Topping DX5 II

[evalrat]

My DX5 II
Serial 2604573098
From Hifistudio79 in Holland

 

[evalrat]

Now my unit seems to function well with software version 1.93 I have been busy creating PEQ profiles.
A process that is quite easy, but ....
When you store the profile there's no correspondence at all between the label you used while storing to the unit and the labels used in the selector on the unit.

Topping roulette so to speak.

So if anyone from Topping or with close contacts to Topping would forward my following feature request:

1- Change the save dialog in such a way that you can save to a specific slot EQ1:, EQ2: EQ3:...... etc. on the unit
2- Show the label you entered in the PEQ editor in the selector behind the slot number as well, Analogous to the preinstalled PEQ profiles.

Thanks in advance

 

[onethreetwowaitthatswrong]

Got mine from audiophonics (serial starting with 210 if I'm looking at the right number) and the 4.4 plug is perfectly still, not moving at all (plugged on a sennheiser stock cable).

Edit : also so far (a dozen days) so good with headphones plugged in all the time in bal & se

 

[Dk33145]

I'm also worried.

My Topping DX5 II has this number: 26025745XX
I bought it on December 8th from Amazon Ireland.

Am I at any risk?

I have a unit with the same prefix (260) and can confirm it has functional overload/surge protection. Tried plugging in a TS wired balanced headphones (which I didn't know at the time) to the XLR jack, volume was too low, so I increased it to max, it tripped and shut itself off. There was another set of headphone plugged in to the 4.4 at the same time. Happened twice and both times the unit functioned correctly. Amp and headphones are all fine. The one time I did plug in th 6.35 was using a 3.5mm cable and a 6.35 adapter, and got no sound but I think it has more to do with the headphones wiring than anything else. Anyway, bottomline is never plug in balanced and unbalanced at the same time. Otherwise, the overload protection does seem to work well.

 

[Raymond lin]

I am on the latest firmware too, I haven't encountered any issues. I bought mine in June 2025 direct from the Topping Official Store.

I don't use the PEQ beyond the built in presets of Warm.

 

[satanicek666]

well my dx5 II arrived last week. I have connected to 6.35 Meze 99 classics V2 and in the back via XLR mackie mr524. everything works fine.
I have it at home but when mine arrived it had FW number 1.8x so maybe from the latest ones??? I immediately put the latest FW 1.93 to be sure. I get home so I'll look at the side of the box what number is there...
I want to buy a 4.4 cable via Alie from Openheart. is it worth it, will I see any improvement in the sound???

 

[ohezeba]

Got mine from audiophonics (serial starting with 210 if I'm looking at the right number) and the 4.4 plug is perfectly still, not moving at all (plugged on a sennheiser stock cable).

Edit : also so far (a dozen days) so good with headphones plugged in all the time in bal & se

The serial number is located under the QR code on the side of the case or on the box, they should match. If yours starts with 210, it's one of the very first batches. When did you buy yours? Maybe the early units had better quality control.

I’ve checked two different units, serial numbers 250 and 260, and in both cases the headphone connector has a slight amount of horizontal play. The case opening around the headphone jack isn’t perfectly snug to the connector, there’s roughly half a millimeter of slack on the right side. Both units were produced months apart, so this seems to be a consistent trait rather than an isolated defect.

It’s not really a functional issue, since the movement is ultimately limited by the case opening itself. Naturally, if someone deliberately stresses it, it could eventually break, but under normal use, that’s unlikely to happen easily, I’d just recommend always extracting the cable with care.
It’s definitely not a great look in terms of build quality and precision, and it makes you wonder if this is yet another small compromise needed to offer a unit like this at this price point.

 

[Deleted member 93967]

To clarify and add more data to this topic, thanks to the efforts of the user audiofun, follows a detailed photographic analysis from the DX5II.

Topping DX5II teardown

@kevin gilmore has the circuit diagram posted here. Here's the full pcb board. First, the digital part You can see the bluetooth module on the top left. On the middle right is the MS8422N, which is a chip to do routing, replacing LC89058W on earlier topping devices. The signal then...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Also pointed out by user GeekyBastard, critical soldering points, problem also referred to and mentioned by the gentlemens in this thread.

 

[Raymond lin]

The serial number is located under the QR code on the side of the case or on the box, they should match. If yours starts with 210, it's one of the very first batches. When did you buy yours? Maybe the early units had better quality control.

I’ve checked two different units, serial numbers 250 and 260, and in both cases the headphone connector has a slight amount of horizontal play. The case opening around the headphone jack isn’t perfectly snug to the connector, there’s roughly half a millimeter of slack on the right side. Both units were produced months apart, so this seems to be a consistent trait rather than an isolated defect.

It’s not really a functional issue, since the movement is ultimately limited by the case opening itself. Naturally, if someone deliberately stresses it, it could eventually break, but under normal use, that’s unlikely to happen easily, I’d just recommend always extracting the cable with care.
It’s definitely not a great look in terms of build quality and precision, and it makes you wonder if this is yet another small compromise needed to offer a unit like this at this price point.

