Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review (NTTY)

[Soundproof]

More like throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. SMSL is the worst offender of this, they discontinue few months old devices.

Not the impression I have for Topping, seems to me like they give their releases a good run and releases upgrades implementing new connectivity and new features like peq.

No point manufacturing products people don't buy for whatever reason, makes sense to drop those.

 

[Billy Budapest]

You could use it as a DAC hooked up to a computer, or a streamer, or a game console, or a CD Player, or a TV, etc.—anything with a digital output—coax, toslink, USB. You could output it to headphones—that’s probably the intended use given the included headphone amp—but you could also use it as a preamp (or just a DAC with fixed output) by using the single ended RCA outputs or the balanced outputs, and connect it to an amplifier in a desktop or regular sized stereo system, or to powered speakers/studio monitors.

I have to correct the above—there is no digital coax input, just toslink and USB. Not sure why I thought there was coax.

 

[Herbert]

The syncing problem to SPDIF is absolutely silly. That the source gives the master clock is basics of digital audio. Just put two copies of the same CD into two players, start them simultaneously and listen how the deviate over time. I have to keep an Apple G4 with Audiomedia III until now just for digitizing from DAT or CD after Apple gave up on this and relied on internal buffers. With Topping it looks like they avoided building a circuit just for SPDIF and tried to marry it with (clockless?) USB via firmware.

 

[Demmers]

As someone living through the current heat wave in England, just note that this device gets incredibly hot in weather like this! It can get pretty toasty anyway regardless, but in this heat, i'm just glad I don't need high gain! I dare not use it for more than an hour at a time in case I make it more glitchy than it already is

 

[Mike123]

As someone living through the current heat wave in England, just note that this device gets incredibly hot in weather like this! It can get pretty toasty anyway regardless, but in this heat, i'm just glad I don't need high gain! I dare not use it for more than an hour at a time in case I make it more glitchy than it already is

How much is that in degrees in room, and what is the device used for? At a room temperature of 27°C, with the headphone amplifier off and DAC mode enabled, the DX1 is barely warm.

 

[Jimster480]

Nice Review! For $120 it looks like a mini version of the EX5!
I really can't believe that it does Optical In and Optical Out and PEQ? Personally the issues with Optical In don't bother me as I haven't run into issues in the past even when using coax. Regardless Topping devices are best off used with USB from what we have all seen.
I think this little box brings crazy performance in a low price, which kind of makes sense considering the performance of Dongles that cost roughly half this much. The rest of the price is going into the enclosure and screens and DSP.

 

[Involver]

As someone living through the current heat wave in England, just note that this device gets incredibly hot in weather like this! It can get pretty toasty anyway regardless, but in this heat, i'm just glad I don't need high gain! I dare not use it for more than an hour at a time in case I make it more glitchy than it already is

Using mine as a USB audio headphone amp and it’s only a little warm. Certainly nothing I would worry about. I suppose it may vary depending on how you’re powering it etc. (unless you have a faulty one). Very pleased with it so far.

 

[Demmers]

How much is that in degrees in room, and what is the device used for? At a room temperature of 27°C, with the headphone amplifier off and DAC mode enabled, the DX1 is barely warm.

Well my apartment keeps heat like a bear trap, so with that combined with this red alert in England, the inside is measuring low 30's (air con in England? Don't be silly!). I use the device as both DAC/amp, and all I know is, it currently runs hot (after a while). Of course my situation is unique, but I thought worth mentioning anyway.

 

[sphenicstands]

Well my apartment keeps heat like a bear trap, so with that combined with this red alert in England, the inside is measuring low 30's (air con in England? Don't be silly!). I use the device as both DAC/amp, and all I know is, it currently runs hot (after a while). Of course my situation is unique, but I thought worth mentioning anyway.

Unusual for England but not other parts of the world so that's good to know. I don't know much about physics but the power consumption is apparently less than 3W and I would naively have expected it not to noticeably heat up even in low 30's ambient conditions. Is this because the device is trapping heat rather than letting it escape or is my intuition just totally wrong?

 

[giraffe]

I made this short video with on-screen commentary to demonstrate the problem of activating the incorrect equalization profile when switching the settings profile (C1-3 buttons).

Spoiler: Youtube video

It looks like this was fixed in 15.69.22.69, at least I couldn't reproduce the bug during a quick check. If the bug reoccurs in future use, I'll let you know.

