Topping DX3 Pro LDAC Headphone Amplifier DAC DSD512 PCM32bit/768kHz XMOS XU208 APTX USB Bluetooth Decoder Headphone Amplifier (Black)

Sounds very clean, and uncolored. Nothing shouty or tinny.1 watt @32 ohms. Runs most headphones with plenty of headroom. Black background for low impedance iems. No inappropriate relay clicks, but I'm only running it optical. Topping has an update for it on their website. Lots of ins and outs. Nice metal housing. Runs cool. Smooth metal, digital potentiometer which is multi push function. Large amber Led with brightness control. A plastic remote that functions well. It doesn't come with the CR2032 button battery because of shipping restrictions. Battry compartment has two curled wires that the battery must go between with the flat side up. I found out the hard way that M on remote is a gain switch. Ouch! Can run line, pre, headphone, and pre + headphone at same time. Bluetooth sounds very good, but I run Chromecast Audio via optical.

Original order arrived dead - blank display and no signs of life when power adapter was connected. Also, Bluetooth antenna was missing from the package.Update January 9, 2019: After complaining about DoA unit, I was promptly contacted by the manufacturer and offered a replacement. It arrived only five days later, shipped directly from China, all without any additional charges or a lengthy RMA processing. That's what I call perfect customer service. Set it up, connected to power and lo and behold - this time it worked! Spent couple days listening to it and can tell you now that this is a lot of very clean sound from such a small box. Compared to my old Sansui AU-D9 which weighs at 35 pounds, DX3 Pro does look like a toy but it is an absolutely amazing little DAC/amp combo. The sound is transparent and very detailed, almost clinical, and yet very involving and pleasant to the ear. It has super extended silky smooth highs with no traces of harshness. I've done most of my listening tests with the DX3 Pro output connected to my Yamaha HS50M/HS8S powered monitors/subwoofer and HS50's are known for their overly bright sound which can easily cause fatigue with prolonged listening sessions but not in this case. Mids were equally excellent, with good soundstage separation and natural vocals with no artificial forwardness, so often found in cheaper amps. Lower end was handled with confidence as well, with good control and naturally sounding bass parts. No matter which types of tracks I was throwing on it, DX3 Pro showed no signs of weakness: from classical music to psychedelic rock to indie to art-rock or electronica, trance and trip-hop - everything sounded crystal clear and with impressive dynamic range. Actually, DX3 Pro's sound reminds me more of a professional soundcard than a typical inexpensive consumer amp. So maybe the Pro part in its name is justified after all. This may not be to everyone's taste since DX3 can occasionally sound very unflattering, for example, with some of the older pop/rock tracks produced at the peak of "loudness war". Personally, its transparency and flat frequency response was definitely appreciated here.Like Elsid (above), my setup includes Chromecast Audio connected via optical input as main signal source. I have also tried connecting my Yamaha Motif XS7 using S/PDIF coax cable. I tried playing a few Yamaha voices through DX3 and I should say it sounded at least as good as Yamaha's own built-in proprietary DAC connected to speakers via analog line out. It is quite an achievement since Yamaha Motif series is known for its naturally sounding high quality samples.I've also played a few tracks via Bluetooth (this time Bluetooth antenna was included) by pairing DX3 Pro with my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone and with HiBy R3 DAP. HiBy R3 was set up to use LDAC codec while S7 only has aptX (and I had to enable it in the developers settings). Pairing was instantaneous in case of both devices and there was no playback issues to speak of - no interruptions and no sound degradation even when I walked away into another room. Frankly, I could not hear any differences between LDAC vs aptX in terms of sound quality; both sounded fine but not nearly as good as 16bit/44.1KHz FLACs streamed by Chromecast and played back via DX3 optical input.I do not have here any of those headphones with bizarre impedance scores to test, but DX3 Pro did sound really good both with my pair of old and trusted "Made in Austria" AKG K701 (62 ohms) and with ATH-M50x (38 ohms) as well. No issues with the output level and no noise or distortion of any kind noticed. Even Audio-Technica cans, which are anything but flat, sounded more controlled and less bass-heavy compared to when connected to my Objective2 amp.I have not tested USB input yet but I would soon. Stay tuned for updates.Some really picky points:* No 6.3mm headphone jack* No analog line in* Cryptic button labels on the remote* Cheap, flimsy-looking Walmart type AC adapter

