Rotel’s smart new compact amp is brilliant for bookshelf speakers

Rotel builds on its impressive headphone amp with a more powerful model for small speaker setups

Rotel DX-5 compact amplifier
(Image credit: Rotel)
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Rotel has launched a new compact integrated amplifier, the Rotel DX-5.

It delivers 25W or 35W per channel to 4 and 8 ohms respectively, making it best suited to smaller speaker setups.

Last month Rotel launched its first ever headphone amp, the Rotel DX-3, with a compact footprint and an impressive specification. And now there's a more powerful version to drive bookshelf speakers, the DX-5 stereo integrated amplifier.

The DX-5 looks very similar to the DX-3, and that's no bad thing – it's a clean, effective design that looks great. But inside things are very different, because the DX-5 has a class A/B amplifier powered by an in-house wound high-current toroidal transformer that puts out 25W per channel at 8 ohms / 33W per channel at 4 ohms.

That's quite modest by amplifier standards but it's more than enough power for a pair of bookshelf speakers or reasonably sized floorstanders. And the emphasis here is on sound quality rather than sheer power.

Rotel DX-5: key features and pricing

The heart of the DX-5 is the ESS ES9039Q2M DAC, a Sabre chip capable of handling hi-res audio up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM. It supports PC-USB (32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD 4x), Coaxial/Optical (24-bit/192kHz), aptX HD and AAC Wireless Bluetooth, legacy RCA analogue and HDMI ARC connectivity, and it also has a subwoofer output. The DX-5 is Roon Tested.

The frequency range is a wide 10Hz to 100kHz, and the signal to noise ratio is 100dB.

On the front you'll find a full-colour TFT display and there's a quarter-inch headphone jack around the back. The DX-5 also comes with a remote control.

Like the DX-3, this is a very compact component – it's roughly 3 inches tall, 8.5 inches wide and 10 inches deep. And it comes in a choice of black or silver.

The Rotel DX-5 will be available this month (April 2025) in the UK, Europe and North America. Pricing and availability for other parts of the world haven't been announced just yet. The recommended selling price is £1,399 / $1,499 / €1,499 (about AU$2,917).

Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).

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