Topping DX7 Pro+ Review (DAC & HP Amp)

[ommadusk]

I reinstalled the firmware at the suggestion of the seller and it's been okay since. It may be okay.

 

[ommadusk]

Update. The noise has started to come back again, it's happened twice in the last day. Switching it off at the back and then switiching it on again clears it up. I wonder if it's because I have it turned on all the time and it doesn't like that. I have it sitting on my amp which gets slightly warm so maybe it doesn't like that too, I'm speculating that it's some kind of heat issue. It's disappointing. If I return it under warranty I'll be left without a DAC or a headphone amp and who knows if they'll actually find the problem because I think it has to be on for a good number of hours to happen?

 

[thdny]

The new firmware update seems to fix spdif problems but I couldn't find any documentation on the newly added spdif mode settings. https://www.tpdz.net/newsinfo/855476.html Any documentation about these modes?

 

[staticV3]

The new firmware update seems to fix spdif problems but I couldn't find any documentation on the newly added spdif mode settings. https://www.tpdz.net/newsinfo/855476.html Any documentation about these modes?

Probably just the usual configurable DPLL settings that you can find on lots of different ESS DACs.
Setting this to a higher number means the DAC is more tolerant of jittery Coax and Toslink signals and won't stutter as easily.

 

[Jimster480]

The new firmware update seems to fix spdif problems but I couldn't find any documentation on the newly added spdif mode settings. https://www.tpdz.net/newsinfo/855476.html Any documentation about these modes?

It's nice to see that they are finally getting their SPDIF stuff under control because honestly they have always lacked in that region for the last years.

 

[Ilmeni]

Does anyone know if there are any temperature concerns with this thing? I picked one up last week, and I've noticed that it gets really warm, sometimes. It's never too hot to touch, but it wouldn't be far off. The manual says not to keep it in a hot, humid environment, but how hot and humid is that, exactly? Something beyond what any human would be comfortable in, I would hope!
Another thing that's worrying me: I expected it to be about the same amount above ambient all the time (besides when it's just been turned on, obviously), but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Sometimes, after it's been on for hours, I'll touch it, and it's barely even warm! I thought it might have something to do with whether I'm using it as just a DAC, or if the headphone amplifier is active as well, but it will randomly be cool even when I'm using it as a headphone amp. I don't understand. What could be going on here?
It's all working fine, as far as I can tell, but I can't help worrying about the heat shortening the life if some internal component. Forgive me if it's just paranoia; in the past I've had some bad luck with audio devices not lasting as long as they should.
Final, unrelated question: what's the actual advantage of this thing having such an enormous SINAD? Digital attenuation, perhaps? I have to ask, because it's surely well beyond the limits of human hearing, and, presumably, beyond the limits of most other devices in the system.
Thanks in advance.

 

[hayabusaxps]

my unit was replaced and the new unit now has pretty audible noise now as well.
trying to benchmark it to find out if its actually messed up too

 

[hayabusaxps]

Update. The noise has started to come back again, it's happened twice in the last day. Switching it off at the back and then switiching it on again clears it up. I wonder if it's because I have it turned on all the time and it doesn't like that. I have it sitting on my amp which gets slightly warm so maybe it doesn't like that too, I'm speculating that it's some kind of heat issue. It's disappointing. If I return it under warranty I'll be left without a DAC or a headphone amp and who knows if they'll actually find the problem because I think it has to be on for a good number of hours to happen?

haha thats the exact behavior mine had before an RMA. topping did ghost me for like 3 weeks though on my frist rma contact, heard nothing i guess there was a change over or something, then they got better again.

cycling power fixed it but then the time before returning shortened each time until it wouldnt help

 

[hayabusaxps]

