TOPPING DX3pro+ DAC&Headphone amp

I've purchased a lot of audio equipment over many decades and this component has to be the most refined. Superlative specs is just the start of it. I'm using it with an SVS 2.1 set of speakers on my Windows 11 PC. Music reveals itself from a dead silent soundstage with ultra clear stereo separation, detailed dynamics and a super wide frequency range. The difference was stark between my windows audio (Realtech) which was decent and this pro DAC. It's solid construction, high grade potentiometer, top notch ports all signal high end attention to detail. Composing music with Studio One becomes more enjoyable when every nuance of the instruments can be heard from subsonic moving air to crystal clear highs. It's very easy to use especially with the small remote that lets you select phones, line out or both with a press of a button. It has volume control,, mute and 5 other functions. The display is large, bright, easy to read, and can be dimmed. Truly a quality product!

📏 Dimensions: 4.7 x 1.1 x 3.1 in ⚖️ Weight: ~370g (0.8 lb) 🔌 Inputs: USB, Optical, Coax, Bluetooth 5.0 w/LDAC 🔊 Outputs: RCA Pre-Out, 6.35mm Headphone Out 💡 Chipset: XMOS XU208 + ESS ES9038Q2M DAC 📶 Amp Power: ~700mW @32Ω | THD+N: 0.00013% --- ✅ Objective Breakdown: Topping’s DX3 Pro+ is a feature-dense DAC/AMP combo built for the desktop. The ESS chip delivers an ultra-clean, low-noise output, supporting PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz and native DSD512. It boasts Bluetooth 5.0 with LDAC, aptX HD, AAC, and SBC codec support. The bundled remote is responsive and allows easy switching between inputs and modes. The amp drives most headphones with ease (up to ~250Ω), and the preamp function works seamlessly for powered monitors. --- 💭 Subjective Breakdown (HiTekHQ testing): 🎮 Gaming: Imaging is pinpoint, especially in FPS titles. Footsteps, reloads, and reflections sound separated and clean—almost surgical. No added warmth—this is dead neutral. 🎧 Audiophile: Detail retrieval is chef’s kiss. Not lush or romantic—this is reference tuning through and through. If your IEMs are tuned well, they’ll shine. If not… you’ll hear every flaw. 👨‍💼 Everyday User: Plug-and-play via USB. Use the remote to switch between Bluetooth, PC, and TV audio. You don’t have to understand what “ES9038” means to hear the clarity. 🧠 HiTekHQ Verdict: My daily driver for both content editing and gaming. It doesn’t color the sound—it just reveals it. Combine it with a clean amp stack or use solo—either way, it punches above its class.

I bought this Dac/amp for gaming purposes, so take my opinion on this from that perspective. I am using Moondrop kato and HD6xx for my gaming. I have played all day on RS6 and omg i was missing tons of sound qs. Now i am able to hear new things that I didn’t even hear before on fiso k5 dac, the depth the range of footsteps and gunshots are way clearer than ever. I am able to spot footsteps 2-3 rooms away if they are sprinting. I can hear many thins at the same time. Pros: The sound is clear, clean and crisp nothing fun at all. It gives natural sound with great depth. Has decent 1.8 watt power to drive my gears. Remote control and BT. Nice features to have for this price. Cons: No bass control, it’s okay for me since i am only using it for gaming, but not so much for music. The filters settings seems to be useless, couldn’t tell the difference at all. No battery provided in the box, so you have to buy AAA size. If you are going to use it for gaming and music that’s the best option for $199. If you are here for music, I would say invest more money and buy something else, it lacks bass control, and some other features like balanced output and it’s only 3.5mm headphone jack.

It's a solid headphone DAC. The clicky volume knob is one of those nice touches that makes it feel just a bit more premium. It powers both my Sennheiser HD 600 and my LCD-X without problem (though for the Senns, the high gain setting is necessary). Although I don't use it this way, you can connect to it wirelessly via Bluetooth. The screen is nice and bright, but not intrusive. It doesn't take up a lot of space on my desk. There's not much to the little box, but that's alright - it's straightforward, and what it does, it does well. The sound is clean, and it's a pretty good value if you catch it on sale. You're not gonna get any tubes or anything here, but if you're looking for a simple DAC that just does its job, this is a solid choice.

This DAC/ microphone amp is crystal clear- sound stage is open and free- treble and mids are balanced and plenty. The lows are pleasing and enjoyable.- noise free. In short, it is very musical and puts the listener in the sweet spot every time. The price is a steal for the harmonics and musicality. I have tried the Eversolo-Z8 dac and at 3.5 times the price of the DX-3 ,the sound is lacking in mids and highs - sound is confined -feels caged - not open . The unit is solidly constructed and has preset options for sound quality- as this is a desk top dac its size is just right for a PC desk... The unit is easy to use as is the remote - nothing complicated. It get 5 stars only because I cant give it 4.5.

