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Topping DX7 Pro+ Review (DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 8 2.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 10 2.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 56 15.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 290 79.7%

  • Total voters
    364

Miiksuli

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I guess they add the same than with the D90LE.
So read here.

(Looking at Topping measurements confirms my guess above: They show values almost identical to what I measured)
There is one downside of this: You can't change the harmonics distortion. It will always sound the same. You can't tube roll this one. If you wan't tube sound buy a tube amplifier ;)
 

Jimster480

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I listen to all kinds of music, I do love bass. I'm listening to BB King & Clapton while writing this. I can take it up to around two o'clock before it gets uncomfortable. (Treble starts to pierce at that point).
Maybe you need a little bit of EQ then to temper the highs if it is bright for some reason. And my experiences the Aeon gets bright if there is not enough power available for some reason. What device are you using to power the aeon?
Can you see a single atom, with your eyes only?
Who can't?
For very demanding HPs the E30II / L30II stack performs a lot better at less than half the price ☺️
Definitely, but this product shouldn't have any issue with 99% of headphones...
 

PeteL

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It is totally overpriced. Who are they trying to kid? Maybe $299 is fair.

Spend just $200 more and get a 185wpc (tested at 4R) a tier one brand Yamaha amplifier with a heap of inputs, full remote, two pairs of speakers, headphone, a phono stage and including inbuilt USB Dac of good quality.

View attachment 228369

I know which one I would buy if I was in the market...
What strikes me is how timeless the Yamaha aesthetics proved to be. Wondering who was the Industrial designer originally but he definitely had a vision. Look at this CA1000 from 1973! That's a very similar face and it doesn't look dated one bit. I find that impressive.

1662295120293.png


1662295257947.png
 
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Billy Budapest

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Certainly not based on SINAD but the RME has so much more useful features than this, not to mention better customer support.
We are at the point where the major differentiators between DACs are feature sets and build quality. As far as sound quality, we passed that barrier ages ago and almost all DACs if working properly are going to sound identical as differences are below the threshold of human hearing.

That being said, I fully support the effort of Topping, RME, SMSL, and others to continually advance the state of the art by developing DACs with ever-decreasing levels of noise and distortion. Even though we cannot hear it in a DAC, noise and distortion can be summative/additive depending on the performance of audio hardware further down the chain and having a source as clean as possible is worthwhile in that respect.
 
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Sokel

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It would really be something having Topping surpassing Mola Mola Tambaqui.
Mola-Mola is also a streamer,not comparable (I wrote exactly the same line in the chord thread,similar comparison there too).
 

REK2575

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You can get DACs from Topping that are far cheaper than DX7 Pro+. DX7 Pro+ provides state of the art performance. The Yamaha I am sure does not.

And yet the Yamaha amps have a long-proven track record of reliability, good performance, customer support at competitive prices. Maybe some of that is just as valuable as 'state of the art SINAD at 1.00 kHz'. Maybe more valuable.
 

Bleib

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And yet the Yamaha amps have a long-proven track record of reliability, good performance, customer support at competitive prices. Maybe some of that is just as valuable as 'state of the art SINAD at 1.00 kHz'. Maybe more valuable.
Although it should be said that it's not just a SINAD number measured at 1khz. Multitone is probably a more useful measurements and there are others too ofc.
 

PeteL

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Although it should be said that it's not just a SINAD number measured at 1khz. Multitone is probably a more useful measurements and there are others too ofc.
Even more valuable than all that would be to be able to know if 0.02% for a full reproduction chain at up to the speaker terminals is audible by anybody, so far it's just mathematical and theoretical stuff and until this is answered all this talk about SOTA numbers is just that, a qualifier (SOTA) that has zero useful meaning.
 

Bleib

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Even more valuable than all that would be to be able to know if 0.02% for a full reproduction chain at up to the speaker terminals is audible by anybody, so far it's just mathematical and theoretical stuff and until this is answered all this talk about SOTA numbers is just that, a qualifier (SOTA) that has zero useful meaning.
Well, I do often say that the room, speaker placement and speakers have a lot more to say about the audio quality (not to forget recording quality). So it's down to features, which is why I kept my SMLS DAC over the Topping because the remote is more responsive.
 

tomchris

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Topping released units that surpassed the Mola Mola Tambaqui’s performance a while ago.
You are right. I stand corrected:). I did a quick search and noticed that Amir had indeed reviewed the Mola Mola Tambaqui performing slightly lower than some Topping units.

Mola-Mola is also a streamer,not comparable (I wrote exactly the same line in the chord thread,similar comparison there too).
Of course, they are comparable with focus on evaluating the DAC performance alone. The Tambaqui is first and foremost a DAC which just happens to have streamer capabilities, Roon certification and a lot of other features, Hallelujah. It is called the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, not the Mola Mola Tambaqui Streamer.
 

Sokel

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Of course, they are comparable with focus on evaluating the DAC performance alone. The Tambaqui is first and foremost a DAC which just happens to have streamer capabilities, Roon certification and a lot of other features, Hallelujah. It is called the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, not the Mola Mola Tambaqui Streamer.
I guess that is another way to see it.
I just wanted to be fair as I made the same comment for Chord.
 

tomchris

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I guess that is another way to see it.
I just wanted to be fair as I made the same comment for Chord.
It is even on the DAC SINAD scoreboard in 9th place, compared to the other DACs, regardless of price/features. I overlooked it myself, thinking that it would score higher.
It is great to see progress; however, reading these reviews you get a lukewarm feeling that things are academic at this point.
 

Robbo99999

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We do keep saying it - "The Sinad Race is over!"

There is still value in it being measured as we don't want to go backwards, but I don't see any point in ever increasing SINAD values at this point, and to be honest I intuitively don't really think they can be increased all that much more anyway. People are right to say that the future is about features/price/aesthetics/ergonomics/useability/"innovations". Let's still measure DACS & amps to make sure they come up to SINAD standard, but the race is won already right!
 

Sokel

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We do keep saying it - "The Sinad Race is over!"

There is still value in it being measured as we don't want to go backwards, but I don't see any point in ever increasing SINAD values at this point, and to be honest I intuitively don't really think they can be increased all that much more anyway. People are right to say that the future is about features/price/aesthetics/ergonomics/useability/"innovations". Let's still measure DACS & amps to make sure they come up to SINAD standard, but the race is won already right!
And let's not forget that it has two modes of 40-ish and 50-ish SINAD that we're waiting to be listened and learn what they sound like.
I'm REALLY curious about it.
 

Robbo99999

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And let's not forget that it has two modes of 40-ish and 50-ish SINAD that we're waiting to be listened and learn what they sound like.
I'm REALLY curious about it.
I briefly saw that in a post earlier, which modes are they?
 

formantzero

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I bought and returned a DX5 on Amazon when I had purchased Aeon 2 Noires. The DX5 just couldn't drive them, which was shocking because what Dan Clark Audio recommended me as min power requirements was far exceeded by the DX5 in high gain setting. Some people on this forum told me it was probably current-limiting that I was running into. Just sounded awful at higher volumes on really bassy sections, and I still had around 5dB of room to increase the output, so it wasn't even that I was at the peak output.

Question is, is the DX7Pro+ going to have that issue? Not that I specifically care in that I returned the Aeon 2 Noires (I'm done with DCA for good, the Stealth seems great but if it's even harder to drive than the Aeon 2 Noires, no thank you, learn how to design a more sensitive headphone).
 
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