The DX9 takes the brilliance of the D900 and makes it more affordable and more flexible. The performance on offer here is truly untouchable at the asking price, It has some operational foibles but most people will be prepared to overlook them for the sheer level of ability if offers

• Sounds truly exceptional
• Excellent feature set
• Well made

• Operationally a bit quirky
• Looks a matter of taste

• 

• USB Audio, i2S, coax, optical, AES and Bluetooth

• Audio quality

The rate of progression in the quality of equipment from Chinese audio brands has been truly phenomenal but, even judged by these standards, Topping’s development has been extraordinary. They have gone from making capable but conventional entry level DACs to a huge selection of audio equipment.

More recently, they have begun to release DACs that make use of bespoke decoding hardware. This is a huge undertaking and very few companies go to the effort of doing this and still fewer do so at affordable price points. I have looked at the flagship D900 that makes use of this system and it is the pretty much the defined state of the art under £2,000 (and in many cases above that too).

Good though the D900 is, it concentrates on a more limited feature set than many Topping devices. There is no headphone amplifier for example and the only connection it can output over is XLR which is great in performance terms but not ideal if you don’t have an RCA input. It delivers mind blowing performance but it’s not a true all-rounder in the way many Topping devices are.

Enter the DX9 Discrete. This takes the same bespoke decoding and uses it in a simplified form that allows Topping to get it out the door for less money while doing more at the same time. That sounds like a pretty enticing prospect so let’s see if the Topping makes good on it.

In the UK, the D900 is available from a selection of retailers for £1399. It can be ordered online from some authorised retailers and there should be no issue securing one from any location in the UK. In the USA the D900 is available for $1299, reflecting a larger market and different sales model. In Australia it is available for $2200 AUD

It is possible at the time of writing to find online locations shipping the DX9 direct from the Far East, usually with a reduction over the UK retail. These units will not have a UK warranty however so it would be best to be careful about doing so.

• Choice of finishes
• Very well made
• Slightly fussy industrial design

The DX9 scores an early advantage over the D900 for many people by being available in both black and silver (the D900 is in silver only). This is handy for anyone reading this with black electronics and I also think that the DX9 looks better in the black finish too- more on which in a bit.

I also can’t argue with the way that the Topping is bolted together either. The casework is all metal and the manner in which it is bolted together is exceptional, judged at the asking price, and indeed much higher price points too. The volume control is well weighted and has a lovely feel and this is complemented by a small but no less encouragingly solid remote. Making connections to the rear sockets feels solid and confidence inspiring.

Not all the news is quite so encouraging though. Where the D900 is understated and extremely elegant, the DX9 feels a bit more fussy. Some of this is unavoidable; the DX9 does more than the D900 and the displays and interface needs to reflect this… but none of that means that the DX9 needs a transparent top plate that can be backlit in luminous orange. You can turn it off but there is an equally valid argument that it wasn’t really needed in the first place.

The extra functionality of the DX9 also highlights some limitations in the menu interface that Topping uses. As noted, the DX9 uses the same remote as the D900 and it looks and feels very nice but the button map doesn’t overlap the menu tree in a way that feels intuitive. Navigating the menus never feels terribly self-explanatory. Having now tested both, the simplicity of the D900 complements the limits of Topping’s control interface and the DX9 highlights them rather more.

This has some immediate downsides. It is far (far) too easy to accidentally summon line out in headphone mode; yes you can wade into the menus and disable that (once you’ve mastered navigating them) but it shouldn’t be the default for it to be on in the first place. Once you are set up, it’s fairly easy to navigate between the different settings but you will have to put the work in to get there.

This does mean that the DX9 doesn’t feel as slick to use as some notional rivals; key amongst them the Eversolo DAC-Z10. Very few people are going to call the Eversolo underspecified with a straight face and thanks to it featuring a menu system that makes actually accessing them simple, it is a huge amount more user friendly and logical.

• Uses Topping’s bespoke PSRM module
• Wide selection of digital inputs… but no HDMI ARC
• Headphone amp with useful functionality

The most distinctive and significant element of the DX9’s design is the use of Topping’s PSRM DAC system. There is a more extensive explanation of what this does in the D900 review but the high speed version is as follows.

PSRM stands for Precision Stream Reconstruction Matrix and incorporates discrete 1-bit modules that convert digital audio streams into analogue voltage by turning each audio sample into a very fast train of 1-bit pulses. The waveform is in turn defined by the density of the pulses and it’s shaped by an analogue reconstruction filter.

This is the same as a Delta Sigma DAC but Topping controls the entire process rather than buying in a chip that gets on with it. Sample rate handling is PCM to 768kHz and DSD to 512.

