Topping DX1 II DAC & HP Amp Review

[Bleib]

Hello Amir,
I really appreciate your fantastic job, and I always read with real interest every new test, but I am wondering why so many DAC and hedaphones amp... I suppose very few people are interested in Headphones amp, I would like to see more speaker tests, amplifier tests, and so on.
Anyway always a pleasure to see your job.
Best regards.

Well, as long as this functions properly it's the new price and performance king... all whilst being very energy efficient as well.
It also has something that most DAC do not have, optical out, which means the PEQ functions can be put life to any older DAC which doesn't have this feature.

 

[AndreaT]

Great review, it makes me wishing to buy one just to celebrate the achievement of Topping. Outstanding performance in a small package, for the balanced out requires a stereo TRS cable, if I understand correctly. To avoid wasting time and money, it would be helpful to specify which TRS to AES/EBU cable to get for a balanced stereo connection to the amplifier.

 

[PristineSound]

In 2026, with all the years of inflation and crushing tariffs, $113?

Very impressive. There is no better time for the stingy, utilitarians, budget and "for the garage" HiFi consumers in all of HiFi history.

 

[AndreaT]

I failed to temptation, and I bought one…delivery July 7, I must by then find an explanation for my wife…I will blame Amir and the ASR peers. It is a great present time for SOTA to cost less than $ 120. It was only a few years ago that you had to shell many thousands to get this level of D to A quality.

 

[stefanovesa]

Great review, it makes me wishing to buy one just to celebrate the achievement of Topping. Outstanding performance in a small package, for the balanced out requires a stereo TRS cable, if I understand correctly. To avoid wasting time and money, it would be helpful to specify which TRS to AES/EBU cable to get for a balanced stereo connection to the amplifier.

Pentaconn to 2 XLR or 2 TRS cable, not very popular. Probably it will cost 1/2 of the price of the unit

 

[Power Pop 23]

Amazon USA shows cables for under $30 to connect the 4.4MM jack to dual XLR or dual TRS inputs

Amazon.com: artcavs 4.4mm to Dual XLR 3pin Male Balanced Audio Headphone Adapter Cable 1m/3.3feet 6N Pure Copper 24K Gold Plated Connectors : Electronics

Buy artcavs 4.4mm to Dual XLR 3pin Male Balanced Audio Headphone Adapter Cable 1m/3.3feet 6N Pure Copper 24K Gold Plated Connectors: Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/6-35mm-Balanced-Plated-Adapter-gotor/dp/B09NNG9WQP/

 

[NTTY]

Any penalty for DSP on vs. off?

@NTTY looked at it.

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

Activating it didn't seem change anything, but he noted he had not full evaluated it.

Now done here

 

[Henryk]

Now done here

Does this mean that the PEQ implementation does not introduce any quantization noise at all?

 

[Enthusiastic Amateur]

Thank you, as always, for the review Amir. Since Topping are launching a multi-input, stereo DSP with such an inexpensive product, there is hope that in the future this feature will be adopted across their product range.

I'm particularly excited about the possibility of an 8-channel DAC (like the E8x8 Pre audio interface), being updated with DSP. For example, an 8-channel DSP DAC with a TOSLINK stereo input, could receive input from any other Topping product which has a TOSLINK stereo output. Then the 8-channel DAC could be used for room correction with more than two subwoofers.

That functionality couldn't be achieved with multiple DX1 II, due to the inevitable clock drift between DACs - which is not acceptable wherever room correction relies on predictable phase shifts (see Multi-Sub Optimiser software). I could finally ditch my Raspberry Pi.

 

[Matias]

Since Topping are launching a multi-input, stereo DSP with such an inexpensive product, there is hope that in the future this feature will be adopted across their product range.

I'm particularly excited about the possibility of an 8-channel DAC (like the E8x8 Pre audio interface), being updated with DSP. For example, an 8-channel DSP DAC with a TOSLINK stereo input, could receive input from any other Topping product which has a TOSLINK stereo output. Then the 8-channel DAC could be used for room correction with more than two subwoofers.

That functionality couldn't be achieved with multiple DX1 II, due to the inevitable clock drift between DACs - which is not acceptable wherever room correction relies on predictable phase shifts (see Multi-Sub Optimiser software). I could finally ditch my Raspberry Pi.

Well, it exists, but not from Topping - and for 950 usd. Measures great too.

miniDSP Flex HTx

miniDSP Flex HTx, 400MHz Sharc DSP audio processor, toolbox for subwoofer or multiway speaker tuning, USB/HDMI ARC/EARC, Optional Multichannel Dirac Live license for room correction, 8 ch USB DAC, Studio processor

www.minidsp.com

 

[dtaylo1066]

USB to Optical function alone is about worth the price of admission.

