I doubt they will give me any refund or replace it, since I bought it on AliExpress (Shenzhenaudio Store) and I also live in South America. Usually, stores do not really care about people from this region, and according to AliExpress I can no longer file a claim because more than 15 days have passed since delivery. I wrote directly to the seller but have not received a response yet; now I am going to write to Topping. Most likely no one will respond, but if I do receive a reply, I will post an update here.
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Topping DX5II Balanced DAC and Headphone Amp Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
That sucks dude. Sorry.
After owning this piece($327 after tax) I found the p-eq was one of the easiest to set than 6 other DSPs I've owned, there's more than enough earrings to fix irregularities in response. It took me days working with other DSPs, dealing with diminishing memory and CPU constantly going back to adjust lower settings in other parts of the settings to achieve any correction turned into a pain especially with the confusing back and forth of pages and millions of button pushes just to change one setting 1db drive me nuts, the topping is only limited to the p-eq but that's ok because what they advertise is fully available while other DSPs that claim to do hundreds of settings, only end up being able to use a very limited number of settings in the real world due to memory and CPU availability.
What I didn't like was how the toslink input sounded connected to my TV, the tiny speakers in my TV sounded better than my $12k audio system using TOSLINK.
The other issue and more important was using the p-eq or basically using the topping as a pre amp, caused the same exact loss in realism in the sound as every other DSP I've owned. The mini DSP, both Behringer DSPs, a stetson, a Brazilian made, bi-amp pre DSP and the topping all have the same degradation of sound. This may or may not be detectible by tests, I'm not sure how it could be analyzed without some way of showing signal in and signal out losses. The music becomes sterile and the imaging is destroyed along with any staging and realism. The dynamics change dramatically and I used it for 2 hours before I decided to return it.
It was silent but so are a bunch of other things rated far down in the list created here.
I saw another test done on Arylic equipment and it was laughed at, normally that should stop anyone from buying anything from them but since I find little use for the tests done here, nothing is compared to real world results that show major loss in sound or difficulties with using them, software issues and ease of use overall. I ignored the post that was provided and ordered an Arylic BP50 pre-amp (cost $99 total) because it had all features I could use and had the most versatile inputs and outputs. I had to have an HDMI input, that was the most important aspect just to start, that left me about 20 pieces in the entire world that have that available in a pre-amp, then I had to have RCA or XLR outputs, that removed about 10 from the list, I didn't need a headphone amp since I have no use why should I pay for it. That cut my choices down to about 4 or 5 and 3 of them were over $600, there was a choice between the Fosi and the Acrylic but the Fosi was missing a feature that the Arylic has, a fully adjustable Subwoofer output that can be set as high as 300Hz.
Since my Martin Logan Prodigy's have the woofer xover bypassed to improve the bass response, I need an active crossover at 250Hz to match the panels. The Arylic was able to be set at 250Hz and it has a built in eq as well. I can set the output of the sub and they offer a sub sonic boost as well. It tested it and it dies in fact add more deep bass if needed. My amps are clean and quiet with huge watts available, typically I can hear any imperfections in recordings and amplifiers I use can make a huge difference in delivery if sound.
I hear nothing at all when I use the Arylic, same thing as the topping, the Arylic is actually better sounding than when I ran my source directly into a DBX 231 eq and then to an active analog xover feeding a Sunfure 300 on panels (2Ω) and a QSC GX5 on woofers (2Ω). The amount of watts available is far more than I'd be using ever but this leaves the amps at about half power at most.
The sound from the Arylic is even better sounding than straight in directly and it replaced both the DBX and the active xover, plus I have a remote, a pre amp to switch sources, a better eq, a USB media player, 2 direction dual channel Bluetooth (receiver and transmitter x2) and a music streamer, DAC from computer and an app that is simple to use and gives me just the exact useful control I needed.
In the real world it turned out to be even more than I could have hoped for as a pre-amp, I doubted I'd be able to use this piece without degrading the music but the Arylic BP50 is the only piece I've owned that has not affected the sound output to be altered. The ability to set the Sub out to 250Hz was something I've not seen in any other piece. That alone was enough to make it worth $99 but then there's so much more.
The things I don't like are, the app needs location turned on to use it, the unit is set to auto select the inputs, when I turn off my tv (which is also controlled by the Arylic remote through HDMI ARC) it will start playing the USB drive (up to 128gb) automatically without me selecting it. Late night tv viewing can end with a loud music player kicking in unexpectedly. The USB player can't play flies in folders, it won't show folders to select. There's quite a bit of skipping songs if you want to hear anything specific. I also am not a fan of the front panels set up, it only shows what device you're using, the topping has a nice display although it's hard to see any further than arms reach.
