Review and Measurements of Topping DX7s DAC and Headphone Amp

[Veri]

Hi men sorry for the question obvious BUT Can I have improvement if I use the XRL headphone out of my DX7s' Topping to RCA Input of my headphone amplifier?

Logically I use a cable adapter from XLR to RCA, I tell this because I see that the XLR outputs have better features than the 1/4 jack unbalanced out.

Thanks Men

You should use the line-out on the back to connect with an external headphone amplifier. Not the front headphone outputs.
XLR to RCA adapter is a terrible idea and has zero benefits or better features.

 

[RickSanchez]

Hi men sorry for the question obvious BUT Can I have improvement if I use the XRL headphone out of my DX7s' Topping to RCA Input of my headphone amplifier?

Logically I use a cable adapter from XLR to RCA, I tell this because I see that the XLR outputs have better features than the 1/4 jack unbalanced out.

Thanks Men

I realize this is probably just an unintended language gaffe, but while few in number there are women on ASR too.

 

[marcom22]

I realize this is probably just an unintended language gaffe, but while few in number there are women on ASR too.

Sorry man but why? I now i'm listening a Vinyl rip by Pbthal that sound fantastic with my Headphone Amplifier Little dot Mk2 upgraded. This one it's connected to unbalanced headphone out of my Topping Dx7s. I cannot use the Rca line out because i have a couple of active speakers attacche.

Thanks for all and excuse me for my questions.

 

[Veri]

I cannot use the Rca line out because i have a couple of active speakers attacche.

You could use RCA splitters. or some switch box if you prefer.

 

[Daimiel]

HI! There are much diference between the DX7 Pro?
It's comparable in SQ with the SMSL Su8 V2 + SMSL SP200?
Thanks.

 

[1roger]

anyone know if this topping currently is the only all-in-one unit available at this price range(or lower), of decent quality. need xlr out, dac and headphone amp

 

[gorman]

Did this review get measurements for the amplifier section?

 

[Stuball]

Hello all,

First post, thanks for having me.

I bought a Topping DX7S recently, in part thanks to this review. I'm having a problem where there is the occasional "sputter" when using the USB input from my Mac Mini, which eventually descends into full on horrendous distortion. This problem is not present when using the Optical input.

My set up in MacMini>USB>DX7S>JBL 708Ps / LG TV>Optical>DS7S>JBL 708Ps.

Just wondering if anyone else had experienced this problem, and if there's a known fix?

Many thanks.

 

[Mrpong]

I wonder if I press the "Line Out" button at the remote controller. This will let Dx7s work in pure DAC mode, and disable amplification/volume?

 

[Jorj]

I wonder if I press the "Line Out" button at the remote controller. This will let Dx7s work in pure DAC mode, and disable amplification/volume?

Line out disables the volume control and sets the output level either to maximum or some large percentage of maximum, which is perfect for most external amplifiers.

 

[cheungtsw]

I wonder if I press the "Line Out" button at the remote controller. This will let Dx7s work in pure DAC mode, and disable amplification/volume?

This is how it is connected to my Cambridgeaudio CXA80

 

[greeny]

I wonder if I press the "Line Out" button at the remote controller. This will let Dx7s work in pure DAC mode, and disable amplification/volume?

I connect my pair of Edifier powered speaker with this method.

 

[gorman]

Same thing applies, I guess, to my current DX3 Pro. What I'm left wondering is if there are advantages to this approach when volume control goes back to Windows (or Mac or Linux or whatever you're connecting the interface to). What I mean is we are always talking about digital volume control. So why having it in the operative system ought to be better than having it in the interface?

 

[Mrpong]

I'm using Dx7s for a while now and thinking to upgrade the amplifier by adding the A90. Anyone tries or experiences this combo (DX7s+A90)?

 

[Joaquin Dinero]

So I've had a DX7s for a few weeks now, and overall I love it. But I just picked up an XLR cable for one of my headphones (Final Audio Sonorous II) and its not working? I get no sound from that output.

There's not a special setting for XLR is there? I should be able to just plug the headphones in and go?

I've never used either the XLR out or the cable before, so no way to tell which is the problem. And I dont have any other XLR equipped headphones.

