tldr; Reddit overwhelmingly recommends the Topping DX5 II. With 94% positive sentiment across 408 mentions, this is a clear community favorite.
$299.00 on AmazonScores based on sentiment analysis of topic-related comments
Best praise vs top criticism for Topping DX5 II
“My DAC history includes the Topping E30, Topping E50, SMSL SU-9/SH-9 combo, and currently hooked up alongside the DX5 II is an FiiO K11R2R DAC/amp. I have had to rely on Roon or HQ Player 5 Desktop to apply room correction/heaphone eq with either convolution or parametric EQ, but with the DX5 II it is applied within the DAC, for any input, and I believe it sounds much better than proccesing of Roon or HQPlayer. I won't compare the DX5 II to the FiiO because it is an R2R DAC, but I believe the DX5 II has better soundstage and better detail retrieval than the SMSL, which is saying a lot as it is about half the price, although newer. The DX5 II is miles ahead of the E30 and E50. The best word I can use to describe the sound of the DX5 II is not warm or cool, but in essence, clean. Transparent like a DAC should be, with an incredibly low noise floor. Using the XLR jack, I am able to get my Sennheiser HD 600 headphones to ear bleeding level with still 20 decibels of headroom, Which is something I can't say for the SMSL stack. Right now, the DX5 II is the heart of my system, and it will stay that way until something better comes out.”
“Very common. My ears are very sensitive to sibilance, for example. My DX5 II introduces it in some of my favorite songs on my cans while my other DACs do not. I almost sent it back over it but kept it because of the price and network features which my older dacs do not have. I don’t need a blind test to know when my ears hurt because an “s” sound is too sharp for me, regardless of volume level. I don’t think all of these dacs really sell themselves on complete audio transparency. A lot of them add some color or filters or roll off to the music. The question is whether their respective additions or changes make your music more enjoyable to you or not.”
408 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 4/5/2026