Topping should recall all their DX3 Pros.

[yue]

Previous discussion here.

I believe a recall of all DX3 Pro units is necessary given large amount (20+) of forum members experienced quite a lot of major product issues, and in worst cases because it outputs 10V DC it could damage your unit, your headphones/power amplifiers, and your hearings. It is not clear whether overcurrent would be the officially recognized cause but clearly there is a huge flaw in circuit design or component quality.

If you still have warranty, return it to your seller. That’s my advice. If not, please send emails to Topping and ask them to recall all units. Express that very clearly in your product review on Amazon/AliExpress as well.

 

[Darwin]

They are back on Massdrop today.
I’m glad mine was lost in the mail and I got a refund.

 

[amirm]

This is bad news for existing customers because you will just be ignored.

Existing customers like myself are enjoying the product including the one I purchased from you.

Didn't we go through this already?

 

[flipflop]

Topping is silently working on a complete redesign of DX3 Pro.

Source?

 

[yue]

Source?

Manufacturers do that very often. Usually each batches (a few hundred units) will have slight modifications.

 

[yue]

Existing customers like myself are enjoying the product including the one I purchased from you.

Didn't we go through this already?

Glad to realize your expectation for a product is that low. As long as you are enjoying it it’s good enough to ignore all those who have issues.

There is no need to recall faulty cars because only less than 10 people among tens of millions who purchased could experience traffic accidents because of that.

 

[amirm]

Glad to realize your expectation for a product is that low. As long as you are enjoying it it’s good enough to ignore all those who have issues.

Excuse me? I spent over $200 to buy yours. You showed no sympathy in that regard, charging me what you paid plus shipping. So excuse me if I don't consider you part of the solution.

There is no need to recall faulty cars because only less than 10 people among tens of millions who purchased could experience traffic accidents because of that.

Nonsense. Products that are broken are under warranty. They should be sent back to be fixed or replaced. That it costs to do that is part of the risk people take for buying direct from China.

There is no safety issue here whatsoever as your analogy implies with cars.

Now that you don't own a unit anymore, I am puzzled why you are still so bothered here.

 

[JohnBooty]

I'm enjoying mine, but I wish I'd waited before purchasing.

My initial understanding was that the problem was USB-related and that I'd be fine since I was primarily going to be using optical. I also figured I'd be fine as long as the unit didn't suffer from "infant mortality."

But apparently some work fine for months before failing and now I see there are multiple failure modes... some related to the headphone amp section and possibly related to simple headphone insertion/removal.

Kind of holding my breath with this thing and expecting it to die at any moment. Guess I'll keep the Schiit stack around as a backup instead of selling it?

Which is probably silly, since I think the majority of them are not failing and some, like Amir's unit(s), have even survived some torture testing.

 

[yue]

I spent over $200 to buy yours. You showed no sympathy in that regard, charging me what you paid plus shipping.

Apart from shipping costs I was charged $15-20 by my bank for your wiring transfer as well. Bear in mind those buy from dealers are charged shipping fee and restocking fee, and you show no sympathy for them.

Again I do not aim this thread towards you. This thread is just about the product. And they need to recall all units. If you are happy with the product and reluctant to return, you are free to leave it with you.

 

[bravomail]

competition shill, may be?

 

[amirm]

I was charged 15 dollars by my bank for your wiring transfer as well.

You should start a campaign against your bank then for charging to *receive* a wire transfer instead of this thread. Never heard of a bank doing that. Of course you would not have incurred that charge if you had set up a paypal account or asked me in advance how you were going to receive the money. As it is, you came across as a bill collector in the way you asked me for the money.

Again I do not aim this thread towards you. This thread is just about the manufacturer. They did a poor job. And they need to recall all units. If you are happy with the product and reluctant to return, you are free to leave it with you.

You referenced me in your OP post just as you had done in the other thread. As for Topping, they have created a fantastic product. I and countless others get immense enjoyment out of this unique offering.

And no, once again, warranty issues are just that: warranty. There is no reason for any recall. I know I won't give mine back to them even if they offered me more than I paid for it.

To the extent Topping is redesigning the unit, then that is fantastic as no big company would attempt to do that so quickly.

 

[JohnBooty]

Is Massdrop mindful of products' failure rates / satisfaction levels?

I'm honestly curious, since Massdrop is now accepting orders for another batch.

We're dealing with a small sample size amongst ourselves. Massdrop clearly has a much larger sample size. If their first DX3 drop was a disaster, would they offer it again?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure how closely Massdrop watches that kind of thing. Or perhaps they just don't care too much, since they don't accept returns.