In the DX9, the number of PSRM modules is 16 rather than the 32 in the D900. This means that the measured performance isn’t as epic as it is on the flagship but it would be a stretch to call them anything other than hugely impressive. By any standard other than that of its big brother, this is close to the defined state of the art and as good as it gets at the price.

This decoding is partnered with some useful connectivity. You get two coaxial, two optical, AES, USB and i2S inputs supported by a comprehensive Bluetooth implementation. Perhaps the only connection that you might reasonably ask for in addition to this is HDMI ARC but this doesn’t seem to be a big part of Topping’s design priorities and you can reasonably argue it is a convenience fitment rather than a truly performance orientated one. Something that is unquestionably convenient though is that the DX9 has RCA outs as well as XLR and there are fixed and variable level outs on the rear panel.

Where the DX9 really kicks on from the D900 is denoted by the presence of that ‘X’ in the model code. It means that it is also fitted to operate as a headphone amp. Around the front, you’ll find 6.35mm, 4.4mm and four pin XLR connections to cover all bases; all making use of a headphone discrete NFCA circuit.

The DX9 keeps the single-ended and balanced headphone amplifier circuits independent of one another, in the pursuit of higher performance. No less importantly, it also features a ‘convolution-based Crossfeed’ that should help performance even further.

Neither is crossfeed the only tool the Topping has to help get the best out of it. Owners get the standard healthy dollop of EQ functionality tied together in the Topping Tune software. My comments on Topping Tune are largely unchanged from its appearance in previous Topping products. It’s powerful and capable software that, for headphones in particular, can make an appreciable difference to what you hear.

You do need to have some understanding of what you are doing with it and I have found it’s tricky to uninstall from a Mac when you are done with it but it should help the DX9 ‘dial in’ to whatever role you are asking of it.

• Genuinely state of the art performance
• Superb headphone amplifier
• Capable- if fractionally limited- preamplifier

When I tested the D900 I was in no doubt that what I was hearing was the defined state of the art for the asking price. The really good news for everyone is that the DX9 pretty much hits the same heights. I used an Eversolo T10 streaming transport for testing which gave me the chance to use the i2S input of the Topping and the performance that resulted was genuinely sensational.

What this means in the real world is a performance that ticks every conscious and subconscious sense of being ‘right.’ If you play Fink’s superb Memorise Your Senses via the Topping, you become aware that drum beats at the start also has the faintest noise of the band getting ready. When the percussion starts in earnest, it’s deep and perfectly defined; the different drums and surfaces that make it up all differentiated from one another.

And when Finn Greenall’s distinctive vocals begin, he’s , smack bang between the speakers, tangible, perfectly scaled and defined against about the backing guitars and strings in a way that makes everything sound in harmony rather than any one part of it being overemphasised. What the Topping does is so understated and well-judged you only truly notice it when you switch to something less supernaturally capable.

If you move to the headphone amp though, the gulf between the DX9 and… well pretty much anything else becomes readily apparent. I have long used a pair of Focal Clear MG headphones for testing so I have connected them to a wide selection of devices over the years. Only one (1) other headphone amp I have ever tested with the Focal extracted more performance from it and that cost as much as 13 DX9s would.

What the Topping does with absolute assurance is combine that stellar decoding with a headphone amp that delivers a healthy amount of current with absolutely no unwanted noise.

The result is a device that can take complex and potent bits of music like Ibrahim Maalouf’s Trumpets of Michel Ange Vol 2 and ensure that you sit there listening, not thinking ‘this is good for a headphone amp’ but ‘this is good’ (probably with something more emphatic between ‘is’ and ‘good’). As a combination of space, tonal realism and sheer musical joy, the DX9 is untouchable as a headphone amp under five grand.

As a preamp, the Topping is no less capable. The volume ramp has enough fine adjustment combined with sufficient gain that I found it partnered up well in a variety of situations. Because it has no streaming on board, the Topping feels like it needs other equipment to finish the system in a way that some rivals do not but I cannot argue that it’s anything other than an excellent preamp.

Should you buy it?

The DX9 shows that the effort that Topping has gone to with their PSRM DAC technology is more than up to being used in simpler and more affordable applications than the D900. The company is turning out some sensational products and it looks like they are only getting started.

We test every amplifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time.

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• Tested for several days
• Tested with real world use

	Topping DX9 Discrete Review
Manufacturer	Topping
Size (Dimensions)	x x INCHES
Release Date	2026
Resolution	x
Connectivity	LDAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC Bluetooth
Audio Formats	Up to 768 kHz PCM and DSD512
Bluetooth	Yes
Inputs	USB, two optical, two coaxial, AES, ISS
Outputs	RCA, XLR
UK RRP	£1399
USA RRP	$1299
AUD RRP	AU$2200