There have been some Arylic models that have had bad firmware provided through their site. I saw how they have worked on correcting it for those who had issues and so far all were recoverable. The BP50 was not one of the bad firmware but I have not had any urges to update mine since it works exactly as I hoped.
The low mid bass has become like a sledgehammer, there's no disconnect between midbass then nothing until the ultra low bass kicks in, as I've encountered without the Arylic pre. Same amps but the signal only runs through the pre and then directly to the amps, the midrange has always been incredibly accurate and that has not changed, I can say that the Arylic pre has also made a great improvement to the highs. I was getting a roll off in highs that required a tiny boost at 10KHz before but that issue has been corrected now and an odd irregularity in both the lows (around 50Hz to 70Hz) and the ultra highs (both had a strange quick drop that looked like a xover point would look). Just a straight line from a peak to a sharp dip then leveled off and rolled afterward. Both issues have disappeared now and show a much flatter response throughout the spectrum with a slight dip around 1kHz to 2kHz that is corrected with a single eq +2db centered at 1.6kHz adjustment.
The vocals stay centered from album to album, no need for micro balancing adjustment between recordings, I forgot to mention the BP50 has a Phono input with switchable MM or MC settings and an RCA digital coax input. It may not be the most sophisticated piece out there but in the real world it dies far more than anything cisting $99! It's tricky to find it fir sale since only one ad posted in Google sales will lead you to it to order. The Arylic site won't show it to you directly without following that one link. I think they're hiding it so they can ask $200 for the next replacement piece that's striped of anything I could use. It appears they're trying to make things more modular between their stuff. Offering things that are made to work together yet they could just make one all in one piece and be done with it. Topping is the same way now, they're gearing things to work together with their own stuff but not forcing you into it.
Once Arylic gets their software optimized they will have increased sales, they offer a 3rd party app that gives a much deeper control over the DSP than the phone app for an extra $20. I haven't ordered it yet since I wanted to be sure I was keeping it. I will be ordering that extra feature today and I will be cursing it hours later as I struggle with it on my computer. I hate having my computer on during music playback and hate having to run cables to my comp which sits 15 feet from the pre.
I've found that these numbers provided here have little meaning in the real world, time and time again what's shown here as the most important thing in rating anything is based on something that has no real world affect on sound. Testing beyond what can be heard is senseless and offers nothing to tell the users of what ti expect. If the UI sucks, that's a huge deal, if it doesn't offer the needed inputs and outputs, that's a huge deal, if some inputs sound different than others that's a huge deal but tests won't tell you these things, if the volume works strangely that can be a huge deal, if my system would automatically lose control of the volume and it goes to max that would be a huge problem, many of these types of small units have those issues develop.
There's much more to anything than pure numbers that represent things that are out of our hearing range and should not even be bothered to be tested, let alone basing their entire rating on that one thing. If you set the noise gate high enough in digital, you get the great numbers but you lose tons of info because of that setting, so where's the balance, the one that can do it without great loss is the best, not the one that can put out no noise at all especially when you can't hear either of them in the real world but you can hear the loss or degradation in sound between them and the one with far lower Sinad is sounding far better because they're not concerned about hitting the required numbers to be rated highly on this site.
Lowering their rank based on things that have little affect on sound but scoring them high when they're failing at reproducing the sound accurately really makes me reconsider what's posted here to be useful at all. I'm not seeing reviews that uncover the real world shortcomings or operations issues. Some people have said they hear crosstalk in the topping, that should bring their rating down far below any others that don't have that issue yet that's ignored for some reason. I guess if people are looking for the quietest pieces (even though you can't hear the difference between that noise floor) and not the best sounding pieces there will be a need for these tests. If you don't own a system that's revealing enough to expose those issues, then why are you worrying about what's the quietest pieces? If you can't hear the degradation of the sound when using the topping then you don't even need to worry about any tests because you will never hear them no matter how it tests, you need to buy a better system to begin with. Using tiny amps that Topping, Fosi, SMS, Douk or any of those amps will never get you to the point that you'll hear the losses that occur and there's no guarantee they will be silent no matter how they test here.
Pierun
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yeah it turns out I'm returning it lmao. Described the same issues to SZA's support, and uhhhh... I was given a choice between return refund and return repair check. Decided to go with the first choice.
After I return this, I'm certainly ditching this model (and possibly this brand) for good. As much as I appreciate its power output capabilities, its extensive featureset, and its "state of the art" measurements, I just cannot accept the fact that at this price point I still have to gamble with its quality control, and pray to god that I'll have a mild inconvenience (popping at balanced), rather than something more concerning (bass distortion, or straight up unit's death).
So what's left at this price point? Is Loxjie D40 Pro a valid pick nowadays? Because from what I've seen, the internal build (i.e. SMSL DL400 internals, but SMSL DL400 = Loxjie D40 Pro) has less points of failure than DX5 II + it's still a competent DAC/AMP (in terms of power, measurement, and even featureset).
