[Jimster480]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I am having an issue with my DX7 and the balanced output which needs to be resolved before any potential return times out.

When I am running DX7 -> Sukira HIFI cable for Hifiman -> HE400i
I have an occasional audio "L/R wobble" which doesn't sound intentional from the source. At first I assumed that the lossless content plus new can's was showing me detail I have never heard, however I have begun to hear it in places like youtube where there is no reason for it. I have switched out the balanced he400i's for SE blue lola's yesterday and really don't hear much of it. Granted I'm not listening to the same content from one to the other and haven't put much time on the SE connection, but I'm pretty sure it is much better.

If I can get advice on how to trouble shoot this I would appreciate it. The balanced cable I got leaves much to be desired so if a bad cable can do this I would suspect this first. However I have also heard in passing that this dac/amp uses two dac chips? and in my mind that says one is used for SE output and then both are used for balanced output. But I honestly have no clue. Last thought, I am running the DAC/amp through a usb hub however the problem isn't there on SE through the hub.

If I can get thought's and opinions or maybe advice how to narrow this down to the faulty component I would appreciate it.

They are both running in SE or Balanced mode.
The only difference is that balanced is a different connector with the extra gain phases for each channel instead of them being combined in one amp.
I already emailed topping about using both or one DAC depending on the mode.

What are you using to feed the DX7?

Also on another note I took my DX7 to a meet and used it to power balanced HD800 and HE-6 and it did wonderfully! Honestly its only downside is the 10ohm output impedance which can affect some headphones with the 1/8 or 1/10 rule!

 

[Goodman247]

Hi guys,

Noob question, so I just got my DX7 today and I install the driver from their website. I plug in my Elear and everything sounds good, but I notice that it's playing everything at 48KHz (I'm using Spotify). Is that normal? I thought that it should be higher. Or did I missed something? Also, for some reason my remote is kinda weird, it only works occasionally.... There is no on or off button for the remote and I just can't figure out why....

Thanks guys

 

[Goodman247]

Hi guys,

Noob question, so I just got my DX7 today and I install the driver from their website. I plug in my Elear and everything sounds good, but I notice that it's playing everything at 48KHz (I'm using Spotify). Is that normal? I thought that it should be higher. Or did I missed something? Also, for some reason my remote is kinda weird, it only works occasionally.... There is no on or off button for the remote and I just can't figure out why....

Thanks guys

I figured it, it was within the Windows Audio Setting, I've enabled it to the max and now it plays at 192KHz

On a side note, this thing is amazing!!

 

[Jimster480]

I figured it, it was within the Windows Audio Setting, I've enabled it to the max and now it plays at 192KHz

On a side note, this thing is amazing!!

Don't use windows to Upsample to 192khz, you reduce the audio quality. Set it to normal 16/44.1 as all spotify music is 16/44.1 and that already encompases all noise that we can hear

 

[Goodman247]

Don't use windows to Upsample to 192khz, you reduce the audio quality. Set it to normal 16/44.1 as all spotify music is 16/44.1 and that already encompases all noise that we can hear

Ah, so I should leave it at default 16/44.1. I really didn't know that, now it's playing at 44.1KHz. Is that the most optimal setting? Also, on the FIR should I set it at Minimum, slow, or fast? Same for IIR, what range should I set it as?

Sorry for all these questions, just got into this

 

[Jimster480]

Ah, so I should leave it at default 16/44.1. I really didn't know that, now it's playing at 44.1KHz. Is that the most optimal setting? Also, on the FIR should I set it at Minimum, slow, or fast? Same for IIR, what range should I set it as?

Sorry for all these questions, just got into this

Yes you should set it to 16/44.1, because if you play music that has a higher bitrate than that it will automatically increase.
The only place you would find that type of music though is by specifically buying it and using a player like jriver or foobar to play it directly.

For the FIR its whatever you like. Personally I use "mini" as its the most "raw" and the "newest" filter that ESS developed. The Fast / Slow are older filters and the difference is minimal.
For IIR it does nothing unless you are playing DSD Music (something else you have to seek out, purchase and setup a dedicated player for) so it doesn't matter what setting it is on.

