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Its headphone amp section is only half-decent with desktop headphones and it will probably drive decent enough your dynamic headphones, but forget about driving planars, because it can’t do that. Portable over-ear headphones as Sennheiser Momentum line and Meze 99 line will not pose a problem, it sounded good with all of them. Build, Connectivity, and FeaturesLoxjie D30 is an all-metal, neat-looking device. It’s definitely not one of those small DACs that can fit in your palm, but it isn’t a particularly chunky one either. With its 269 x 233 mm footprint, I’d simply call it decently sized, yet still desktop friendly. At the heart of the digital-to-analog conversion stage is an AKM AK4493EQ DAC, ensuring excellent audio performance. The AKM AK4493EQ DAC has a very low distortion of only 0.00017% (-115dB) and a wide dynamic range of 121dB, for rich, accurate and lively sound.
Loxjie D30 Review - Headfonia Reviews
At the heart of its digital processing, stays an AKM chipset from their newest generation of D/A converters, it is their mid-range chipset called AK4493EQ. It is a 2-channel DAC chip and uses the same Velvet Sound Technology used in the flagship chipsets like AK4497 and AK4499. I have tested quite a lot of devices that are using this particular chipset, I’ve experienced it in the Topping E30 [SV1] , SMSL Sanskrit 10th MKII, xDuoo XD-05 Plus, FiiO K5 PRO, FiiO Q5S, FiiO M11 and the best of them all was the mighty Flux Labs Acoustics FCN-10 with the nicest AK4493 implementation I’ve heard by a long shot. The chipset is of course only a very small portion of a much bigger story as the implementation around it is considerably more important than the silicon itself. They used the most suited S/PDIF digital receiver that you’ll spot in much nicer DACs, it’s the AK4118 that offers a low jitter through coaxial and optical. Running the D30 as a pure DAC brings out its true strength maintaining a smooth and relaxed presentation. It has enough detail to perform very well with stronger amplifiers. Loxjie D30 Technical Specifications The user can control the unit either with the multifunction button or the remote control which has also a couple of handy shortcuts. The spectrum shows the typical signature of this codec with filtering of frequencies above 5 kHz. We have lost some 50 dB in fidelity versus uncompressed as well. Noise has sharply increased. The D30 is a compact device measuring just 151x170x38mm and as such it occupies little desktop space.Thus said, with easy to drive earphones or headphones, like the Meze 99 NEO, the performance is up to the task and the user shouldn't be worried about adding an external amplifier. I have listened to various kinds of music for testing purposes and a lot of classical music for my pleasure and I remained wholly satisfied with the overall performance. The built-in amplifier seems to limit the dynamics of the DAC as I discovered after connecting the D40 to a Burson Funk for another listen. Loxjie decided to assign filter selection to the function button instead of the more useful to the average user sound modes which are hidden further inside a menu together with other useful settings such as DPLL mode and screen brightness.
Loxjie D40 Review — Headfonics Loxjie D40 Review — Headfonics
The USB receiver is the famous XMOS XU-208 that proved to be stable long term, it is killing a lot of source noise from your PC or smart device and you can find it together with XU-216 in the best DACs of today. This particular chipset supports PCM files up to 32 bit 768 kHz and natively supports DSD512 files, it is a very capable one indeed. The menu system on the other hand is less intuitive on the EX5 since the menu navigation is done using a series of 7-segment displays instead of a full IPS display that shows textual information. Performance Pre Mode – ON (variable volume level), Off (Fixed) and Off (for DSD – that is you DSD pass-thought option) Thanks both... the MS10s are very juvenile, but as I say are a holding piece for now until I a) have enough money to buy better, and b) have the room setup properly.
Although both DACs have an aluminum chassis, the grey finished D30 has a softer aesthetic compared to the SU-8s. When lifting both DACs the SH-8s is the heavier of the 2, maybe because it’s wider to accommodate the pair of balanced XLR outputs. The amplifier of the D40 has a THD+N of 0.00008% working with Four OPA1612A dual op-amps for up to 700mW of power on 32Ω loads and is designed to operate separately which could help isolate it from the interference of its other components. Its Bluetooth antenna that works as a wireless signal booster, I’ve seen already on quite a lot of devices and in here it works absolutely the same. In a bigger apartment, I was not losing BT signal and D30 would stay exactly in the middle, in the living room. With a Tidal Hi-Fi App installed on my phone, I was able to stream my music directly to it, playing all that via speakers. I walked through our bedroom and the signal remained always steady without losing a beat. In our home it offered a flawless Bluetooth experience and in an open space it should pretty much the same. Going outside to the balcony with few concrete walls between us, the signal started losing strength and music stuttered, skipping few beats here and there. I was expecting that, because all other device did absolutely the same, I wasn’t surprised at all.
Loxjie D30 DAC Review — Headfonics
However, the D01 is far from being fragile as it gives a properly solid feel in the hand. And unlike the do-it-all volume control of the DX3 Pro+, FX Audio decided to delegate by separating the menu and power button to the left. PerformanceLoxjie went with an ultra-low noise power supply (12V 1A output), I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this exact one in few devices made by SMSL (SP200 and M200 to be more exact). I’m not judging, just telling you the facts. Power supply seems to be well made, there are several voltage regulators in front and after it, it’s well made if you ask me. There are quite a few bigger and smaller Nichicon electrolytic caps for power filtering and storing. There aren’t many of them, they will not store a huge power capacitance, so don’t expect the nicest punch and impact with headphones or speakers alike. Transient response should be slightly affected by this. While I did not hear a huge difference, the overall picture did develop a sense of authority, especially in the softer areas where more emphasis and finesse are notably achieved. Listening to orchestral pieces, horns are more affecting and violins better controlled. It is not that it doesn't sound good or alter the sound qualities of the DAC as described above, on the contrary it should be considered transparent. I've had an appalling experience with an Onkyo A9010 which has been rejected and returned, so I am looking for something that's an upgrade and a slightly warmer sound. How "crisp" is the Denon in comparison to the other two, does anyone know?
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