Which serial is the “better” one?

 

[somebodyelse]

To clarify and add more data to this topic, thanks to the efforts of the user audiofun, follows a detailed photographic analysis from the DX5II.

Topping DX5II teardown

@kevin gilmore has the circuit diagram posted here. Here's the full pcb board. First, the digital part You can see the bluetooth module on the top left. On the middle right is the MS8422N, which is a chip to do routing, replacing LC89058W on earlier topping devices. The signal then...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Also pointed out by user GeekyBastard, critical soldering points, problem also referred to and mentioned by the gentlemens in this thread.


View attachment 504364

The bits circled in red don't line up with the pin headers, so to me it looks more like the pad layout on the middle of the short side at the other end of the daughter board but with a stray bit of solder on it.

 

[satanicek666]

mine is number 2604573280, bought a week ago and the FW was 1.8x there...

 

[Dk33145]

The bits circled in red don't line up with the pin headers, so to me it looks more like the pad layout on the middle of the short side at the other end of the daughter board but with a stray bit of solder on it.

The mainboard looks great but the breakout boards look very rough, likely Topping outsourced those and/or reused them. In front, the 4.4 sits on top of the 6.35 as a breakout board, and you can easily see how even a stray bit of solder could cause a short when both circuits are closed.

 

[onethreetwowaitthatswrong]

The serial number is located under the QR code on the side of the case or on the box, they should match. If yours starts with 210, it's one of the very first batches. When did you buy yours? Maybe the early units had better quality control.

I must have been mistaken then, because the number on the box on the sticker label under the barcode is starting with 260. The 210 number I found directly on the underside of the device, and thought that was it because it was what looked like what others posted the most. I don't see another occurrence of the 260 number on the packaging. Next to the QR code, on another side of the box but engraved, are a bunch of numbers, the longer starting with : 86-20-372 next to two chinese characters. I ordered it less than 20 days ago. I can indeed feel a very small horizontal play if I press on the 4.4 plug.

 

[User2007]

4.4mm horizontal play is by design.
I opened up my unit and the headphone port is layered above the 6.35mm. It is basically on stilts that are about 2.5cm long and soldered to the mainboard. I doubt that will last very long.

A XLR to 4.4 adapter permanently plugged into the unit would fix this flaw. But do I have to fear loss in sound quality?

 

[Power Pop 23]

4.4mm horizontal play is by design.
I opened up my unit and the headphone port is layered above the 6.35mm. It is basically on stilts that are about 2.5cm long and soldered to the mainboard. I doubt that will last very long.

A XLR to 4.4 adapter permanently plugged into the unit would fix this flaw. But do I have to fear loss in sound quality?

Probably not

Go with the fix.

 

[Dk33145]

4.4mm horizontal play is by design.
I opened up my unit and the headphone port is layered above the 6.35mm. It is basically on stilts that are about 2.5cm long and soldered to the mainboard. I doubt that will last very long.

A XLR to 4.4 adapter permanently plugged into the unit would fix this flaw. But do I have to fear loss in sound quality?

Do you mean a 4.4 to xlr? Otherwise why not just use the xlr? It is a lot more sturdy and less chance of a short if you accidentally plug in a 6.35 as well.

 

[User2007]

Do you mean a 4.4 to xlr? Otherwise why not just use the xlr? It is a lot more sturdy and less chance of a short if you accidentally plug in a 6.35 as well.

Because my headphone cables for my 4 headphones are 4.4mm - all of them (if someone think this is „overkill“ or not) are 200-600€ range.

 

[ohezeba]

Do you mean a 4.4 to xlr? Otherwise why not just use the xlr? It is a lot more sturdy and less chance of a short if you accidentally plug in a 6.35 as well.

Like this:

This way you don’t even risk damaging the XLR port. For the 6.35 mm, you can just leave the 3.5 mm adapter plugged in, otherwise, buying a 15 cm extension cable for the 4.4 mm is definitely a good way to protect the socket

 

[Wilgene123]

Recently got into this hobby and bought a dx5 ii to pair with my hifiman arya organic, however i noticed that there is clipping on the right channel when the preamp is set to -11.5 and higher on low gain when listening to bass tests. It happens on my lcd 2f as well but on -4.5 onwards but it’s less noticeable. Is this normal and wouldn’t the arya organic (16ohms) vs lcd 2f (70ohms) be easier to drive which means that there should be sufficient power to prevent clipping?

 

[ohezeba]

Recently got into this hobby and bought a dx5 ii to pair with my hifiman arya organic, however i noticed that there is clipping on the right channel when the preamp is set to -11.5 and higher on low gain when listening to bass tests. It happens on my lcd 2f as well but on -4.5 onwards but it’s less noticeable. Is this normal and wouldn’t the arya organic (16ohms) vs lcd 2f (70ohms) be easier to drive which means that there should be sufficient power to prevent clipping?

How are you connecting these headphones, to which port and using which cable?
Do you have multiple headphones/output connected at the same time?
Does the issue also occur with the PEQ disabled?
Which serial number do you have? Is located on the side of the case, below the QR code