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Topping 8-Channel Preamp: New Product Request

boXem

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I'm sure that I do, though more importantly does Kal, who apparently found that the Topping Pre90's output range perfectly loads the inputs of his power amps; offsetting the gain loss from DIRAC Live 3.
... cut ...
Glad to read that you guys have power amps with an input sensitivity above 17 V RMS and that you use only 1/100th of it's peak power without room correction.
 
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D

dped90

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Glad to read that you guys have power amps with an input sensitivity above 17 V RMS and that you use only 1/100th of it's peak power without room correction.
WTF?? I only presumed you understood that quoting those measurements shows that Pre90 can deliver output that high with very low distortion, not that it would have to deliver same to offset DIRAC gain losses. But you will see here that KR did experience gain loss ".....of almost 20db!" https://www.stereophile.com/content/topping-pre90-line-preamplifier

Therefore, though I may be wrong, it looks to me that no matter how this charted data is interpreted https://www.sowter.co.uk/decibels.php , an "almost 20db!" gain loss would conservatively require at least ~ 6.2 v, which is 2.1 v more than the most that KR's Exasound s88 DAC's balanced outputs could deliver. And, again, I could be wrong but it also appears that his power amps' input sensitivity was not sufficient to offset DIRAC's imposed gain loss. Thus, the need to place a preamp with sufficient output between the DAC and the power amps. If my interpretation of this situation is in error please clarify.
 
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boXem

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WTF?? I only presumed you understood that quoting those measurements shows that Pre90 can deliver output that high with very low distortion, not that it would have to deliver same to offset DIRAC gain losses.
But you will see here that KR did experience gain loss ".....of almost 20db!"


I may be wrong but it looks to me that no matter how this charted data is interpreted https://www.sowter.co.uk/decibels.php , an "almost 20db!" gain loss would conservatively require at least ~ 6.2 v-or 2.1 v more than KR's Exasound s88 DAC's balanced outputs could deliver. And, again, I could be wrong but it also appears that his power amps' input sensitivity was not sufficient to offset DIRAC's imposed gain loss. Thus, the need to place a preamp with sufficient output between the DAC and the power amps.
20 dB gain is a multiplication by 10.
If you multiply by 10 the voltage, you multiply by 100 the power.
I know, sometimes math and physics s@ck...
 

nagster

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Of course, I think the 8ch integrated type would be ideal for the OP, but the Pre90II(?), which adds a master/slave mechanism for multiple synchronized operations, may be more possible.
Topping doesn't seem to like larger case sizes for economic reasons. 8ch balanced/unbalanced input/output + relay volume control, + Pre90 case + same performance + profitability, this seems difficult.

My other Pre90II request unrelated to threads. in order of priority.
Locking mechanism of XLR female terminal (It has been pulled out during use many times so far. The same is true for other Topping products.)
LR balance adjustment
Absolute polarity switching
Independent mute button on the main unit side
Wider remote control range
Make the volume knob a little longer (L70 is easier to turn)
volume acceleration
Make the Ext cable slightly longer (Pre90 and Ext90 cannot be placed side by side with the current cable length)
Ext90 for output
same price
 

Open Mind Audio

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Of course, I think the 8ch integrated type would be ideal for the OP, but the Pre90II(?), which adds a master/slave mechanism for multiple synchronized operations, may be more possible.
Topping doesn't seem to like larger case sizes for economic reasons. 8ch balanced/unbalanced input/output + relay volume control, + Pre90 case + same performance + profitability, this seems difficult.

My other Pre90II request unrelated to threads. in order of priority.
Locking mechanism of XLR female terminal (It has been pulled out during use many times so far. The same is true for other Topping products.)
LR balance adjustment
Absolute polarity switching
Independent mute button on the main unit side
Wider remote control range
Make the volume knob a little longer (L70 is easier to turn)
volume acceleration
Make the Ext cable slightly longer (Pre90 and Ext90 cannot be placed side by side with the current cable length)
Ext90 for output
same price

Agree 9 million % on the remote. I appreciate my Pre90 and all that it does well, but the remote is a total joke, and a cruel one at that. It won't work outside of about 8 feet from the unit, and even at close range it's very erratic.
 

nagster

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Yes, I usually don't use the remote control because aiming is severe and frustrating. I moved the main unit within arm's reach...
 

