Topping DX3 Pro

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Vtory, Feb 24, 2019.

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  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Why is this Topping DX3 Pro not $119?
     
  2. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    As much as I might be wary of Topping products, at least there is some kind of action taken here. It's just too bad that they only announced it on ASR.
     
  3. restrav3

    restrav3 Likes Audio-GD

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    been testing for a good while now. it is a great little DAC. sound was extra nice after 24 hours burn in. hopefully it is not gonna die on me.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Baten

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    How is that musical paradise, in comparison? :D
     
  5. restrav3

    restrav3 Likes Audio-GD

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    That's a pre not a dac. Ive never heard the musical paradise dac but I'd like to.
     
  6. Josh83

    Josh83 Friend

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    It’s absolutely hilarious how many “OMG highly recommend” Topping and SMSL threads on ASSR are filled with people discussing all the failures and problems with their units. Imagine if those were Schiit products...
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2019
  7. jaker782

    jaker782 Friend

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    I am very curious about this unit and may pick it up as a budget AIO unit. I am curious how the blutooth implementation actually sounds compared to a wired source connection? If the BT quality is close, this would be very convenient! Thanks!
     
  8. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Couldn't test very advanced codecs, but connecting via aac (iphone) and aptx (macbook+osx), I'd say 65-75% of wired performance. Grayer background, compressed dynamics, and unclearer spatial cues were the most noticeable differences. For less demanding purposes (youtube, movie, etc.) nothing to complain.

    But for serious audio purposes, wifi-based streaming must be a much better way to go for wireless.
     
  9. jaker782

    jaker782 Friend

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    Ah, that is sort of what I expected. Still a nice feature to have for certain applications. Thanks!
     
  10. jaker782

    jaker782 Friend

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    This is now on Drop for those interested. I may pull the trigger IF it is clear the stand-by issue has been corrected on the units Drop will ship out.
     
  11. Scubadude

    Scubadude Almost "Made"

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    Don't know this model but I've been running a Topping TP10 to drive 6ohm AR Classic 5's in the study. Two years in, 100% reliable,a sound not bad at all! Also works a treat with AKG K1000. Probably the best I've heard the K1k.
     
  12. Majestyk

    Majestyk Acquaintance

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    Just curious what you mean by hearing digital artifacts with the ADI-2? Is this with the headphone out only?

    Thanks.
     
  13. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    I generally use that term to express one or multiple items of the followings:
    • Acoustic and naturally recorded stuffs sound less realistic than I'd believe them to sound.
    • Low level dynamics often seem to be compressed than played via better devices.
    • Some strange things going on in the higher treble.
    • Music/sound stream doesn't feel convincingly continuous.
    When I had adi-2 dac in the house, it fundamentally had these things to some extent. Built-in headphone out exacerbated such issues in an evident way. In other words, good amps mitigated the artifacts. But never completely vanished.

    Indeed, to me all DS dacs I owned or heard have this problem more or less. Some more bearably some not. Of course price matters in adjusting expectation levels.
     
  14. nappoler

    nappoler New

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    I like the D50s
     
  15. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    You have no idea what you are talking about @Vtory . Analog gear has digital artifacts? What the f**k? Most of the best and most accurate sounding gear in the world uses op amps. Gear that destroys everything you’ve talking about here for clarity uses op amps from the 80s. The Convert 2 uses off the shelf TI(BB) and THAT analog ic and hits like Mike Tyson. Thanks @MrTeaRex for the chart.

    You’re full of shit on hearing digital artifacts with the RME. It just sounds bad and that’s just how it sounds. RME fixed what was grossly wrong with the analog stages of their gear years ago. Maybe they’re still poor but not so much with fixed sine waves into audio analyzers. It might just be their DSP, the drivers, or the clocking. You just can’t know and there is no reason to speculate when it is clear you have no idea why it sounds like that and neither do RME because if they did, it would sound better. RME definitely does not make the best sounding gear but it’s generally far cleaner sounding than Schiit even if much worse than many Schiit boxes in other ways and the Topping stuff is just godawful, dirty, grainy mushy Chinese crap. It doesn’t matter what chip is in it, it still sucks the same.

    Modi 3 still has Velvet Sound signature. It can’t be fixed, it’s inherent to the AKM chips and isn’t the filter. This is also not the RME sound.
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The headamp out imparts its own character. It sounds hard, glarey, flat and boring. As a DAC, it's better.
     
  17. Majestyk

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    I did a comparison between my new RME ADI-2 DAC vs my aging Logitech Transporter. I've always liked the sound of the Transporter but lately I have been using it more like a USB DAC than a streamer. What I mean by that is I use my PC to control it, rather than a touch device. Not only that, I have a handy little program that allows me to control the Transporter with Foobar 2000. It's not quite as responsive as a USB DAC but it works pretty well all considering.

    Anyway, I decided I wanted a USB DAC for better control and I also wanted something that I could turn off (standby) at night. The Transporter display turns off but otherwise the unit always runs. (Plus the RME goes a lot higher than 24/96)

    At first I listened to the RME and I found the material rather LOUD sounding. I figured it was probably the volume that needed to be lowered. Then I did some comparing and I initially found the Transporter to have better soundstage and bass. However, I had a feeling it had to do with mismatched levels and I decided that I was not going keep going back and forth, hooking up each unit at a time. So I ended up buying a used Zektor HDS4.1 swtich from ebay. I had a Zektor switch like this years ago and these are probably one of the best switches made as far as video/sound quality is concerned. (I used very short connectors)

    Since the Transporter does its own decoding and doesn't require any setting up with Foobar, I was able to use Foobar to simultaneously play both units and switch back and forth with the Zektor.

    I kept the Transporter at full volume so I only had to find the correct volume with the RME. Sure enough once I was able to match the volume (RME set to -4.0) I was quite surprised to find that both units sounded almost identical, with the RME sounding VERY slightly better. But then I realized the RME was still a little louder so I went to -4.5 and suddenly both units sounded (to my ears) identical. I absolutely could not tell the difference. (And I was really hoping the RME would sound better).

    So all in all I'm quite pleased that there is no loss in sound quality so for that I would say mission accomplished.

    Two things to note... It's possible the RME doesn't sound as good at 0db (with my amp, at least) since I initially found it to be too 'in your face' sounding. And lastly, all it takes is a 1db mismatch in volume between two dacs to make one sound much better than the other.
     
  18. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    The Transporter is by no means a bad DAC though, it even has Jung super regulators and all sorts of fancy shiznizz
     
  19. Majestyk

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    Upon further listening I am hearing a more enveloping sound coming from the RME. Very slightly cleaner too. The Transporter has a bit more of a boxed in sound by comparison, although on its own I never noticed it before.

    Even with material where there are just vocals, I can hear the singing spread out a tiny bit more on the RME. I can notice the difference even more with 16/44 material because both units start playing at the same time. The Transporter is a tad behind with 24/96.

    Even with the RME's volume a teeny bit lower than the Transporter I can hear the difference, so it's not a mismatched volume thing.

    So differences after all.
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    ...feel the Force flowing through you...let go your conscious self and listen on instinct...your eyes can deceive you, stretch out with your feelings.
     

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