Topping DX5II Balanced DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[Minato]

On my 30W model the hardware revision is V0.15.

 

[jmdesignz2]

I agree, and considering the amount of enthusiastic beta testing that ASR members are doing here @TOPPING should contemplate donating a decent amount to the forum.

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Jul 22, 2019

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• amirm
• Replies: 311
• Forum: Forum Suggestions and Announcements

• 

My white one also has the old lable - which hardware revision do you have?

where would I see that? On that label?

 

[ziggurcat]

where would I see that? On that label?

Open Topping Tune, and click the cogwheel -- it will show the TT version, FW version, and HW version (image below -- not my image).

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

FFT meter could be a bit slower, like it is in RME dac.
It follows very fast with current "sound" so it looks kinda "shaky" (hard to describe but it looks a bit too fast/nervous) and you can see smearing of LCD panel.

 

[Bleib]

FFT meter could be a bit slower, like it is in RME dac.
It follows very fast with current "sound" so it looks kinda "shaky" (hard to describe but it looks a bit too fast/nervous) and you can see smearing of LCD panel.

Might also have to do with the color. I love it when it's purple

 

[JaccoW]

FFT meter could be a bit slower, like it is in RME dac.
It follows very fast with current "sound" so it looks kinda "shaky" (hard to describe but it looks a bit too fast/nervous) and you can see smearing of LCD panel.

I kind of like it. As the owner of devices with actual physical VU-meters the Wiim VU meter is just too damn slow.

 

[ziggurcat]

I kind of like it. As the owner of devices with actual physical VU-meters the Wiim VU meter is just too damn slow.

The VU display on the DX5 II seems pretty responsive to me. Topping did change its responsiveness in one of the earlier FW updates because people complained it was too slow.

 

[Spiral_Architect]

I have finalized the setup, configured another preset for HD650 and finally got/made new cables for HE400se and HD650. Not that I hoped to improve sound quality but I absolutely hated a) the useless 3m-long cable of the senns, have hated it for years and b) the damn angled connector of the HE400SE. Now I have two short cables, balanced just because why not.

The DX5 is permanently connected to the PC line in so that I can check software stability. So far no issues, with topping tune always off I did not notice any drift or loss of profiles. Frequency response remains correct. Software appears clunky but stable so far if you don't touch it.

I experimented a bit to see if I was able to see "PEQ cramping" with my measurement setup and tried a test case (using equalizer APO) of a peaking filter at 15khz q1.1 and gain 10db. Comparing the 96khz measurement (blue) with 48 khz (green) it's definitely there.

With realistic headphone EQ filters does it have an impact ? To an extend yes, for example with the HE400se filters you can see that both EQapo and Topping exhibit some distortion at the end of the spectrum (probably inaudible). Otherwise the filters match almost perfectly (top to bottom 96khz Topping, APO, and then 44khz Topping then APO). A similar result is seen for the HD650 filter. All in all I think that oversampling to 96khz in music player could be reasonable even if such differences are 99.999999% inaudible (but so are also the differences between different resamplers or no resampling, so...).

The advantage of this great box is that i have EQ independently of source, even without a PC for example with bluetooth streaming, which can come in very very handy. Regardless of how you do EQ i find that HE400se and HD650 when equalized sound pretty similar in overall balance (which is the purpose of EQ), both fantastic.

 

[Space is the place]

USPS was able to find it! Love how I don’t need a computer, can just Bluetooth and use PEQ!

Look at that screen! hard to beat this for the price.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/1757564373422-jpeg.475617/

I listened to this exact set up, the Topping DX5 MKII and the Noire at a Hifi show in Summer. It's not hyperbole to say I was totally blown away by how good the combination sounded, so three dimensional, natural and detailed! Link to the Album i was listening to here.
They did have a more expensive Schitt Dac and separate amp stack set up (can't remember what Schitt models they were, but much more expensive) right next to the Topping. I felt with the same tracks the Topping and the Noire were more open and dynamic sounding at the same volume.

Looking forward to getting my DX5 MKII to try with my HD650's, might treat myself to some Dan Clarkes in the future!
I'm also going to try the DX5 MKII as a preamp/Dac driving four monoblocks via the XLRs too, so will be interesting to see how it performs as a Preamp Dac in the main system.

 

[pieterv1]

I listened to this exact set up, the Topping DX5 MKII and the Noire at a Hifi show in Summer. It's not hyperbole to say I was totally blown away by how good the combination sounded, so three dimensional, natural and detailed! Link to the Album i was listening to here.
They did have a more expensive Schitt Dac and separate amp stack set up (can't remember what Schitt models they were, but much more expensive) right next to the Topping. I felt with the same tracks the Topping and the Noire were more open and dynamic sounding at the same volume.

Looking forward to getting my DX5 MKII to try with my HD650's, might treat myself to some Dan Clarkes in the future!
I'm also going to try the DX5 MKII as a preamp/Dac driving four monoblocks via the XLRs too, so will be interesting to see how it performs as a Preamp Dac in the main system.