Does anyone know if there are any temperature concerns with this thing? I picked one up last week, and I've noticed that it gets really warm, sometimes. It's never too hot to touch, but it wouldn't be far off. The manual says not to keep it in a hot, humid environment, but how hot and humid is that, exactly? Something beyond what any human would be comfortable in, I would hope!
Another thing that's worrying me: I expected it to be about the same amount above ambient all the time (besides when it's just been turned on, obviously), but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Sometimes, after it's been on for hours, I'll touch it, and it's barely even warm! I thought it might have something to do with whether I'm using it as just a DAC, or if the headphone amplifier is active as well, but it will randomly be cool even when I'm using it as a headphone amp. I don't understand. What could be going on here?
It's all working fine, as far as I can tell, but I can't help worrying about the heat shortening the life if some internal component. Forgive me if it's just paranoia; in the past I've had some bad luck with audio devices not lasting as long as they should.
Final, unrelated question: what's the actual advantage of this thing having such an enormous SINAD? Digital attenuation, perhaps? I have to ask, because it's surely well beyond the limits of human hearing, and, presumably, beyond the limits of most other devices in the system.
Thanks in advance.

well im not getting 122dB out of mine, im working through WTH is going on with its numbers.
you would want a very good SinAD if you want to crank up your amp, and use the DAC as volume control.
high SNR would be required for high amp ratios.
and still be pin drop quiet. when the movie/music ends

ADC TRRS mono

DAC left to left xrl cosmos input

mine looks closer to a 100dB SNR 9th harmonic after a month of use.....
116db at 3rd and 5th


TOPPING i HAVE questions for you lol

 

[Veri]

Yeah, that looks kinda bad..

 

[Mulder]

Is this yet another product from Topping that goes awry? I think I've read the occasional thread where Topping's products show problems. I myself have a Topping DAC that did not quite live up to expectations. Is it the case that Topping's products more frequently exhibit problems and hassles, or is it just an effect of the fact that they sell more devices than others among ASR's readers?So this is yet another problematic product from topping?

 

[Jimster480]

well im not getting 122dB out of mine, im working through WTH is going on with its numbers.
you would want a very good SinAD if you want to crank up your amp, and use the DAC as volume control.
high SNR would be required for high amp ratios.
and still be pin drop quiet. when the movie/music ends

ADC TRRS mono
View attachment 345861View attachment 345862View attachment 345863

DAC left to left xrl cosmos input
View attachment 345864



mine looks closer to a 100dB SNR 9th harmonic after a month of use.....
116db at 3rd and 5th


TOPPING i HAVE questions for you lol

It would be interesting if we could send in some units that have been used for a long time and have them checked and see what their actual performance is.

 

[Jimster480]

Is this yet another product from Topping that goes awry? I think I've read the occasional thread where Topping's products show problems. I myself have a Topping DAC that did not quite live up to expectations. Is it the case that Topping's products more frequently exhibit problems and hassles, or is it just an effect of the fact that they sell more devices than others among ASR's readers?So this is yet another problematic product from topping? Is it just because

Honestly, I'm not that sure, but if there are people reporting problems, then it might be a widespread problem or maybe from a single batch. But I can tell you that my multi-year-old DX7, which is like eight years old now, almost works great. And so does my D70S. It also works great!

 

[MediumRare]

well im not getting 122dB out of mine, im working through WTH is going on with its numbers.
you would want a very good SinAD if you want to crank up your amp, and use the DAC as volume control.
high SNR would be required for high amp ratios.
and still be pin drop quiet. when the movie/music ends

ADC TRRS mono
View attachment 345861View attachment 345862View attachment 345863

DAC left to left xrl cosmos input
View attachment 345864



mine looks closer to a 100dB SNR 9th harmonic after a month of use.....
116db at 3rd and 5th


TOPPING i HAVE questions for you lol

Can you test your source/loopback? -122 dB is lab instrument grade so it is likely inachievable in practice because no source is at that level to begin with, and then neither is your ADC capable of measuring it, no?

 

[hayabusaxps]

i ran the tests again, ill need to dermine which setting or if the dac was just throwing a tantrum on first measurements.
the only changes i did was change the
dip switches to 10V FS on the dac
48khz sampling on the ADC
and 64-bit FFT
and distortion band pass.

