This compact new headphone amp from a hi-fi legend wants to boost sound quality to wired headphones

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Rotel's DX-3 promises exceptional audio for elite headphones

Rotel DX-3 headphone amplifier and DAC
(Image credit: Rotel)
  • The Rotel DX-3 is a headphones amp that can also act as desktop DAC
  • Wireless aptX Adaptive and HD as well as wired headphones support
  • It costs $1,499.00 // £1,399.00 (about AU$3,065)

Huge specification. Tiny footprint. That's the pitch for the new Rotel DX-3, a compact headphone amplifier and standalone DAC that promises audiophile-grade audio for the best wired headphones.

Inspired by Rotel's home city of Tokyo, where space is at a premium, the DX-3 is very small: just 215mm x 76mm x 247mm (8½ x 3 x 9¾ inches). But it boasts lots of power and plenty of connectivity too.

Rotel DX-3 headphone amplifier and DAC

(Image credit: Rotel)

Rotel DX-3: key features and pricing

Rotel describes the DX-3 as "the ultimate desktop audio companion" with inputs including PC-USB (32-bit/384kHz) with DSD 4X support, coaxial and optical (24-bit/192kHz), and an RCA analog connection for inputs.

The headphone amp supports high, low and medium impedance models and comes with user-selectable amplifier gain; there are both 4.4mm balanced and 6.35mm connectors on the front panel, and there are XLR Balanced and RCA outputs on the back so you can use the DX-3 as a stand-alone DAC and pre-amp. But it is also able to stream as a receiver, using aptX Adaptive / HD and AAC Bluetooth.

Inside, there's an ESS Sabre ES9028PRO eight-channel DAC and Rotel's own ultra-low noise toroidal transformer. That features high current-drivers and high-quality capacitors to deliver what Rotel says is "the ultimate resolution, rhythm and timing, and on an immersive sound stage".

The volume is controlled by an audiophile-grade NJW1195A fully differential analog controller delivering 0.5dB steps, and the analog and digital power supplies are fully isolated from each other to apparently ensure minimal interference. There are also custom-engineered low pass filters with a full balanced, fully differential signal path for even further nose and distortion reduction.

The Rotel DX-3 is available in the UK now and will launch globally "soon after". Its official price is $1,499 / €1,499 / £1,399 / about AU$3,065.

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Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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