I’ve been considering buying one of these two DAC/Amp combo units and I can’t see much of a difference between the mx3 and dx3 pro. I need a headphone amp for my HD 58x and source for a Topping PA3, which is powering my RB42’s. Is there any good reason to spend more money for the dx3 pro vs the mx3, or even something else entirely.
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Hello,
Of course there are differences.
The Mx 3 cannot play Dsd, but the Dx3pro can.
Also the Dac chip of the Dx3 pro is a bit better.
And it will certainly have the better Bluetooth than the Mx3.
Is it now more up to your requirements what you are aiming for?
Should it serve the purpose of the Mx3, or should it be even more charming then the Dx3 pro.
I don’t know the exact reports of the Dx3 pro but I don’t think they were even bad.
Sure there are alternatives like the Topping E30 with a headphone amplifier where you would be flexible.
Then it is a question of price what you want to spend.
My price range is around $250 and I need some kind of headphone output as well as RCA outs for my speakers, so a combo unit like the dx3 would be convenient . My problem with the e30 and standalone headphone amp is it couldn’t output to both my speakers and headphones. I could use a DAC with multiple RCA outputs but I don’t know of one in this price range.
What about something like a Parasound zAmp v3, using a e30 as both DAC and preamp? It’d end up being a little more than $250, though.
Have you considered the FiiO K5 Pro?
I tried the mx3 a while back but it had a lot of noise in the headphone and speaker outputs so I returned it, the K5 Pro on the other hand has pretty much no noise and should drive your headphones well enough. It lacks some power for higher impedance headphones like the HD 6XX so I upgraded.
You could also consider the iFi Zen DAC.
I had started considering the Schiit Modi and Magni, but the k5 pro is looking like a pretty solid option.