When I unpacked this item, one of several in the box/shipment, there were two large tears in the product box, with no corresponding packed items having caused them, and no visible trauma to the Amazon shipping box, so this item's packaging was damaged before it was ever packed for shipping, yet Amazon sent it anyway. USB input is the method under which it was to be used. It turns on and off with the computer startup. It recognizes when it is connect to USB, or via bluetooth, does not recognize when it is connected to a verified optical audio source, and though I have coax on my Blu-ray player, after all the other attempts made to get any sound output from this device failed, there was really no point in trying to see if an input method I was never likely to even use would produce different results. After doing my second driver install/uninstall, I was able to connect to the device via both USB & Bluetooth, without any drivers installed, but still no sound. The action on the volume control is okay. As I've read, and experienced, using the single tap and double tap actions on the multifunction volume control require taking hold of the DAC to keep it from moving - the force required is much more than a tap, or is just like the pressure required to verify that the metal, jar top, seal of a vacuum packed food product has failed. The remote solves that. It didn't come with AAA x2 batteries, but I had my own. No batteries are pictured in the packaged items image, it being.nearly all pictures here, like an IKEA, so it takes a little time to figure out what all the function lights and button pushes represent. I've tried most of the bit rate/sample rate settings, downloaded, installed, and uninstalled 3 different driver versions (5.62, 5.57 & 5.20). I was anxious to uninstall the newest version, because when I'd run the Topping app to check DAC properties and verify my firmware version, sometimes it would also open up one of two different 3-D VR apps, and maybe it could randomly open others. I thought the 5.62 to 5.57 switch had cured that, but then 5.57 also did it, not always, but often. The DAC, if it worked, would also be the better choice for feeding an audio signal to my computer speakers, currently attached using a $9 Sabrent USB to headphone & mic adapter, so it made sense to keep testing for line, as well as headphone output. I can't really marvel over the fact that there's zero distortion, hum or even scratchiness plugging in and unplugging analog audio amps, speakers, and headphones. I'd get none of that distortion if I was pressing my plugs into a fresh, perfectly patted, mud pie, so the lack of distortion from the mud pie, and its huge price to performance difference, makes it the clear winner. I got used to the clicky volume control quick enough. Hopefully it would last, cheap as it felt at first, and the remote, that absolutely feels far too cheap to stand up for very long, but the box, this $200 DAC, it quit before it could even get started. The lights are okay, and that display cycles through all of the units functions, the only hint of a problem, it's failure to recognize an optical input, but that's it, that's all it does, and not one sound, other than the light clicking of the manually operated volume control, ever comes out of it. That box, with its tears. Did someone drop this, stack something heavy on top? The box isn't crushed..but those 2 large tears, they look like they could occur if it was being tossed around without a care. With the box already damaged before packing, why wouldn't the unit receive function verification before sealing & shipping, and why, with that damaged box, was I charged for a "new" item? I'm not asking for a replacement, a further roll of these loaded dice, with the buggy driver installs, which, when the Topping app is launched, also opens my other apps. For sure, I'm going elsewhere. The manufacturer box, if it wasn't torn, and the foam packing all seem very nice. I don't even think, if it was a drop that damaged the box, that it would likely have damaged the unit, and instead I'm thinking it was a dud coming off the line, a dud, and...we're the ones that have to perform all the quality testing. Folks who publish their product reviews, they have their oscilloscopes, their $1500 open backed, deep soundstage headphones, studio monitors that cost three times what I've ever paid for a motor vehicle, and they're probably being provided hand picked units for testing. Me, if the problems I'd found weren't so overt, if a replacement actually did produce some sound, how could I ever tell if that sound was completely up to spec? The DT 770's that would likely remain plugged in most of the time. They're not as nice as any decent Sennheiser open backed, but I need them closed for live monitoring, and they still let me hear every live or recorded sound, but they don't read out frequency response, rated THD, or THD at 1 watt, latency at each buffering setting, true wattage at 16 Ohms or 600 Ohms, and all the in betweens...Maybe you need a full audiophile test lab to obtain peace of mind with these. Nearing 2 months since I returned the item along with 2 other Amazon orders, and I only received one item refund. Topping/Amazon/Bezos still has my money for this item.

Big bang for your buck IMHO! Device is easy to setup and the included instruction guide is pretty detailed. Recommend reading for sure. One area it covers is the setup mode. To enter you must press and hold multi function control on device in, while plugging unit in. Although a lot of settings can be done via remote, certain items like blue tooth on/off and DAC only mode setting, must be made via the setup mode. Current firmware is 1.25, and mine shipped with this. Current firmware can be downloaded, which includes tool to determine current device version. The download included USB driver (at least for me, Windows 10) MUST be installed also to access the firmware tool, and ability to install firmware if required. Sound is excellent, very detailed and nice sound stage. I have tried both headphone and line out to my audio receiver. Although I have running in DAC only mode, you can still use the headphone amp without disabling the DAC only mode. DAC only mode will display sampling rate has volume is fixed, in headphone and pre amp mode, the volume level is displayed, sampling rate momentarily upon new song/different sampling rate. Some nice options are ability to either turn on or off (i.e. standby) based on signal received, but I don't think both at same time..haven't tested this yet. Another nice feature is that you can set so after a minute or so of inactivity (i.e. issue remote commands or moving the multi function knob), that the display turns off, other than the input selected. Any button push or knob movement returns display. Good to have the auto on set, as if you lose or misplace the remote, there is NO power button on device. Even if you unplug, plug back in, only returns to standby mode. The auto on should allow the device to power on if input signal received. Also tested, device connected to surge protector with my other audio gear. I turn off protector when done for the day. The settings that I have changed on the DX3 are retained when power re-applied. Not sure how long would be retained, but for me..works! Kinda weird, but mine came without batteries for the remote, not sure if normal, or they forgot. I don't think was an original return. 2 AAA if need! So far so good, solid build and feel, great features, highly recommended. Note I looked at a few, including a closely priced SMSL, however it did not appear to have a DAC only mode, so passed. No regrets so far!

Product operates as intended. Great sound for my Edition XS Headphones. Shipping was prompt and item arrived on time.