This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Topping DX1 II smart balanced DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and is selling for US $113.
The design is the somewhat familiar Topping mini desktop products. Surprisingly though, you now get balanced 4.4mm output and 10 band parametric equalization! Rear panel has another surprise in the form of Toslink output (which I did not test):
USB audio class driver switch is provided for compatibility with some game consoles. Nice to see balanced line out as well.
The user interface was a bit confused as I took "LO" to mean low gain. Pushing G switch on the included remote would highlight Gain on the display but LO would remain. Reading the manual solved the mystery of LO meaning Line Out. Once there, the operation was straightforward.
A major bonus: topping has implemented a web interface on top of their USB DACs. It was a delight to use that to configure the DAC and see its current status with a web browser.
Note: you need plenty of USB power. Sharing my USB power in a switch which also drove the Audio Precision caused the DX1 II to not power up.
I was impressed by the high quality pair of USB C cables with topping branding on them!
Note: I was initially miffed by the low output of the unit. Then I realized on it depends on Windows volume control which defaults to 67 out of 100. It did this every time I switched sample rate but then eventually level remained at 100%. This is with the latest firmware as of this posting.
Topping DX1 II Stereo Measurements
I initially started testing using RCA out in the back. Alas, I had a hard time dialing out ground loops with my analyzer:
Switching to balanced (rear) output completely solved this issue -- reason I so highly recommend getting balanced DACs:
Given the price, I expected SINAD around 116 dB. Seeing it clock over 121 dB was a super pleasant surprise, once again. We are talking state of the art performance in this class, and near the best there is at any price:
Dynamic range sets SINAD so of course it looks exceptional:
IMD test shows slightest hint of ESS IMD "Hump:"
Even with that, it beats is many year old $240 grand father in dashed blue.
Multitone distortion performance is state of the art:
Jitter test shows some hint of spurious tones over USB which disappears with Toslink optical:
I had heard there is problem with its Toslink input not tolerating deviation from perfect clock. So I ran a sweep with ever increasing jitter noise:
This is a new test so I have no reference. But it is good that it tolerates fair bit before losing clock. When I get a chance, I will test it with a CD player (assuming my ancient one works).
Linearity is almost perfect:
Filtering and response shows excellent performance:
Resulting in THD+N wideband test that holds its own against best of the best:
The unit is USB bus powered so power is not going to be super high but still, we have a nice showing especially into low impedances:
EDIT: this should say DX1 II, not DX3 Pro:
Noise is very low so you should be good with just about any sensitive IEM or headphone:
Topping DX1 II Listening Tests
It is warm in the lab so I have been using my Truthear GATE IEM for background music listening. I plugged that into DX1 II and was able to go to as loud as I wanted in low gain. Fidelity was superb as was absence of noise. I then switched to Dan Clark AEON Core headphone. In low gain there was enough power for everyday listening. But to really get your foot tapping, I switched to high gain. There, by -10 dB there was more loudness than you would want. Going up to 0 dB was cause for worry regarding hearing damage. The combination was a delightful pair providing exceptional detail and dynamics. My reference tracks were reproduced as they are named: reference quality.
Conclusions
Folks, this is shocking level of performance and features with pricing that is hard to believe. Topping has really pushed the barriers here, putting newcomers on notice that they were the first to establish this beachhead. Does it replace more expensive products? Not always. The light weight means cables can pull on the unit and USB power limits how much power you can get. And you need a 4.4mm to XLR adapter for line out. If these things don't bother you, you have a perfect specimen here when it comes to combination DAC and Headphone amplifier.
I am happy to recommend the Topping DX1 II balanced headphone amplifier and DAC (plus digital bridge).
-----
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The design is the somewhat familiar Topping mini desktop products. Surprisingly though, you now get balanced 4.4mm output and 10 band parametric equalization! Rear panel has another surprise in the form of Toslink output (which I did not test):
USB audio class driver switch is provided for compatibility with some game consoles. Nice to see balanced line out as well.
The user interface was a bit confused as I took "LO" to mean low gain. Pushing G switch on the included remote would highlight Gain on the display but LO would remain. Reading the manual solved the mystery of LO meaning Line Out. Once there, the operation was straightforward.
A major bonus: topping has implemented a web interface on top of their USB DACs. It was a delight to use that to configure the DAC and see its current status with a web browser.
Note: you need plenty of USB power. Sharing my USB power in a switch which also drove the Audio Precision caused the DX1 II to not power up.
I was impressed by the high quality pair of USB C cables with topping branding on them!
Note: I was initially miffed by the low output of the unit. Then I realized on it depends on Windows volume control which defaults to 67 out of 100. It did this every time I switched sample rate but then eventually level remained at 100%. This is with the latest firmware as of this posting.
Topping DX1 II Stereo Measurements
I initially started testing using RCA out in the back. Alas, I had a hard time dialing out ground loops with my analyzer:
Switching to balanced (rear) output completely solved this issue -- reason I so highly recommend getting balanced DACs:
Given the price, I expected SINAD around 116 dB. Seeing it clock over 121 dB was a super pleasant surprise, once again. We are talking state of the art performance in this class, and near the best there is at any price:
Dynamic range sets SINAD so of course it looks exceptional:
IMD test shows slightest hint of ESS IMD "Hump:"
Even with that, it beats is many year old $240 grand father in dashed blue.
Multitone distortion performance is state of the art:
Jitter test shows some hint of spurious tones over USB which disappears with Toslink optical:
I had heard there is problem with its Toslink input not tolerating deviation from perfect clock. So I ran a sweep with ever increasing jitter noise:
This is a new test so I have no reference. But it is good that it tolerates fair bit before losing clock. When I get a chance, I will test it with a CD player (assuming my ancient one works).
Linearity is almost perfect:
Filtering and response shows excellent performance:
Resulting in THD+N wideband test that holds its own against best of the best:
The unit is USB bus powered so power is not going to be super high but still, we have a nice showing especially into low impedances:
EDIT: this should say DX1 II, not DX3 Pro:
Noise is very low so you should be good with just about any sensitive IEM or headphone:
Topping DX1 II Listening Tests
It is warm in the lab so I have been using my Truthear GATE IEM for background music listening. I plugged that into DX1 II and was able to go to as loud as I wanted in low gain. Fidelity was superb as was absence of noise. I then switched to Dan Clark AEON Core headphone. In low gain there was enough power for everyday listening. But to really get your foot tapping, I switched to high gain. There, by -10 dB there was more loudness than you would want. Going up to 0 dB was cause for worry regarding hearing damage. The combination was a delightful pair providing exceptional detail and dynamics. My reference tracks were reproduced as they are named: reference quality.
Conclusions
Folks, this is shocking level of performance and features with pricing that is hard to believe. Topping has really pushed the barriers here, putting newcomers on notice that they were the first to establish this beachhead. Does it replace more expensive products? Not always. The light weight means cables can pull on the unit and USB power limits how much power you can get. And you need a 4.4mm to XLR adapter for line out. If these things don't bother you, you have a perfect specimen here when it comes to combination DAC and Headphone amplifier.
I am happy to recommend the Topping DX1 II balanced headphone amplifier and DAC (plus digital bridge).
-----
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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