TOPPING - NX1s

This is going to be a lengthy review. Read if you have time.

Yes, I like to call it the mini amp. At its price point and for 99% of the music listening folks this is all you need to introduce yourselves to a pocket sized headphone amplifier.

It delivers a clean and distortion free amplification to the source.

Ordered on 21st and received 22nd Nov 2020. The received product too was well packaged and in mint condition.

The NX1s Experience:

Setup: DAP-Fiio X1 II; DAC-S.M.S.L. SK 10th; Samsung mobile phone; Laptop-running Foobar in 7.1 / DSD/ Stereo with DTS Sound Unbound/ WASAPI/ ASIO and IEM-Tin HiFi T2

I have now been testing the new amp for almost a week, couple of hours daily since. Interesting fact: Plugged in right out of the box, have not yet charged it still and the charge indicator on the unit is still blue.

Used with Mobile: I use the combo of my phone enabled with Dolby Atmos or Tube Amp Pro feeding to NX1s. I will list a few of my favorite tracks used for testing later below.
As stated above with those audio effect settings, the overall dynamics are way better than phone's direct output.

Used with Fiio DAP: I have been using the Fiio X1 II for the last 3 years. This DAP offers two method of sound output. One I can use the headphone output (from system settings) option and enjoy the processing of the internal DAC. In this setting the NX1s does a very clean amplification with the gain and bass set at normal. In this mode neither a gain or bass boost on the NX1s makes much of a difference, only the overall amplification is desirable here.

However, in the second mode of using the Fiio with lineout option from the systems settings (it outputs a solid 1.7 Vrms (10 KΩ/1 kHz)) and this when amplified through the NX1s is splendid. At no gain and bass boost the music is as enjoyable as when you turn on gain and bass. I never go beyond 10 O'clock point on the volume knob, unless it is a very quite recording.

Used with S.M.S.L. SK 10th DAC: This entirely changed my experience of how beautiful the music sounds through Tin T2 matched with NX1s amp. I was already enjoying the SK 10th DAC, been using this for almost 2 years now, through USB input this DAC supports multichannel audio. I upmix certain tracks on Foobar to 7.1 channel and enable DTS Headphone: X, the experience is beautifully spaced, immersive audio with all the frequencies well amplified and tighter bass. This works well with gain on or off and certain tracks do get a lift from bass boost on.

Conclusion:
Personally, I feel the lower frequencies are a bit rolled off (quite sharply) on the NX1s and the bass boost gives a big leap between 70 to 100 odd Hz. Nothing substantial in the sub bass region. Overall, for a near neutral sound, NX1s is a great beginner or for most the only amp sufficient (as long as you don't fall for the audio world's snake oil), the further refinements and upgrades in terms of hearing perception are not worth the big money. However, they do justify the crazy to spend on high-end HiFi. For the most part if you stream from Spotify, Gaana, Saavan, etc., or don't understand the place for the source in playing back audio, don't think twice blindly and safely buy yourself the Topping NX1s.

Songs I listened to:

#1
Artist Name : Henry Mancini
Track Title : Something For The Cat
Album Title : Breakfast At Tiffany's (50th Anniversary Edition)

Comments: You will appreciate the instruments and the space in which they are laid out elegantly.

#2
Artist Name : Deep Purple
Track Title : Child In Time
Album Title : The Very Best Of Deep Purple

Comments: The slow not so busy start and then pace into the busy stage, beautiful resolution of cymbals, clash and high hat.

#3
Artist Name : Lionel Richie
Track Title : Hello
Album Title : Timeless love

Comments: Beautiful recording. Smooth and cherishable.

#4
Artist Name : Sting
Track Title : Roxanne
Album Title : My Songs (Deluxe)

Comments: Yet another all time favorite of mine. Tight bass and HH, simply amazing.

#5
Artist Name : Fleetwood Mac
Track Title : The Chain
Album Title : The Very Best Of (CD 2)

Comments: I love the way the song is recorded.

#6
Artist Name : London Philharmonic Orchestra
Track Title : The Planets: Jupiter
Album Title : The 50 Greatest Pieces Of Classical Music CD1
#7
Artist Name : Various
Track Title : Brahms - Hungarian Dance No.12 in D minor
Album Title : Greatest Masterworks of the Classic
#8
Artist Name : Henry Mancini
Track Titles : Baby Elephant Walk, Pink Panther and all.

Comment: Classic, the horns, the deep notes and high shrills are more than words can describe.

#9
Artist Name : Lenny MacDowell
Track Title : Memphis Overkill
Album Title : Dynamic Audiophile Jazz Vol.2

Comment: Kick drum, snare, toms and HH with slap bass and flute, a delightful treat.

#10
Artist Name : James Blake
Track Title : Limit To Your Love
Album Title : James Blake

Comment: Unique style and signature. It has to be an acquired taste to like JB.