 

[yue]

There is no safety issue here whatsoever as your analogy implies with cars.

In terms of an audio device safety means it won’t damage your equipments or hearing. In this case it could as it it outputs 10v dc.

Not all amps or headphones can handle that.
And the noise level is loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage.

Now that you don't own a unit anymore, I am puzzled why you are still so bothered here

People returned their product and claimed their warranty also talked about the issue afterwards. I don’t see why I can’t do that. freedom of speech it is.

competition shill, may be?

I don’t work in the audiophile industry and I don’t have business relationships with any of the manufacturers.

I concede that my employer sells mobile phone dongles (google pixel dongle) but everyone knows that it’s not their main business, and I don’t work on the dongle at all for my employer.

I personally would cast doubt on Amir on this but again this is not the thread I want to discuss such issues.

 

[tired_guru]

Glad to realize your expectation for a product is that low. As long as you are enjoying it it’s good enough to ignore all those who have issues.

Just you wait until it puts some big DC offset for his expensive headphone or suddenly die. Then having great opportunity to use it as paper weight because sending it back to China does not make sense.

I get this is new product but having beta testers for free and silently removing flaws from the design is a bit unfair for users that paid full price for alpha revision. Let's face it, this may be great product but still needs a lot of tests and/or design iterations.

Returned mine after 1st day of use - sound was great but only when changed filter to slow roll off, other filters were joke for classical recordings, far from reality (transient handling, impulse response). Got grace sdac instead+atom and this was the best decision ever made (still the downside is the default filter for me and not being able to change it). Amount of issues + sound quality of integrated headamp in high gain (in low gain it was superb but headroom was a joke for high imp, low sens HPs) for hard to drive HPs was just NO GO for me, and wanted to send it back ASAP for full refund.

Now after some time and seeing all those defects listed in especially created threads for them, I can see it was a great decision - a lot of posts show you can end up with paper weight, DOA, sudden deaths or destroyed audio stuff in near future. Still wanted to check out D50 as ultimate DAC with changeable filters, but will find another alternative. Prefer to choose from manufacturers with many years of experience like grace or at least aune which in regard of reliabilty and flawless design you can count on. I have too many expensive stuff to risk their life, especially having DC coupled amp like atom. This would fry my HPs or damage them partially. Will never go back this route once burned, no matter how great they measure. For me it's just waste of my time (money).

 

[yue]

Just you wait until it puts some big DC offset for his expensive headphone or suddenly die. Then having great opportunity to use it as paper weight because sending it back to China does not make sense.

Even if his headphone dies or he lost his hearing, he would still recommend the products to you. He'll tell you that it's a small price to pay for you to get better products. Again most of Amir's logic is nonsense and I don't even want to argue with him.


In my view, the priority of a product is

1) safety
2) reliability
3) performance.

DX3 did none well :

1) when it's fully broken it could damage your expensive headphone/powered amplifier and your hearing.
2) it stopped working from time to time and many people reported that issue
3) Jitter, Linearity tests show a lot of issues

And to Amir he recommends it wholeheartly by

1) He wouldn't consider it as safety issue
2) he just didn't experience it himself
3) they are just "benign noise".

 

[noel_fs]

Just wanna say it again, get over yourself.

 

[MusicNBeer]

Some people really don't have much to worry about in their lives. Consider yourself amazingly blessed if your main life stressor is negative memories of an electronic device for which you got a full refund! Yikes.

 

[yue]

Just wanna say it again, get over yourself.

No. as long as Amir is still recommending DX3 Pro I can't stop bring more awareness to the forum member that it's a bad choice. Reason --- it's unsafe and unreliable.

I'm not ditching Amir. I'm not ditching Topping. I'm ditching the DX3 Pro only here.

 

[Darwin]

Is Massdrop mindful of products' failure rates / satisfaction levels?

I'm honestly curious, since Massdrop is now accepting orders for another batch.

We're dealing with a small sample size amongst ourselves. Massdrop clearly has a much larger sample size. If their first DX3 drop was a disaster, would they offer it again?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure how closely Massdrop watches that kind of thing. Or perhaps they just don't care too much, since they don't accept returns.

There are reports everywhere of issues.

 

[amirm]

In terms of an audio device safety means it won’t damage your equipments or hearing. In this case it could as it it outputs 10v dc.

Countless power amplifiers short out and do this. I know because I repaired countless ones in my younger years. A number of high-end amps have no protection circuit at all. We had a high-end DAC short out its output stage at work which immediately blew the driver out of the speaker testing with it.

Now if the equipment did that when fully working, that would be one thing. But not something that has broken.