Topping DX3 Pro+ Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

[Gremildo]

Hi
After reading a lot about the DX3 I still confused if the volume knob controls or not the dac/rca output. That's what I need for my system, which is DAC (right now Focusrite 2I2) ---> Topping TP22 --> B&W 602. Somebody can confirm this? Volume works as I need ?
(The purpose is the dx3 as an upgrade from 2i2, what looks like it is).Thanks!

 

[nsfgp]

Hi
After reading a lot about the DX3 I still confused if the volume knob controls or not the dac/rca output. That's what I need for my system, which is DAC (right now Focusrite 2I2) ---> Topping TP22 --> B&W 602. Somebody can confirm this? Volume works as I need ?
(The purpose is the dx3 as an upgrade from 2i2, what looks like it is).Thanks!

Keep the default which is in Pre-Amp mode; and yes rca out is volume adjustable when you select line output mode.
If you select lineout+headphoneout output the rca out is also volume adjustable when you set to either DAC or pre-amp mode.

Read the manual ... it is pretty clear.

 

[Gremildo]

Keep the default which is in Pre-Amp mode; and yes rca out is volume adjustable when you select line output mode.
If you select lineout+headphoneout output the rca out is also volume adjustable when you set to either DAC or pre-amp mode.

Read the manual ... it is pretty clear.
View attachment 236663

Thank you

 

[milosR]

Hi
After reading a lot about the DX3 I still confused if the volume knob controls or not the dac/rca output. That's what I need for my system, which is DAC (right now Focusrite 2I2) ---> Topping TP22 --> B&W 602. Somebody can confirm this? Volume works as I need ?
(The purpose is the dx3 as an upgrade from 2i2, what looks like it is).Thanks!

The volume knob on my DX3 Pro+ doesn't detect the individual clicks maybe 30% of the time I use it. This seems to be the common issue with the model. If you plan to use the button often maybe this is not a good choice.

 

[Gremildo]

The volume knob on my DX3 Pro+ doesn't detect the individual clicks maybe 30% of the time I use it. This seems to be the common issue with the model. If you plan to use the button often maybe this is not a good choice.

Thank you MilosR. Maybe I'm "forcing" this product to be used as a studio device? (mastering 95% here). I see remote controls and biggest part of users talking about the HP amp quality (I rarely use HP). I use the knob control (of 2i2) a lot.
I also own a Ross Martin Dac, which I used in my old PC (coaxial).

 

[Bleib]

Unfortunately the quality of (some) used components / quality of control seems to be severely lacking here. Obviously all we know is based on information posted on this or other forums or other places. Topping is the only party that has a clear picture how many units were returned or how many/what kind of problems are reported. But I must say that I'm disappointed:
- my first unit had this problem with the volume knob when trying to increase volume would be ignored,
- for the second unit this problem was less pronounced, although still present, but around 1 month ago one of the segments on the LCD display starts disappearing,
- now I'm waiting for the third unit...

It is nice that the merchant said that I can keep faulty units - may be useful for some future repairs, outside the warranty window...

I don't want to be mean or ironic, but... less SINAD, more quality control... @JohnYang1997.

So it was somewhat of a false alarm from me, the display works fine. Luckily

 

[haen]

So it was somewhat of a false alarm from me, the display works fine. Luckily

Hopefully it will stay that way for you.

Mine gets back to being fine from time to time, especially after the device wakes up. But most of the time one segment is dead. I have the display turn off after 30 seconds, so it is not that this missing segment is constantly stabbing me in the eye. It is a disappointment anyway.

 

[Alexium]

Does the Bluetooth input function support any lossless formats, or is it compressed only? I'm not up to speed on modern BT standards, codecs and profiles, just trying to decide if the BT function is a gimmick or actually could be useful to me.
Bluetooth seems to be the biggest differentiator between DX3+ and the new DX1 which is $100 cheaper, that's a strong incentive to pick DX1.

 

[staticV3]

Does the Bluetooth input function support any lossless formats, or is it compressed only?

Lossless Bluetooth doesn't exist yet. Qualcomm claims their new codec can do it, but aptX Lossless hasn't been tested so far and there's just one downstream device that supports it, the NuraTrue Pro.

Bluetooth seems to be the biggest differentiator between DX3+ and the new DX1

The DX3Pro+ has much more output power than the DX1.

 

[rarewolf]

Lossless Bluetooth doesn't exist yet. Qualcomm claims their new codec can do it, but aptX Lossless hasn't been tested so far and there's just one downstream device that supports it, the NuraTrue Pro.

Although the DX3P+ does support all of aptX’s current higher bandwidth modes, as well as LDAC, so we’re talking about very close to CD quality

The DX3Pro+ has much more output power than the DX1.

