Topping DX5II Balanced DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[Berwhale]

On a side note, I've noticed that, on the support page, Topping Tune is at V1.15, but on my computer, the app updated itself to V1.16. Has anyone else noticed this?

Yes, it was updated last week.

 

[rvcjew]

Just wanted to add I had 2.14: usb, locked to 48@32, win 11 no issues and updated to 2.31 and no issues yet. I have all PEQ and Crossfeed off as a reference.

 

[ziggurcat]

On a side note, I've noticed that, on the support page, Topping Tune is at V1.15, but on my computer, the app updated itself to V1.16. Has anyone else noticed this?

They often aren't up to date on the website with the Topping Tune updates.

 

[Madragon]

Hey everyone,

The last time I posted here, I mentioned that my DX5 II suddenly died after just 7 months of use. I wasn't able to send it back to China because the postal service in my country is terrible, so the seller ended up sending me a replacement PCB for me to install myself. I replaced it, and the unit is now working properly with my speakers.

What caught my attention is that the replacement board is clearly a newer hardware revision. The main PCB went from v1.1 to v1.7, and the 4.4 mm output PCB is now marked as v1.2.Does anyone know what hardware changes were actually made?

I asked Topping what they had modified and whether it was now safe to use my headphones. They didn't provide any technical details—they just told me not to worry and to avoid hot-swapping headphones.

Has the root cause of the 4.4 mm output issue ever been identified? Are people still experiencing these failures today?

To be honest, I still haven't had the courage to plug my headphones into it. I've read comments from people recommending a 4.4 mm-to-XLR adapter to avoid using the 4.4 mm output altogether, while others claim they've experienced similar issues even with the XLR output.

So what's the current consensus? Is the DX5 II finally considered reliable, or would you sell it and move on to a different device?

 

[Mutex]

Hey everyone,

The last time I posted here, I mentioned that my DX5 II suddenly died after just 7 months of use. I wasn't able to send it back to China because the postal service in my country is terrible, so the seller ended up sending me a replacement PCB for me to install myself. I replaced it, and the unit is now working properly with my speakers.

What caught my attention is that the replacement board is clearly a newer hardware revision. The main PCB went from v1.1 to v1.7, and the 4.4 mm output PCB is now marked as v1.2.Does anyone know what hardware changes were actually made?

I asked Topping what they had modified and whether it was now safe to use my headphones. They didn't provide any technical details—they just told me not to worry and to avoid hot-swapping headphones.

Has the root cause of the 4.4 mm output issue ever been identified? Are people still experiencing these failures today?

To be honest, I still haven't had the courage to plug my headphones into it. I've read comments from people recommending a 4.4 mm-to-XLR adapter to avoid using the 4.4 mm output altogether, while others claim they've experienced similar issues even with the XLR output.

So what's the current consensus? Is the DX5 II finally considered reliable, or would you sell it and move on to a different device?

Mine died after 7 months also. I got a refund from the seller. As I have no idea what's wrong with all of these DX5 II's failing, I got myself a DX1 II instead (less money = less risk).

Because the seller said I could keep the brick, I'm using the dead DX5 II as a learning bench and trying to figure out what is wrong with it while learning some electronics.

 

[Madragon]

Mine died after 7 months also.

I requested a refund, but the seller (ShenzhenAudio) refused. They said I would have to return the defective unit in order to get a refund. The problem was that shipping it back would have cost me more than $150 USD, which made no sense considering I paid $230 USD for it.

I hope you're able to find out what caused the failure. I don't know much about electronics, but my guess is that the internal power supply may have failed.

 

[Mutex]

I requested a refund, but the seller (ShenzhenAudio) refused. They said I would have to return the defective unit in order to get a refund. The problem was that shipping it back would have cost me more than $150 USD, which made no sense considering I paid $230 USD for it.

I hope you're able to find out what caused the failure. I don't know much about electronics, but my guess is that the internal power supply may have failed.

Mine was also Shenzenaudio. But I bought it on Amazon, with shipment fulfilled by Amazon. Here in Germany, the seller is obliged to provide a refund or a repair, with shipping costs on them. So in my case, because shipping costs to China are high, they just told me to keep the brick and refunded me the full €299.

 

[ziggurcat]

To be honest, I still haven't had the courage to plug my headphones into it.

There's no real reason to be that fearful.

As long as you're not plugging/unplugging while there's content playing (which you shouldn't really do anyway), the chances of things happening are quite low. Also, it looks like the HW revision was specific to the 4.4mm connector since the connector/board is different, so it's likely they've addressed the issue.

 

[Germanium]

I just purchased the Topping DX5II. So far the sound is very impressive relative to the SMSL C200 Pro. More detailed sound, tighter bass but still full bodied. Very punchy sound. These characteristics carry on through the entire spectrum. Treble can seem a little harsh at times, but I believe this due to the way some recordings have been mastered. The midrange is extremely detailed. Typical of ESS Sabre DACS of old but with massive weight & power behind this detail.

So far, no issues. I havent tried the headphone amp yet as I am waiting on my order to arrive from Amazon for the XLR 4 pin balanced cable to arrive which will be tomorrow. I did this just to make sure i wouldn't have any issues from trying to utilize the 4.4mm pentacon connection as I have seen some people are still having issues with that connection shorting & blowing amp & headphones. Anyway I figured i would just eliminate that potential issue from the get go.

