Topping DX7 Pro ES9038Pro DAC Bluetooth 5.0 32Bit/768kHz DSD1024 LDAC Hi-Res Decoder Headphone Amplifier (Black)

The Topping DX7 Pro is the pinnacle of Topping's all-in-one desktop solutions (as of July 2020). Packing an ESS9038Pro DAC, with single ended and balanced headphone jacks. How good is it?TL;DR - ASR measured it near the top of the DAC list as of June 2020, and rates the headphone amplifier audibly transparent. It's an audio-swiss-army-knife that's actually good at everything it does.Packaging, Features, & Accessories - Comes in a pretty nice black Topping-branded box. Packed in foam cutouts. Comes with a Remote, 1/4" adapter, USB-B cable, and power cable. Since the PSU is integrated into the main chassis, the power cable is a standard PC power cable.It's got one of the top-performing Sabre DACs in the form of the ESS 9038 Pro, pre-amp OR fixed voltage RCA and 3-pin XLR outputs, as well as an XLR4 and 4.4mm Pentaconn Balanced headphone outputs. It also has a single ended 1/4" pre-out. On top of all that, the op-amps for the DAC and the headphone amps are socketed so you can change them out if you so desire. Like, what!? Oh, yeah. It's also got Bluetooth 5.0 with LDAC, AptX HD, AptX LL, AAC, and SBC. Plus, you get the standard bevy of digital inputs including USB, Optical, and Coaxial. Also, I2S (HDMI), and AES (XLR3) digital inputs!Sound - If ASR's measurements don't convince you, I'm not sure what I could say to change your mind. It's the best sounding DAC I've ever experienced. While, realistically I can't hear a difference between it and the Grace SDAC-Balanced, knowing it's a TOTL DAC makes me feel better. It doesn't matter if I feed it internet TV, music, or video game audio. It just sounds like you expect it to. Nothing is fatiguing or strange sounding, and it's consistent. I can't think of anything else a DAC should do!The headphone amp is also audibly transparent according to ASR, but measures worse than Topping's new A90 Amp. I can't hear any difference between the two though. There's higher output impedance than I'd like @ 10 Ohms on the 1/4", and 20 on the Balanced headphone outs. So, the A90 *may* be better for low-impedance cans or IEMs with it's low gain setting and sub-1-ohm OI. However, I haven't found a pair of headphones that didn't kick butt on this piece of gear.Conclusions - It's expensive, but it's got class-leading performance for a very affordable price. While there are things that measure objectively better, I doubt that human hearing ability could consistently detect a difference in audibly transparent gear. I mean, maybe someone can. But I can't, and as such, this has become my end-game DAC. It's got everything I need, and didn't shatter my bank account to do so. It's definitely recommended if you're looking for an All-in-one with balanced outputs and you don't mind the moderately high output impedance.Disclaimer - My ears are not a universal measurement rig, The content of this review has not been paid for or influenced by any entity other than myself. I purchased this product with my own money. Every effort has been made to insure accuracy, but I'm human and I make mistakes. Any questions, corrections, comments, or concerns, feel free to post them in the comments.Thanks for reading.

It's very early days, but as most of the reviews I have seen came from YouTube influencers, I thought it would be helpful to post a review from a consumer. I purchased my unit from Amazon at a Black Friday price. I originally thought it might take months to arrive, but it arrived early, just nine days after I placed the order. The shipper packaged the unit well - and the unit was further protected by the foam in the box.The DX7 Pro is slightly smaller than the ten year old Benchmark HDR 1 DAC it is replacing, and it weighs less. While the build quality is quite good for the price, it lacks the solidity and refinement of the more expensive Benchmark. My primary use for the device is in my office at work, where it drives Focal CMS 50 studio monitors over XLR. Music is supplied from a Windows PC via IFI cabling and noise abatement. Windows 10 Pro recognized the DX7 Pro right away - there was no hunt for drivers. I also paired the device with a Samsung S9+ over Bluetooth. pairing was easy.While the DX7 Pro may have lost out to the Benchmark on heft and feel. I thought there was a noticeable sonic upgrade - the Topping was more transparent, the timbre of instruments was more natural, and imaging was better. I think this is largely due to the superior USB interface. I was surprised how well music streamed over Bluetooth from my phone sounded - a colleague was surprised that an "audiophile" device bothered with Bluetooth, until I told him the great sound he was hearing was coming from the phone. I do not use headphones often at work, but I did test the balanced 4.4 output with a pair of Sennheiser HD 6XXs, modified with a balanced cable. There was some improvement here over the Benchmark, which does not have a balanced headphone output.One issue that I have is finding software that will stream hi-res to the DX7 Pro from my computer. I have some hi-res tracks but was unable to get Foobar to output hi-res to the DX7 Pro. even though I have the WASAPI component installed. If you have a suggestion, please reply to this review.There aren't many cons - the remote works but is not up to the build quality of the unit - which is a shame as it is the best way to switch sources and outputs. The double click on the volume knob to change outputs is a bit fiddly. I hope replacement remotes will be offered. My remote came without AAA batteries-have some on hand when you take delivery.In sum, I think this is a great unit for the price, and it likely will work well in systems built around slightly more expensive components. I do not have a basis for comparison against multi-thousand dollar DACs or DAC amps. For me it fit the bill. Hoping Topping will set up a US servicenter.

Nice all-in-one unit with one flaw: high output impedance on the headphone outs, especially the balanced outputs. As a result, it won’t play nice with low impedance headphones. In my case, the QUAD Era-1. If you get this unit and plan to use the balanced output, make sure your headphones have an impedance of at least 80 ohms so there is enough damping factor.

Bought it ~1 year ago. Now it is dead (not recognized by Windows), have to send it to China for repair service at own expense (at least ~$100 in both sides). During all time periodically (~1 per week) display was not working constantly after power on - need to do power off-on to make it works.Sound quality is good, the only problem... it is dead after only 1 year, no warranty and local service in the USA. Not o happy, will not buy any Topping more.

I was torn between buying this DX7Pro vs getting both the D90 and the A90. The price difference is what swayed me to getting the DX7Pro. I'm primarily using this as a pure DAC and XLR to my SMSL SP200 and RCA to the DarkVoice Tube. Since sonic wise I can't tell the difference between the DX7Pro and the D90. So why spend the few hundred more? If I wasn't running separate headphone amps the DX7 offers XLR balanced outputs. For the $599 range it competes with the American made Schiit in the same price.