This is one of the AIO units in the market. It sounds great, and it can drive power hungery Fostex TRP50 Mk3 no problem. I love it, and would give it five stars but it has some problems.The remote shorted after pushing the power button for the first time. It's a bummer since this unit likes to go 100% volume on line out if not using the remote. Firmware issue?More frustrating, it stopped working (sound going in, no sound coming out) after couple of days. It is resolved now after extensive time investment.The steps I took to get it working again: Unplug the device, power drained it, uninstall the driver, re-install driver, plug in power to the unit and factory reset (knob counter clockwise about 10 times?), plug in USB, set format to 24-bits.

Worked and sounded ok for a few hours, then I decided I would switch it between sources (from USB). Switched to optical, with a known good source. No output. Switched BACK to USB. No output. Power cycled the stupid thing. Tried again. No output.Topping has somewhat of a rep for junk that fails for no reason, but I figured maybe that was people mishandling it or whatever else. Nope, turns out they really do make junk that fails for no reason. Too bad because it sounds pretty good. I ended up with an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red instead, which sounds at least as good for about the same price.

What a great sound and what a poor quality assurance for these things. This is already second device in a row with the same issue - it goes in standby from which you can't turn device on back again. First device was 19/01 in serial, this one is 19/02 and still same issue.

I am using this and a Fosi Audio BT20A TPA3116 amp to power some KEF Q150 passive speakers attached to my workstation computer. I added this DAC last because I was curious if I'd notice the difference and always been interested in the field of audio. I'm a sheer hobbyist.The Fosi amp has a bluetooth connection that was playing sound from my computers. The Topping DX3 Pro also has a bluetooth connection, so I tried connect my phone and Spotify to each to see if I noticed a difference. The noise floor was MUCH lower on the Topping DAC. I'm shocked really. Super happy about it because now I feel my money was well spent.As a newbie, I was still curious if this would work with my computer AND passive speakers. All is good! I run a USB cable from the computer to the Topping DAC, then I run an RCA patch cable from the Topping DAC to the Fosi amp. Then I run speaker wire from the Fosi amp to each of the passive speakers.To make this more complete, I've just tested it with my AKG K553 Pro headphones. First peculiar piece is that it will play from the speakers and the headphones simultaneously unless I turn the amp off. Not a big deal, just interesting. I prefer the sound out of the speakers, but the headphones are still good.Alright that's it! Happy with my purchase and hope you will be too!

Premetto che ho acquistato la versione LDAC. La conversione D/A è affidata ai chip AK4493 che secondo i miei gusti sono più "musicali" ed "analogici" dei vari SABRE ES90xx (che invece trovo troppo analitici sulle alte frequenze) mentre lo stadio di buffer è basato sull' operazionale OPA1612, che restituisce un segnale con livelli di distorsione bassissimi ed una grana finissima senza alcuna colorazione sonora. La combinazione tra questi IC's è eccellente in quanto la riproduzione dei file musicali anche ad alta risoluzione è precisa, cristallina e priva di asprezze. Certo, esistono DAC, preamplificatori ed amplificatori per cuffie di gran lunga superiori, ma dobbiamo andare su altre fasce di prezzo.Unica pecca il manuale di istruzione, piccolo e troppo sintetico. Ad esempio è importante sapere che per il settaggio iniziale occorre seguire una procedura non proprio intuitiva: bisogna tenere premuta la manopola del volume e poi attaccare il jack dell'alimentazione. A quel punto il display fornirà una serie di opzioni in codice alfanumerico per impostare il DX3 (quindi vi consiglio di eseguire il settaggio con il manuale a portata di mano per decifrare di volta in volta il significato delle varie opzioni).Ha 3 modalità di utilizzo:1) ampli cuffie: potete scegliere se il guadagno è 0 o +9db2) preamplificatore: si può utilizzare l'uscita posteriore sbilanciata per collegarvi un amplificatore finale (l'impedenza di uscita è di 100ohm) e si controlla il volume tramite la manopola3) DAC: si può utilizzare come convertitore puro: scelta tale funzione il DX3 bypassa il controllo del volume (che sul line out sarà 0db quindi come se il volume fosse al massimo) ed il display segnalerà non più il livello del volume ma la frequenza di campionamento del file in entrata.Attenzione che la scelta 2)-3) si può fare solo con il settaggio iniziale non con il telecomando. In altre parole dovete stabilire se l'uscita line out è diretta (DAC) o passa per l'attenuatore digitale (preamplificatore).

