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Topping Quality Issues?

monkeyboy

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I'm contemplating a Topping D50, my impression is that they have some quality issues...is that correct?...An Aune X8 looks interesting and is in the same price range...would that be a better choice?

Thanks..
 

soundwave76

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D50 seems to have issues with the COAX input. I have that and several others seem to have them as well, which is discussed in the thread. Not a major problem though, since USB seems to work just fine.
 

Rusty Shackleford

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Yes, they have quality issues, as most “Chi-Fi” stuff does. Read through threads on here, Head-Fi, and Massdrop, as well as Amazon reviews. From my own experience, two out of three Topping products I bought had serious issues. Topping’s rate of issues seems to be somewhat lower than SMSL’s, though.
 

L5730

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I have a D10 with missing decimal points on the display, they never show no matter what is changed.
I contacted them, they confirmed it is not supposed to do it and to contact the seller if under warranty.
As it works and doesn't affect the sound, I put it down to a cosmetic issue - not bothered about it.
I've never seen that same issue anywhere else in 'net searches. The other D10 I have is perfect, no issues at all.

The problem with fault rates is that the data needs collecting properly. Just how many more Topping products will be sold because of this site? Therefore there will be an increase in the number of failures by nature of more units being sold. The trouble comes when 1000 units are sold and 300 of them are dodgy - that's not a good rate of failure.
 

invaderzim

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I had a D30 die after a couple of months. My recommendation is but it from a company that will stand behind it so you don't have to send it back to China if there is a problem. Parts express replaced my D30 for me
 
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monkeyboy

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I ended up purchasing a D50, and have had no issues. I'm using both USB and toslink inputs, and it seems to work great...I have no complaints...
 

amirm

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I have a D10 with missing decimal points on the display, they never show no matter what is changed.
This was mentioned on the forum before but I thought it was said that it was a revision thing, not a fault. May want to search for it.
 

L5730

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This was mentioned on the forum before but I thought it was said that it was a revision thing, not a fault. May want to search for it.

I'll check again, Amir.
It's nothing to do with the standby dot or any of that. Both are the same firmware and only a couple of serial numbers different. It's just that one will show "44.1" the other will say "441", or "2.82" and "282". One has decimal points on the display working the other doesn't I've never seen another unit, or a picture of one, without the decimal points. All else functions fine, no one is bothered by the display which isn't looked at in this case. £65 for the exact same sound (only 1dB quieter) as a £400 CD player? Bargain!
 

Xulonn

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As many of you know, I am a retired American expat who lives in Boquete, a little town in the mountains of western Panama not far from the Costa Rica border. When I make purchases online, I have the packages shipped to a forwarder in Miami, and it costs about $12 dollars to get something the size and weight of a PA3 to me here. Returning items under warranty is not easy, and is expensive, so I try to be quality conscious.

I've purchased two Topping PA3 amplifiers in the past year, and both died - the first one was an $84 Amazon one-day special I stumbled upon, and it lasted seven months before dying. It simply stopped putting out signal to my speakers when I turned it on one day. The second one was a $65 "Used/Like New" Amazon purchase, and it died the same death after only about one month.

My audio system in my little budget retirement rental house consists of a dual-boot Intel NUC running Daphile or LibreElec Kodi which is connected to a SMSL Sanskrit 6th DAC via Toslink digital optical . RCA's connect that to my amplifier. which , drives a pair of Paradigm Atom v6 monitors. No exotic components or weird loads in the chain. Our flaky "developing nation" 125v mains power is stabilized by an AVR unit (automatic voltage regulation), surge protection and battery backup.

With the 2nd Topping now out of commission, I have reverted to using my backup DAC/amp - an SMSL Q5 Pro.

I will not buy another PA3, but I do have a Topping DX7s DAC with a volume control arriving from Massdrop within days. It will be paired with a 100wpc Ghent/ICEpower dual mono (200ASC +200AC) balanced input power amp. I just received the Ghent case from China, and will be ordering the modules from "Parts Express" in the U.S. in June when everything I need is in stock.

I couldn't figure how to get the Topping PA3 case apart, and removing the three screws on the back did not release the back panel - I could see that the speaker connectors were holding it on. I managed to unscrew them, but doing that broke the solder connections to the vertical PC board just inside the back panel. The second picture is the back panel flipped over on top of the case.

