Also if you want cheap and need a smartphone, LG G6 and the newer ones, LG V20/V30 and the newer ones, have really good DACs in them and measure better than the FX-Audio stuff even.
This is coming soon, too. Yup, that’s a DAC.
http://www.ibasso.com/cp_xq_dy.php?id=8745
Already available on eBay:
Apparently the DC-01 is for balanced only, and the DC-02 has the conventional 3.5mm plug for headphones etc.
I will keep that one in mind, though I will have to look it up first if it is available to buy it here or not. Thank you for some of the suggestions though.
One of the cheapest and best recommendations I can give for anyone that’s fresh into hifi would be the Topping MX3. It’s a pretty much feature complete unit for anyone that wants a bluetooth capable speaker / headphone amp and USB DAC in one. The only thing I personally miss with it is aptX Bluetooth. It’s absurdly good for the price.
Fully balanced setup recommendations would be the SMSL SU-8 and SH-8 stack. Otherwise I would just recommend the SU-8 together with any other balanced amp for a perfect combo bar anything up to $1000.
Fiio k5 pro or topping d10 and jds atom. Done
Also, hmm, I’m curious. Recommendations for dac/amps, combos or all-in-ones, for people starting in hi-fi with passive speakers? (Needs a headphone amp too).
Well then the topping mx3 would make more sense in my mind. And the smsl ad18 is also up there. For a separate higher end system, a d10 and an emotiva basx a100 would be great. Or you could get like a fiio k5 pro and a topping pa3
Warning: Distortion starts at 82dB, or even 63dB for the mx3!
I would not recommend it. Not hi-fi, IMHO.
Yeah it’s not very great imo and would rather rec the smsl (or separate components if you can). But it is very cheap for the features. I don’t get why people like it alot, imo I didn’t like it
I would say get a cheaper avr used or refurb and it would do you better imo for a similar price, but I think the emotiva or the pa3 would be better if you were going the seperates route
Yeah that’s what I’ve done with my old Denon, lol. Searching for a smol amp for a friend, who wants to get rig of his big AVR. 
Topping pa3 is pretty great. You could pair it with a dx3 pro for a stack if you need a headphone out. Or the k5 pro for sure
Ouch. Distortion @ 52dB for the AD18. 
The small integrated speaker amps aren’t great lol. But sound wise I would still take the ad18 over the mx3
I’ve never had the MX3 clip on me over optical, maybe I don’t push it hard enough. I run it in absolute volume mode and almost exclusively use optical or BT. When I first got it I A/B tested it against my old Harmony Design Ear90 and DA9 which I ran over optical and XLR between the amp/dac.
I tested it on all inputs, but it sounded best over optical, but there were some slight output level differences between optical and USB on the same volume output. I did get it to distort on USB and that’s when I pushed it towards 0-12 dB+. But then again we are speaking of hearing loss levels of volume output at that point. I never got to test the speaker amp part of the unit so I can’t comment much on its performance there. I’ll give it a spin some day.
However, running it on optical or BT, I vary between -40 dB for IEMs and between -6 to -20 dB when using my T60RP, I never get any issues in this scenario.
I mainly just run this as a bedside rig, as I’ve since gotten the SMSL Su-8, which has replaced my Harmony Design DA9 for the main rig. Sound quality wise they are pretty close, DA9 wins in absolute low end performance. It may be cleaner, but I can’t find any measurements as it is a very old DAC in this day and age. I only know the base specs of the DAC used in DA9 and they are quite similar compared to the MX3. But then again we are comparing an AMP + DAC which cost €600 + €700 back in 2005/07 to a $130 unit today.
Anyways, I think people are shitting on it too much, as you need to push it quite hard to make it clip. At least my unit. But your mileage may vary I guess.
I will say that you’re hard pressed to find such a complete package that sounds this good at this price level, at such a small form factor too. Will you get way better measurements if you go up 50-100 bucks? Hell yes. But for the price I can’t really complain at all. It is a fun unit to test and listen to.
What speakers were you using? That would play a role. I think @LeDechaine was mainly talking about the speaker out’s if I’m not mistaken (I could be).
Edit: you just answered that question, nvm
I just did not like the speaker out on the mx3, and honestly that’s my bigger complaint with the unit. I just think that if you don’t need a speaker amp that there are now better deals for dac/amps for headphones
I edited my post to clarify. I never tested it much on speakers. I ran a short test on the slave unit of my XTZ Tune 4 monitors. But then again I don’t like those speakers that much, I’ve had a hard time to get their accoustics to sound well in my room so I’ve since delegated the MX3 to be an exclusive headphone amp.
In hindsight I should have gotten the DX3 Pro, but it had some quirks over the MX3 that I didn’t find appealing. So in the end I just settled for the MX3. The DX3 sitting at $200 just wasn’t worth it in my book.
EDIT: To clarify further. I’ve used Audeze LCD2 Closed-Back, Fostex T60RP, Sennheiser HD700, Tin T2, Klipsch HP-3 and Denon AH-D5000 on the Topping MX3 and they all sound great. The T60RP are arguably hard to push real good, but they still sound fantastic even if I have to approach near 0dB output levels to get them to blow my head off. Comfortable listening levels on the T60RP is around -16 dB.
Yup. Distortion starts at 63dB for the speaker outs. It’s 82dB for the headphone out.
I never heard distortion from the headphone outs of my audio interface or phone, distortion starts at more or less 95dB for both. I don’t know my “this sounds like crap” threshold. 
I nearly forgot… First, CD-quality 16-bit audio needs 98dB SINAD.
Basically, if you have 98dB SINAD, your CDs always will sound perfect – in theory.
Also nearly forgot, but ASR has a lot of power amplifier measurements, too. This is the most recent list.
ASR sub-forum for power amps: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/audio-power-amplifiers.47/
Annnd nothing will measure better than your smartphone headphone out (95dB SINAD, let’s say) unless you pay 500$US. Lol. Damn. Passive speakers are cheaper, at least…
Measurements aren’t everything lol, let’s not get too involved
