By aspect — in detail
Enormous from the balanced outputs, ordinary from the single-ended one — and almost every disagreement about drive traces to which jack the reviewer used. Audio Science Review measured 5.9 watts into 33 ohms from the balanced output and annotated it "sensational", against 1.8 watts from the 6.35 mm jack on the same load; into 300 ohms the split is 1 watt versus a quarter of a watt. That balanced figure essentially matches what Topping claims, and reviewers running planars, high-impedance dynamics and sensitive in-ears all report the same thing: headroom to spare on the 4.4 mm and XLR outs, with low gain enough for most IEMs. The dissent is narrow and consistent. Audiophile-Heaven, which lists limited drive as its only criticism, found HIFIMAN Susvara Unveiled a struggle and the high-impedance Sivga Peng slightly beyond comfortable, and describes an unusual behaviour where the unit sounds quieter than its power figures suggest. A Head-Fi owner running planars found the single-ended jack short of what they wanted — which the 1.8 W measurement predicts exactly.
“It is amazing to see so much power coming out of this little box.”
Amir · Audio Science Review
“It has heaps of headroom ready at your disposal. For this price, the available power is remarkable.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“The DX5 II produces just around the same amount of power as Topping’s L70 separate headphone amplifier, which is rated at 7.6W maximum, which is considerable for the price tag and the size of the DX5 II.”
Louis · Headfonics
“This is more than enough power to drive even the most demanding headphones on the market, from high-impedance studio monitors to power-hungry planar magnetic designs.”
Jerome O'Flaherty · Pragmatic Audio
“Not the highest driving power out there for headphones, even for the balanced headphone output”
Audiophile-Heaven
“since i use planars i find the power output for that port a bit lacking”
gvainola · Head-Fi
Measured
Audio Science Review, on an Audio Precision analyzer: 5.9 W into a 33 Ω load from the balanced output and 1.8 W from the single-ended output; 1 W balanced and 0.25 W single-ended into 300 Ω; distortion stays clean down to a 12 Ω load. Topping claims 6400 mW x2 into 32 Ω and 990 mW x2 into 300 Ω balanced, 2200 mW and 250 mW single-ended, with output impedance below 0.10 Ω and two gain settings (balanced 14.6 dB low, 24.7 dB high). The measured 300 Ω figures land on the claimed ones almost exactly; the 33 Ω reading is a fraction under the 32 Ω claim, as the heavier load predicts.
⚠ vs. listeners — One reviewer of the nine describes the DX5 II as drawing more current before it raises voltage, so that it plays quieter than its wattage implies and cannot drive the hardest loads. Nothing in the published gain structure or the measured output supports a mechanism like that, and no other source reports it — but the underlying observation, that the single-ended jack is roughly a third the power of the balanced one, is real and measured.
Noise
Strong consensus · 6 srcQuiet enough that nobody hears it, without being the quietest thing measured. On ASR's ranking of headphone amplifiers by signal-to-noise at a 50 mV output the DX5 II scores 91 dB — ahead of the original DX5, an RME ADI-2 DAC V2 and a Benchmark HPA4, a few dB behind the class leaders at 95, and summarised by the reviewer as very low but short of the state of the art. That gap is a chart position, not an audible one: every listening report agrees on a black background, including reviewers who went looking for hiss with deliberately sensitive in-ears. Topping rates the balanced output at 1.6 microvolts on low gain, and both the measured and manufacturer figures put it comfortably in IEM territory. The volume control is digital, so channel balance holds at whisper level where an analogue pot would drift.
“residual noise is very low but just short of state of the art”
Amir · Audio Science Review
“Background noise was absent. I heard no hiss with any of my IEMs.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“making the DX5 II equally suitable for sensitive IEMs”
Jerome O'Flaherty · Pragmatic Audio
Measured
Audio Science Review places the DX5 II at 91 dB signal-to-noise at a 50 mV headphone output on its cross-model ranking chart, against 95 dB for the quietest units measured and 88-90 dB for the original DX5, RME ADI-2 DAC V2, JDS Element IV, Schiit Midgard and Benchmark HPA4. Jitter components sit around -140 dB. Topping's own figures: output noise below 1.6 microvolts RMS on low gain and 4.3 on high gain from the balanced headphone output (1.1 and 2.5 single-ended), 133 dB SNR and dynamic range at the balanced jack, channel crosstalk -143 dB, channel balance 0.3 dB.
Transparency
Contested · 8 srcSources split, and the split does not follow the measurements. On the bench the DX5 II is close to the best ever tested: SINAD around 122.8 dB, THD+N of 0.000072%, frequency response inside 0.3 dB across the audible band. One group of listeners hears exactly that and describes a source with no character to report. A second group, four sources across editorial and owner writing, consistently describes a lean, forward voicing - clinical bass, upper mids pushed slightly ahead, and a top end that goes brittle on unforgiving headphones. And one reviewer, alone, hears the opposite: a smoothed, rounded, deliberately laid-back presentation. Nothing measured explains any of it, and the practical answer is the same in all three cases: the ten-band hardware EQ is right there, and two of the three camps reach for it.
