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Topping EX5 MQA Dual ES9038Q2M DAC Bluetooth 5.0 LDAC DSD512 PCM 768kHz Hi-Res Audio HiFi Decoder Headphone Amplifier (Silver)

£9.9£99Clearance
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About this deal

The lows and mids have a nice lush sound but the treble feels a little relaxed for my normal preferences. The unit is very configurable with multiple options such as digital filter selection, gain setting, volume db step, auto standby mode and more. The front XLR headphone jack on the EX5 doesn’t provide any extra power so it’s more than likely single ended vs truly balanced. This screen is a slightly more advanced counterpart of the signature orange display and is used by the D70S, D90SE, and a couple more Topping DACs. As usual, I’ll be approaching it as a critic and as a music lover, commenting on everything I find interesting to share with you.

Topping DX5 Review - Headfonia Reviews Topping DX5 Review - Headfonia Reviews

The included remote makes it much easier to control the device and navigate between the available menus.

Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required as is 20 years of participation in forums (not all true). Some recent YouTube reviews of Topping EX5 describes the sound coming from the amp is “dead” or “limp”.

Topping EX5 Review | Super Best Audio Friends My Topping EX5 Review | Super Best Audio Friends

I will briefly go through this chapter and will just remind you that it uses the best Bluetooth chipset of the moment, that supports all the nicest Bluetooth codecs, plus it is Bluetooth 5. Topping provides a USB-A to USB-B data USB cable, a remote controller, a couple of manuals, an antenna, a 6. As with their nicer units, they carved four circles underneath it, so its rubber feet are placed in there without moving an inch while I’m re-arranging it on the table. I have also used it in the living room, driving directly a power amplifier of my choice (it was either a Benchmark AHB2 or KECES S300) and a pair of KEF Reference 3 loudspeakers. Topping and ShenzenAudio can’t possibly operate without helping one another and since doing collaborations became the next best thing, it was only a matter of time when something like that would happen.With the DX5, Topping has not only changed its design language but has also undergone a radical change in packaging. If you’ll be using it with an external amplifier, EX5 outputs a true balanced signal via its XLR outputs, delivering up to 4. It sounds clean, it is always honest in its presentation, it puts everything on a plate and lets you pick all the notes with the power of your mind. Now, they entered into a new realm of possibilities where we audiophiles get better looking and sounding devices.

Shenzhenaudio Topping EX5 Review (DAC and Headphone Amplifier)

L. SU-9/SP400, iFi hip dac, THIEAUDIO Clairvoyance, DUNU EST 112, Sennheiser HD560S , DCA Aeon 2 Noire. There are sharp leading edges and contours, but all that isn’t adding a fake brightness filter all over my music. My previous monitors had 2 pin power, the new ones were 3 pin which added a path to ground through the RCA signal cables.A volume wheel can be found to its right, that can work as a stand-by button or an input selector, there’s a screen in the middle, two headphone jacks coming in 4-pin XLR and 6.

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These DACs allow to reach an excellent sound quality, marked by a great precision and a beautiful transparency. I did, but not as often as I wanted to, as USB already supports the highest sample rates and sounds almost as good as a high-end USB to I2S converter. This conversion stage is associated with a USB XMOS XU216 interface which is also extremely powerful and allows the decoding of MQA files.On the flip side, EX5 still has a tiny bit more flesh on those skinny bones compared to THX-AAA units. As you can expect, every other IEM, portable or desktop headphone behaved exactly the same and a slightly more sensitive Natural Sound NS-17 bookshelf loudspeaker didn’t increase the noise in my room. When we look at the design awards that Topping’s DX5 has received, it is easy to say that this change has been expected for a long time. From left to right, we see balanced XLR outputs, unbalanced RCA outputs, a USB input, a Bluetooth antenna socket, a coaxial input, and an optical input. These boxes have diagrams on them, showing their contents in silver font, which adds to the overall premium feeling.

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