IO use this as an all in one headphone device for everything in my games room. Optical out from 4K TV, USB from PC, and the interface is slick and easy to use. The remote control is a notch above the cheap ones you normally get at such prices too. The DAC is dual 4493(a SUPERB dac) along with a headphone amp that has handles everything i've thrown at it from 300ohm Sennheisers to the 470ohm AT rx70...Sound is transparent and neautral and its sound absolutely beautiful. From what i've read people who have used actual hardware to take sound measurements have also come away suitably impressed. Unless you have thousands of pounds worth of headphones and simply must have the absolute best, or you must have balanced(which isn't required imo at such power levels) then this is an end game device for 99.9% of music lovers.Very happy customer and will be keeping a close eye on Topping in the future.

An absolutely lovely DAC and headphone amp. Give it a few days to run in as it sounds a little cold and analytical at first.Lots of detail and transparent sounding allowing your ears to “look” into the recording and enjoy what sounds like a live recording.I listen to mainly classical music and have some very expensive equipment yet this little beauty gives that engaging analogue sound I expect from my gear.This is the second revision DX3 pro which offers LDAC on Bluetooth as well as a revised line output option in the setup menu.Bluetooth LDAC sounds almost as good as my expensive streamer. It’s an amazingly good DAC.I also purchased the compatible Topping P50 power supply which to my ears adds further depth, musicality and smoothness and is well worth buying to get the most out of this DAC. It gives that “black” silent background hi-fi nuts go on about. (I’m one of them.)I prefer this DX3 Pro DAC to the more expensive Topping D50s as it has a nicer display and a headphone amp too.Excellent value. Music to my ears. Love it.

I always listen to music through a DAC Decoder. But this latest one I've purchased is something else!!!I own 5 Dac Decoders now and this latest one is out of this world. I couldn't believe the sound quality that this little Gem pushed through my ear holes! I always listen through very high quality amplifiers and speakers especially bass reflex unit's, but playing Spotify or Tidal through this DAC, into the above mentioned it literally blew me away twice round the moon and back.I can't praise this DX3 Pro running @ 32bts - 768khz (windows 10) any more than a million out of 10, so to speak.Topping have played a blinder with this little baby especially at only £159.00. You just can't go wrong.Will update in 6 months time once I've burned this little gem in.Thank for ready my review.Joner (Hifi fanatic & electronics engineer) cert Sound Engineer. Patent bass reflex designer.

I really like this. Its simple to use, no unnecessary stuff on it. I currently have the RCA outs going to my VXT 6 studio monitors and the front output powering my DT 1990s.I noticed an improvement on the sound of the studio monitors themselves over just plugging it into the back of my pc. I've also eliminated a high pitched squeel I had.Sound through the headphones sounds stunning.Controls are very simple, added bluetooth is a nice touch and I do use it alot. Nice for when you have friends around who want to listen to their music on your speakers so they can quickly connect.Would highly recommend