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Posted 20 hours ago

TOPPING DX7 Pro+ ES9038PRO Bluetooth 5.1 support LDAC Transmission USB Support Up to DSD512 & PCM768kHz Built-in NFCA RCA & XLR Output DAC Headphone Amplifier (Black)

£399.5£799.00Clearance
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About this deal

It is my pleasure to recommend Topping DX7 Pro+. The product personifies dedication to excellence in engineering and design. As Amp vs. Monolith Liquid Spark: this is like comparing apples to oranges. LS produces lots of harmonics and sounds almost tube-like. It has much more melodic and pleasant warm midrange, it is indeed liquid and even syrupy- it’s that good. It’s naturally less accurate, less flat, and less organic. Very low output impedance makes it better suitable for IEMs, but it doesn’t sound as good with planar big boys. I presume that Topping increased the HP impedance so that the headphone amp circuit will never be over-driven into clipping, but this is just a wild guess and not a fact.

I also observed that Low gain has a really slow volume rising curve, even with super sensitive stuff I was sitting comfortably at about -30 dB, so plenty of headroom and volume doesn’t increase very fast. High gain is of course another story, right there DX7 Pro will show its biceps especially on the 4-in XLR. In terms of inputs, it has coaxial, HDMI, USB, and Optical inputs. It has a balanced XLR line out and an RCA line out as well. I.

When I removed the Ferrum OOR and let it work as a DAC and preamp, some naturalness went away, there was less rumble in the bass and a thinner, less impressive midrange delivery, but everything else as transparency, speed and control of the drivers remained intact. I played the guess game with and without the Ferrum OOR and there was a clear difference. I would probably use it alone in an entry to mid-fi setup or in a nearfield setup powering active monitors and in a proper stereo rig, I would add e dedicated preamplifier. Ferrum OOR + Hypsos are expensive and overkill for the job and maybe investing in an affordable preamp would be a better idea. The newest Topping A90 Discrete would add some color, boost its bass and midrange presence at a more affordable price. Listening to Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement was an almost aggressive performance, multiple notes hit from different angles, decaying in an instant and striking me again and again. I believe this particular coaxial driver loves this kind of control and speedy transient response. DX7 PRO shown not only brute power but also finesse and a very well-polished presentation. When I am using only its DAC part, I can hardly find any complaints at all. Probably the biggest change is moving First of all, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the headphone out impedance. On paper, it’s a bit high for sensitive IEMs (4.7 Ohm single-ended and 9.4 Ohm for the balanced outputs). However, I didn’t have any problems even with my most sensitive earphone, which we’ll cover in detail below.

I decided to listen to the lowest impedance IEMs in my possession and those were the 16 Ohm Simgot EN700 PRO and following the rule of eights I should have a lower damping factor, but sincerely at a sensitivity of 101 dB I didn’t feel a slower transient response or some weaker dynamics. They sounded as good as I remembered those on my big rig. DX7 Pro has lots of authority, a hard grip and a good diaphragm control and if needed IEMs can be easily used no problem with it. The rest is history, headphone listeners were not overlooked this time around and DX7 PRO delivered everything I wanted it to be.The type of features that DACs come with is another factor that most people consider when choosing a DAC. And you should do the same. DACs come with different features and options that suit various musical needs. Basically, the same happened when I moved to the 23 Ohm 4-way balanced armature driver FiiO FA7, with a sensitivity of 110 dB/1 mW the damping factor was not affected and those sounded the same as I remember them on high-performance headphone amps. One thing that’s certain for sure is, all of the DACs that will be discussed have stereo XLR outputs. But we’ll still talk about the outputs and input options for those who care. Features The DAC Comes With DACs with many different types of inputs and outputs and several unique features are quite expensive. And the more features you need in a DAC, the more money you’ll have to spend. This is certainly something you need to keep in mind so that you can set a reasonable budget for the choice of DAC you’re looking to buy. Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M The few downsides of the RME ADI-2 DAC FS are that it has a complex menu system that depends on multiple unintuitive controls to navigate. And this is because of its numerous features.

As days were passing by, I started to understand that something was missing, something wasn’t as impressive, as my upper-class planars didn’t sound as I know them on top-tier equipment. Especially, Audeze LCD-4 and LCD-5 were lightly pressing the brakes in terms of dynamics and bass slam. DX7 PRO+ wouldn’t pound with an incredibly force and will never put you in between the hammer and the anvil. My electronica tunes sounded like I traded the LCD-4 with gentler sounding headphones. Bass notes didn’t have as much authority down low, I felt them ethereal and lightweight in their presentation and that’s why Topping still sells dedicated desktop headphone amplifiers like A90, A90 Discrete and many others would sound more impressive down low with harder to drive headphones. The fact it can remember the individual volume levels of the headphone output and line output is a big deal for me because I’m always switching between headphones and speakers. When you add to that the audio performance, 4.4mm balanced PO and HiRes Bluetooth, there’s nothing else at this price range that can match it. Specifications The headphone amplifier is also quite a performer albeit with a target just shy of stand-alone amps from Topping. Superb experience is to be had with the combination leaving nothing to complain about.And then, finally, we’ve got the FiiO K9 Pro ESS here, which is not as good as the M500 or the DX7 Pro+ from a pure all-in-one driving-a-headphone point of view. But it gives you a fantastic set of features, and it’s also the best of all in terms of being able to provide a variable line out and some of the best sound coming out of the DAC in this entire roundup. SE output has 4.7 Ohm x 8 = means a headphone with impedance of at least 37.6 Ohm should be used for the best results. Of course, it doesn’t mean lower impedance ones will not sound fine, it’s just that the damping factor will be decreased and the diaphragm control will be affected. Where D70 wins hands down is the localization of all the sounds around the listener, all those notes are also pushed a bit farther away into the mix, you hear them far away on D70 and closer on DX7 PRO. Soundstage size is wider on D70 to a point of being distracting at times, DX7 PRO is closer but more precise somehow, you feel everything with your body.

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