Topping DX7 Pro+ Review (DAC & HP Amp)

[pmkv69]

Just made an order - looking forward to get it

 

[gitaarwerk]

Just made an order - looking forward to get it

Nice!

I am in extreme doubt. I decided to buy the G5 instead. And if I know which one to take, perhaps next year,… i can still use this on the go or for other rooms too

I will send back the ADI-2 pro fs black, unpacked,.. just a minor price difference. Totally fomo i need to work against. But Topping is fine, in the end, the dac is still a dac when well implemented,…

Looking forward to your opinion.

 

[KomoGomolaa]

Regarding the apparent lack of distortion/noise with this dac - the sound is so unbelievably clear that I regularly find myself pushing the volume higher with my headphones on than usual, without realizing that I'm also pushing the SPL quite a bit. It's a listening pleasure of course, but my ears don't like it the next day (i.e. ringing). You've been warned PS: My standard listening levels are somewhere between 80-83 dB/SPL...

 

[Victorfabius]

Hey, @amirm, @gitaarwerk posted a link to a site that supposedly sells audio equipment and uses your reviews on site attributed to a "dennis".

I'm not an attorney and don't take legal advice from a forum comment. The content that follows is expressly my opinion and is not to considered legal advice in any way shape or form.

That said, copyright is an issue relevant to my profession and this would be a clear violation of international copyright law. It uses your images with the AudioScienceReview watermarks and you text without attribution.

@amirm as you are the owner of the intellectual property (IP) you produce as reviews on this site, you would be the one to issue an infringement claim.

To do so for the US, you can go here: https://www.dmca.com/signup/createtakedown.aspx?ref=sol7039-top

For the EU, I'm not sure the right place to go, but this site looks promising: https://europa.eu/youreurope/busine...tellectual-property/infringement/index_en.htm. If someone else has specific knowledge of where to file copyright infringement claims in the EU, specifically for content hosted in the Netherlands, please post here and if you would be awesome and @ me, I'd love to learn.

Here are samples of possible infringing content (the ones with the Panthers in the images are dead giveaways in my opinion.

Topping DX7 Pro+ $699,- easily outperforms the Chord DAVE DAC $6,725 - Hifistudio79 voor de beste Audio Hifi

Topping DX7 Pro+ $699,- easily outperforms the Chord DAVE DAC $6,725 @ Audio science review, why do you pay too much??

www.hifistudio79.nl

Topping DX7 Pro+ Review (DAC & HP Amp) - Hifistudio79 voor de beste Audio Hifi

Topping DX7 Pro+ a DAC to break their own records requires a level of self motivation for excellence my pleasure to recommend Topping DX7 Pro+

www.hifistudio79.nl

SMSL C200 Review (DAC & Amp) - Hifistudio79 voor de beste Audio Hifi

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL C200 Balanced dac amplifier and headphone amplifier.

www.hifistudio79.nl

Topping E30 II DAC Review By Audio science review - Hifistudio79 voor de beste Audio Hifi

Topping E30 II DAC Review By Audio science revieuw Toslink and Coax Jitter. AKM chip ESS E30 II on my recommended list.

www.hifistudio79.nl

The final one listed here does attribute the review to "Audio science review". There are other shared reviews that may not have proper authorization, though I do not known the source.

Now, the above was written with the assumption that the content was not approved by @amirm. It is possible that permission was granted, which would mean that the reposting of content is protected. In these cases, I would have expected a comment from "dennis" to indicate that such permission was received. I do not see that, though I may have missed it.

Also, the DX7 Pro+ is pretty awesome. Just got the Topping SR2 rack and it's a nice fit. I'm using the DX7 Pro+ with headphones at the moment and it's the first all-in-one that I'm really satisfied with in terms of form, function, and performance.

 

[BR52]

Is the Topping DX7 pro working with a Sony TV on optical input ? Has someone experience? It's important for my setup.

 

[KomoGomolaa]

Is the Topping DX7 pro working with a Sony TV on optical input ? Has someone experience? It's important for my setup.

