set the frequency automatically depending on the song. then check the output frequency on the dx3 display itself (it is shown briefly when switching frequency), as the picture you uploaded only shows the asio status.
impedance has nothing to do with sensitivity
Lucco
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Hi, it is my first post here.
First of all, sorry but English isn’t my first language and my questions are beginner doubts =/
I am currently searching for a preamp (with Bluetooth, I will use just that input) that works with my home system and my two headphones.
1) Home System:
---1x homemade hi-fi amplifier (2x45w)
---2x bookshelf Speaker System (2-Way: peerless mid + seas tweeter)
2) Headphone 1: Sennheiser hd600
3) Headphone 2: Kz Zs10 Pro
I was determined to buy a Topping DX3 Pro, but after reading almost all the 200 pages of that discussion. I am in a big dilemma.
My options are:
1) Buy a Topping DX3 Pro (V1), with best sound quality, but taking a big risk to have many problems with the DAC and, eventually, damage my headphone.
2) Buy a Topping DX3 Pro (V2), with worse headphone sound quality, but taking less risk to have some problems with the DAC.
3) Buy another DAC (with Bluetooth) that works as a preamp speaker and as a headphone amp, and have a similar price
My question are:
1) Comparing just the RCA preamp output of the DX3 (V2) and (V1), is the quality audio exactly the same? or we have some differences like in the headphone output?
2) Disregarding numbers and graphs, in the practice, is the DX3 (V2) headphone output a lot worse than the DX3 (V1)?
3) Is the Sabaj D4 DAC a good option for my system? Is the RCA output works as a preamp (like DX3) or just as a DAC? http://www.sabaj.com.cn/en/productshow.asp?id=75
First of all, sorry but English isn’t my first language and my questions are beginner doubts =/
I am currently searching for a preamp (with Bluetooth, I will use just that input) that works with my home system and my two headphones.
1) Home System:
---1x homemade hi-fi amplifier (2x45w)
---2x bookshelf Speaker System (2-Way: peerless mid + seas tweeter)
2) Headphone 1: Sennheiser hd600
3) Headphone 2: Kz Zs10 Pro
I was determined to buy a Topping DX3 Pro, but after reading almost all the 200 pages of that discussion. I am in a big dilemma.
My options are:
1) Buy a Topping DX3 Pro (V1), with best sound quality, but taking a big risk to have many problems with the DAC and, eventually, damage my headphone.
2) Buy a Topping DX3 Pro (V2), with worse headphone sound quality, but taking less risk to have some problems with the DAC.
3) Buy another DAC (with Bluetooth) that works as a preamp speaker and as a headphone amp, and have a similar price
My question are:
1) Comparing just the RCA preamp output of the DX3 (V2) and (V1), is the quality audio exactly the same? or we have some differences like in the headphone output?
2) Disregarding numbers and graphs, in the practice, is the DX3 (V2) headphone output a lot worse than the DX3 (V1)?
3) Is the Sabaj D4 DAC a good option for my system? Is the RCA output works as a preamp (like DX3) or just as a DAC? http://www.sabaj.com.cn/en/productshow.asp?id=75
No one knows the answer because neither Topping, nor any of the people who bought v2 sent unit to Amir for testing. Most likely RCA performance will be unchanged or close to the same, and headphone performance will be "crippled" by ASR standards due to output impedance. Or maybe it will turn out that Topping ruined this unit. Until we have tests, no one knows the answer.
I have dac/amp unit with close to 10Ohm output impedance powering hd600 and could not care less about high output impedance. I used dx3 pro v1 for close to a year and don't find any difference for high impedance headphones. For low impedance headphones your experience will vary but no one will give you a clear answer because it's subjective, depends on the type of headphones used and how sensitive your hearing is. In theory high impedance output might distort sound and introduce audible hissing (common on single armature drivers).
Sabaj seems to have single set of RCA outputs, no idea how you plan to send signal to speaker amp and headphone amp.
My PC audio player Foobar2000 and TuneBrowser display correctly. PC OS uses Windows10 Pro.
in case Groove
Did you set the TOPPING USB DAC sample rate and bit depth in the Windows 10 speaker properties?
It is output to DX3Pro at the sample rate set here.
All songs will be output at 44.1KHz with the default settings of Windows.
in case Foobar2000
Did you download and install the USB driver from Topping's HP?
Did you follow the Foobar2000 setup procedure in the download file?
consider k5 pro, i would wait for amir to review it too but well seems good
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
I received my FOURTH copy of the DX3 Pro today (my second copy of V2).
