Topping DX5II Balanced DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[staticV3]

Apparently it has a low/high gain setting, which one would be appropriate for the Meze's 32 ohms?

The lowest one that still allows satisfying playback volume.

E.g. start in Low gain, and if you reach 100% volume and it's still not loud enough, only then switch to High gain.

 

[ziggurcat]

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?

My guess is because they're 100dB sensitive, Low gain is probably the "correct" setting.

 

[Presently42]

Having a fun bug, tho not sure it's the DX5 ii or firefox: in teams and now zoom, the audio sloooowly shifts to the right. A disconnection and reconnexion, via the topping usb controller app (I flip the latency from one number to another and back) makes the audio snap back to the centre. Anyone else have this? If not, guess I'll email Topping support

 

[ziggurcat]

Having a fun bug, tho not sure it's the DX5 ii or firefox: in teams and now zoom, the audio sloooowly shifts to the right. A disconnection and reconnexion, via the topping usb controller app (I flip the latency from one number to another and back) makes the audio snap back to the centre. Anyone else have this? If not, guess I'll email Topping support

That is a strange one. Personally have not come across that since I am on Mac, so there's no USB controller app, etc... but next time I'm using Zoom, I can listen for that.

Is this via the headphone amp, line out or both?

Edit: and how long does it take before you start noticing the sound drifting?

 

[JIW]

Having a fun bug, tho not sure it's the DX5 ii or firefox: in teams and now zoom, the audio sloooowly shifts to the right. A disconnection and reconnexion, via the topping usb controller app (I flip the latency from one number to another and back) makes the audio snap back to the centre. Anyone else have this? If not, guess I'll email Topping support

I use Firefox 150.0.1 on macOS 26.4.1. I don't recall it ever happening. Also, I don't recall it happening in Zoom, although I have barely used it.

 

[Presently42]

That is a strange one. Personally have not come across that since I am on Mac, so there's no USB controller app, etc... but next time I'm using Zoom, I can listen for that.

Is this via the headphone amp, line out or both?

Edit: and how long does it take before you start noticing the sound drifting?

Ballanced headphone out. Haven't tried unballanced, but given a dac reset clears the issue, I'm assuming it's software and not hardware. I dis try timing it, but got distracted as I was also taking the minutes; but I'd say roughly ten minutes. I also tried playing mono pink noise, both in rew and foobar, but didn't notice a drift, which makes me suspect either Firefox: I doubt both zoom and teams has the same bug. I'll test some more and see if I can find exactly the culprit

 

[Bleib]

Having a fun bug, tho not sure it's the DX5 ii or firefox: in teams and now zoom, the audio sloooowly shifts to the right. A disconnection and reconnexion, via the topping usb controller app (I flip the latency from one number to another and back) makes the audio snap back to the centre. Anyone else have this? If not, guess I'll email Topping support

I use firefox for almost everything and DX5 II is used daily, no such things with latest version of Win11.. no topping USB app installed.

 

[ziggurcat]

I use firefox for almost everything and DX5 II is used daily, no such things with latest version of Win11.. no topping USB app installed.

You don't have the drivers installed on PC?

 

[Bleib]

You don't have the drivers installed on PC?

No Topping USB driver no.

 

[Azathoth]

Okay bought this and the Ananda Nano because I can and have been using it since last Friday. So far everything is great. Upgraded the firmware to the latest, it's powering my 305P MKII's and Ananda Nanos very well indeed through games and music and everything I throw at it. It's been worth every cent so far though I notice one thing.. The 4.4mm jack is kinda wiggly? Anybody have this issue?

 

[ziggurcat]

Okay bought this and the Ananda Nano because I can and have been using it since last Friday. So far everything is great. Upgraded the firmware to the latest, it's powering my 305P MKII's and Ananda Nanos very well indeed through games and music and everything I throw at it. It's been worth every cent so far though I notice one thing.. The 4.4mm jack is kinda wiggly? Anybody have this issue?

Not in my case, it's quite the opposite. Are you certain you've fully seated the connector?

 

[Azathoth]

Not in my case, it's quite the opposite. Are you certain you've fully seated the connector?

The connector is fully inserted as it produces sound normally, but while it is inserted it still has a bit of give I guess? I don't want to use the port again in case I damage it, and the 4 pin XLR is working fine and is what I use anyways.

 

[ziggurcat]

The connector is fully inserted as it produces sound normally, but while it is inserted it still has a bit of give I guess? I don't want to use the port again in case I damage it, and the 4 pin XLR is working fine and is what I use anyways.

The 4.4mm jack on my own unit is quite snug, so it could be a case of YMMV?

 

[Azathoth]

The 4.4mm jack on my own unit is quite snug, so it could be a case of YMMV?

Most likely the case.

 

[Pierun]

Okay bought this and the Ananda Nano because I can and have been using it since last Friday. So far everything is great. Upgraded the firmware to the latest, it's powering my 305P MKII's and Ananda Nanos very well indeed through games and music and everything I throw at it. It's been worth every cent so far though I notice one thing.. The 4.4mm jack is kinda wiggly? Anybody have this issue?

in my case it was a bit "springy". As in when I try to push a 4.4mm cable a bit further, the connector acts similarly to a spring. And idk whether that was normal behaviour or not.

Either way I already returned this, and I ordered myself a D40 Pro today, because it was on sale

 

[Presently42]

I'll test some more and see if I can find exactly the culprit

So it seems to be happening ONLY with teams and zoom. I'll try another browser, then start filing bug reports

 

[ziggurcat]

So it seems to be happening ONLY with teams and zoom. I'll try another browser, then start filing bug reports

And still only the balanced HPA?

 

[Presently42]

And still only the balanced HPA?

Haven't tested this. I still strongly suspect, that the problem resides with Firefox, given, that the problem occurs with both teams and zoom. Haven't had the chance to test more today: maybe tomorrow

 

[ziggurcat]

Haven't tested this. I still strongly suspect, that the problem resides with Firefox, given, that the problem occurs with both teams and zoom. Haven't had the chance to test more today: maybe tomorrow

Try it in Chrome, and you'll know the catalyst. I was zooming this evening for a few hours -- Balance Line Out, though. Noticed no drift in audio.

 

[quintilian]

From this review:

"The two balanced outputs from the dx 5, the 4.4mm and XLR sounds a little bit crisper and a little bit more detailed than the 6.3mm socket. The sound from the 6.3mm socket is not at all bad, but you can hear that the circuit has been optimized for the balanced outputs so that's the circuit I would use if you can."

Soooo.... Is this actually true or a load of bollocks? Using a 32 ohm headset (Empyrean) so it's already more than loud enough even on low gain so extra power from balanced won't matter I think....