Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review

[Matias]

Would you be able to measure the optical out performance? I use some older DACs sometimes, and it would be good if I was sending them a good signal considering they don't all reclock the input.

See below:

Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review (NTTY)

Hello everyone, This is a review and measurements of the Topping DX1 II Dac and headphone amplifier. I bought it from Topping site and received it rapidly. I got it for around 120$. Topping DX1 II - Presentation This little device acts as a DAC (USB or Optical input), with line level...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Tango]

See below:

Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review (NTTY)

Hello everyone, This is a review and measurements of the Topping DX1 II Dac and headphone amplifier. I bought it from Topping site and received it rapidly. I got it for around 120$. Topping DX1 II - Presentation This little device acts as a DAC (USB or Optical input), with line level...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Beautiful, thank you!

 

[techgod92]

Hi Amir, new to the forum but I've been following your posts for a long time. Your work is appreciated. I've been looking for a USB DDC with PEQ so I can apply PEQ to any DAC while being able to do exclusive mode (rules out eq apo). The DX1 II fills this role, and as a second benefit, I'll have a backup dac/amp if something goes wrong with my stack.

Would you be able to measure the optical out performance? I use some older DACs sometimes, and it would be good if I was sending them a good signal considering they don't all reclock the input.

I know your message is for Amir, but I couldn't resist - to chime in and tell you about this thing: https://a.co/d/090kO4J3

It's a DSD TECH SH-AU02A USB to TOSLINK Coaxial SPDIF Audio Adapter Support 96K 24Bit

It works perfectly for its intended purpose with any type c device (laptop/desktop computer/smartphone for passing audio through.

@amirm

@Tango

All the best with your set up. Cheers.

 

[Tango]

I know your message is for Amir, but I couldn't resist - to chime in and tell you about this thing: https://a.co/d/090kO4J3

It's a DSD TECH SH-AU02A USB to TOSLINK Coaxial SPDIF Audio Adapter Support 96K 24Bit

It works perfectly for its intended purpose with any type c device (laptop/desktop computer/smartphone for passing audio through.

@amirm

@Tango

All the best with your set up. Cheers.

I'm not sure what this achieves for my use case

 

[techgod92]

I'm not sure what this achieves for my use case

I'm truly sorry.

 

[snadge]

There are like 4 other people I've seen report this so far, you guys simply have not used it for long enough at 48kHz in Windows, reverting firmware stops it so it's not faulty hardware units if that's what you would have to be suggesting basically otherwise which would be even worse, cheers
Will be nice when they fix this real firmware issue.

Thanks for investigating whether downgrading the firmware fixes it. I was able to reproduce it yesterday with Spotify running for a few hours, by forcing the system to 48khz. So rather than downgrade to the previous firmware, I have just forced it to 44.1khz for now. If it is just an issue with 48khz on the latest firmware, that's not great, but at least that narrows down the problem, and if the next firmware fixes it, great. Then its just the popping/crackling out the line out. To be honest though, I've just come to accept that as a personality quirk. I have also sent an email off to Topping.

 

[Pausi]

Unfortunately, a problem like this occurring after a few hours does sound more like a hardware issue than software.

 

[techgod92]

Unfortunately, a problem like this occurring after a few hours does sound more like a hardware issue than software.

I agree. Mine works flawlessly.

 

[eru]

hey guys, im a long time reader, never post anything, this is actually my first time asking. thanks for the platform and the work done here, its my goto forum to check before buying.
im currently using e30II and l30ii with hd650 and hd490. should i upgrade to dx1ii? i also have e2x2otg for recording. i didnt like the sound of coming from it to headphone. i still prefer e30ii+l30ii.

 

[staticV3]

im currently using e30II and l30ii with hd650 and hd490. should i upgrade to dx1ii?

Only if you need to free up wall sockets/desk space and/or have a use for the hardware EQ.

Without configuring the hardware EQ, so straight out of the box, the DX1 II is no upgrade in sound quality compared to your stack.

And even if you configure the EQ, you could get the same result with your stack, using EQ software like Equalizer APO.