kadajawi

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Yeah. I thought I heard that the 8-channel dac they put out was not selling despite many requests. Probably hearsay, but not far from the truth.
Yeah, but without any form of useful input, what good is it? If it had a single HDMI input and would decode the major formats... (plus maybe a few optical inputs for 2.0 PCM...), it'd be in my home already. But alas, what am I supposed to do with USB?
 

chelgrian

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Yeah, but without any form of useful input, what good is it? If it had a single HDMI input and would decode the major formats... (plus maybe a few optical inputs for 2.0 PCM...), it'd be in my home already. But alas, what am I supposed to do with USB?
Then it would be an AVP and be much more expensive due to dealing with HDMI and licensing.
 

charlielaub

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You can brew up a preamp with an audio interface (ADC and DAC) plus a computer and some Linux Fu. I have such a beast running my audio system. But the interface is via the computer monitor and keyboard, not some cute LCD screen and physical knobs and buttons. It's not to everyone's liking, I know. But I also do DSP processing and local audio streaming from my platform, which is cool and fun in the DIY spirit.
 

sarieri

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There won’t be anything related to Multichannel from Topping anymore. JohnYang said this before because dm7 is such a failure for topping (I mean in terms of sales). Maybe someone can build a muses 72323 volume control.
 

Kal Rubinson

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There won’t be anything related to Multichannel from Topping anymore. JohnYang said this before because dm7 is such a failure for topping (I mean in terms of sales). Maybe someone can build a muses 72323 volume control.
That's too bad. There are two things which might(!) have helped.
1. The 8xTRS outputs were neither fish nor fowl. Use of regular unbal RCAs or a DB25 for bal outs (user chooses TRS or XLR) would please a larger cohort.
2. The use of HDMI for input. Would please a different but larger cohort.
 

sarieri

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That's too bad. There are two things which might(!) have helped.
1. The 8xTRS outputs were neither fish nor fowl. Use of regular unbal RCAs or a DB25 for bal outs (user chooses TRS or XLR) would please a larger cohort.
2. The use of HDMI for input. Would please a different but larger cohort.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t bring Topping enough profit. A DM7 paired with camilladsp is one of the best measured DAC you can find. Alas, it stopped at 8ch output and has no way to expand it without another ADDA DSP.
 
OP
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dped90

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Of course, I think the 8ch integrated type would be ideal for the OP, but the Pre90II(?), which adds a master/slave mechanism for multiple synchronized operations, may be more possible. Topping doesn't seem to like larger case sizes for economic reasons. 8ch balanced/unbalanced input/output + relay volume control, + Pre90 case + same performance + profitability, this seems difficult.

My other Pre90II request unrelated to threads. in order of priority............
Agree 9 million % on the remote. I appreciate my Pre90 and all that it does well, but the remote is a total joke, and a cruel one at that. It won't work outside of about 8 feet from the unit, and even at close range it's very erratic.
If Topping is unwilling or unable to produce an 8 channel preamp that meets our criteria (e.g. sufficient output voltage at the balanced outputs to offset DIRAC or Audiolense RC software gain losses), then why not appeal to a customizing brand like https://www.marchandelec.com/preamplifiers.html or http://www.colemanaudio.com/ I their cost per unit prices may not be cheap but should be affordable to most, and perhaps especially so via a "group buy". We should just all be sure about the features we want and/or could live without versus some agreed upon price.
 

charlielaub

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There won’t be anything related to Multichannel from Topping anymore. JohnYang said this before because dm7 is such a failure for topping (I mean in terms of sales). Maybe someone can build a muses 72323 volume control.
Crap. That's a bummer. This was a perfect solution for me - I do multi-way DSP crossovers in Linux and then need a good 8+channel DAC.

Well, time to stock up on a few DM7 I guess.
 

sarieri

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Crap. That's a bummer. This was a perfect solution for me - I do multi-way DSP crossovers in Linux and then need a good 8+channel DAC.

Well, time to stock up on a few DM7 I guess.
But how do you sync the clock between different DM7
 

MWC

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I play a lot of Mch music and I would buy a Topping DM7 if it had regular RCA outs to feed my old pre HDMI Denon AVR.
 

charlielaub

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But how do you sync the clock between different DM7
I don't. 8 channels is enough for me. If I ever need more I have some other interfaces that have ADAT extension and I can get up to 18 analog output channels that way. But I have yet to build a project (like a line array) that would need more than 8 channels.
 
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