Measured
Audio Precision dashboard at the balanced line output, USB in: SINAD 122.803 dB on channel one and 122.363 dB on channel two, THD+N 0.000072% and 0.000076%, output 4.186 and 4.149 Vrms - which put the DX5 II inside Audio Science Review's top twenty best-measuring DACs. Topping publishes THD+N below 0.00006% and 132 dB SNR and dynamic range at the XLR line output, with frequency response of 20 Hz-20 kHz within 0.3 dB. Eight selectable ESS reconstruction filters are available, minimum-phase by default.
⚠ vs. listeners — Half the listening reports describe a tonal character that the frequency response, distortion and noise figures give no basis for. Two things make it less mysterious than it looks. Reviewers who chased it found the ESS filter choice audible - one settled on a slow-roll-off filter after finding the fast ones hardened the upper mids - and both the brightness reports and the smoothness report come from listeners describing whole systems, not the box alone. The measurements constrain what the DX5 II is doing; they do not settle how it lands on any given pair of headphones.
Where it splits
No sound of its own - the measurements are the whole story42%
“Distortion and noise are vanishingly small as we have learned to expect from Topping, landing the DX5II in our top-20 best ever DACs”
Amir · Audio Science Review
Voiced lean - light in the bass, bright and a little brittle up top47%
“The bass came through as clinical and clean, however, and a bit too lean for my personal taste.”
Louis · Headfonics
Smoothed and laid-back - it rounds hard edges off rather than sharpening them11%
“DX5 II has a strong extension in the treble, but also has a smoother treble, a relaxed, laid-back presentation that does not force a harsh or grainy treble onto you.”
Audiophile-Heaven
Features
Strong consensus · 8 srcThe specification is the reason most of these reviews exist. Ten bands of parametric equalisation run on the device itself, configured in Topping Tune on Windows or macOS and then written to the hardware, so the correction applies to every input including Bluetooth and survives being moved to another computer. Five factory presets and five user slots store on the unit, profiles bind to inputs or outputs, and the volume and EQ memory follow whichever output you switch to. Around that sit three headphone jacks (4-pin XLR, 4.4 mm, 6.35 mm), balanced XLR and single-ended RCA line outputs switchable between fixed and preamp, USB-B to 768 kHz and DSD512, coaxial and optical to 192 kHz, Bluetooth 5.1 with LDAC and aptX Adaptive, 12 V triggers, and a remote. Firmware has kept adding, most notably a crossfeed and convolution mode in v2.07. The complaints are small and specific: USB-B rather than USB-C, no 3.5 mm jack, a plastic remote nobody likes, PEQ that stops working above 192 kHz, and a preset-selection quirk that trips people up.
“I call this DAC "smart" as it has full set of parametric EQ allowing you to correct the response for either your speaker/headphones, your room or your taste.”
Amir · Audio Science Review
“The PEQ profiles can be independently applied to headphone and preamp outputs, with memory for each.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“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.”
Simon Lucas · Trusted Reviews
“The DX5 II includes the ability to have 5 profiles saved each with 10-band parametric EQ.”
Jerome O'Flaherty · Pragmatic Audio
“The inclusion of the older USB Type-B cable is a slight curiosity in an era dominated by USB-C, but likely a cost-saving decision.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“It almost looks like it does not respond fast enough and it thinks EQ #1 is the only one present and it loads it, instead of EQ #5.”
ngs428 · Audio Science Review
Measured
USB-B via an XMOS XU316 (PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512), coaxial and optical to 24-bit/192 kHz, Bluetooth 5.1 on a Qualcomm QCC5125 with LDAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, AAC and SBC to 96 kHz/24-bit. The 10-band PEQ processes PCM up to 192 kHz/32-bit and passes higher rates through unequalised. Outputs: 4-pin XLR, 4.4 mm and 6.35 mm headphone, plus balanced XLR and RCA line out with independent volume and EQ memory, and 12 V trigger in and out. Dimensions 19.0 x 15.5 x 4.4 cm, 945 g, with the power supply inside the chassis and a standard IEC inlet.
Ergonomics
Moderate · 8 srcThe two-inch colour screen is what everyone writes about first - bright, high-contrast, and switchable between a playback readout, a real-time FFT and a VU meter, with adjustable colours and brightness. Under it are three labelled buttons and a pressable volume encoder with firm detents and 0.5 dB steps, and every reviewer describes the menu as deep but quick to learn. A remote is included, and the unit runs cool: the redesigned amplifier is efficient enough that reviewers who expected heat found it merely warm. Against that is a list of small frictions rather than one big one. The hard power switch is at the back, though a front standby press covers it day to day. The screen never quite goes dark. The remote is plain plastic. Topping's own firmware instructions call the volume knob a power button, which sends first-time owners looking for a control that does not exist. And a narrow bezel cutout around the 4.4 mm socket will not accept a thick cable barrel, which one ASR owner traced as the cause of his own poor contact.
