Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

[antcollinet]

After ~2 months my amplifier has broken.
It constantly sends hissing sounds and cracks to the left channel regardless of being connected to any input and amplifier power level.
Anyone experienced something like that?

https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...pping-pa5-review-amplifier.28512/post-1099306

But it doesn't matter - it's faulty and will need to be returned.

 

[sarumbear]

This thread now has more than HALF A MILLION views! This is a stupendous number!

Well done and thank you, @amirm for starting ASR and for all of us for doing our best to nurture it. But also bravo to Topping to tap into this fantastic place. There is no way otherwise they could have achieved so many eyes on their products.

 

[JohnnyNG]

This thread now has 500+ MILLION views! This is a stupendous number!

Well done and thank you, @amirm for starting ASR and for all of us for doing our best to nurture it. But also bravo to Topping to tap into this fantastic place. There is no way otherwise they could have achieved so many eyes on their products.

Pretty sure that's 500,000+. Still, I don't recall an amp so thoroughly examined. Certainly enjoying mine every evening. I'm tempted to add "can't wait for the bigger one", but I really feel I have all the power I need already.

 

[Nonick]

Had zero noise with PA5 on JBL stage 180 tweeters. Dead silent. No thumb noise while switching on and zero noise from power block.
Compared to SMSL AO200, PA5 is a silent beast.

 

[sarumbear]

Pretty sure that's 500,000+. Still, I don't recall an amp so thoroughly examined. Certainly enjoying mine every evening. I'm tempted to add "can't wait for the bigger one", but I really feel I have all the power I need already.

Ha! I started with half a million in mind and then wrote the wrong figure. Thank you for pointing that out. I've corrected my post.

 

[simplywyn]

After ~2 months my amplifier has broken.
It constantly sends hissing sounds and cracks to the left channel regardless of being connected to any input and amplifier power level.
Anyone experienced something like that?

Damn, seems like this amp has a lot of problems - the seller keeps asking me and I inquired this amp seems to be getting lots of returns.

 

[simplywyn]

New PA5 just came in, no noise at all... returning the previous one. I'm hoping this one is good, haven't heard of an amp with this quality as of yet.

 

[asoka]

Hey! How do you tell when the 125w in 4 ohm is passed? What position should the volume knob to be approx?
It is ok to use it with unbalanced trs? I still waiting for the cables...seems to work correctly.

P.S It is scary damn small

 

[antcollinet]

Hey! How do you tell when the 125w in 4 ohm is passed? What position should the volume knob to be approx?
It is ok to use it with unbalanced trs? I still waiting for the cables...seems to work correctly.

P.S It is scary damn small

No way to tell, because it depends on the input voltage and the knob position - not just the knob. It will be very very loud. The music will start to distort. Once the music is audibly distorting, you really don't want to leave it there as it can damage your speakers.

 

[asoka]

As a sound review compared with smsl da9 ...the pa5 sound ok...not striking me as a much better amp...but seems to have a little more refined highs and a better stereophony ...but on smsl I have tone controls and sda(loudness), sub out, wireless and screen. Pa5 it is perhaps better sounding but smsl much more convenience and possibility of sound controls. I have the rme adi 2 dac that has controls...other way I would prefer da9.

 

[asoka]

It is ok this configuration?

 

[asoka]

After 2 days of listening with proper cables, I could admit that this freighting little amp it is very good I could recommend it fully to anyone.

 

[Eldus]

Would it be wise to feed a PA5 with my JDS Atom as a preamp in High Gain to get the 2.6 volts over RCA with TS adapter plugs?

 

[Billy Budapest]

I need to find a reason to buy this—or maybe I should just wait until the inevitable release of a PA9.

 

[antcollinet]

Would it be wise to feed a PA5 with my JDS Atom as a preamp in High Gain to get the 2.6 volts over RCA with TS adapter plugs?

I don't think wisdom comes into it - but it should work. I assume you are intending to use the headphone output for this - or does the gain affect the RCA output also.

 

[daniboun]

I made my own LLC PSU for the PA5, The Connex SMPS300R (single rail) has an excellent ripple (JLESTER measured it VS a Meanwell, and it performs even better). I am also using a special Audio Filter for the AC inputs and good quality cooper cables.

This is a 36V / 8.3A (stock, can be ajusted @ +-5%) 300W LLC SMPS PSU.


Some pictures :

 

[antcollinet]

Nice build - any percieved benefit over the stock brick? I'd be surprised if there is given the impressive measurements in the review.

 

[abdo123]

Hey! How do you tell when the 125w in 4 ohm is passed? What position should the volume knob to be approx?
It is ok to use it with unbalanced trs? I still waiting for the cables...seems to work correctly.

P.S It is scary damn small

You need an osciloscope.

 

[daniboun]

Nice build - any percieved benefit over the stock brick? I'd be surprised if there is given the impressive measurements in the review.

Will keep you informed here, still testing )

Here is a little table that might be useful)




Meanwell LRS-350-36 vs SMPS300RS

the Meanwell has a higher switching noise (65kHz) (192mV-pp).

Connex :



Meanwell :

 

[AudioArchitech]

Would be very interesting if you sent this to Amir for testing to compare to stock PA5