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Topping DX3 Pro+ Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

Toku

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how well are Topping DX3 Pro+ and SENNHEISER HD 6XX HEADPHONES work together?
amirm commented on "Topping DX3 Pro + Listening Tests" and "Conclusions" after the measurements. I think that is what you want to know.
 

Romis

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I ordered mine on 10th October from Shenzhen Audio. Looks like it will still be yet a few more weeks before the DX3 Pro+ gets shipped. Those supply chain delays must be truly troublesome ...
This is very long! I ordered mine on 11th November from Shenzhen audio store on AliExpress and they still haven't shipped it out. Instead they are asking for me to extend order processing time.
 

jools

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This is very long! I ordered mine on 11th November from Shenzhen audio store on AliExpress and they still haven't shipped it out. Instead they are asking for me to extend order processing time.
In case it helps, I ordered mine from Audiophonics on 8th Oct, aware that they were awaiting stock. They emailed on 15th Oct to apologise that the stock arrival had been delayed to early Nov which I told them was fine. They sent it out on 3rd Nov and it arrived on 10th Nov. So that's just over a month including two international shipments and a hold in UK customs while I paid the tax and duty. I had no problem with that as I was upgrading - it might have been different if I had no DAC and no music.
At some point it should become possible to buy from dealer stock but perhaps too many of us are jumping on the Pro+ for supply to keep up - I just checked Audiophonics' website and they are saying that they expect to have stock '09-16 December'. They were accurate about stock arrival last time and it seemed like others who were waiting for delivery from other sellers like Shenzhen and Apos got theirs around the same time as I did.
 

LTyla

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My short story regarding supply.
I ordered it from Hifigo on Nov 4th, but only part of the order was shipped (not DX3Pro+).
So, i contacted them and they told that they are expecting a re-supply after Nov 20th, but they already shipped it on Nov 18th. :oops:
Should be here in ~2 weeks.

But it's no surprise that they are having issues with ramping up production as basically every production sector is having issues with parts availability nowadays.
I just hope that we won't a similar recall as with the original DX3 Pro. :facepalm:
 

Igor01

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Two photos available:
 

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Dunring

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Hi! Please, explain to me: with 1500 mW@32 Ohm, DX3 Pro+ still appears to be suffering from the clipping, - does that mean that for Fostex t50rp MK3 this device is strictly not recommended?
Those will be fine, I just sold a pair last week and tried it on the JDS Atom stack and it sounded good. They're rated to handle a lot of power, but they aren't that difficult to drive. I tested them with the SMSL SP200, Magni Heresy, and JDS Atom, and they got plenty loud in high gain mode on the Atom.
 

Romis

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In case it helps, I ordered mine from Audiophonics on 8th Oct, aware that they were awaiting stock. They emailed on 15th Oct to apologise that the stock arrival had been delayed to early Nov which I told them was fine. They sent it out on 3rd Nov and it arrived on 10th Nov. So that's just over a month including two international shipments and a hold in UK customs while I paid the tax and duty. I had no problem with that as I was upgrading - it might have been different if I had no DAC and no music.
At some point it should become possible to buy from dealer stock but perhaps too many of us are jumping on the Pro+ for supply to keep up - I just checked Audiophonics' website and they are saying that they expect to have stock '09-16 December'. They were accurate about stock arrival last time and it seemed like others who were waiting for delivery from other sellers like Shenzhen and Apos got theirs around the same time as I did.
Today it's shipped out by DHL, but it's not tracking yet... Shall I wait for several days for it to track ?
 

Nicholas B

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Woo-hoo! My black DX3 Pro+ just shipped from Shenzhen Audio (ordered October 10).
 

alexj84nl

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Have been waiting for my local dealer to have the DX3pro+ in stock, and they have stock since today. Unit should be here tomorrow. Looking forward to pairing with my Hifiman sundara!
(Hifistudio 79 in the Netherlands)
 

sunnyboy

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping DX3 Pro+ DAC and headphone amplifier. It is a replacement for one of my most favorite combo products, the DX3 Pro. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $199.

The DX3 Pro+ maintains the gorgeous and high contrast orange LEDs which I am very fond of:

View attachment 157571

The back panel is a bit unusual in a good way with sporting dual Coax inputs:

View attachment 157572

There is a remote and support for Bluetooth. The external power supply is a 15 volt one which should help with power output of the headphone amplifier.