Hi everyone!
I have my Topping DX5 II since about a month. Really great device and killer sound/features for a nice price.
I use it for mixing and mastering with an LCD-X and I'm really enjoying working with this new device.
I have 2 suggestions about the DSP settings part (@TOPPING @JohnYang1997) and one general one:
1/ Enabling EQ and/or crossover means volume is decreased (which is expected). It would be great to have an option to tell that user wants volume compensated for DSP when DSP is bypassed. This would mean volume decreased all the time but would keep same volume whether EQ and/or crossover are enabled or bypassed.
2/ For the Crossover part, when using convolution. It would be really awesome to be able to load and use our own IR file instead of just using the 2 current options (which does not sound great to my ears).
3/ I would like to have the device in mute when powering on (as an option). I don't like having my headphone blasting sound for a whole day whereas I am working from my speakers. This would ensure that headphone is only being used when I chose so (not by default).
Anyway it is an awesome piece of kit!
Have a great day!
I have my Topping DX5 II since about a month. Really great device and killer sound/features for a nice price.
I use it for mixing and mastering with an LCD-X and I'm really enjoying working with this new device.
I have 2 suggestions about the DSP settings part (@TOPPING @JohnYang1997) and one general one:
1/ Enabling EQ and/or crossover means volume is decreased (which is expected). It would be great to have an option to tell that user wants volume compensated for DSP when DSP is bypassed. This would mean volume decreased all the time but would keep same volume whether EQ and/or crossover are enabled or bypassed.
2/ For the Crossover part, when using convolution. It would be really awesome to be able to load and use our own IR file instead of just using the 2 current options (which does not sound great to my ears).
3/ I would like to have the device in mute when powering on (as an option). I don't like having my headphone blasting sound for a whole day whereas I am working from my speakers. This would ensure that headphone is only being used when I chose so (not by default).
Anyway it is an awesome piece of kit!
Have a great day!
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You can set the output selection in the settings of the device. For instance, having the knob press be the output selector. I have mine set as HPA BAL as well as LO SE, pressing once on the knob switches the output from one to the other. Only outputting the one selected.
Same thing can be accomplished with the remote when configured.
I realize this is not what you asked for but it does provide the same result in the sense that the HPA is silent when another output is selected.
Bleib
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V2.14（April 7, 2026）
*Fixed: After selecting Mutual Feedback - Simple - ks2b-JanMeier and saving, the device would restore to factory settings upon reboot or standby wake-up
*Fixed: No audio output when switching sampling rates in NetEase Cloud exclusive mode
*Fixed: Several known issues
www.toppingaudio.com
Seems to keep all settings from 2.10
*Fixed: After selecting Mutual Feedback - Simple - ks2b-JanMeier and saving, the device would restore to factory settings upon reboot or standby wake-up
*Fixed: No audio output when switching sampling rates in NetEase Cloud exclusive mode
*Fixed: Several known issues
DX5 II version V2.14 firmware update - Topping audio
TOPPING, born in 2008, has evolved into a beloved global HIFI brand favored by users worldwide. We firmly believe that higher-quality music playback devices are essential for truly showcasing the allure of music. By investing extensively in professional technology and exceptional industrial...
www.toppingaudio.com
Seems to keep all settings from 2.10
Last edited:
ziggurcat
Major Contributor
V2.14（April 7, 2026）
*Fixed: After selecting Mutual Feedback - Simple - ks2b-JanMeier and saving, the device would restore to factory settings upon reboot or standby wake-up
*Fixed: No audio output when switching sampling rates in NetEase Cloud exclusive mode
*Fixed: Several known issues
DX5 II version V2.14 firmware update - Topping audio
TOPPING, born in 2008, has evolved into a beloved global HIFI brand favored by users worldwide. We firmly believe that higher-quality music playback devices are essential for truly showcasing the allure of music. By investing extensively in professional technology and exceptional industrial...
Seems to keep all settings from 2.10
Great! I will have to download/install this update later today.
ziggurcat
Major Contributor
So far the new FW is working fine, but I have not done much in terms of mucking around to see if anything else has broken. I still do -- very occasionally -- have an issue where it will not come out of standby mode, but it happens so rarely that I cannot seem to pinpoint an actual method of reproduction. Has anyone else noticed their unit not come out of standby mode?
SnakeLord
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Im not even sure if my unit is entering the stand-by. Is there any indication for the stand-by state?
My display is set to shut off automatically even when the unit is in use, so its only showing the type of current connection (usb). Otherwise it just stays like that all the time, no idea if it enters the stand-by.
ziggurcat
Major Contributor
Press the power button on the remote. That puts it into standby mode.