 

[Mrpong]

So I've had a DX7s for a few weeks now, and overall I love it. But I just picked up an XLR cable for one of my headphones (Final Audio Sonorous II) and its not working? I get no sound from that output.

There's not a special setting for XLR is there? I should be able to just plug the headphones in and go?

I've never used either the XLR out or the cable before, so no way to tell which is the problem. And I dont have any other XLR equipped headphones.

Do you mean that the Sonorous II connects to DX7s via 4-Pin balanced cable? If DX7s is not set to work in pure DAC mode, too-low volume, or in mute state, and if the cable is terminated correctly l, it should work right away.

Maybe try to press the headphone button at the remote control to ensure that the Dx7s is in dac/amp mode.

 

[Joaquin Dinero]

Thx. This is what I suspected.

I did check that it was in HP mode, not DAC only mode. I could simultaneously play out of the SE output, but not the XLR.

It didn't come with a remote

I'm gonna try a new cable --- hopefully thats all it is. I can get along just fine without the XLR, of course, but I wanted to try it.

 

[taku1101]

Hello, newbie here!

This DAC / AMP looks fairly interesting but I am wondering if its suitable to drive my Audeze LCD-2 (non-fazor model).
I'm fairly new to this whole topic but I've already read somewhere that they should get "a couple of watts" to prevent distortion at short peaks in volume.
Now on Toppings website it says the balanced headphone out can deliver 1000mW x2 @ 32 ohms.
What the hell does that mean? Is it powerful enough or not?
And I've also heard its generally recommended to have an output impedance that is around 1/8th of your headphones impedance? (Someone tell me why?)
Supposedly the LCD-2 have an impedance of 70 ohms? But other websites talk about 42 ohms?
Audeze own blog on this wasn't much help either, talking about 70 ohms...
So would the output impedance of 10 ohms of this DAC/AMP be too high?

I don't really know anymore and I'm just confused...
I just need an AMP/DAC (stack or single unit) that can drive these headphones properly and has the following:

1. Remote for at least adjusting the volume
2. Balanced pre-amp out at the back + balanced headphone out at the front
3. A switch to choose between headphones or pre-amp

thank you for reading

 

[quocheiser]

Just popping by to say that the Topping DX7s w/ remote that I ordered from Shenzhen Audio in late 2018, and received in early 2019 is still going strong.
Apart from some driver issues (resolved by uninstalling and reinstalling proved working drivers) I've not otherwise had one whiff of an issue so far.
As the main source in my system, it still ably performs in my ever improving sound system, and I would say that even after 4+ years, has not yet become a bottleneck in my system. YMMV

 

[quocheiser]

Hello, newbie here!

This DAC / AMP looks fairly interesting but I am wondering if its suitable to drive my Audeze LCD-2 (non-fazor model).
I'm fairly new to this whole topic but I've already read somewhere that they should get "a couple of watts" to prevent distortion at short peaks in volume.
Now on Toppings website it says the balanced headphone out can deliver 1000mW x2 @ 32 ohms.
What the hell does that mean? Is it powerful enough or not?
And I've also heard its generally recommended to have an output impedance that is around 1/8th of your headphones impedance? (Someone tell me why?)
Supposedly the LCD-2 have an impedance of 70 ohms? But other websites talk about 42 ohms?
Audeze own blog on this wasn't much help either, talking about 70 ohms...
So would the output impedance of 10 ohms of this DAC/AMP be too high?

I don't really know anymore and I'm just confused...
I just need an AMP/DAC (stack or single unit) that can drive these headphones properly and has the following:

1. Remote for at least adjusting the volume
2. Balanced pre-amp out at the back + balanced headphone out at the front
3. A switch to choose between headphones or pre-amp

thank you for reading

Late reply to your query, but if the LCD2 is 70 ohms as stated online, then the DX7s will have no issues whatsoever driving your headphones, and has all those features you listed covered.
I've also used the balanced headphone output and can say that for me the improvement was worth the trouble of ordering the special cable needed.
I've found that any headphones higher than say 300 ohms was harder to drive to loud levels.
Having the additional RCA outputs have proven to be useful here and there, saving me from having to split the XLR outputs for example, when I was using a two (2) non-matching subwoofer configuration (one was a passive sub powered by an old Harman/Kardon AB amp, the other was an active KRK studio sub).