Topping DX3 Pro+ Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

[dreamscene]

dx3 pro+ only consumes 4W and with that enclosure it's never a problem.
You could install a small 12x8mm heat sink on top of the hp amp buffer, or even better, a 4.5mm thick thermal pad under the pcb.
But it won't offer you any real benefit as there's no heat issues in the first place.
just relax and enjoy your music.

I put a stainless steel mug on top of the case and that did the trick as a 'heat sink'. It was actually getting hot as it's 35 degrees C here at the moment. Why is it getting hot with nothing playing?

 

[audiofun]

I but a stainless steel mug on top of the case and that did the trick as a 'heat sink'. It was actually getting hot as it's 35 degrees C here at the moment. Why is it getting hot with nothing playing?

That's quiescent current which the opamps and hp amps require, and there's nothing wrong with it --- you can read some engineering articles if you are confused. If you play some music but at moderate level to a load with large impedance, it doesn't increase the power usage, similar to what class A behaves. In addition, all processors inside need power to wait for incoming signals, even when there's nothing playing. After all this is a small amount of current when on. Topping's L30 is way hotter as it has twice the wattage even when nothing is playing, in an even smaller package. Not an issue at all. no one complains overheating burning the unit down.

35 C is very normal. L30 easily goes to 50C or higher in summer.

The issue Topping had is, it's getting warm even when turned off... The unit consumes 2W power when turned off. Even with "Auto On" feature off, it still consumes 1W when off, more than my air conditioner uses when turned off. The hardware has capabilities to turn off +/-15V power supply via microprocessor, but Topping refused to implement it correctly. Most Topping products have this issue, and in their other products this is more severe. They just don't care about power consumption and our environment. LOL.

This was my #1 reason in returning it. This is a fixable design issue and they refused to fix it.

Most competitors' products, however, consumes less than 0.1W when off.

 

[gael]

Most competitors' products, however, consumes less than 0.1W when off.

Chinese (i.e. budget friendly) competitors?

 

[Bleib]

I put a stainless steel mug on top of the case and that did the trick as a 'heat sink'. It was actually getting hot as it's 35 degrees C here at the moment. Why is it getting hot with nothing playing?

I had a heatsink plus thermaltape lying around so I put them to use. The heatsink used to be installed on some harddrive like 10 years ago.

https://imgur.com/asZ9NFa

Not that it gets as hot as L30 as has already been pointed out. But the heatsink can easily be removed in case I for instance decide to sell it.

Btw, does disabling BT bring down the idle power usage? Since I don't use it I disabled it through setup, it doesn't seem to turn off in case you use as only the DAC for instance. Here the product could be a bit better designed...
And I should add, the power cable is quite short

 

[audiofun]

Chinese (i.e. budget friendly) competitors?

Yes. Topping clearly has serious standby power management problems. Most competitors, either expensive or budget, foreign or local, do better than Topping.

For instance, their main Chinese competitor SMSL list standby power consumption in spec. Most of them have <0.5W consumption. I actually measured some of them and found it to be around 0.1W. Topping does not even list this in their spec.

Not that it gets as hot as L30 as has already been pointed out. But the heatsink can easily be removed in case I for instance decide to sell it.

Btw, does disabling BT bring down the idle power usage? Since I don't use it I disabled it through setup, it doesn't seem to turn off in case you use as only the DAC for instance. Here the product could be a bit better designed...

Well, that helps very little in reducing components temperature. You either need to put heat sink above the chip, or put pads below the pcb, as discussed in #739. I tried both and there is measurable reduction with these two methods. You could of course remove those off the board/chip when you decide to sell it.

Turning off BT does not bring down idle power usage much. I tested that.

I wouldn't worry about idle power usage much. 4W is fairly acceptable. Most competitors' DAC+Amp combos consumes similar or more power than DX3Pro+. As discussed, the problem is in standby power consumption, which is more than 10x higher than competitors'.

 

[Bleib]

Yes. Topping clearly has serious standby power management problems. Most competitors, either expensive or budget, foreign or local, do better than Topping.



Well, that helps very little in reducing components temperature. You either need to put heat sink above the chip, or put pads below the pcb, as discussed in #739. I tried both and there is measurable reduction with these two methods. You could of course remove those off the board/chip when you decide to sell it.

Turning off BT does not bring down idle power usage much. I tested that.

