The topaz is an impressive DAC/Amp that has been a pleasure to explore. If you’re in the market for an excellent transportable solution that drives any headphones under the sun, you have to give the WA11 serious consideration. If you can, go to your closest dealer and try it for yourself and let it convince you. Right now i’m thinking if it isn’t worth returning the 990 Pros, to buy better headphones (200E) and a cheaper dac / amp, since the headphone should be more important, right? I honestly struggle to think of any circumstances where one of the slow rolloff filters (F4, F6) would be worth it. If somebody has balanced Headphones or planning to buy balanced headphone, they should buy it's Big Brother "Topping DX 5"

The Sparrow is a very easy product to recommend at this price point, and it joins the best of the best on our Recommended DAC/AMP buy list.If you want a small, portable DAC/AMP with a balanced output, there’s no doubt at all about which one to get. My ears are completely immersed in the music as the soundstage is extremely focused with accurate instrument placement. It’s almost as if I’m sitting in a huge hall rather than a cramped living room. Verdict and Results of the Topping DX3 Pro+ ReviewThe ‘plus’ gets you reworked internals including a new ESS Sabre decoder to replace the dual AKM AK4493 chip of the earlier versions while promising improved overall performance. In terms of overall sound signature, DX3 Pro is very neutral, almost transparent with great dynamics and detail retrieval. The market of compact DAC/AMP modules is getting stronger and better each month. ddHifi with all of their units, and especially this TC44B, prove they are one of the most important players when it comes to high price/performance ratios in miniature-sized portable units. After I changed a pair of new RCA cable and reset all fuction, it ,so far, behaves miraculously normal. And the temperature is as regular as it should be. What a relief! I am really fond of this clean and crystal sound! Thanks again.

Choose a linear phase filter with a 20kHz passband. That will avoid any potential phase issues. Pre ringing is not a thing for properly bandwidth limited input. We also made efforts on Headphone amp of DX3 Pro. It's output power is up to 1000mW x 2@32ohm load and 125mW x 2@300ohm, which is almost suitable for all headphones. Another point which is worth to mentioning is, output impedance of it is no higher than 0.1 ohm (Probably it will be even lower at retail version).

I/O

you reviewed the fidelio L1 in March. I was looking at the lower range but similar downtown and uptown primarily as the L1 is out of my current Budget. have you ever tried out these portables? What is your view on their strengths and weaknesses? Thanks for your help. Simply plug the DX3 Pro+ via USB into your PC or Mac to enjoy all the benefits of a high-end DAC without the need for drivers. Only higher-end ASIO applications on Windows 10 require a driver. Low noise NFCA circuit Would you recommend the DX3 Pro+ ESS over the K5 Pro ESS, even when one has no use for the Bluetooth? The heart of the unit is the AKM AK4493 DAC chip. This is a departure from most of the Topping DACs (and many Chinese manufacturers) which use ESS DACs. The xDuoo XD-05 BAL is a brilliant DAC/AMP, taking advantage of all the features introduced in previous generations: versatile design, complete I/O, excellent sound.

Sadly at this time I don't have any other DAC running (that's why I bought it) since my other DACs died in the past year. I had a LKS custom built ES9018 DAC with a highly tuned output stage and some other small DACs (Sanskrit, Aune T1SE, Aune X1S, onboard ES9018K2M). So no direct A/B comparison DAC only. Sorry. The ES9018K2M in my laptop is not worth comparing it with. Looks really good as an all-in-one product for people who aren't too deep in the audiophile hole to get and forget about a DAC/Amp upgrade in the future. I really like the K7 and I congratulate FiiO for their amazing job. If you need a solid, powerful DAC & AMP for your headphones and you are on a budget, the K7 can make you very happy. The Cayin RU7 has a tuning which is more to the neutral side, but with its full body and powerful, controlled bass impact, it is a very musical and engaging DAC/AMP dongle. Headphone Amp, Headphone Amp+ Line out, DAC and Pre-amplifier modes are all available in the DX3 Pro+’s four output modes.So it has better IMD but shine somewhat away from 16bits linearity. No free lunch for us it seems. Perhaps it will be fixed with the DX5 should they decide to make one (given how excellent the RME was). Nevertheless really surprised that they offer a remote out of the box for the DX3Pro while the bigger sibling doesn't, probably a production delay issues. So I'm not highly familiar with different filters in hardware and what they cause. If it's similar to LP filters in the digital audio engineering domain - then I'd assume some pre ringing could be an issue if it's linear, phasing could be prevalent in others, high frequency rolloff etc... K5Pro ESS offers even more power and a proper 6.3mm HPO instead of the 3.5mm HPO of Topping. If you need more power, this may be a good replacement depending on your region.”