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Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 9 3.5%

  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 12 4.7%

  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 39 15.1%

  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 198 76.7%
  • Total voters
    258
AndreaT said:
It is not. The window says “firmware upgrade finished successfully”. However and in spite of that, there is no “exit” button, and if I unplug the usb port the DX1 turns off but when turned on again is stuck in dFU mode on the display.
Click to expand...
I'm a Linux user, but I used Windows 10 with the web app home.toppingaudio.com to flash up to the latest firmware. But, I've also downgraded back to 15.54.22.54 because of the 48khz distortion issue that many people have reported. Maybe there's an alternate way to flash the firmware for Mac users? You could try the web page with Chrome perhaps. It sounds like it just needs a successful flash to get it out of DFU mode.
 
snadge said:
I'm a Linux user, but I used Windows 10 with the web app home.toppingaudio.com to flash up to the latest firmware. But, I've also downgraded back to 15.54.22.54 because of the 48khz distortion issue that many people have reported. Maybe there's an alternate way to flash the firmware for Mac users? You could try the web page with Chrome perhaps. It sounds like it just needs a successful flash to get it out of DFU mode.
Click to expand...
Yes! I made some progress using the browser Chrome on my MacBook, and easily downloaded the firmware 2.40…I cannot remember what improves compared to the 2.20, however the firmware update worked and the DX1 II is now running fine. Sooo…if Topping is reading this, please add that Safari does not work to upgrade firmware. That’s enough for tonight…thank you snadge for the precious suggestion!
 
It seems that like automobiles, DACs are becoming way too complicated to set-up. Different browsers, operating systems, multiple firmware updates and digital interfaces do not help coders to achieve easy fw upgrades and smooth integration with other elements of the audio chain. Nicholas Negroponte predicted one of the advances of “going digital” would be cross-platform compatibilities because zeros and ones are easier to deal with. We are not there yet, and maybe it is not the fault of Topping nor Windows, not Mac iOS. It is just the avalanche of progress in digital electronics and number of customizable menus offered. I tremble about going in the PEQ menu, as it likely requires (too much) time to learn how to DSP well. I found the home.toppingaudio.com page useful, as it offers automatic detection of what is connected and diagnosis of the problem with a (relatively) straightforward solution. Maybe firmware instructions should be written with longer sentences to be easier to implement, maybe AI could help more. Anyway, I am glad to have received useful info on this forum, and I wish to think that the mental calisthenics required to interface myself with the machine might delay mental decay and the funesta senectute.
 
Last edited:
sphenicstands said:
Their response and the delay may be indicative of them improving their testing process, which would be really good.
Click to expand...
They had to release many fixes for DX5 II. So here's hoping there will be less need of many firmwares so close after release in the future
 
Roland301 said:
400mW vs 467mW not that big of a difference. 4.4mm out on Vestri or any other balanced dongle (assuming ground pin is wired up) can be used as a pre out also..

My point is balanced or power output by itself isn't what sets the DX1 apart. The entire feature set though makes it a compelling product assuming they can get the bugs worked out.
Click to expand...
No, the point is that many people have speakers/speaker amps and, separately, headphones. I myself switch between them multiple times a day -- for example, I listen to headphones at night, but speakers during the day. DX1 II allows the speakers amp to be connected from the back, and the headphones at the front.
 
Thinking of getting one of these for a new working from home desk headphone set up. Nothing too hard to drive in the can collection at home, ATH-AD900, ATH-ESW9, Truthear Gate, with hardest thing to drive I've got being a pair of Beyer T70. All unbalanced and not planning to buy any new headphones so not worried about about trying to drive anything harder than this lot. Not worried about trying to integrate speakers with the DAC/Amp as already have a dedicated Wiim/speaker set up in the same room for that

Current shortlist is this DX1 II or Fosi ZH3, or if I'm feeling tight on the day maybe drop down the Fosi stack and go an SK02. Currently Leaning towards the DX1 II for the PEQ. Any thoughts or other options to consider?
 
60beetle60 said:
Thinking of getting one of these for a new working from home desk headphone set up. Nothing too hard to drive in the can collection at home, ATH-AD900, ATH-ESW9, Truthear Gate, with hardest thing to drive I've got being a pair of Beyer T70. All unbalanced and not planning to buy any new headphones so not worried about about trying to drive anything harder than this lot. Not worried about trying to integrate speakers with the DAC/Amp as already have a dedicated Wiim/speaker set up in the same room for that

Current shortlist is this DX1 II or Fosi ZH3, or if I'm feeling tight on the day maybe drop down the Fosi stack and go an SK02. Currently Leaning towards the DX1 II for the PEQ. Any thoughts or other options to consider?
Click to expand...
I bought the Fosi ZH3 a few weeks ago, but I returned it after just one day. Now I'm using the DX1 II. ZH3 is much larger and runs much hotter than the DX1 II.

ZH3 is not a bad DAC/amp. It's just that I have an easy-to-drive headphone (Focal Clear MG), so the extra power from the ZH3 is unnecessary for me. It only generates more heat with no real benefit in my case. The noise floor on the ZH3 is also slightly higher, so with sensitive headphones, the DX1 II sounds a bit "cleaner."