 

[eru]

Only if you need to free up wall sockets/desk space and/or have a use for the hardware EQ.

Without configuring the hardware EQ, so straight out of the box, the DX1 II is no upgrade in sound quality compared to your stack.

And even if you configure the EQ, you can get the same result with your stack, using EQ software like Equalizer APO.

thank you, ill just stay with current setup for now.

 

[Bleib]

l30ii also provides plenty more power for headphones

 

[Dreamic]

I agree. Mine works flawlessly.

Well not even Topping agrees with anyone saying the firmware is fine and it's hardware, so.

 

[snadge]

Yeah, I just thought I'd chime in when I saw that there might be some suspicion that it's a hardware thing. For starters, you need to confirm that you're using the latest firmware V15.69.22.69 Then, to trigger the issue, you need to make sure that your sampling rate is set to 48khz (however you wish to achieve that in windows/macos/linux), and then stream audio for about 1 to 2 hours. Then you'll get intermittent ear splitting distortion. Easily reproducible. And since multiple others have reported it (and even Topping seems to suggest so), I think it's highly probable that it's a firmware issue. Because it bothers me to understand the details, I have downgraded my firmware to V15.54.22.54. If I am unable to reproduce the problem, then we have confirmed almost beyond any doubt, that there is indeed an issue with the latest firmware. It would be nice if others could try to reproduce the issue so we can rule out chance, but I understand that it might be annoying to stream music continuously for several hours. You can obviously turn the volume down to almost nothing, to protect your speakers. I will try to reproduce the issue on the older firmware, in both Windows and then Linux (to rule out any potential operating system or driver differences). I will update this post with my findings.

This is to say nothing about the pops and crackles when the sampling rate, settings, or audio stream initializes. To say that there's "no issues" with this device is living in fantasy land I think.

 

[techgod92]

Well not even Topping agrees with anyone saying the firmware is fine and it's hardware, so.
View attachment 541787

It's nice to see an official response from them. However, please note that after they ship electronics, the chain of logistics could be worse. Just like receiving a dented amplifier; when the photo of the same shows a mint condition unit. I'd advise looking inside, just in case. Sometimes, delivery people and shipping company staff (during sorting) can be very careless.

 

[Bleib]

There's very little risk with shipping problem with these dacs. No moving parts, almost no weight and the packaging itself is soft on the inside. This is one product that I don't feel the need for extra additional packaging to protect itself. To contrast...something like Wiim Amp Ultra is very heavy, that one seems to need some extra packaging support.

I'd rather say this: Expect more firmwares

I'll do the 2hour 48khz test today, as I have some other things to do I can leave it playing at very low volume to the computer speakers.

 

[Pausi]

Will be very interesting to see if it’s hw or sw issue. But playing without issues for 2 hours before problem occurs for some owners, but not all, definitely indicates hw because of component failure, maybe caused by internal temperature change or something similar. I would presume that the software hasn’t changed character or code after 2 hours.

 

[Bleib]

Broken code often leads to memory leaks in software, crashes, instability etc on computers

That they had to fix new firmware to play many CD-players indicates that the software side of things was nowhere near well tested, so it still needs to mature

 

[techgod92]

I hope the problems get resolved soon for anyone who has an issue with the Topping DX1 II DAC.
Afterall, it's good money spent.

​

 

[Bleib]

OK. So, the 48khz has been replicated after about 1h 10-15 minutes in.
Here's a clip, the sound volume in this clip is low, so don't worry about blowing your ears off, but remember to LOWER the volume before you play something else

The massive distorsion occurs from about 0:10 to 0:16

PC (Win11, latest build) USB --> Topping DX1 II (-4dB, V15.69.22.69) ---> Topping MX3s ---> Audioengine A5 ---> Xiaomi 15 Ultra

Sometimes it lasts a lot longer. Sometimes it "just" creates short burts of distortion. There is some variation. But once it starts occurring the only way to fully get rid of it for a while is to do as before, change to optical in and then back to USB. As it is now, I won't use until new firmwares are released.