I am currently using this to drive my modified JBL LSR306P monitors & self built subwoofer that is being driven by a Behringer NX3000D amp that I have limited to 800 watts in bridge mode. The satilites have a very impressive sound by themselves but with this DAC/AMP they come alive even more. Modifications to the JBL LSR306P was limited to replacing all electrolytic coupling capacitors with metalized film capacitors. This made a noticable difference and improved my ability to hear the results when it come to upstream componant improvements such as this DAC/AMP from Topping

I gave this the top rating so far of golfing panther. I was shocked at the difference in sonic character. This seems likely to be a characteristic of the X-Amp with discrete input & output componans & nested feedback allowing for lower global feedback. Of coarse this is just a guess but I have seen similar differences in dynamics in tube amps when global feedback was reduced.

 

[Germanium]

Got the XLR 4pin balanced cable today. Headphone amp sounds great. Huge difference between low & high gain. High gain not needed in my case unless there was a recording that was recorded at an extreme low level. The sound signature of the line out carries over perfectly to the headphone amp.

 

[Azathoth]

Had the absolute shock of my life. My DX5 II made this absolutely grating sound, a 60hz hum that's very treble-y. It played through my TYGR 300Rs while I was playing a song on YouTube. Tried to restart the device, turn it on and off again, it still made the same sound. Doesn't matter the outputs. Balanced XLR outs, HPA BAL & SE, the sound continues playing. My heart sank because it has been perfect so far....

Turns out it wasn't the DAC or anything hardware related at all because when I switched the audio output to my controller(Gamesir G7 Pro Aimlabs), it STILL played the that sound. The sound was coming from a game I just launched, Neverness to Everness.

Here is an example of it, looks like someone else also had the same problem.

 

[Lambo1985]

Had the absolute shock of my life. My DX5 II made this absolutely grating sound, a 60hz hum that's very treble-y. It played through my TYGR 300Rs while I was playing a song on YouTube. Tried to restart the device, turn it on and off again, it still made the same sound. Doesn't matter the outputs. Balanced XLR outs, HPA BAL & SE, the sound continues playing. My heart sank because it has been perfect so far....

Turns out it wasn't the DAC or anything hardware related at all because when I switched the audio output to my controller(Gamesir G7 Pro Aimlabs), it STILL played the that sound. The sound was coming from a game I just launched, Neverness to Everness.

Here is an example of it, looks like someone else also had the same problem.

Games that have "anti-cheat" software will cause audio havoc and driver crashes on audio interfaces and similar devices. That's probably the issue here. Sucks. I play Rocket League, and they recently implemented "easy anti-cheat". It now crashes my audio interface with a loud buzzing/grinding sound, every time I start the game. It works with DX5II though. So, I guess it depends on the type of "anti-cheat" software. Apparently, Neverness to Everness' anti-cheat ("Anti-Cheat-Expert") is very invasive. Even more than "easy-anti-cheat".

 

[ziggurcat]

On a side note, I've noticed that, on the support page, Topping Tune is at V1.15, but on my computer, the app updated itself to V1.16. Has anyone else noticed this?

They've now updated the site to show v1.16. I let them know it still said v1.15, and they responded saying they would fix it that afternoon (at the time they responded).

 

[Bleib]

https://www.toppingaudio.com/download/dx5-ii-version-v2-39-firmware-update

6. What's updated​

*Added: Web Home support.

*Fixed: Several known issues.

So this should work after the firmware update

Topping Home - Preset Cloud

Explore and share audio presets with the Topping Home community

home.toppingaudio.com

 

[Berwhale]

https://www.toppingaudio.com/download/dx5-ii-version-v2-39-firmware-update

6. What's updated​

*Added: Web Home support.

*Fixed: Several known issues.

So this should work after the firmware update

Topping Home - Preset Cloud

Explore and share audio presets with the Topping Home community

home.toppingaudio.com

I just installed, looking good (will have to play later after work!)...

 

[Berwhale]

Wow, this is so much better than Topping.Tune...

...and I just power cycled my DX5 II and all my PEQ settings are still there! This has never worked with Topping.Tune, i've always suspected that Topping.Tune was misreporting the local PEQ forcing me to redeploy all of them anytime I wanted to tweak something or even just launch Topping.Tune.

 

[Pierun]

Ok so uhhh.... the Web Home works. That's for sure. However: using Topping Tune at this fw resets the entire EQ preset to a singular +3 dB 20 Hz peak filter with 9 dummy 632 Hz filters (and a -3 dB gain).
So, if one wants to keep using the Topping Tune app, then I'd recommend sticking to the previous firmware. If not, then I guess one could uninstall the Tune app

 

[Bleib]

It seems it's not a great idea to use both web and the app

 

[Pierun]

It seems it's not a great idea to use both web and the app

yeah. Seems like Topping Tune is becoming obsolete

 

[Mario1969]

It seems it's not a great idea to use both web and the app

it seems that two applications (Topping Tube and Web Control Center) are completely incompatible with each other...