I wouldn't worry about idle power usage much. 4W is fairly acceptable. Most competitors' DAC+Amp combos consumes similar or more power than DX3Pro+. As discussed, the problem is in standby power consumption, which is more than 10x higher than competitors'.

As said I know this product doesn't even need it.... it just took me 5 minutes..

 

[gael]

Yes. Topping clearly has serious standby power management problems.

Yeah, mine consumes 2.1W on standby...
(and about 5W at load)

 

[audiofun]

Yeah, mine consumes 2.1W on standby...
(and about 5W at load)

at load it consumes less energy with bt off and lower sample rates (such as 48khz). mine consumes only ~4W, with music playing through high impedance phones.
when standby it uses almost half energy which is unacceptable.

 

[Miiman]

Anyone recommend thermal modding the DX3Pro+? Like installing heatsinks? It's summer here and it get's quite warm even without any music playing. Have people modded their amps, dacs here with those cheap Aliexpress heat sinks?

1.44US $ 27% OFF|1pcs 60x150x25mm Aluminum Heat Sink Heatsink Radiator Heating Dissipation Cooling For Amplifer Led Cob Light Power Ic Transistor - Lamp Radiators - AliExpress

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s.click.aliexpress.com

Have you read somewhere that warm is bad for amps? If it was very hot to touch then their might have been an issue but warm is normal from what i have learned.

 

[dreamscene]

I had a heatsink plus thermaltape lying around so I put them to use. The heatsink used to be installed on some harddrive like 10 years ago.

https://imgur.com/asZ9NFa

Not that it gets as hot as L30 as has already been pointed out. But the heatsink can easily be removed in case I for instance decide to sell it.

Btw, does disabling BT bring down the idle power usage? Since I don't use it I disabled it through setup, it doesn't seem to turn off in case you use as only the DAC for instance. Here the product could be a bit better designed...
And I should add, the power cable is quite short

I like the idea in this post. Especially as there are no vent holes in the Topping DX3Pro+ case, the metal case seems to be the heat exchanger. I am sure cooling the case externally will cool the inside faster too.

Mine is getting hot now as ambient temp is approaching 38C so the top of the case feels like 50-55C. Possibly more as it feels hot instead of warm. I am not sure this is good for the internals especially when switched off and still be as hot. Putting heatsinks inside on the chips won't help as it's a closed system with no vent holes. As temps rise, the inside will all be the same temp. So cooling the case itself externally with a salvaged heatsink seems like the go to.

Edit: This is VERY weird. I updated my Topping driver to V5.30 and it is now running a bit cooler, ambient temps are the same as yest in the room but now the DX3Pro+ is just warm instead of sliding into the 'hot' side.

 

[sjeesjie]

Allright Topping, now put this in a E30 jacket and I’m a buyer.

 

[jani80k]

I ordered a unit off of German Amazon.
It sounds very clean and clear and it is definitely a good unit.
I compared it to my M500 v2 (not MKII) and connected my headphone(s) to both and listened via SMSL SP200.
In both cases I preferred the M500. It sounds smoother, wider and more relaxed. The DX3 sounds sharper, clearer (but maybe a bit in an artificial way in comparison - I think it is the way the treble is rendered doesn't work for me).
It is hard to describe for me... it sounds a bit like they are pushing clarity at any cost. and it ends up sounding slightly unnatural.
I think I will return it.

 

[lockheed]

I just got DX3 Pro+ and found out it has a serious flaw for my application. I have home automation that kills the power to my audio system when I leave home. It turns it back when I return. However, when power returns, DX3Pro+ does not return to the ON mode, it stays in Standby and it does not get woken up when sound signal appears on the USB input. That is kind of a disqualifier for me. Can anyone think of a way around it?

Leaving it on at all times is not an option as it draws 6W while doing nothing, compared to 3W of Topping D30 I used so far.

 

[radix]

I just got DX3 Pro+ and found out it has a serious flaw for my application. I have home automation that kills the power to my audio system when I leave home. It turns it back when I return. However, when power returns, DX3Pro+ does not return to the ON mode, it stays in Standby and it does not get woken up when sound signal appears on the USB input. That is kind of a disqualifier for me. Can anyone think of a way around it?

Leaving it on at all times is not an option as it draws 6W while doing nothing, compared to 3W of Topping D30 I used so far.

