Topping DX3 Pro+ Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

[DrFlimFlam]

would a 560s pair good with this? or are they low impedance 120 for it?

 

[tvih]

Sadly, you learned this lesson the hard way, but if you look around there is a ton of advice online to never use a rigid adapter like that one, and it’s a bit of common sense too (not saying that in a dickish way). Flexible works better and it shouldn’t really matter which the DX3 Pro+ uses because everyone has different headphones and everyone has good adapter options available to them.

I rarely read anything relates to cables and such, really - audio-wise I've traditionally mostly read speaker-side stuff anyway. I mean it's indeed common sense if you stop to think about it, but never really had a reason to until recently. The headphones came with the rigid adapter as usual, and aside from the PC case's port (which I very rarely used so it's not really missed) the previous DAC that I used has such a light little plastic case and build (I doubt it's more than 100 grams, if that) that you couldn't actually put any meaningful torsion onto it by pulling the cable without also holding down the DAC itself on purpose, otherwise it'd just "float" with the cable. So for the vast majority of the ~12 years using the old DAC it wasn't really an issue - even the PC front panel port only broke earlier this year while testing something despite having had the case since 2014. The other source I used the headphones with, namely the AVRs, had a 6.3mm port directly. And I reckon most people are likely to have headphones with 6.3mm plug rather than the other options when pairing with a device like this, hence to me the 6.3mm port would make sense as a default even if it's obviously not a dealbreaker.

Regardless, at least the future is now more safe & secure

 

[DarrylG]

would a 560s pair good with this? or are they low impedance 120 for it?

I don't see why the 560s wouldn't work well. The DX3 Pro+ has more than enough power to drive it.

 

[bcn]

Hello. I just got DX3 Pro+. Headphone amp is making a low-noise ‘ticking’ sound, when gain is in high mode, on active input (inactive inputs are completely silent). The sound is almost like second hand sound on mechanical clock, just faster. When gain is low mode, ticking sound is still there, but almost inaudible. Anyone knows how to get rid of this annoying sound? Thnx

EDIT: I've found the solution. BT antenna was picking up interference. I have just removed it (I don’t use BT anyway) and now amp is completely silent, even in +19dB gain.

 

[nothingman]

Mine puts a noise into my system, even though my only connection is out of my miniDSP SHD preamp and into the DX3 Pro+ via coaxial. No matter what source I have selected on my SHD, if the DX3 has its power plugged in, it sends a buzz noise through my tweeters. No BT antenna connected. System is dead silent otherwise. I have tried three different 15V power supplies and all sorts of isolation techniques and it’s really just down to the DX3.

Emails to Topping from myself and my dealer (headphones.com) went unanswered for two months so I gave up (paging @JohnYang1997 - that’s just bad customer service), even though I provided clearly recorded proof of the noise interference. My only solution is to keep the DX3 unplugged unless I’m using it. Since my headphone use is only occasional that doesn’t bother me personally but it’s still a crappy solution to a problem that shouldn’t happen.

You can hear me plugging and unplugging the power barrel in this audio recording (vimeo). Phone mic held pointing at tweeter.

 

[DarrylG]

Mine puts a noise into my system, even though my only connection is out of my miniDSP SHD preamp and into the DX3 Pro+ via coaxial. No matter what source I have selected on my SHD, if the DX3 has its power plugged in, it sends a buzz noise through my tweeters. No BT antenna connected. System is dead silent otherwise. I have tried three different 15V power supplies and all sorts of isolation techniques and it’s really just down to the DX3.

Emails to Topping from myself and my dealer (headphones.com) went unanswered for two months so I gave up (paging @JohnYang1997 - that’s just bad customer service), even though I provided clearly recorded proof of the noise interference. My only solution is to keep the DX3 unplugged unless I’m using it. Since my headphone use is only occasional that doesn’t bother me personally but it’s still a crappy solution to a problem that shouldn’t happen.

You can hear me plugging and unplugging the power barrel in this audio recording (vimeo). Phone mic held pointing at tweeter.

Damn shame.

 

[conuss]

Why are there so many complaints about this Topping?! Why such an ugly quality control?! That, unlike others, is too demanding of the incoming S/PDIF jitter, then the display starts to die off, then the handle behaves improperly, then now the new problem described above! Outrageous attitude to quality. Shame! I won't take it for free.

 

[Toku]

Mine puts a noise into my system, even though my only connection is out of my miniDSP SHD preamp and into the DX3 Pro+ via coaxial. No matter what source I have selected on my SHD, if the DX3 has its power plugged in, it sends a buzz noise through my tweeters. No BT antenna connected. System is dead silent otherwise. I have tried three different 15V power supplies and all sorts of isolation techniques and it’s really just down to the DX3.

Emails to Topping from myself and my dealer (headphones.com) went unanswered for two months so I gave up (paging @JohnYang1997 - that’s just bad customer service), even though I provided clearly recorded proof of the noise interference. My only solution is to keep the DX3 unplugged unless I’m using it. Since my headphone use is only occasional that doesn’t bother me personally but it’s still a crappy solution to a problem that shouldn’t happen.

You can hear me plugging and unplugging the power barrel in this audio recording (vimeo). Phone mic held pointing at tweeter.