It's also not a 100% issue, and it only kind of happens maybe once every 2-3 weeks for me. It would be near-impossible to reliably reproduce.
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ziggurcat
Major Contributor
It's not shut off. The only way to truly shut it off is to flip the switch on the back.
I have mine connected to my computer, so if I click my mouse or press the spacebar, the DX5 II comes out of standby mode except for the very rare occasion when it doesn't. In the settings, I don't have the screen brightness set to Auto, and the On/Off Trigger is set to Signal.
SnakeLord
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Nohing, no resposnse at all once the power button is pressed off. The screen goes black and doesnt wake up to any actions on the PC (buttons pressing, music playing).
Isnt it supposed to enter the stand-by automatically without pressing the button? Im kinda confused now, was actually thinking the device was in stand-by all the time...
Updated the Topping ASIO driver, latest FW 2.14
ziggurcat
Major Contributor
If you let it sit idle for a period of time, it will go into standby on its own. Pressing the power button on the remote is just the quickest way to put it into standby.
The only way to get out of it when it's not responding like that is to flip the switch on the back.
@SnakeLord did you get your DX5 II out of being stuck?
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SnakeLord
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@ziggurcat It wasnt really stuck, it just didnt woke-up thru the signals comming from PC (music, buttons pressing) while i had manually put it into stand-by by pressing the red power button on the remote. Otherwise its working fine, just need to press the button on remote/knob again to wake it up.
Altho im still facing the problem of the unit not switching into stand-by automatically while PC is running in idle.
I did tested it with PC being shut off and voila, the unit went into stand-by as intended and it also woke up without any issues once the PC was turned on again.
This means, there is some signal in the background comming from PC which holds the unit active all the time, even if actually nothing happens, no inputs, no music. The 3e A7 attached to the DXII goes into stand-by as intended.
I have already tried to change the "Streaming" option in ASIO driver to "On when needed" but this didnt do anything.
What else could it be? Maybe Topping Tune as another obvious option? Gonna try to disable it.
Altho im still facing the problem of the unit not switching into stand-by automatically while PC is running in idle.
I did tested it with PC being shut off and voila, the unit went into stand-by as intended and it also woke up without any issues once the PC was turned on again.
This means, there is some signal in the background comming from PC which holds the unit active all the time, even if actually nothing happens, no inputs, no music. The 3e A7 attached to the DXII goes into stand-by as intended.
I have already tried to change the "Streaming" option in ASIO driver to "On when needed" but this didnt do anything.
What else could it be? Maybe Topping Tune as another obvious option? Gonna try to disable it.
Some PCs have USB ports that are always on for charging other devices, even when the PC is off. The ports are often, but not always, yellow coloured. Sometimes you can turn off the always-on ports in the PCs BIOS/UEFI settings. Generally, it's better to plug a DAC into a USB 2.0 port, which are usually black, to avoid any issues like this.
ziggurcat
Major Contributor
The DX5 II probably won't go into standby mode unless your PC also goes into sleep/standby mode. At least that's how it is with my Mac.
And leave the streaming option set to Always On, otherwise you're going to start hearing pops every time you stop/pause any audio, including system notification sounds. MacOS users don't have that luxury since there are no drivers for that platform.
SnakeLord
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If thats how its supposed to work then it isnt very helpful at all. I would expect it to behave same simple way my amp does: signal = active; no signal = stand-by after X amount of time (which i should be able to set in settings btw.)
Unfortunatley the user manual doesnt make me any smarter in that regard, many functions arnt explained at all like the PCM filters for example.
What is an "valid/invalid signal"? Is idling with no active applications running an valid signal to the DX5II? @TOPPING @TOPPING-Service Can you please explain how the Standby function supposed to work?
"5-1 On/Off trigger
Signal: Input signal will trigger the device to turn on, but if the current input is not
connected or input signal is invalid in 1 minute, it will automatically enter
the standby state. Once having detected valid signal, it will automatically
return to working state. (Default)"
quintilian
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Thanks for the review and thorough discussion on this device 
I just ordered one for pairing with my Meze Empyreans (1st gen) and I'm planning to add the Oratory1990 EQ to it. Source will mainly be iPhone (Apple music masters) over USB.
I'm just wondering if anyone have some tips for setting it up, and what other settings I should/should not use?
Apparently it has a low/high gain setting, which one would be appropriate for the Meze's 32 ohms?
I just ordered one for pairing with my Meze Empyreans (1st gen) and I'm planning to add the Oratory1990 EQ to it. Source will mainly be iPhone (Apple music masters) over USB.
I'm just wondering if anyone have some tips for setting it up, and what other settings I should/should not use?
Apparently it has a low/high gain setting, which one would be appropriate for the Meze's 32 ohms?
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