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Topping A90 Discrete Review (Headphone Amp & Preamp)

Rate this Headphone Amp/Pre-amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 16 4.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 13 3.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 69 17.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 305 75.7%

  • Total voters
    403

respice finem

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Getting such great performance out of a discrete circuit makes me think of the audiophool school of thought which claims that integrated circuits are somehow "cheating" and don't "count" for good performance or sound.
Yeah that's why those computers get the maths wrong all the time :p
 

juliangst

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Awesome specs! I'd still stick to my A30 Pro because it has more unbalanced power and not all my headphones can be used balanced
 

Nordling

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Dec 13, 2021
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Does anyone know what the input impedance is? There are different opinions about the relatively low input impedance of the Topping Pre90 @10kOhms (single ended) and 2.2kOhms (balanced).
 

Anon4273

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Jul 3, 2020
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I only buy hifi where I get the UK/EU 2 year warranty and I know I can get a repair done effectively. There are hardly any Topping resellers in the UK and the one I found (scan.co.uk) I suspect will have a good warranty arrangement with Topping (they are a large company from whom I buy servers).

I've only had three audio items break in 35+ years. One was my Chord Mojo, the usb socket, out of warranty. I sent it to them and they sent me an invoice for the repair - £0.25 for the part and £9.99 for postage. I regret not keeping the invoice!

The other two was a piece of Danish hifi, 6 years out of warranty, they shipped UK/Denmark and back and fixed free of charge. The third item was a Zorloo DAC Amir recommended, the volume button broke, which went in the bin.
If EU is ok for you, too. Audiophonics has listed them (arriving in July).
 

enricoclaudio

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Thanks @amirm for another great review. I think my A90 is going to be for sale very soon. Honestly I don't need the A90 to A90D upgrade but those LED holes on the front and the remote sold me!! Specs wise, the A90 still is a GREAT amp and for most of us that owns it, there is no reason to upgrade to the A90D but because we can, we do it :)
 

Trell

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@amirm: Are you going to replace your RME with the new Topping?

If I would buy a new device: RME2 is much cheaper than Topping A90/D90.

The RME ADI-2 DAC FS will sound there same as that stack but has many useful features like PEQ, Dynamic Loudness, tone controls and other DSP features. The device has a ton of features, actually.

Some will miss Bluetooth, though, while others needs/wants a very powerful amp section. The RME is no slouch and drives most headphones very well.

I own the RME myself and it’s feature set, along with support and service, is why I bought it. With DSP disabled it would sound the same as other well measuring stacks or DAC/amp combos.
 

Ra1zel

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I just realized... don't tell me gain is adjustable only by the famous topping remote, that's design disaster.
 

Atanasi

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I just realized... don't tell me gain is adjustable only by the famous topping remote, that's design disaster.
The volume knob also works as a button, but it seems gain is one function that is only accessible through the remote. I would prefer to have a decent button interface as an alternative to the remote.
 

Labjr

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The volume knob also works as a button, but it seems gain is one function that is only accessible through the remote. I would prefer to have a decent button interface as an alternative to the remote.

Isn't gain the default action of the rotary encoder?
 

Atanasi

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Isn't gain the default action of the rotary encoder?
Gain means here switching between low and high gain (+9.5 dB). The rotary encoder would only lower volume from there.
 
Last edited:

enricoclaudio

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I was reading the user manual and definitely the Gain can't be adjusted with the front volume knob. BTW, there are only 2 Gain options. Low is not available anymore. Another question, is there an auto-standby function? I can't find anywhere if there is auto-standby like in the D90SE.
 

GiFi

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I was reading the user manual and definitely the Gain can't be adjusted with the front volume knob. BTW, there are only 2 Gain options. Low is not available anymore. Another question, is there an auto-standby function? I can't find anywhere if there is auto-standby like in the D90SE.
Why not?
 

nagster

Senior Member
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Jan 24, 2021
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Thanks to amirm for posting the review. I am always grateful.
Since I sometimes post the measurements myself (although most of them are single measurements), I know that it is not easy to make an overall measurement every time on the premise of publication. The same applies to post-processing.
Thank you very much for your hard work.

Congratulations to the TOPPING team.
After combining the Pre90 and A90 into one unit, the maximum output is increased (discrete for increasing output?) Without using a commercially available IC (zero?), The functions are increased, and firmware updates are also possible.
 

Labjr

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Gain means here switching between low and high gain (+9.5 dB). The rotary encoder would only lower volume from there.
I don't generally care for computerized controls but I don't know if I'd need to change the gain setting all the time.
 

MAB

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Nov 15, 2021
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I wonder how many of these things they sell. amazon.com shows only 15 reviews for the older A90, which has been listed for 5 years, whereas the $70 Fiio E10K headphone DAC amp for example has almost 5,000 reviews over about 6 years. Look at the tremendous build quality of Cambridge Audio and their AXA25 25w integrated amplifier costs $300, half the price of the A90 discrete. Seems that either Topping have expensive production from low volumes or are making big profit margins on SInad-chasers.
I tried to leave a review for a PA5 on Shenzhen Audio's site, it never was posted.
 
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