Is there noise even if I disconnect the Coax cable from the miniDSP SHD preamp connected to the DX3 Pro +?
If the noise disappears, it seems that there is something wrong with the connection with the miniDSP SHD preamp and the noise is mixed in the DX3 Pro +.

 

[nothingman]

The noise is decreased significantly but not eliminated if I detach the coax. Just by being plugged into the same electrical circuit the DX3 makes noise. Something about how it handles power, not the supply itself but the actual DX3 itself, is the problem.

This is a system that has around 10 components and their stock power supplies all sharing an electrical circuit and connected via various audio cables and nearly every input and output of the SHD is being used for something.

It operates in dead silence without the DX3, so it’s hard to fault miniDSP on this one. The SHD has two coax outputs and the device attached to the other one shows none of this behavior, and swapping them does nothing. Lastly, to check for incompatibility across the other components, I have unplugged everything except the just the bare minimum: DX3 power, NAD C298 power, SHD power and SHD to C298 via XLR and SHD to DX3 via coax pre-out… still get the noise.

The background out of the DX3 to my headphones is silent, if that’s a question.

 

[alecaso90]

Hi all, yesterday I got this fantastic product with beyerdynamic tygr 300 r, it’s my first dad/amp and I don’t know all lot of things.
For example, is it a bad practice to plug/unplug headphones while amp is on? Yesterday I did it and know I m scare of damage or bad quality cause of this.

 

[Smitty2k1]

Hi all, yesterday I got this fantastic product with beyerdynamic tygr 300 r, it’s my first dad/amp and I don’t know all lot of things.
For example, is it a bad practice to plug/unplug headphones while amp is on? Yesterday I did it and know I m scare of damage or bad quality cause of this.

It's fine! I always do it that way.

 

[tvih]

Hmm... maybe I should try connecting coax and toslink and see if I get any noise issues. I've only used USB so far, and a short BT test. Would've used toslink for the speaker setup but the new computer's motherboard didn't have the digital outs, so I'll have to connect the older computer.

 

[DarrylG]

Hi all, yesterday I got this fantastic product with beyerdynamic tygr 300 r, it’s my first dad/amp and I don’t know all lot of things.
For example, is it a bad practice to plug/unplug headphones while amp is on? Yesterday I did it and know I m scare of damage or bad quality cause of this.

The instructions that came with my Liquid Spark amp said to make sure the amp is off before inserting or removing headphone cables, and I've gotten into the habit of doing that.

 

[dodecahedron]

I am considering buying a Topping DX3 Pro+ for my Audeze LCD-X headphones. But I’m having a hard time understanding the issues discussed here regarding low impedance headphones.

Here are my personal quick calculations:
The LCD-X has an impedance of 20 ohms, and a 103 dB/1mW. Amir’s graph seems to show clipping (or triggering of the protection circuit) at about 3Vrms. According to Headphonesty’s headphone power calculator (https://www.headphonesty.com/headphone-power-calculator/), 3Vrms for these headphones (using 399mW) should be able to drive the headphones to a loudness of 129 dBSPL. Which should be more than enough headroom for me to listen to my music at normal levels and never experience any clipping or engaging the protection circuit.

Also the Topping DX3 Pro+ has an output impedance smaller than 0.1 ohm which is also well below the typical 1/8 rule in comparison to my headphone’s 20 ohm impedance. So there should be no issues there either.

Are my assumptions correct or did I make a mistake somewhere or forget something? Anybody have any reason to think that this amp/headphone pairing would be problematic in any way?

 

[fquails]

Holy smokes!!! This thing gets HOT! I use it in DAC mode streaming Tidal HiFi, Apple Music HiRes via optical or USB input, or through LDAC bluetooth, then via RCA out to an amp. The case gets hot to the touch. Is that normal for this device?? I mean, my stereo amp that the Topping is connected to doesn’t even get warm.

 

[tvih]

Well, on my sample size of one I certainly haven't noticed any heat issues. In DAC mode it feels quite cool to touch. Don't have a thermometer that could measure the case, but basically it's maybe a few degrees higher than when the unit is off.

When using it in headphone amp mode it does warm up slightly but nothing even remotely describable as hot.

 

[phoenixsong]

Looks like unit variance could be an issue?

 

[fquails]

Looks like unit variance could be an issue?

Are you saying yours runs hot or not? Is running hot the norm for this unit? I have two units—both run hot. Well, not burning hot, but hot compared to the much cooler amps they are connected to.

 

[Toku]

Are you saying yours runs hot or not? Is running hot the norm for this unit? I have two units—both run hot. Well, not burning hot, but hot compared to the much cooler amps they are connected to.

I'm using DX3Pro+, but it's certainly a bit hotter than other DACs like the E50, which doesn't have a built-in HPA. I also have two HPAs, L30 and A50s, but DX3 Pro + isn't hot at all compared to these.

 

[cestmoi]

Why are there so many complaints about this Topping?! Why such an ugly quality control?! That, unlike others, is too demanding of the incoming S/PDIF jitter, then the display starts to die off, then the handle behaves improperly, then now the new problem described above! Outrageous attitude to quality. Shame! I won't take it for free.

All that matters to this brand are measurements (some are even pointless). They really don't care about QC.