There may be screws at the end the long round center channel in the sides that also takes the two back panel self-tapping screws (see pictures below. Because of my limited experience with PC boards, if I can remove the "innards", the only thing I could do is to look for bulging capacitors and obvious loose connections. I think I will try the town's electronics technician at the local repair shop - he seems to be quite good at fixing all kinds of modern electronics. If I get one of the two PA3's back to working, I will be happy.

Topping PA3 - 1.jpg



Topping PA3 - 2.JPG
 

gvl

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I have a DX7s that had one of the DAC chips lost contact with the board. Topping repaired it no question asked, but time and money were involved in getting the DAC to them. I don't necessarily think their products are worse than others quality wise in the price bracket they are competing, but a need to ship to China should something go wrong is definitely a consideration.
 

Xulonn

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I don't necessarily think their products are worse than others quality wise in the price bracket they are competing, but a need to ship to China should something go wrong is definitely a consideration.
If my DX7s dies, I'll forget about Topping and look elsewhere - perhaps even save my money and look for a used RME ADI-2 DAC.
 

gvl

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If my DX7s dies, I'll forget about Topping and look elsewhere - perhaps even save my money and look for a used RME ADI-2 DAC.

A used ADI-2 is double the price of a new DX7s, getting one shipped to China should be much less expensive, even from your location.
 
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Snafu

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I have had D50 (still v1.02) now a few months and haven't had any problems with it. It has LPSU and i have used it with UBS (laptop) and COAX (blu ray). Biggest glitch is when using it with br-player sound isn't in sync with picture automatically but needs to be adjusted from br.

Other than that no complaints.
 

Ron Texas

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If Parts Express has it, they are the go to merchant for service. For Chi-Fi I consider $300 to be the upper limit on price so if it is a loss, you don't have to cry too long. My D30 is chugging along for almost a year now.
 

JJB70

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The reason I buy audio gear from UK based suppliers is so that I can utilise my consumer rights to seek redress in the event of something going wrong. Admittedly that narrows the field of what I can buy and it comes with a cost but I consider it to be worth it. I suspect the same holds true for other countries with robust consumer protection laws. We have a local branch of a large national hi-fi chain close to my house, the shop is next door to Milton Keynes railway station. No, it's not the cheapest, but it has always given me good service, if ever I've needed it after sales support has been good and they sell stuff like Cambridge Audio which is down to earth good value equipment.
 

bravomail

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Another horror thread about Topping. And I thought we hate Schiit quality here? Since I never bought any Topping - cannot comment, but Amazon reviews average is "3stars" which is "no-go". Anecdotally, both Schiit Modi3 and Magni2 I have work rock solid ="merkan maid"! :) FX Audio X6 (another Chi-Fi) died after about a year. Chinese tablet from AliExpress faced dead headphone jack, and then non-working power button within a year. So there are some corners cut in quality control overall in cheap Chinese electronics.
 

WLVCA

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I have a D50 purchased on Amazon and have had no issues with it. Works well.

However, i purchased a Topping DX7S from Drop a few months ago and it was DOA. Drop accepted the return and credited my account without any problem.
 

L5730

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The trouble with customer reviews on retail sites or general forums is that there will always be a lot more input from folks who have issues and especially when those issues are not resolved. If something does what it is supposed to, was about the right cost, there isn't much to say.
In the UK retailers will generally just replace an item if it's completely buggered within the first 90 days. Some up to a year, but most will try to get it repaired, as that is how the law works - it doesn't say you get to keep ditching and switching until the year is up.

QC on anything is pretty lousy these days. Everything is made in China or other cheap labour countries. This basically means that a big US or UK/EU brand with years of history is at no advantage over a smaller outfit that has been going for only a couple of years. It's all about maximising profit for the top bosses and share holders and not about having pride in a company. If the CEO doesn't meet the targets he set out at the beginning, he is replaced with another, whilst the previous guy walks away with a nice payout and goes on to another 'project'. The consumer is just something to dupe into handing over money. The trick is making the brand as desirable as possible, quality and usability is not part of that.

But yes, as a consumer I am much more inclined to buy something from a legit retailer or Amazon directly, so that I get a full 1 year warranty. When buying stuff from outside of that scope, it limits the protection and can lead to hassle that most of us just don't want to deal with, and will pay to avoid.
 
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