Please say a prayer that my insanity will finally end. One way or the other... LOL
Get 1904xxx if you can, I'm using since May trouble free and new remote.
1905 is V2
This is a review and detailed measurements of the brand new, Topping DX3Pro DAC and headphone amplifier. The company kindly sent me a pre-production unit. I usually buy my Topping products unless they are not available in the market as was the case here. The retail price will be $219.99. I expect production to start soon given the high finish of the unit I have.
It is hard to fall in love with budget desktop audio products but there are exceptions and this is one of them. The Topping DX3Pro is darn cute!
The yellow LED as with the Topping D10 adds a much needed touch of color and uniqueness to the unit. The volume knob adds more to that sauce, making for a small box and you enjoy glancing at on your desk.
Surprising for a small unit, as seen in the picture, you get a remote control and all the functionality in its larger brother, the Topping DX7s. You can select the volume control to apply to line out, headphone out or both. So you could use this to drive powered speakers for example without a need for pre-amp and use the remote control as needed.
There is USB input of course and Toslink. For coax input, you actually get two of them! So if all of your sources are digital, you have a nice little pre-amplifier on your hands.
The volume control is digital of course and steps in 0.5 dB linearity all the way down to -99 dB.
There are selectable gains for the headphone out (0 and 9 dB) and filter settings. The unit supports PCM up to 768 kHz and up to DSD512.
Power is provided through a small switching power supply (double the size of typical phone chargers). All of my testing was performed using the provided power supply.
Setup was plug-and-play and I was relieved to see full compatibility with ASIO4ALL at 24 bit depth allowing me to proper test the unit without installing any drivers. Listening tests were performed using WASAPI interface in Roon.
The heart of the unit is the AKM AK4493 DAC chip. This is a departure from most of the Topping DACs (and many Chinese manufacturers) which use ESS DACs.
I am sure you all are anxious to know how it measures so let's get into that.
Measurements
Since the Topping DX3Pro is both a DAC and headphone amplifier, I am going to show performance using both output starting with the DAC section:
View attachment 16778
We have our nice nominal output of 2 volts. Distortion/SINAD is very good, and solidly in "tier 2" ranking of DACs I have tested:
View attachment 16779
So not state-of-the-art but very competent nevertheless.
Dynamic range falls in the same bucket:
View attachment 16780
Let's look at intermodulation distortion versus level:
View attachment 16781
Ah, we are finally free of the "ESS hump" at mid-levels. In this regard, except when we get to highest output levels, the DX3Pro beats even the Topping D50!
ESS really needs to pay attention to this situation and remedy whatever is causing that rise in mid-levels in their OEM designs.
Jitter and noise is busy but for a reason:
View attachment 16782
Until recently, I have not been running the J-test signal in full resolution. I have changed that now and the 250 Hz square wave in it shows interference between digital section and analog as seen by those series of spikes. Fortunately almost all are less than 120 dB so not an audible concern at all. Likewise the two that hug our main tone despite being at -110 are totally masked by the main tone at 12 KHz so inaudible.
Frequency response is boring (in a good way) and flat to -0.2 dB (spec is 0.5 dB):
View attachment 16783
THD versus frequency shows somewhat higher noise levels:
View attachment 16784
This is impacting linearity measurements:
View attachment 16785
That smooth exponential rise is just the noise floor of the DAC dominating. So it is not an offset error as we see many times (with jagged output). All else being equal, I rather seen noise here than non-linearities. I think this is a limitation of the AKM DACs relative to ESS parts.
Now let's switch outputs to headphone socket and see our dashboard view in low-gain/unity gain mode:
View attachment 16786
Pretty excellent! This is at max volume yet we get slightly better performance than even line out! SINAD rises to 108 from 106 dB.
Most of Topping products with headphone output have impedance of 10 ohm. That is dealt with now in DX3Pro:
View attachment 16787
My measured impedance is usually higher than manufacturers due to use of more wires, etc.
The low impedance of 1 ohm means just about every headphone can be driven by the DX3Pro without fear of its frequency response being impacted.
Let's see the power output versus distortion using 300 ohm load:
View attachment 16789
Clipping never really sets in and as such, the output is distortion free all the way to max! SINAD even in high gain mode stays above 100 dB which is superb. This means if you have a 300 ohm headphone like Sennheiser HD-650, you can turn up the volume as much as you want and any distortion you hear is that of the headphone or the source.