 

[NTTY]

New firmware is out, thanks @Bleib , and is solving issues from CD Player digital input, from my first tests.

Eg: 999.91Hz @0dBFS, source is a Teac VRDS 25x, analog outputs of the Topping (balanced headphones), overlaid with direct analysis of the original WAV file:

The two traces nearly overlay perfectly, as if I was comparing twice the digital file! Near bit perfection at the analog output, crazy!

And believe or not, lowering the output by -12dB with the Topping did not impact this performance:

It'll be my pleasure to add a full review from a CD Player (tomorrow).

By the way, I now get 1ppm clock precision from my Teac via the Topping, as I had from the SMSL PL200T clocked by the GPS DO, so I have a lot to update in my review

 

[Janox]

New firmware is out, thanks @Bleib , and is solving issues from CD Player digital input, from my first tests.

Eg: 999.91Hz @0dBFS, source is a Teac VRDS 25x, analog outputs of the Topping (balanced headphones), overlaid with direct analysis of the original WAV file:

View attachment 540881

The two traces nearly overlay perfectly, as if I was comparing twice the digital file! Near bit perfection at the analog output, crazy!

And believe or not, lowering the output by -12dB with the Topping did not impact this performance:

View attachment 540886

It'll be my pleasure to add a full review from a CD Player (tomorrow).

By the way, I now get 1ppm clock precision from my Teac via the Topping, as I had from the SMSL PL200T clocked by the GPS DO, so I have a lot to update in my review

CD playback is fixed. However, there is still a problem with the output "pop" sound on the RCA output when turning off the DX1 II, changing functions, changing the sampling frequency, and turning off the audio source (CD or DVD player).

 

[himey]

CD playback is fixed. However, there is still a problem with the output "pop" sound on the RCA output when turning off the DX1 II, changing functions, changing the sampling frequency, and turning off the audio source (CD or DVD player).

Connected to a preamp, directly to an amp, or both?

 

[Janox]

I have a DX1 II connected as a preamp directly to a power amp and when changing the function it clicks into the speakers. A similar device, the Douk Audio K5, works in the same connection without any problems.

 

[huzidada]

I did not know/think about this one, but certainly so!

Fantastic review. Would this be enough for a pair of DT 900 Pro X and HD490 Pro?

 

[NTTY]

@Bleib I tested digital input of the Topping with the Fosi Merak and all goes well.
With option d-1, I find the clock deviation of the Merak (-70ppm) transitioning to the Topping, meaning the Topping indeed synchronizes to it, as expected.
And when using d-2 option, I see obvious re-clocking as I find the clock deviation of the Topping (-10ppm). So now the two options behave in a logical way.

Results are staggering with option d-2 which indeed reduces the jitter coming from the Merak. Look at this fantastic Jitter Trace:

Cheers

 

[Bleib]

@Bleib I tested digital input of the Topping with the Fosi Merak and all goes well.
With option d-1, I find the clock deviation of the Merak (-70ppm) transitioning to the Topping, meaning the Topping indeed synchronizes to it, as expected.
And when using d-2 option, I see obvious re-clocking now as I find the clock deviation of the Topping (-10ppm). So now the two options behave in a logical way.

Results are staggering with option d-2 which indeed reduces the jitter coming from the Merak. Look at this fantastic Jitter Trace:

View attachment 541019

Cheers

Very useful information, thank you very much!

 

[NTTY]

And you get full resistance to intersample-overs by lowering the volume (-3dB is enough), using the d-2 option. No other negative impact. I added a bit more info in the second post of this thread. I would recommend to go that way.

 

[NTTY]

Ciao everyone, I largely updated my initial review (first and second posts) after I installed the new firmware. The results are staggering.
Fact we can route optical SPDIF through it and being able to get rid of intersample overs that way (lowering the volume) is totally cool.

 

[tccalvin]

Ciao everyone, I largely updated my initial review (first and second posts) after I installed the new firmware. The results are staggering.
Fact we can route optical SPDIF through it and being able to get rid of intersample overs that way (lowering the volume) is totally cool.

About this. This should theoretically be possible with any DAC that offers a digital volume option. 32-bit float volume controls placed before the oversampling step like the one in the ESS chips should give extremely accurate results without any unnecessary loss of information. My DL200 works like this (it has the same ES9039Q2M chip).