Topping DX3 Pro+ Measurements
Let's start with our DAC measurements and the dashboard:

View attachment 157573

I expect great performance from Topping and the DX3 Pro+ naturally delivers. Distortion products are at -125 dB worst case which is well below threshold of audibility. THD+N sums to 0.000146 which matches company spec of 0.00015 rating of the company. Converting that to dB, we get our SINAD which comfortably lands in our top tier of all DACs tested:
View attachment 157574

Zooming into its neighbors:

View attachment 157575

Dynamic range is excellent:

View attachment 157576

Multitone test shows again the low level of distortion no matter how many tones we throw at it:


View attachment 157577

Intermodulation distortion shows that it matches its older brother and then beats it at highest output levels:

View attachment 157578

The graph never tilts up indicating that it is noise limited, not distortion.

Jitter test shows a bit of interference below 1 kHz which fortunately is completely inaudible:

View attachment 157579

Linearity is nailed showing excellent accuracy of levels:

View attachment 157580

You can use a bunch of filters as usual:

View attachment 157581

THD+N vs frequency naturally varies with the filter you use:

View attachment 157586

Headphone amplifier measurement
Let's start with the signal-to-noise ratio of the headphone output:

View attachment 157582

I hope for better performance at 50 mv output, although it is significantly above average:


View attachment 157583

The most important test here is the power output:

View attachment 157584

There is enough power and the distortion does not clip/rise.

Switching to a 32 ohm load, we still have good power:

View attachment 157585

Testing under many load impedances tells us that amplifiers do not like very low impedances:
View attachment 157587

This is a good test for a microprocessor-controlled protection circuit that starts with the lowest impedance. This has always been a pain point of the old version of DX3 Pro, and Topping actively monitors it here.

Best DX3 Pro+ hearing test
I did all the tests under high gain, where DX3 Pro+ can easily achieve the best fidelity in Sennheiser HD650 and Drop Ether CX. It drives them with authority, creating a dynamic response with a lot of detail and superb tones. Anyone who thinks these extremely low noise and distortion audio products sound "clinical" should go to the clinic to check it out!

To grin, I still wear my Dan Clark Stealth headphones. Here, the power is less than when using the aforementioned headphones, but it is still very useful. But please note that when I turned the volume up to 0 dB for testing, the amplifier went into protection. I tried again, but couldn't replicate it. In any case, it was pretty good before reaching that limit.

in conclusion
Before this review, I was frustrated with testing poorly performing products one after another. The result was so bad, I started to doubt my Audio Precision analyzer! Fortunately, I have DX3 Pro+ for testing. As you can see, it not only performs well, but also proves the correctness of the audio analyzer! :) This combined device provides you with everything you need for a compact and attractive device at a favorable price. As far as low-impedance headphones are concerned, it does not have unlimited functions, so you need countless other options from Topping. However, in addition to that niche use, DX3 Pro+ can do the job and do it very well.

I am happy to recommend Topping DX3Pro+ to you.

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As always, questions, comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome.

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Amirm Hello! How does DX3 PRO + compare with RME adi-2 DAC in music tone? Which is more pure and which is more heavily stained.
 

Killingbeans

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@sunnyboy

DX3 PRO+:
Distortion products are at -125 dB worst case which is well below threshold of audibility.

RME ADI-2 FS v2 DAC:
The distortion level now is state of the art with levels at -130 dB (15 dB better that best case human hearing).

So, no point in talking about tone.
 

Walter

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Killingbeans, each manufacturer will have different tuning preferences when the indicators are met. What I want to know is this difference.
No, they won't. If two DACs sound different, then one or both of them is not accurately converting the signal--which is true of many very expensive DACs, unfortunately. Two DACs that measure well above the threshold of hearing in every important test will sound the same.
 

Bel Canto

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No, they won't. If two DACs sound different, then one or both of them is not accurately converting the signal--which is true of many very expensive DACs, unfortunately. Two DACs that measure well above the threshold of hearing in every important test will sound the same.
The dac may be doing the converting but there is a lot more happening in the signal path that can change sound signature e.g. output stage etc.

Why is it that two dacs from different manufacturers using the same chip can sound so different, same chip so identical conversion.
 
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