Topping MX3 Built-in Bluetooth Receiver DAC Headphome Amp Digital Amplifier (Black)

With all the inputs and modes this amp has it is a great addition to my desk. I replaced my S.M.S.L. AD 18 with this unit and have loved it. It isn't as powerful as the AD 18 but still pushes my Jamo monitor speakers to an ear piercing volume. All the connections are good and seem to be very strong. I do wish it had a couple buttons on it one for the input and one for the output. In it's current configuration you can push the volume knob and it acts as a button changing the input. A button for the output would be nice to switch from speakers to headphones a little easier. The headphone amp has no trouble with my Sennheiser HD6xx's but does seem to struggle a bit with my HiFiman HE-4xx's, It will still push the HE-4xx's but not to the level I prefer. The amp on both sides (headphone and speaker) have great clarity and work amazingly well for a combo amp. This amp is a rely good value.

Update: Still working great after 3 years. I did find one other issue but it has a simple fix. The volume control from the knob becomes erratic over time, skipping randomly up and down as the knob is turned. But a system reset provided a fix for me. Turn off unit and turn volume knob counter clockwise 3 times. Every few weeks or months, just need to reset and volume knob behaves again.This thing does lots very well. It's amp and DAC are really great. It is solidly built and a pleasure to use.Pros: Amp is powerful enough to drive my bookshelf speakers with authority. The headphone out is a strong signal. Sound is clean with very low noise and distortion. DAC seems to do well with a variety of sampling rates. I listen mostly to 44.1 Mkz 320 kbps MP3's. They sound great. But I've tried some higher rate material and it does sound impressive.Cons: Sub out keeps playing even if you switch to headphones. Worse, my sub gives a loud pop when I turn off the mx3 while the sub is still on. My work around is to use the speaker level out for both the sub (which thankfully has speaker level in) and my speakers. This sounds great and no issues with sub pop or staying on when I switch to headphones. Also, many of the controls are remote only. This is annoying for a desktop arrangement. And the included remote is very lightweight plastic. I am worried it will not hold up for years. The headphone jack, works fine, but does not seem to be same quality level as the rest of the build. I'm also worried about the headphone jack wearing out over time. Work around is I just leave headphones plugged in all the time.For my application, the flaws are minor and overall I am very pleased.

I really like the product. I use it to power my Klipsch kg 2.5 in the bedroom for music. Bluetooth functions well within the room. Though, its remote sometimes kind of not functions well. I'm quite not sure if I got a defective product or it is just the way it is, but there are several times wherein I try to push the next button but the MX3 doesn't respond. But all in all, it's a great product.UPDATE: Deducted 1 star on my review since the USB input has suddenly stopped working. Whenever I turn to USB input it has no sound at all. Though everything else is still working, it's just sad that the USB input suddenly malfunctioned.UPDATE2: All functions working well again. maybe it was just a bad usb connection. Tried the usb connection using other laptop, and it works. Great item

Overall I'm giving it a 3. However I still recommend the unit if you want a very flexible DAC AMP at a low cost. Without the issues mentioned below I would have easily given this a 4 or 5 star review....Pros:* Lowest cost for features* Many input options* Drives headphones and speakers, both with adequate power to use high quality unpowered speakers and fairly high resistance headphones.* Very good DAC sound *compared to similarly priced products*. You'll spend 2x to get a better sounding DAC with fewer features.NOTE: if you're going for a DAC that is noticably better than modern (2017+) high end PC motherboard solutions you'll want to pay extra. This unit sounds approximately equal to the ESS Sabre 9118 DAC on my motherboard (naturally DAC sound quality is somewhat subjective, so YMMV).* Great form factor and solid build....Cons (at least on my unit after a few weeks)* I purchased from Amazon and it shipped to me in the US. However the power cord was a EU style cable. Luckily it was a standard 2 prong input to the power brick and a cable from an old Thinkpad worked. I emailed Amazon to make sure this was not a problem and was directed to contact Topping. To be honest I feel Amazon shipping a EU cable version to the US is an Amazon problem. But I'm just not going to pursue this. NOTE: the EU cable has an inline fuse. This *may* be a part of the following issue?* When using speakers my unit will reset itself when volume is set above <> 92 (out of a Max of 100 ... 92 for loud music, 95-96 for quiet speech). This reset will have the unit cycle power and the come back on at the previous volume which means it will keep resetting unless you mute audio or quickly get the volume lowered in the time between the unit rebooting and the amp kicking in. So far this has not cause damage but I won't ever crank above 90 again. This was done using optical input and outputting to Micca RB42 speakers (highly recommended). This is why I 2-starred Volume control. Aside from this issue it is excellent. I'm curious whether not using a power cable with fuse to the power brick (see previous "Con") is affecting this?* USB audio does not work as output for me on Windows 10 64bit Pro build 1903 (fresh install). I see the device but driver does not seem to load. I haven't yet tested Linux. If it works Linux I'll be fine using optical for Windows and passing USB through to the Linux VM. I'll edit this once I check that if I don't return it.* Virtually all Topping support information is in Chinese only. I was unable to figure out if there were firmware updates or Windows USB drivers from Topping. While not surprising, and there may be nothing to be found in the first place, English support would have been nice. EDIT: turns out the MX3 has no firmware update capability. This is probably going to convince me to return it given other issues noted.* Bluetooth does not support APTX nor LDAC. APTX would have been nice. I use it mostly for my phone when I'm doing frequent PC reboots and so this isn't a huge issue for me but will be a deal breaker for many.* I don't use a subwoofer, but if you do be aware that there is no crossover. Speakers and sub will both be full range. And sub is reported to not work if headphones are plugged in even if you set mode to speaker output....That's a lot of negatives. However if you get one with the correct power cable, and just want a small decent DAC AMP to handle multiple digital inputs with good speaker output and reliable headphone auto-switching mode ... I would still give it a tentative recommendation especially given recent price drops. Just be aware of the details and issues to make your decision.