It was just perfect for my Beyerdynamics dt770 pro (80ohm). There are two switches on the Amp, one for the extra bass and one for extra gain. If you have a V shape flat sounding headphone and Whenever you need some extra bass to vibe just turn on the bass switch and if you need extra volume turn on the gain switch. If you turn both gain and bass on at full volume the sound becomes a little distorted but only half the volume is enough for headphones under (300ohms).
Don't worry about sound quality loss rather it makes sound come out even clearer as it's a Hi-res player !
I use it on my phone sometimes too...works preety good with my one plus 7 pro !
The bettery life is amazing too...it actually shoked me at first for how long it lasted...charged it for like 3-4 hours and it worked for more than 39-40 hrs of continuous use!!
If u buy a expensive headphone and its volume is not enough or you feel like something is missing or... u're not blown away by it, just buy this plug it in and boom !! You'll be surprised how good this make headphones or IEM's sound. Buy the Nx3s if your headphone is more than (300ohms) i was going to buy that but im broke as hell after buying the dt 770 pro xD and thank you headphone zone for the quick delivery got the Amp in like 3 days, will continue shopping from your site !!

Delivery: On time.

Condition: Lovely. A great boxing by the brand.

First impressions: Smaller than expectation, but extremely well built. Feels great in hand. Controls feel sturdy too.

Sound: Enough impedance to power your headphones/IEMs for days. Great with/without gain, bass option is good when you switch to casual music sessions. Overall, couldn't have asked for more.

Reviewed with KZ ZSN Pro.

My ingredients are :-
*Soundmagic e80c (balance sound 63ohm)
*ibasso dc03 (firmware updated v1.1) DC03 works flawlessly on DSD 256.
*Topping NX1s ( android audio mixer lib convert's 32/192 to 16/44khz i'm sad i can hear the difference after playing from laptop to smartphone so tried modifing audio mixer lib but phone speaker doesn't support 32bit a/O it is mute. After connecting Topping NX1s i can't find difference while playing from laptop/smartphone I'm happy now ❤️
That's my hifi cooking mini system so i can finally master the Moonwalk.😁

After searching the web for budget headphone amps (not dac-amps), I was left disappointed as all were out of stock. Then I remembered headphone zone and found this amp as the only choice. Read up on it, reviews were great, so bought it. I use easy to drive stuff and I'm pretty satisfied with its performance: great clarity, vocals come sweetly, highs are gentle, soundstage is good and the overall sound feels rich and warm but with one major issue: the sub bass.

I've attached images of the frequency response showing a roll off starting slowly somewhere between 100 and 150 HZ and then a steep fall off down to 10 HZ where it is more than -5db. At 20HZ it is around -2.4db. So I tried to plot a graph in the spectrum frequency filter of Goldwave to make an inverse of the roll off. I've attached an image of that too. I now get a nice sub bass lift. Had to make a batch process of reducing volume, applying this filter and then bringing volume back up to prevent any possible clipping, to convert my CD collection just for use with this amp (lol) but the roll off is now fixed with the EQ applied inside each file. It still bugs me when listening to some audio streamed online on the PC whenever the audio needs that sub bass which is slightly lost with this amp (not a deal breaker but an irritant for sure).

This amp works best when connected to the line out of any source. I tried it with my PC onboard line out (not HO) and it greatly improved the sound quality vs directly connecting headphones to PC headphone out. The video experience through headphones has greatly improved with the NX1s even without a correction to the sub bass roll off. Tried this with my Rs 2500 Ruizu X02 DAP (my main reason for a budget portable headphone amp as the X02 is garbage without one), with its line out (labelled EQ off, ha) and the output was SUPERB! for a combined price of only Rs 6500. I also found the sound improved further with my Czartech 5ft car cable (Rs 250) over stock cable but it looks funny walking with a 5ft cable. So a small minus for the stock cable here, it sounds a little too crisp and a bit thin losing some of the bass and richness of that other cable. If I had no other cable, I probably would have been satisfied with the stock one but a better cable would have been nice.

However when I connected it to my smartphones and PC headphone out, it was less impressive. The volume and fullness does increase but it's amplifying an already (relatively poor) amped source which isn't ideal, so cannot expect any miracles of increased sound quality.

If only manufacturers offered a line out option, budget portable headphone amps would make a lot more sense and not disappear from the market like today where it's all DAC-amp combos. I wish my phones had a line out to use with this beauty but I'm happily using it with my Ruizu X02 and PC. Thanks headphone zone for making this available in India.

there is plenty of bass boost but, the boosted bass frequency is frustrating. It's not warm at all, You will keep on messing with the equalizer to increase or lessen bass frequencies but you won't end up getting a warm part of the bass, neither a thumping part of the bass. You will only stress your speaker's diaphragm. It's good for amplifying anything except the bass.

Tidy and solid built amp. Don't try these for planars, its kinda hard to drive with the NX1s. 30+ hours on battery. Right angled connectors will stay in an awkward position, due to the claw like design. Good option if you have a dac already. Sound quality is ok, but cannot complain at this price!!!

Good headphone amplifier i like the sound signature and design value for money

I really like the compactness of this amp, very sturdy and portable. The build is full metal and the finish is top notch. I bought it mistakenly as a DAC AMP combo, so returned it...it's just an amp and has no DAC chip inside. Didn't find any noticeable difference with many iems and m50x but when I tried this chap on Beyerdynamics DT990 Pro...this little amp surprised me with its power. Very open sound with spacious bass response with dt990 pro. It's a good compact AMP, however you just need to know what to pair with it.
Now I ordered xduoo basic because I will get the positive of both the world's.