Switching to 33 ohm load, we get far more power as expected:
View attachment 16790
We have half a watt using high-gain mode but we do clip past that. Topping spec is 1 watt at 1% distortion which is inline with my measurement.
In low gain mode you are distortion free up to max volume with power up to 0.12 watt.
Finally, let's look at channel imbalance versus volume control position:
View attachment 16791
As expected, the digital volume control produces perfect response with essentially zero imbalance until you get to max volume attenuation of 99 db. No headphone amplifier using analog volume control comes remotely close to this kind of performance.
Listening Tests
I started my testing with Sennheiser HD-650 in high gain mode. Here, there was plenty of power and no hint of strain from the amplifier. Tonal response remained constant up to max volume which was quite loud. But not loud enough to make the cups flap in the wind.
Flapping of the cups was to come though the moment I switched to HiFiman HE-400i. Power was amazing and clarity was superb. As I type this review I have been listening to this setup and it could not be more satisfying.
Conclusions
As usual, Topping shows that it uses proper measurements and engineering talent to design its products. As with their other products, it is next to impossible to find many flaws in anything I measure. Yes, it is not state-of-the-art in all measures and falls just shy. But it makes up for it with its superb headphone stage with very low distortion levels, perfect channel matching, and lots of power coming from such a small package and power supply to feed it.
The switch from ESS to AKM has provided relief from intermodulation distortion that we have been seeing in so many DACs. Yes, there is a slight rise in noise as levels get down, impacting linearity measurements. That is a very worthwhile trade off in my book and I am glad Topping has made the change.
All in all, the DX3Pro does not obsolete every DAC and headphone amplifier out there. But it comes darn close and nails the functionality and performance needed in a moderately low cost unit. Add to that the attractive industrial design and it easily becomes one of my favorite desktop products. As such, I recommend the Topping DX3Pro wholeheartedly.
EDIT: A problem has been noted in early shipments whereby the muting relay clicks on and off excessively during seeking, playing different content, etc. I have not been able to duplicate this on my unit but have reported it to Topping as have others.
EDIT 2: Topping released a new firmware to deal with excessive relay clicking. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...dx3pro-dac-and-headphone-amp.4967/post-127719
EDIT 3: To deal with some of the reliability issues, Topping has revised the unit with a different output IC and an inline resistor. How much these impact measurements, I don't know. This version is called "V2" although I am not sure it is indicated such in online sites.
As always, all questions, comments and criticism is welcome.
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@amirm Any plans to test the V2 set?
There is definitely a difference in the measurements due to components being changed in V2 (headphone amp now has impedance of <10ohms like the usual Topping amps), and people may get misguided by your old review/measurements without an update.
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I think for IEM users, we could just get a iFi IEMatch or UE Pro Line Drive to solve the problem with high output impedance from the headamp right?
If I did it that way, would there be any difference between the old/new amp (V1 vs V2) performance?
If I did it that way, would there be any difference between the old/new amp (V1 vs V2) performance?
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You're worrying about soundquality but you can/will only use bluetooth input?
Yes the new V2 has higher bluetooth bitrates but it will be hard to maintain a stable bluetooth connection at the highest bitrate, usb input will still be a lot better.
PianoDar
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Just received my DX3 Pro v2 from the recent drop, and have to say, it has exceeded my expectations.
Just absolutely incredible sound, using it as both DAC and amp with HD6xx headphones. Can't speak to low impedance headphones which may have have issues with v2 output impedance, but if you're driving high impedance cans, I can tell you v2 sounds absolutely stellar. Audibly transparent to my ears.
Just absolutely incredible sound, using it as both DAC and amp with HD6xx headphones. Can't speak to low impedance headphones which may have have issues with v2 output impedance, but if you're driving high impedance cans, I can tell you v2 sounds absolutely stellar. Audibly transparent to my ears.
No v1 does not support LDAC. That is why v2 is also called LDAC edition.
Rule of a thumb is output impedance of amplifier should be 1/8 of headphones impedance, v2 is advertised as <10Ohm, so to simplify it will not make a difference for all headphones with impedance over 80Ohm. For headphones with impedance lower than that, it might affect frequency response or in extreme cases introduce some hiss (happens on ultra sensitive armatures).
This is very simplified however, since it depends on specific headphones, for instance planar headphones are not subject to this despite very low impedance.
Thank you for the great review. Do you see any limitations in using this as a preamp too, in terms of the volume control being digital?
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