Agreed… the DX1 is more of an IEM amplifier, and even some IEMs would benefit from more power… but I have to admit, it provides very clean SE power

 

[asorle]

I can also report that I hear some crackles after turning on the device, but it stops after a couple of minutes. I am using it with Linux over USB and it has 1.25 firmware installed. Not a deal breaker but also doesn't bring up confidence about the long term quality.

I have been in touch with Topping about this issue and they said I should remove the bluetooth antenna. Seems to solve the crackling while cold. I have bluetooth off anyways. Maybe when you disable it you should remove the antenna as well. Probably some bad design of that part or just a qc issue.

 

[milosR]

I have been in touch with Topping about this issue and they said I should remove the bluetooth antenna. Seems to solve the crackling while cold. I have bluetooth off anyways. Maybe when you disable it you should remove the antenna as well. Probably some bad design of that part or just a qc issue.

I tested that a couple of days ago - Bluetooth is disabled and antenna removed, but still the crack in sound is happening while cold.

 

[milosR]

For me after around three weeks of testing the DX3 Pro+ the conclusion is - not worth it.

Even after ignoring all the small QC issues the sound it makes is the most important thing - and for me it is too fatiguing. I cannot listen to this DAC for more than 45 min. with all of the headphones, and even speakers I tested it with. It did make my Drop HD6xx headphones interesting, it does work fine with the Koss KPH30i's, it doesn't work so good with the Beyer DT240 Pro's (the sound ends up too boxed in), and it is really revealing about the qualities of all the IEM's I played it with, but somehow, even without any sibilant sounds or sharpness noticed, I cannot listen to it for more than one album.

I bought this DAC as a secondary test - to see how it would compare to my daily driver combo: Schiit Asgard 3 with the Multibit internal DAC. I used the Asgard with the Beyer DT240 pro's for the last couple of years and I would get zero ear fatigue from this combination of DAC-AMP-Headphones. I got bored from it and decided to test some year 2022 equipment. I also bought the Moondrop Aria SE IEM's and found the sound of it too anemic.

So at the end of it I did end up satisfying my curiosity and I will no longer invest any interest into the Topping ESS DAC - NFCA Amp sound combination. I am happy that I didn't buy into some of the more expensive models. Maybe next year I will go and test the Aune X1s GT.

 

[jlsmndz2]

Hi, i have this DAC/Amp and the Sundara. My source is a phone running Qobuz on UAPP. My question is: is it normal to have it on like -10dB on high gain to match the volume of my ifi Hip dac2 on 1 o'clock on the balanced port, i just thought that i would have so much headroom since the hipdac2 is 400mW and the DX3 PRO+ is 1.8watts. It sounds great tho.

 

[staticV3]

@jlsmndz2 you can't compare "1 o'clock" of Amp 1 to -10dB of Amp 2. That doesn't work.

If you want to make sure you're getting all the output volume that you paid for, then you can measure that yourself with a $10 multimeter, an empty audio plug, and a 60Hz full-scale sine test tone.

With volume set to 100% and the multimeter set to AC voltage, you should see about 8.8Vrms.

 

[sofastreamer]

as i own both, the g5 and the dx3pro+ i accidently flashed the dx3 with the 1.50 FW of the G5. so far without problems. but i had no problems before. so fingers crossed...

 

[bartosso]

I have a problem with my Topping DX3 Pro+ that I haven't seen reported here on the forums before. From time to time - sometimes I can listen to a whole album without this issue occurring - the audio starts skipping a microsecond every 5-10 seconds. Usually simple pausing and resuming a track doesn't help, I have to restart the player (I use Music Bee for my Bandcamp collection but it also happens in Spotify and Tidal). The issue goes away on its own after a while, but I rarely have the patience to wait it out.

Things I've already tried:

• Changing the output driver to Wasapi shared (APO doesn't work with ASIO so I didn't try)
• Increasing the buffer size to max and adding silence at startup for hardware synchronization. (Music Bee) ==> seems to help but doesn't eliminate the issue 100%.
• Enabling hardware acceleration in Spotify.

Note: I'm using APO for my EQ. I did use APO before with my Denon PMA-50 DAC and didn't have such issues (the sound quality of the DX3+is better though). I'm on a fairly fast Windows 10 PC. I have the most recent firmware and drivers from Topping installed.

Do you guys know what might be causing this and how to fix it?

 

[staticV3]

Is your DX3Pro+ plugged into a USB3 port (the blue one)?

 

[bartosso]

Is your DX3Pro+ plugged into a USB3 port (the blue one)?

yes

 

[staticV3]

USB3 and Thunderbolt chipsets are notorious for causing stutter with audio devices. Try updating your USB chipset firmware or plugging the DAC into a USB2 port connected straight to the CPU.