“The DX5II is beautiful to look at especially due to its very high contrast and bright display.”
Amir · Audio Science Review
“The controls are simple and quickly become intuitive.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“During extended use, the case becomes slightly warm to the touch but never hot.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“I dislike rear-mounted power buttons, but the DX5 II remedies that by placing a standby feature up front behind the volume knob.”
Louis · Headfonics
“Remote control feels far from special”
Simon Lucas · Trusted Reviews
“The outer casing on my 4.4mm cable is just very large and the DX5 II has a small cutout around the 4.4mm output. It just won't fit in there, making the contact poor.”
magor34 · Audio Science Review
Measured
Two-inch full-colour IPS panel running Topping's Aurora interface, with playback, FFT and VU display modes and adjustable brightness; the FFT starts at 50 Hz rather than 20. Digital volume in 0.5 or 1.0 dB steps across roughly 200 positions, two gain settings, and channel balance adjustable in 0.5 dB increments to 9.5 dB either side. Cooling is passive through the aluminium chassis, with no external power brick.
Sources split, and this is the one place where the split should change a buying decision. On the chassis itself there is no argument: CNC-machined aluminium, a very thick front panel, gold-plated jacks, rubber feet that hold the unit down against a stiff cable, and machining that reviewers repeatedly call better than the sub-$300 field. What is argued about is whether it keeps working. From late 2025 a distinct failure signature accumulated across three independent venues - the 4.4 mm and 4-pin XLR balanced outputs beginning to distort, or dropping a channel, while the 6.35 mm single-ended jack stays perfectly fine. Four separate posters describe it in one Head-Fi thread; r/headphones carries a unit dead after three days, a warranty ordeal over the same 4.4 mm symptom, and a thread asking outright whether it is still safe to buy; the ASR owners' thread carries it too. One owner who returned his unit through the retailer got it back working, with the explanation that the factory had reprogrammed the microcontroller and updated the firmware - which is to say, not something an owner can do at home. Set against that, owners who have run both balanced outputs for months without a fault are equally real and say so plainly, and at least one 4.4 mm complaint turned out to be a cable barrel too thick for the socket cutout. Nobody has published a failure rate. What is on record is a pattern, a factory-level fix, and a service path that runs through China.
Where it splits
Machined and finished well beyond the price - solid, dense, no assembly faults61%
“Overall, the build quality is excellent for this price range. It feels better than many competitors in the sub-$300 category.”
Yagiz · Headfonia
A repeating balanced-output failure, and a fix that means sending it back to the factory39%
“Went to use the 4.4mm and the same exact thing happened to me. I tried an XLR cable, and that too had distorted sound in the low frequencies on the left channel. The 1/4" SE still worked fine just not any of the balanced.”
bipolarbear · Head-Fi
On price for performance the sources are as close to unanimous as this format gets. A measurably top-tier converter, nearly six watts of balanced amplification, hardware parametric EQ, LDAC, a preamp stage, a remote and an internal power supply, for $299 and $150 less than the model it replaces - reviewers reach for words like endgame, unobtanium and hard to beat, and the ASR thread's poll ran 83.5% "great" across 514 votes. What pulls the score off a clean sweep is not a pricing argument but the reliability one: owners who love the box still hesitate to recommend it while a factory return is the remedy for a known fault, and that hesitation is a real cost at any price. Cross-shoppers weigh it against the FiiO K15 and K17, the JDS Labs Element IV at nearly twice the money, and Topping's own D50 III plus L50 stack.
“It is my pleasure to recommend the Topping DX5 II DAC and Headphone Amplifier.”
Amir · Audio Science Review
“if you value speed, separation, technical capability, and overall transparency at this price, this is unobtanium performance from a sub-300 USD device”
Yagiz · Headfonia
“At $299, this headphone amplifier and DAC combo delivers performance and features that would have cost multiples of that price just a few years ago.”
Jerome O'Flaherty · Pragmatic Audio
“With such a fair price point, DX5 II is one of the DAC/AMPs with the highest price / performance ratios that I reviewed in general.”
Audiophile-Heaven
“those features produce tremendous value for money”
Paul Rigby · The Audiophile Man
“beyond its general excellence as a great-value headphone amp, DAC and preamp, it also functions as a strong indicator of just how determined Topping is to become a force where affordable digital audio is concerned”
Simon Lucas · Trusted Reviews
Measured
The Audio Science Review thread's poll, 514 voters: 83.5% "Great", 10.1% "Fine", 3.5% "Not terrible", 2.9% "Poor". Price history: the original DX5 launched at $449; the DX5 II has held $299 (£299, AU$499) since its June 2025 launch. Amazon owner ratings, as of August 2026, run 4.5 from 207 on the white listing and 4.2 from 67 on the black.