Actually there's a "Dac Mode" setting in the Dx7 Pro+ menu which can be set to Asynchronous (Default) and Synchronous option. If I'm not mistaken (correct me if I am wrong), Asynchronous mode will sync the dac to its internal clock, whereas in Synchronous mode the dac clock will sync to the source's signal input clock. That's at least in theory and I think it should help with dropouts and possibly sync just fine with your Sony TV optical input. As usual, best to try for yourself and if it's not working for you, you can possibly return it.

 

[Livnmuskoka]

Nice!

I am in extreme doubt. I decided to buy the G5 instead. And if I know which one to take, perhaps next year,… i can still use this on the go or for other rooms too

I will send back the ADI-2 pro fs black, unpacked,.. just a minor price difference. Totally fomo i need to work against. But Topping is fine, in the end, the dac is still a dac when well implemented,…

Looking forward to your opinion.

Well implemented, but well built? The RME will probably last for 10+ years, while the Topping probably has a 50% chance of being DOA or dead within a year. These measurements don't mean much without reliability, at least to me. There's also pride of ownership, and what about the chance of the Topping taking out expensive gear with it? It can also be a pain to return Topping products. It took me several emails, pictures, and bullsh!t to return a faulty L30 a few years ago.
It's nice to know this performance is possible, but I won't buy another Topping product until reviews of reliability go WAY up. Even if Topping charged $100 more per item but provided better build quality and a 5 year hassle free warranty, I'd be all over it. I'd probably own several Topping products.

 

[gitaarwerk]

Well implemented, but well built? The RME will probably last for 10+ years, while the Topping probably has a 50% chance of being DOA or dead within a year. These measurements don't mean much without reliability, at least to me. There's also pride of ownership, and what about the chance of the Topping taking out expensive gear with it? It can also be a pain to return Topping products. It took me several emails, pictures, and bullsh!t to return a faulty L30 a few years ago.
It's nice to know this performance is possible, but I won't buy another Topping product until reviews of reliability go WAY up. Even if Topping charged $100 more per item but provided better build quality and a 5 year hassle free warranty, I'd be all over it. I'd probably own several Topping products.

You're totally right on that. The Topping 've got now not to last a lifetime, basically. I also didn't want to buy an A90 due to its price and well, as you mentioned, reputation. What I actually want, is some higher end Schiit stuff, but the current lineup just doesn't do it for me yet. I think it's a matter of time. So waiting for that. In the meantime, I will work on my own streamer and use the G5 with a cheap android device in the meantime. RME is nice, but it's expensive for stuff I don't use. As I already have a good DAC for my PC, I won't be using it there. And then the price isn't justifiable for me. I also don't like the design. And the eye wants something too

 

[ShootingStills]

Well implemented, but well built? The RME will probably last for 10+ years, while the Topping probably has a 50% chance of being DOA or dead within a year. These measurements don't mean much without reliability, at least to me. There's also pride of ownership, and what about the chance of the Topping taking out expensive gear with it? It can also be a pain to return Topping products. It took me several emails, pictures, and bullsh!t to return a faulty L30 a few years ago.
It's nice to know this performance is possible, but I won't buy another Topping product until reviews of reliability go WAY up. Even if Topping charged $100 more per item but provided better build quality and a 5 year hassle free warranty, I'd be all over it. I'd probably own several Topping products.

It’s posts like this that make me want to delete the Topping 7 Pro Plus and D90se from my shortlist altogether.

I think you hit the nail on the head. You sound similar to me. Just cannot be bother to go through the hassle of talking to people over days or weeks and sending stuff back just to get money back or repairs. I don’t have time or patience for that. Hence likely buying an RME. These new amazing DACs that measure so well may not even sound ‘better’ anyway… past a certain point it’s going to be seriously diminishing returns or preferences

 

[metalist]

lurking here for a DAC for home studio work thank you everyone for all the tests, amazing work. I have a Black lion interface now (I know..) and some LCD-X. would like a reliable high quality DAC for doing production, mixing and mastering (no need for inputs) all in LCD-X. LCD-X are 20ohm so I assume it don't need a super powerful headphone amp. bonus if the unit has balanced XLR for monitors out. Not totally a deal breaker if not. looking at some options from topping and the RME Adi 2 Dac. I had an RME fireface 800 in an old studio and both of the firewire ports broke off the board. both of them. so I am a little dubious when it comes to the alleged "quality" of the German RME product especially considering the price. thanks!

