Tried a couple dac/amp combos from the China market over the last week, specifically for a bedside setup and for the Ananda. Topping EX5 and Loxjie D30.
The Topping is better on paper, considerably more powerful with twin dac chips where as the Loxjie has one dac chip and relevatory low power output compared to most modern amps these days. You can google the specs easily enough. Both have brilliant measurements redarding distortion, jitter, FR etc.
The Ananda does not require much power I don't care what anyone says. You can drive them off your phone. But a good amp will do what a good amp does - sound good. With that in mind we can forget about the 'power' aspect with this headphone. It is very sensitive. I've given both components 3 days constantly running (which is enough time for brain burn in and for the circuits to relax at room temperature and for all the movement on a molecular level to settle down ☺ I do not believe components require 250 hours to sound better)
I'll keep this brief now: The Topping is brighter, wider and very 2 dimensional in sound. A relevatory flat landscape of sound. Bass is natural and smooth (sounds correct) but is not the tightest. Mids are very nice and airy, fast, nothing seems elevated or depleted. The treble is slightly elevated over neutral, I think it emphasises near the same place as the Ananda already does. The annoyance this cause my (not very treble sensitive) ears ended up being too much.
I have a few chosen 'busy' jazz tracks that I use to test the control of a dac when the music gets complex. The Topping lost focus here, it started to smear a little. The bass also lost focus.
The Loxjie has a warmer sound in contrast to the Topping. A narrower soundstage, more rounded sound. Both dacs are fast and clear but the Loxjie has a more natural timbre. Instruments are more rounded (3D) and the bass especially is more detailed. There is more bass in quantity also for good or bad. I think it works well with the Ananda but I would no way pair it with an LCD2 for example.
Testing the same complex Jazz tracks (Evan Parker & Kinetics) the Loxjie has better focus when the music gets extreme. Especially the bass.
The mids are similar to the Topping but because of the elevated bass there seems to be more depth.
The treble is a complete contrast to the Topping and is very neutral. No added air or roll off. Just flat. Perfect.
Detail, separation and layering are both good. The Topping seemingly uncovering more micro details, but the Loxjie having better control of the whole picture.
if I wasn't choosing for the Ananda it would be a slightly tougher call as I love the soundstage and detail of the Topping. But there's no getting away from the better match with the Loxjie for the Ananda.
I'd already sent the Topping back when I took photo. So there's little Loxjie. Cute