FIRST THE cosmos ADC noise settings.

cosmos grade 0 is supposed to be 1-2 dB better in stereo but meh.......
adc run on a (battery) tablet.


now im getting much better results, SNR at 120 is difficult to measure bc it would sum all the harmonics if i understand correctly.

SNR still not at 122 but better than 102

note this is checking the ADCs left and right channels not the DACs LEFT AND RIGHT CHANNELS.
i was getting the benchmarking sorted first.

 

[hayabusaxps]

Can you test your source/loopback? -122 dB is lab instrument grade so it is likely inachievable in practice because no source is at that level to begin with, and then neither is your ADC capable of measuring it, no?

the COSMOS ADC Grade 0 is supposed to be 129dBA

Cosmos ADC | index

e1dashz.wixsite.com

so technically that should be

Current Products - Sound Devices

www.sounddevices.com

i was also researching another ADC that could get about 131 dBV
the 833

and

MixPre-3 II
Frequency Response 10 Hz to 80 kHz +/- 0.5 dB re 1 kHz @ 192 kHz sample rate THD + Noise 0.005% max (@1 kHz, 22-22 kHz BW, gain= 20 dB, -10 dBu in) ADC* 32 bit precision; 142 dB dynamic range min (A weighted, gain = 10 dB, fader = 0 dB) Equivalent Input Noise -130 dBV (-128 dBu) max (A-weighting, gain = 76 dB, 150 ohm source impedance)

Equivalent Input Noise -130 dBV

isnt a 4v vs 1v in dbfs like 12 dBFS
so that should be a 142 dB FS compared to the balanced 4V right.....

i wanted to check these out but wondered how the other aspects of sound would compare.
sounddevices.com



and how would you like a loop back done?
it was going from DAC -> ADC what else would you wire? or do you just want to see whats actually coming out of the DAC, like on a volt meter?



id use an Oscilloscope buuuuuut the dacs soo much better than my scope haha.
that was half the argument for the dac

 

[MediumRare]

the COSMOS ADC Grade 0 is supposed to be 129dBA

and how would you like a loop back done?
it was going from DAC -> ADC what else would you wire? or do you just want to see whats actually coming out of the DAC, like on a volt meter?

I think we've all learned to take published specs with a bag of salt. There are so many ways they can be different from what we measure.

I'm not a technical expert so maybe others can advise. The key is to provide the cleanest possible source for your test signal and measure that at your ADC. Then introduce the DUT (in this case the DAC) and note the difference.

 

[Nutul]

I think we've all learned to take published specs with a bag of salt. There are so many ways they can be different from what we measure.

I'm not a technical expert so maybe others can advise. The key is to provide the cleanest possible source for your test signal and measure that at your ADC. Then introduce the DUT (in this case the DAC) and note the difference.

A-weighted being one of the variables...?

 

[hayabusaxps]

I think we've all learned to take published specs with a bag of salt. There are so many ways they can be different from what we measure.

I'm not a technical expert so maybe others can advise. The key is to provide the cleanest possible source for your test signal and measure that at your ADC. Then introduce the DUT (in this case the DAC) and note the difference.

sorta....

that's partly why armin and others help asr, to ensure the manufactures published specs are within reason.

its just crucial to know whaaat your measuring, what standard.
that way you can understand.

look up how dBA starts to *(ignore lower 20hz) it weighs a different frequency range at a different algorithm

though im really starting to get pissed when companies try and hide their performance. doing it on purpose
using dba to make thier numbers look alot better.
but if you know what thier saying it means something specifically and you can compare apples to apples.

 

[urfaust]

I have a little annoying issue with it, otherwise it's been a charm to use a combo on desktop. I can't swap the level change incrementation. I get into the startup menu and go from 0.5db to 1.db incrementations, then saves the settings but it never actually works and still go 0.5 by 0.5, which i find super slow.
Is that a bug someone else encountered too? Im on the last firmware i believe.