All streaming services are 16/44.1, Youtube / Netflix / Hulu etc are also all 16/44.1.
There are people who swear by music that has a higher sample rate but there is no measurable difference and its been proven time and time again.

 

[Goodman247]

Yes you should set it to 16/44.1, because if you play music that has a higher bitrate than that it will automatically increase.
The only place you would find that type of music though is by specifically buying it and using a player like jriver or foobar to play it directly.

For the FIR its whatever you like. Personally I use "mini" as its the most "raw" and the "newest" filter that ESS developed. The Fast / Slow are older filters and the difference is minimal.
For IIR it does nothing unless you are playing DSD Music (something else you have to seek out, purchase and setup a dedicated player for) so it doesn't matter what setting it is on.

All streaming services are 16/44.1, Youtube / Netflix / Hulu etc are also all 16/44.1.
There are people who swear by music that has a higher sample rate but there is no measurable difference and its been proven time and time again.

Thank you for the quick and precise reply Jimster!! I just started to get into the audio game and this is my first official "big boy" amp/dac and there are still many things to learn.

I do want to say the new sound I'm experiencing is something I never heard before and I'm loving it

 

[Jimster480]

Thank you for the quick and precise reply Jimster!! I just started to get into the audio game and this is my first official "big boy" amp/dac and there are still many things to learn.

I do want to say the new sound I'm experiencing is something I never heard before and I'm loving it

I feel the same way about the DX7, I just started this year but I have spent the whole year learning.
After comparing my DX7 with alot of other products, I plan to see just how far up the price scale it competes because its specs and resolving abilities seem to rival units that are 3x or more its price already.

I listen to my DX7 3-10 hours a day typically and I just love it. The only downside though is the 10ohm output impedance for the headphone jack. If you have a headphone that has a weird impedance response or has very little tolerance for possible voltage swing then it can affect the sound quality unless the headphone has an impedance of 80 or more ohms.
For me I have a JDS Labs O2 connected to it also so that I can use those types of headphones without any compromises

 

[crabdog]

I feel the same way about the DX7, I just started this year but I have spent the whole year learning.
After comparing my DX7 with alot of other products, I plan to see just how far up the price scale it competes because its specs and resolving abilities seem to rival units that are 3x or more its price already.

I listen to my DX7 3-10 hours a day typically and I just love it. The only downside though is the 10ohm output impedance for the headphone jack. If you have a headphone that has a weird impedance response or has very little tolerance for possible voltage swing then it can affect the sound quality unless the headphone has an impedance of 80 or more ohms.
For me I have a JDS Labs O2 connected to it also so that I can use those types of headphones without any compromises

I've actually had a good experience with everything I've tried on it so far, even low impedance multi-BA IEMs. If I really want to sweeten the deal though I'll add my Phatlab Sassy II to the chain.

On another note, I was having the occasional issue with the DX7 driver with Windows 10. Sometimes after a restart I couldn't use it because of the "unsigned driver". I ended up just going into Device Manager and updating the driver using automatic search and it downloaded a generic Windows driver. Now it works 100% of the time and actually shows up as DX7 instead of an anonymous XMOS device.

 

[Jimster480]

I've actually had a good experience with everything I've tried on it so far, even low impedance multi-BA IEMs. If I really want to sweeten the deal though I'll add my Phatlab Sassy II to the chain.

On another note, I was having the occasional issue with the DX7 driver with Windows 10. Sometimes after a restart I couldn't use it because of the "unsigned driver". I ended up just going into Device Manager and updating the driver using automatic search and it downloaded a generic Windows driver. Now it works 100% of the time and actually shows up as DX7 instead of an anonymous XMOS device.

It shows as DX7 in windows? Mine shows up as XMOS something, but I actually drive Mine from a SMSL XUSB because mine has an issue with my main desktop where it won't let it go to sleep.
And yes I've used multi-ba IEMs (1more triple and quad) without issue but I'm just saying it Can happen as I can tell a difference in the sound in my D7200 but not in my Aeon.

 

[crabdog]

It shows as DX7 in windows? Mine shows up as XMOS something, but I actually drive Mine from a SMSL XUSB because mine has an issue with my main desktop where it won't let it go to sleep.
And yes I've used multi-ba IEMs (1more triple and quad) without issue but I'm just saying it Can happen as I can tell a difference in the sound in my D7200 but not in my Aeon.