Make sure the "Auto" setting is A-O.

I verified that if I unplug the unit, plug it back in, and then play audio on Coax 2, the unit turns on by itself. it took maybe 10s.

Hmm, if I try it over and over, it does seem to be unreliable. Sometimes it takes a pretty long time, like 1min. Sometimes I wait over 3min and it does not turn on.

So yes, this does seem like a bug.

 

[lockheed]

Make sure the "Auto" setting is A-O.

I verified that if I unplug the unit, plug it back in, and then play audio on Coax 2, the unit turns on by itself. it took maybe 10s.

Hmm, if I try it over and over, it does seem to be unreliable. Sometimes it takes a pretty long time, like 1min. Sometimes I wait over 3min and it does not turn on.

So yes, this does seem like a bug.

I did some testing with USB input and Auto Standby. The DAC will turn on from Standby ONLY if the sequence of events is like so:
Plugged into the power socket -> DAC goes to standby -> USB-connected device is powered ON (or the usb cable is re-connected). It will stay in standby and not turn ON if the power on USB is already there when it reaches standby from being off.
So it is still a pain, but perhaps if I add delay in power-on between different power plugs (USB device powers on several seconds after DAC), it'd work.

 

[jools]

I did some testing with USB input and Auto Standby. The DAC will turn on from Standby ONLY if the sequence of events is like so:
Plugged into the power socket -> DAC goes to standby -> USB-connected device is powered ON (or the usb cable is re-connected). It will stay in standby and not turn ON if the power on USB is already there when it reaches standby from being off.
So it is still a pain, but perhaps if I add delay in power-on between different power plugs (USB device powers on several seconds after DAC), it'd work.

I think that's intentional - mine is plugged into a PC that's always on but the DAC still goes into standby and wakes up from the optical and bluetooth inputs. So it works for me and if they made it power up whenever the USB power was present, it wouldn't - but they could make it a menu choice... edge vs level.

 

[jani80k]

Just now I compared the DX3 Pro+ to the Fiio E10k. I prefer the E10k soundwise.
The DX3 Pro is a great unit, I am 100% sure it measures great. I can even hear how clean it is. But at the same time the clean sound is not doing the listening experience a big favour in my book. They did something which I cannot pinpoint to make it clean which none of my other chifi devices have and it makes it sound artificial in a way. As mentioned it's my suspicion that the way the treble is rendered adds to this impression. Maybe this is what people describe as "analytical" or "sterile".
EDIT: I found a very good way to describe the sound signature - "digital".
The DX3 Pro+ excels in gaming. Great positioning. But I would not use it for music. There are many cheaper better options - also consider the used market.

 

[lockheed]

Alright. Is there a way to enable automatical input switching on it? I.e. switch from USB to BT when BT device is connected or starts playing.

 

[Walter]

Just now I compared the DX3 Pro+ to the Fiio E10k. I prefer the E10k soundwise.
The DX3 Pro is a great unit, I am 100% sure it measures great. I can even hear how clean it is. But at the same time the clean sound is not doing the listening experience a big favour in my book. They did something which I cannot pinpoint to make it clean which none of my other chifi devices have and it makes it sound artificial in a way. As mentioned it's my suspicion that the way the treble is rendered adds to this impression. Maybe this is what people describe as "analytical" or "sterile".
EDIT: I found a very good way to describe the sound signature - "digital".
The DX3 Pro+ excels in gaming. Great positioning. But I would not use it for music. There are many cheaper better options - also consider the used market.

"Clean" means undistorted. So either it is distorting, which means you either got a defective unit or some component in the signal chain is clipping, or your other DAC is distorting or has a rolled off high frequency response and in your particular room with music you play, that is the sound you prefer. Or you're imagining it, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say probably not.

Edit: Or your headphones have really low impedance and the DX3 Pro+ itself is clipping.

 

[raistlin65]

"Clean" means undistorted. So either it is distorting, which means you either got a defective unit or some component in the signal chain is clipping, or your other DAC is distorting or has a rolled off high frequency response and in your particular room with music you play, that is the sound you prefer. Or you're imagining it, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say probably not.

Edit: Or your headphones have really low impedance and the DX3 Pro+ itself is clipping.

Or, someone just doesn't like the sound of their headphones with an accurate signal.