 

[Enthusiastic Amateur]

Well, it exists, but not from Topping - and for 950 usd. Measures great too.

miniDSP Flex HTx

miniDSP Flex HTx, 400MHz Sharc DSP audio processor, toolbox for subwoofer or multiway speaker tuning, USB/HDMI ARC/EARC, Optional Multichannel Dirac Live license for room correction, 8 ch USB DAC, Studio processor

www.minidsp.com

Thanks I hadn't seen the HTx.

Unfortunately the price is more than I'm ready to pay to get rid of the RPi. Here in Europe, the €1300 HTx is more than three times the price of the E8x8 (and eleven times the price of a DX1 II).

 

[Philipp Paul Klose]

Distortino will be my nickname from now on.

 

[NTTY]

Does this mean that the PEQ implementation does not introduce any quantization noise at all?

Activating it or not, no. But uploading a desired curve is a different story.

I did the below test, and updated my review with that. I add it here too so it's easier for members to follow.

I played with the Topping Tune software and uploaded the below EQ in the DX1 II:

I ran an FR test (USB to XLR output, with Volume at -1.5dB to get to 4Vrms max), and here you go:

I made it the same size as the Topping interface on purpose, centering the 0dB at 1kHz. You can see that I got exactly what I tuned, nice.

Now let's test the impact on the SINAD (XLR out, vol -1.5dB), first without EQ:

Without EQ, I get an SINAD of 122.6dB.

Now, when activating the EQ, and I had to redo my tests because it seems the Topping Tune has some kind of smart headroom protection / utilization to optimize the resolution, independently of the mods you make. I deactivated the preamp in the interface, and I see it updated the field to -5.7dB, but I am unsure if that is on purpose. Anyways, I uploaded my tune in the Topping and I got better results than I initially reported with me setting the preamp level in Topping Tune.

Here below is with the EQ activated, and the impact on the SINAD:

The loss on the SINAD is minimal, and remains a staggering 120.7dB. The descending noise floor from 20Hz to 300Hz is the effect of the EQ in that area.

I am impressed.

 

[Matias]

This is excellent news and brings peace of mind. Thanks a lot!

 

[Palladium]

For $113 it even has optical out which is something you can't even find in most DACs, including most of Topping's other DACs.

 

[Mnyb]

Activating it or not, no. But uploading a desired curve is a different story.

I did the below test, and updated my review with that. I add it here too so it's easier for members to follow.

I played with the Topping Tune software and uploaded the below EQ in the DX1 II:

View attachment 540676

I ran an FR test (USB to XLR output, with Volume at -1.5dB to get to 4Vrms max), and here you go:

View attachment 540677

I made it the same size as the Topping interface on purpose, centering the 0dB at 1kHz. You can see that I got exactly what I tuned, nice.

Now let's test the impact on the SINAD (XLR out, vol -1.5dB), first without EQ:

View attachment 540678

Without EQ, I get an SINAD of 122.6dB.

Now, when activating the EQ, I see the digital headroom increasing by 12dB (in other words, the 0dBFS is 12dB lower), as it is the preamp gain I applied, and the SINAD is impacted that way:

View attachment 540679

Of course this trace is with the EQ as I showed initially (explaining the decreasing noise floor from 20Hz to 300Hz).

With that, the SINAD remains very good at 110dB, but of course we lost 2bits (12dB) of resolution due to the inevitable need for the processor to have additional headroom no to clip the signal.

So, to reply to your question, no it does not add quantization errors, the processor is very transparent, of an obvious high digital resolution. But of course, there's that need to have the necessary headroom to include the FR variation in dB, and so the new real resolution is 18bits instead of 20bits, from the analog output. This is worst case scenario, You can adjust the peamp gain to be precisely what you need so you loose less resolution. I might give it a try to show.

Yes the expected losses due to digital can not be over 0dB so if one wants to booste somewhere, you have to lower the level in general + some margin .

This had happened even if you done this outside of the DAC in some perfect software .

But it’s a good test some products add ”stuff” when using the digital EQ apearently not this one , good show

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Wow! Hard to get much better than this. Should be adequate power for all but the most hard to drive phones. And has 10 band PEQ as well. And all for $113 USD. Has to be the new value champion. We have really seen commodity level pricing come about on audio electronics, and IEMS as well. Now if we can just see that happen on speakers.

As always, Amir, a really great review. Thank you.

 

[formdissolve]

USB to Optical function alone is about worth the price of admission.

https://www.schiit.com/products/eitr-2 $99 or $149 for PEQ version

For $113 base price of this Topping DX1 II you get a DAC/Headphone amp with it (although it lacks Coax/AES out).

 

[Janox]

Will Topping fix the optical input error? I would like to play my 44.1kHz CDs from a CD player, not from my computer.