Topping DX5 II

Introduction

Even allowing for issues in translation from the bilingual city of Guangzhou to the English-speaking world, Topping’s mission statement – to bring sincerity to music, to bring beauty to the world – seems ambitious.

The company has been making giant strides since its inception in 2008, though, and with the DX5 II headphone amp/DAC/preamplifier it aims to make sincerity and beauty as accessible to as many people as possible. How’s that worked out, then? 

Design

• 44 x 190 x 155mm (HWD)
• 2-inch colour display
• Black, white or silver finishes

Tidy is an underappreciated virtue in the design of audio products – even some equipment specifically intended for use on a desktop misses the point. The Topping DX5 II is a tidy bit of kit, though, and is all the better for it.

The squared-edged casework with its (slightly) floating fascia is smart and nicely finished, no matter which of the choices of finish (black or silver, as well as the white of my review sample) you go for.

At 44 x 190 x 155mm (HWD) it doesn’t take up much desktop real estate. And the few physical controls of the front panel – buttons for accessing set-up menus, selecting input and scrolling though the display options for the crisp, full-colour 2-inch screen, along with a ‘turn/press’ dial that handles volume and menu navigation – operate with precision.

The screen can give an indication of volume along with file format and resolution, show a virtual VU meter (never a bad thing), or a ‘spectrum analyser’ in the classic ‘graphic equaliser’ fashion.

Its brightness and colour schemes are adjustable, and when it’s displaying menus it’s as crisp and legible as in every other circumstance. An unremarkable little remote control handset is also supplied in case your DX5 II is at a distance greater than arm’s length.    

Features

• 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512
• Balanced and unbalanced outputs
• Bluetooth 5.1 with aptX Adaptive and LDAC codec compatibility

The modest nature of the Topping DX5 II, both in terms of its physical dimensions and its asking price, is not reflected in its feature set in the slightest. This is a product that’s fully deserving of the description ‘thorough’.

The rear panel is occupied by a selection of inputs and outputs. There’s a socket for mains power, naturally, and an ‘on/off’ switch – and other inputs consist of coaxial and optical sockets (they can handle data of up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution) and a USB-B input (good all the way to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512).

The USB-B (which will need a driver if it’s connected to a Windows PC) is below an aerial dealing with wireless connectivity – the DX5 II uses Bluetooth 5.1 with codec compatibility all the way to aptX Adaptive and LDAC. Balanced XLR and single-ended stereo RCA outputs can operate at preamp or line-level.

There are three headphone outputs on the front panel. Take your pick from balanced 4.4mm, single-ended 6.3mm or balanced XLR.

It’s a line-up that ensures the Topping is just as happy to function as a DAC as it is a headphone amplifier, or as a pre-amp for a more traditional system – or as a preamp for a pair of powered speakers, for that matter. Perhaps I’ll go with flexible in addition to thorough.

Once it’s on board, digital audio information is dealt with by a pair of ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M two-channel DAC chipsets – one for the left channel, one for the right. They feature the company’s new Hyperstream IV architecture, designed to offer extended dynamic range and very low noise.

Native 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512 resolution should be more than adequate in pretty much every realistic circumstance. And Topping has developed its own current-to-voltage conversion module in an effort to offer compatibility with as wide a range of headphones or speakers as possible, as well as lowering noise and distortion yet further.

The company has also developed what it’s calling X-Hybrid headphone amplification technology that uses a fully balanced four-channel amp design.

Its hybrid design has three stages – discrete input, gain stage and discrete output – and this fully optimised circuit topology should, according to Topping, deliver low distortion, high dynamic range and enhanced efficiency where power consumption is concerned. And it should allow the DX5 II to drive even the most current-hungry headphones without alarms.

Windows users may have to install a driver in order to use the DX5 II’s USB-B input, but they do get to take advantage of the company’s new PEQ (parametric equaliser) algorithm that offers precise control of gain, frequency and bandwidth across ten user-definable bands.

Similar to the system I most recently encountered in FiiO’s K19 DAC, it lets users create and save multiple audio profiles and upload them to the DX5 II.

Target curves can be imported, different profiles can be applied to different outputs – so the sound of speakers and/or headphones can be individually tuned by the DX5 II. Topping intends to make the software available for other operating systems, but for now Windows users are in the box seat. 

Performance

• Carefully detailed and spacious presentation
• Great sense of unity and coherence
• Can easily sound slightly bright

It’s only fair to give the DX5 II a fighting chance – and so with a pair of the very capable Sennheiser IE900 connected via the 4.4mm balanced headphone output and some authentically hi-res content incoming via USB-B, it’s able to give a full account of itself.

And in most ways, it’s a very agreeable listen indeed – and is sometimes capable of sounding quite a lot more expensive than it actually is. With a 24-bit/48kHz FLAC file of We’re in Love by boygenius incoming, the amount of detail it’s able to reveal and confidently contextualise throughout the frequency range is straightforwardly impressive.

The DX5 II seems able to fully resolve a recording, and with a tune as spare and direct as this one it does great work revealing the harmonic variations in a voice or an instrument that less capable DAC/headphone amp combinations seem happy enough to overlook.

It communicates in a very positive fashion through the midrange, and the secrets of tone and technique are revealed just as readily as those of character and attitude in a voice. The amount of space it’s able to invest in a recording is more than satisfactory too – even a recording like this one, where each of the few elements seem to have been picked up by mics mere millimetres away, sounds open.

Which means that when switching to a more complex and involved recording (like Mogwai’s You Don’t Know Jesus as a 24-bit/96kHz FLAC file, for example) there’s more than enough below-room on the soundstage for each of the competing elements to operate. The Topping knits everything together into a convincing whole, though, and offers a genuine sense of performance that goes a long way towards making it an enjoyable and convincing listen.

Low frequencies hit hard, and the DX5 II is able to both dig a long way down into the frequency range and offer plenty of talk and textural variation while it’s down there. Control of bass sounds is secure, and the straight-edged attack the Topping can summon means that rhythms are naturalistic and expressive. And from the very bottom of the frequency range to the point where the midrange modulates into the higher frequencies, tonality is even, neutral and persuasive.

It’s only at the top of the frequency range that the DX5 II is anything less than utterly self-assured. Treble sounds are just as detailed as the rest of the frequency range, and they’re nicely balanced against everything that’s going on beneath them too. But they don’t have absolute sympathy, tonally, with the rest of the frequency information – the top end as described by the Topping is a little too bright, a little insubstantial and doesn’t need a huge amount of encouragement, volume-wise, to become just a little hard-edged.

That’s about it where complaints regarding the audio performance of the DX5 II are concerned. And it gets so much right compared to this one particular area where it could do a little better that it’s not exactly a deal-breaker…

Should you buy it?

FAQs