Topping DX7 Pro DAC and Headphone Amp Reviewed

[luxus]

@Veri thanks for that idea..
so u say that the dac part is not so important?
i even have a dac in my focusrite scarlet 2i2 that i could use..
so i can connect the balanced outputs to the inputs of the topping a90 and connect my headphones and active monitor speaker there.

 

[dartinbout]

[


I have got J.River finally working as a pure Asio player without too many bufferings. I've got 6k DSD files from 64 through 512. I want to use Foobar as it handles other very large files (5.1 24\192) better the J. River. So far Foobar is still silent even using your Asio settings. I've tried manipulating this without anything but silence
View attachment 71943

I am fairly new to new to Foobar.I failed to actually INSTALL the components rather the merely dropping them into the components folder. Now DFF\DSF files play directly. No DOP or Wasapi wrapper. I like my drugs uncut and WASAPI always seemed like adding baby laxative to the flakey goodness that is DSD.

 

[dartinbout]

FYI all. I sent an email to Topping support. I got this.
Dear Craig
Thank you for contacting TOPPING support. We are happy to assist.
1. Remove the 2 screws on the rear panel
2. Remove every 2 screws of left and right at the bottom that near the front panel
3. Take out the front panel carefully and take care not to tear the flat cable and disassemble the cable
4. Pull out the motherboard at the rear panel and rolling the OP-AMP.
These steps only require a 2mm hex screwdriver. Please note that disassemble the device would instantly void the warranty.
1--
2--
3&4. --
Best Regards,
--------------------
TOPPING SERVICE

 

[Veri]

@Veri thanks for that idea..
so u say that the dac part is not so important?

Honestly my view is that the amp is much more important than the DAC. There are many, many superb DACs like the ones I mentioned. You can get a cheap one and get something balanced like the Modius much later on (if you even want to!). So yes A90+ budget dac is the way to go the way I see it.

 

[luxus]

@Veri thank you so much for your opion. Your reasoning makes total sense to me. And if I follow ur way I have a much better base for more upgrades. With the dx7 pro I would need to replace both sides or at least the amp part and it would be way more expensive.
thanks for your help to make a decision

 

[dartinbout]

I needed a DAC, where I could roll opamps, had a balanced out and would play DSD up to 11. The idea is to turn my speakers into big headphones.

 

[Tobbi]

I needed a DAC, where I could roll opamps, had a balanced out and would play DSD up to 11

You are using foobar2000 foo_input_sacd-1.2.3 This version does not support native dsd output
04/29/16: Version 0.9.7 - DoP for ASIO / WASAPI / DS, direct DSD for ASIO removed.
“Starting with version 0.9.7
, the plugin for the foobar2000 SACD player displays DSD only in DoP format
either through WASAPI or through ASIO."
To output your own native DSD, you need to use this bundle ..
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/files/foo_input_sacd/foo_input_sacd-0.8.4.zip/download

 

[dartinbout]

Thank you. I see it working correctly.

 

[trauty]

hello. is there a way to adjust chanel ballance ? i cant find a way to do it. i mean whole windows setup. tried using soundvolumeview.exe , but it doesnt work.

 

[Patrick1958]

hello. is there a way to adjust chanel ballance ? i cant find a way to do it. i mean whole windows setup. tried using soundvolumeview.exe , but it doesnt work.

Soundmanager/properties/levels click on levels next the speaker icon and you should have a left and right channel to adjust.
Edit : just noticed it won't show left and right channel for dx7 pro (strange)

 

[trauty]

Soundmanager/properties/levels click on levels next the speaker icon and you should have a left and right channel to adjust.
Edit : just noticed it won't show left and right channel for dx7 pro (strange)

is it topping driver issue most likely ?? my other DAC Audio GD 11.38 works ? Could it be due to different usb chip ( amanero on Audio gd ) and/or dual dac chip 11.38 vs single chip DX7Pro ? Already wrote email to topping china.

 

[trauty]

is it topping driver issue most likely ?? my other DAC Audio GD 11.38 works ? Could it be due to different usb chip ( amanero on Audio gd ) and/or dual dac chip 11.38 vs single chip DX7Pro ? Already wrote email to topping china.

one more thing i noticed. Audio gd is showing as digital audio output in windows volume mixer , yet DX7 Pro is detected as speakers.

 

[Tobbi]

is there a way to adjust chanel ballance ? i cant find a way to do it. i mean whole windows setup. tried using soundvolumeview.exe , but it doesnt work.

You can adjust the balance in the amplifier only after the DAC.
The digital stream enters the DAC in its original form, avoiding sound processing in Windows.
You can adjust the sound output through the windows, but the sound quality will deteriorate.

 

[trauty]

so split stereo cable to separate mono cables and use potentiometer to balance the sound level ?

 

[Tobbi]

so split stereo cable to separate mono cables and use potentiometer to balance the sound level ?

You control the balance of the channels in the amplifier, and for this it is created.
The balance can only be regulated by an analog signal, the signal is fed to the DAC in digital format.
After processing the signal in the DAC, the signal leaves it in analog format.
If you use the DAC as a pre-amplifier.
In the power amplifier, balance adjustment must be provided.

 

[sbose]

An absolute noob question. Just got the DX7 pro. The input source is my desktop PC via USB. I am using the RCA out to send sound to my Klipsch 2.1 system. The line out RCA has two settings - PRE and DAC. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between both these options aka how is the signal getting processed in both these options. I had it on PRE by default and after changing it to DAC, I feel the music sounds a lot better coming out of my Klipschs. Is it that when it was in PRE, it was just passing through the signal and now that I have it on DAC, the DAC chip is actually doing its magic? Some info would be highly appreciated.

 

[JohnYang1997]

An absolute noob question. Just got the DX7 pro. The input source is my desktop PC via USB. I am using the RCA out to send sound to my Klipsch 2.1 system. The line out RCA has two settings - PRE and DAC. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between both these options aka how is the signal getting processed in both these options. I had it on PRE by default and after changing it to DAC, I feel the music sounds a lot better coming out of my Klipschs. Is it that when it was in PRE, it was just passing through the signal and now that I have it on DAC, the DAC chip is actually doing its magic? Some info would be highly appreciated.

Was the volume max in pre mode?
If so then it's just you are tricking yourself. There's absolutely no difference between dac mode and pre mode while volume at max for PCM playback. In dsd playback though there's difference technically but no difference is possible in perception.

 

[Toku]

An absolute noob question. Just got the DX7 pro. The input source is my desktop PC via USB. I am using the RCA out to send sound to my Klipsch 2.1 system. The line out RCA has two settings - PRE and DAC. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between both these options aka how is the signal getting processed in both these options. I had it on PRE by default and after changing it to DAC, I feel the music sounds a lot better coming out of my Klipschs. Is it that when it was in PRE, it was just passing through the signal and now that I have it on DAC, the DAC chip is actually doing its magic? Some info would be highly appreciated.

 

[sbose]

View attachment 73215View attachment 73216

Thanks for the info. No, the volume was not maxed out in PRE - and it automatically disables the volume in the DAC mode. I tried again to ensure that it was not a placebo effect. I still feel the pure DAC mode sounds a little better. Changed it back to DAC.

 

[sbose]

Interesting thread - https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58263-differences-in-sound-dac-vs-dac-pre-amplifier/