How are you going to connect it to 4 monoblocks? And which type? Just being curious

 

[Roland68]

How are you going to connect it to 4 monoblocks? And which type? Just being curious

I'm guessing an active analog crossover or Y-cable.

 

[Space is the place]

I'm guessing an active analog crossover or Y-cable.

Yes a Y cable, hopefully the XLR's of the topping will drive the amps, amps are NHT A1's.
I had a Cambridge DacMagic Plus and an MDAC, both worked well with the amps, but they have both "expired". The DX5 II will be mainly for headphone listening, but i'll give it a go to see how it performs with the preamp volume control implemented.

 

[Roland68]

I listened to this exact set up, the Topping DX5 MKII and the Noire at a Hifi show in Summer. It's not hyperbole to say I was totally blown away by how good the combination sounded, so three dimensional, natural and detailed! Link to the Album i was listening to here.
They did have a more expensive Schitt Dac and separate amp stack set up (can't remember what Schitt models they were, but much more expensive) right next to the Topping. I felt with the same tracks the Topping and the Noire were more open and dynamic sounding at the same volume.

Looking forward to getting my DX5 MKII to try with my HD650's, might treat myself to some Dan Clarkes in the future!
I'm also going to try the DX5 MKII as a preamp/Dac driving four monoblocks via the XLRs too, so will be interesting to see how it performs as a Preamp Dac in the main system.

The DX5 MKII and the Dan Clarke headphones are really good. Do you know which Noire you were listening to?
Really nice album, by the way, thanks for the tip.

 

[Space is the place]

They were the closed back ones, Noire X, very impressive. I also tried the Dan Clark Electrostatics but it was to noisy in the room to enjoy them. The demo room was run by a company called Electromod, I tried to get a DX5 II from them (really lovely people) but they'll be out of stock for a long time and they recommended i get it elsewhere.

 

[JaccoW]

The VU display on the DX5 II seems pretty responsive to me. Topping did change its responsiveness in one of the earlier FW updates because people complained it was too slow.

I'll try making a video comparing them some day.

EDIT: Just updated to the latest version, it's better but still not even remotely as good as a proper VU meter.
The best I can explain it is the Topping VU feels like someone is opening a valve that makes the arm move, there is always a certain delay going on. And it's nearly impossible for the arm to go fully to zero for short quiet areas.
Whereas an actual VU meter feels more like someone is slapping the arm to keep it in the air. There is a lot more micro movement in there. And on silent notes the arm will fully go back to zero in the same timeframe.

 

[SorenTyson]

It's available on amazon.com, but looking at the sellers it seems they are all Chinese. Is there any way to confirm tariffs before purchasing?

 

[Rayman30]

It's available on amazon.com, but looking at the sellers it seems they are all Chinese. Is there any way to confirm tariffs before purchasing?

I ordered mine from Apos, who shipped it from China and there was no hassle or extra charges (Other than the local post office losing it for a bit)

 

[jr41]

Mine arrived last week. Got it from Scan.co.uk as I wanted ease of return, just in case. came with v1.49 firmware, so updated to the latest version (v1.67), with no hassle. The sticker on the bottom reads "power consipmton 15w".

Build quality is great, sturdy and solid, and better than I was expecting. Unit only feels very slightly warm after extended listening. I've been using BT exclusively, and noted occasional stutter/skipping for the first few mins, with either an android phone (Samsung S23 Ultra) or Windows laptop, which seems to stop after a few mins into a listening session. I like the flexibility of Bluetooth and no messing about with cables.

Overall I'm very pleased so far, it sounds so good with my HD 650! Thanks to Amir and ASR for putting me onto Topping and the DX5II, it's a great bit of kit.

 

[Timbo2]

Mine arrived last week. Got it from Scan.co.uk, as I wanted ease of return, just in case. came with v1.49 firmware, so updated to the latest version (v1.67), with no hassle. The sticker on the bottom reads "power consipmton 15w".

Build quality is great, sturdy and solid, and better than I was expecting. Unit only feels very slightly warm after extended listening. I've been using BT exclusively, and noted occasional stutter/skipping for the first few mins, with either an android phone (Samsung S23 Ultra) or Windows laptop, which seems to stop after a few mins into a listening session. I like the flexibility of Bluetooth and no messing about with cables.

Overall I'm very pleased so far, it sounds so good with my HD 650s! Thanks to Amir and ASR for putting me onto Topping and the DX5II, it's a great bit of kit.

Funny. I’m likely one of the few other Bluetooth users and I have same issue. I will normally get one dropout per listening session usually within the first few minutes. After that rock solid. My source is android TV and 10 feet with a clear line of sight. No issues with other Bluetooth devices. Not a big issue nor would it be a deal breaker for me.

 

[jr41]

Funny. I’m likely one of the few other Bluetooth users and I have same issue. I will normally get one dropout per listening session usually within the first few minutes. After that rock solid. My source is android TV and 10 feet with a clear line of sight. No issues with other Bluetooth devices. Not a big issue nor would it be a deal breaker for me.

Oh, that's interesting to know. Hopefully something that'll get fixed with a future firmware update, then. I agree, it's not a deal breaker.