Moreover, the DX1 II is USB-powered, while the ZH3 requires a separate DC power supply. This means I have one less cable to worry about. Just connect the DX1 II to a USB 3.0 port, and it's good to go.

I pair the DX1 II with the JDS Labs Synapse MAX, and they work great together. Synapse MAX is a galvanic isolator that blocks noise from PC. Synapse MAX also delivers enough "clean" power (up to 5V/1A) for the DX1 II.

I really can't complain about my current setup. But in the end, it still depends on your headphones and whether you actually need the extra power.

If power is not an issue, the DX1 II offers the best functionality, for sure. It has a remote control, a better display than the ZH3, and can be controlled from desktop using the Web Control Center.


Edit: Remove "ground loops" from the paragraph.
 
Last edited:
GM Custom Sauces said:
Synapse MAX is a galvanic isolator that eliminates ground loops and blocks all the noise from PC.
Click to expand...
The advantage of the DX1-II power supply is that it has no ground loops. The power cable is also the signal cable. A ground loop can occur when connected to an amplifier. When connected to headphones, it does not.
 
Bleib said:
Well, at least they had this


View attachment 542771
Click to expand...

Has anyone found an alternative USB-C splitter shipping from the US that worked with an Android phone? I'd rather not pay $10 shipping and wait a month, but I'd also rather not do the Amazon roulette of vague specifications. Most of the ones on there seem to suggest I would need to plug in the splitter at the phone end rather than the DAC end, and that wouldn't be nice.

The easy chair micro-stack that I'm replacing used an SMSL DAC that powered directly from the phone so I didn't think (which is a trend) about whether a different model might not.
 
Last edited:
338h10 said:
No, the point is that many people have speakers/speaker amps and, separately, headphones. I myself switch between them multiple times a day -- for example, I listen to headphones at night, but speakers during the day. DX1 II allows the speakers amp to be connected from the back, and the headphones at the front.
Click to expand...
I think we basically agree, just from different angles :)
 
GM Custom Sauces said:
I bought the Fosi ZH3 a few weeks ago, but I returned it after just one day. Now I'm using the DX1 II. ZH3 is much larger and runs much hotter than the DX1 II.

ZH3 is not a bad DAC/amp. It's just that I have an easy-to-drive headphone (Focal Clear MG), so the extra power from the ZH3 is unnecessary for me. It only generates more heat with no real benefit in my case. The noise floor on the ZH3 is also slightly higher, so with sensitive headphones, the DX1 II sounds a bit "cleaner."

Moreover, the DX1 II is USB-powered, while the ZH3 requires a separate DC power supply. This means I have one less cable to worry about. Just connect the DX1 II to a USB 3.0 port, and it's good to go.

I pair the DX1 II with the JDS Labs Synapse MAX, and they work great together. Synapse MAX is a galvanic isolator that blocks noise from PC. Synapse MAX also delivers enough "clean" power (up to 5V/1A) for the DX1 II.

I really can't complain about my current setup. But in the end, it still depends on your headphones and whether you actually need the extra power.

If power is not an issue, the DX1 II offers the best functionality, for sure. It has a remote control, a better display than the ZH3, and can be controlled from desktop using the Web Control Center.


Edit: Remove "ground loops" from the paragraph.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, generally reinforced where I'm at, DX1 II has more functionality and I won't need extra power from the ZH3. DX1 II also a touch cheaper which doesn't hurt
 
Updated to latest firmware. A little back and forth on Chrome browser and MacBook (Safari does not work). Finally done it. I highly recommend using the home.toppingaudio.com web site, a much simpler UI to deal with the teething problems of the DX1 II.
IMG_8320.jpeg
 
I'm also using the new firmware, it's fine now after many hours today, but just wanted to mention a minor annoyance that is every time you update the firmware on Windows, it creates a new Topping device entry in Device Manager etc without removing the previous one, so you end up with "Topping DX1 II #2" and so on in Device Manager and Control Panel etc, which you have to do extra steps to undo.
It's not a big deal but it should be automatically removing previous entry when updating instead of listing an additional Topping device.
 
Last edited:
SlowLife said:
USB @ 32/192kHz
Working normally, no distortion issues.

Today I will try USB @ 32/96kHz.
----
FW: V2.69 (V15.69.22.69)
Driver: V6.16.0
4.4Bal LO -> Pioneer DJ VM-50
4.4Bal PO -> EB2S Pro / FT1 Pro / Para / R70x / Misiom Libra
More than 10 hours each day.

View attachment 543182
Click to expand...
FW: V2.69 (V15.69.22.69)
Driver: V6.16.0
4.4Bal LO -> Pioneer DJ VM-50
4.4Bal PO -> EB2S Pro / FT1 Pro / Para / R70x / Misiom Libra
More than 10 hours each day.
USB @ 32/96kHz
Working normally, no distortion issues.
----
Today I will try new FW V2.83 USB @ 32/96kHz.
1783647136440.png
 
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