Yes, it shows as DX7 in device manager and the taskbar in Windows but only after I changed over to the generic Windows driver. Mine also stops the PC from going to sleep but I found that if you just turn off the DX7 with the power switch the computer will go to sleep as normal. Same thing happens with my Arcam irDAC-II if I remember correctly.

 

[Jimster480]

Yes, it shows as DX7 in device manager and the taskbar in Windows but only after I changed over to the generic Windows driver. Mine also stops the PC from going to sleep but I found that if you just turn off the DX7 with the power switch the computer will go to sleep as normal. Same thing happens with my Arcam irDAC-II if I remember correctly.

If i turn it off at the power switch the computer still stays awake lol

 

[treecloud]

I feel the same way about the DX7, I just started this year but I have spent the whole year learning.
After comparing my DX7 with alot of other products, I plan to see just how far up the price scale it competes because its specs and resolving abilities seem to rival units that are 3x or more its price already.

I listen to my DX7 3-10 hours a day typically and I just love it.
I have a JDS Labs O2 connected to it also

Curious to hear your take on sonic differences (you mention resolution) between DX-7 and O2...I know from reading some of your posts you are more or less an objectivist (so am I, more or less), and knowledgeable, and hence the curiousity. As I'm sure you know, "apparent" resolution can be enhanced or diminished by tonal balance differences, which can change in real world use by loading differences on amp output.

Curious also what cans you use usually, and whether you have EQ capability in the line.

 

[Jimster480]

Curious to hear your take on sonic differences (you mention resolution) between DX-7 and O2...I know from reading some of your posts you are more or less an objectivist (so am I, more or less), and knowledgeable, and hence the curiousity. As I'm sure you know, "apparent" resolution can be enhanced or diminished by tonal balance differences, which can change in real world use by loading differences on amp output.

Curious also what cans you use usually, and whether you have EQ capability in the line.

My headphones of choice at the moment are the mrspeakers Aeon Closed and Oppo PM-2, but I have also done alot of listening with the Denon AH-MM400.

The DX7's natural output has a 10ohm output impedance, so this affects sonic quality on lower ohm headphones which have impedance response swings.
On a pair of headphones without an impedance response swing the o2 and the DX7 sound relatively identical, I would like to say that the output via the DX7 directly (6.35mm) is somewhat cleaner in that there is reduced background noise in noisy songs (with hiss from the recording itself).
So far I've tested the o2Amp against the A30, Magni 3, Fulla 2, DX7, and I have to say its only real downside could be power output. But that depends on your headphones, since I have all low impedance headphones it works wonders.
But you would also be surprised to know that impedance swing can also have very little affect on most headphones; I spent hours going back and forth between 2 different Amps to hear differences (even the A30's 3.5mm 30ohm output) vs the o2 without hearing any difference in different frequency ranges.
Some headphones on the other hand you can hear the difference immediately, others have very subtle differences, and finally others seem to have no discernible difference.

Objectively the o2 lives up to its name, and mine is a custom variant with 1x Gain as default (its built by JDS Labs)

 

[Protek67]

They are both running in SE or Balanced mode.
The only difference is that balanced is a different connector with the extra gain phases for each channel instead of them being combined in one amp.
I already emailed topping about using both or one DAC depending on the mode.

What are you using to feed the DX7?

Also on another note I took my DX7 to a meet and used it to power balanced HD800 and HE-6 and it did wonderfully! Honestly its only downside is the 10ohm output impedance which can affect some headphones with the 1/8 or 1/10 rule!

Ok, without a doubt this unit is giving L/R wobble. I have been using it for the past so many month's and often times can tell no problems. However the other day I listened to an MP3 track and it was pronounced, tonight I was on bandcamp and two track's back to back had this wobble, far beyond an artistic expression. I should add that I have had this happen in balanced on my HE-400i's and SE on my Blue Lola's.

I am running this off a PC so there could be an amazing number of factors, but I have a schiit stack sitting here which I will make my daily for a few month's and get back on the subject. I have taken note of a few tracks and will compare.

*edit: Further testing shows it is due to the resolution of poor source audio.*