 

[staticV3]

@metalist
The least expensive DAC+Headphone Amp with differential Line out from Topping is the DX5 at $450 (review).
Alternatives are the SMSL C200 at $220 (review) and the Sabaj A10d 2022 at $300 (review).
All of them will be loud enough for your LCD-X.

 

[Livnmuskoka]

lurking here for a DAC for home studio work thank you everyone for all the tests, amazing work. I have a Black lion interface now (I know..) and some LCD-X. would like a reliable high quality DAC for doing production, mixing and mastering (no need for inputs) all in LCD-X. LCD-X are 20ohm so I assume it don't need a super powerful headphone amp. bonus if the unit has balanced XLR for monitors out. Not totally a deal breaker if not. looking at some options from topping and the RME Adi 2 Dac. I had an RME fireface 800 in an old studio and both of the firewire ports broke off the board. both of them. so I am a little dubious when it comes to the alleged "quality" of the German RME product especially considering the price. thanks!

A quick search of that RME fireface 800 has nothing under 4.5 star reviews, mostly 5 stars. Much better than Topping.
Even high quality items can have faults, usually just a lot less often. It also could've happened from misuse if you bought it used. I'm not an RME fanboy, but the Adi-2 dac seemed very well built.
I usually prefer Japanese built items over German though.

 

[frangle]

Good review, as usual, and astonishing measures though !
How is the sound ? somebody has a musical report to give ?
Classical, and jazz...

I listen to mainly classical & jazz, either at 16 bit 44.1kHz or 24 bit 48kHz (both lossless) for anything originating as hi-res.

I just bought one of these for headphone use only (HD600). From a subjective sound standpoint, I think you could use all the superlatives that you want. For me the sound is what I'd expect from equipment that measures well. My acid test is maybe not so demanding: it is when the proficiency or shortcomings of the recording and mixing are laid bare. This device has no problem in doing that. There is plenty of headroom at comfortable listening levels on my 300ohm headphones.

The only hitch I've had is with bluetooth, but it is not necessarily a problem with this device. I experienced regular dropouts with AirPlay from my phone, but that is also dependent on wifi for the phone to get the content from my server. For most of my listening, the system is wired -> no dropouts there.

Edit: hmmm, just realized that I didn't attach the antenna . Dropouts were due to BT range with no antenna (@ 3m) but that is solved with antenna (stable @ 6m).

Using iphone as a source at full volume, output is at a quite loud level of sustainable listening at a volume setting of -28dB on the high gain setting.

 

[ommadusk]

Is everyone able to change the volume increments? I've tried changing it from .5dB to 1dB, saved it, and it stays on .5dB.

 

[ommadusk]

Is everyone able to change the volume increments? I've tried changing it from .5dB to 1dB, saved it, and it stays on .5dB.

I spoke to Topping and 1dB increments only work beyond -50dB which seems a bit pointless to me?

Edit: I'm not sure I need it because it's nice to have the accuracy .5dB provides.

 

[thdny]

This works fine with LG TVs in Synchronous Mode. According to the ES9038PRO documentation (https://www.esstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ES9038PRO-Datasheet-v3.7.pdf)
`Synchronous Mode (PCM mode only) The DPLL can be bypassed if the incoming PCM audio is synchronous to MCLK with the relationship MCLK=128FSR.`
Can anyone explain the difference btw DPLL and Sync mode, please?

 

[thdny]

The firmware has a bug. In "Synchronous Mode" mode if you switch to IIS input, the device freezes with a "DAC ERROR!" prompt and requires a reset. This is very annoying.

 

[RichardRahlPR]

My Unit dose not output any sound out of the XLRs or RCAs while in DAC mode when using IIS. It is a bit of a bummer.

 

[tensor9]

Why does this outperform their flagship DAC at a lower cost? Why would anyone buy the D90?

 

[Lupin]

My Unit dose not output any sound out of the XLRs or RCAs while in DAC mode when using IIS. It is a bit of a bummer.

Most likely a ISS pin layout mismatch if it is just with ISS input.

That is what happens when audiophiles decide to use a transport that was never intended to connect devices. About every manufacturer uses its own connectorpin layout. There is no standard as it was never intended to be a standard.