Topping A50s Headphone Amplifier Review

[raif71]

Better quality pots don't mean they are better. In terms of power, A50s itself has the ability to drive to very high power even with 6.35mm. It's just that the gain is set to a low value. So feel free to turn it all the way up, it won't break a sweat.

I like this potts

 

[JohnYang1997]

You should get into politics.

Look at the measurements tho.

 

[Pillars]

Better quality pots don't mean they are better. In terms of power, A50s itself has the ability to drive to very high power even with 6.35mm. It's just that the gain is set to a low value. So feel free to turn it all the way up, it won't break a sweat.

You edited that post there. It's ok to have pros and cons on devices. That's a con to me and others who have mentioned it. I wouldn't consider the SE performance high power. It's sufficient for the price bracket and should be more than enough for most. I've also dealt with cheap pots and as a buyer pot quality is now definitely a consideration.

Look at the measurements tho.

They are indeed quite excellent. I like how gain changes don't result in penalty.

 

[JohnYang1997]

You edited that post there. It's ok to have pros and cons on devices. That's a con to me and others who have mentioned it. I wouldn't consider the SE performance high power. It's sufficient for the price bracket and should be more than enough for most. I've also dealt with cheap pots and as a buyer pot quality is now definitely a consideration.



They are indeed quite excellent. I like how gain changes don't result in penalty.

A50s can provide same power as THX 789. You are just limited by the gain. So think of it as you are just stuck with the 0dB or 6dB gain setting on THX 789 and RCA input.

The measurement I was referring to was the channel balance one. "higher quality pots" don't necessarily mean better tracking by itself.

 

[amirm]

As it happens, I also have the older Topping A50 in for review. So I thought I show a quick set of measurements starting with the dashboard:

Clearly we have far more distortion. SINAD drops from 120 dB down to 94 dB which is a massive gap.

The A50 however has 9 dB of gain in high mode versus 6 dB for A50s:

I think it would have been wise to have higher gain for A50s just as well for people without unbalanced cables for their headphones.

 

[Pillars]

I'm aware of gain however the gain chosen correlates to the measurements which indicate a conservative power output for 1/4.

As far as pot quality it's hard to argue for having a better pot making a difference. Other amps have faced issues with pot quality including Topping and surely a high quality part would save RMAs and enhance user experience.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I hope one day Chinese brands learn to make their devices look more professional.

Like use one single font for all text, put all inputs/outputs at the same level, stop using small ugly screens, blue (or bright in general) LEDs and so on.

Performance is already nice obviously, looks can be improved much easier.

I think the Topping E30 and L30 have fantastic industrial design, as do the Soncoz SGD1, Matrix X-Sabre Pro, and really most SMSL products. Sure, some “Chi-fi” is of the “form follows function” variety—to be kind—but there are almost as many examples that ooze class.

 

[Labjr]

I think the Topping E30 and L30 have fantastic industrial design, as do the Soncoz SGD1, Matrix X-Sabre Pro, and really most SMSL products. Sure, some “Chi-fi” is of the “form follows function” variety—to be kind—but there are almost as many examples that ooze class.

Soncoz needs to update their products and add displays.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm aware of gain however the gain chosen correlates to the measurements which indicate a conservative power output for 1/4.

As far as pot quality it's hard to argue against having a better pot making a difference. Other amps have faced issues with pot quality including Topping and surely a high quality part would save RMAs and enhance user experience.

A good solution is not only depending on the source material/component.
Or you can just think of it as we simply have better pots.

 

[JohnYang1997]

As it happens, I also have the older Topping A50 in for review. So I thought I show a quick set of measurements starting with the dashboard:

View attachment 85478

Clearly we have far more distortion. SINAD drops from 120 dB down to 94 dB which is a massive gap.

The A50 however has 9 dB of gain in high mode versus 6 dB for A50s:

View attachment 85479

I think it would have been wise to have higher gain for A50s just as well for people without unbalanced cables for their headphones.

You still have the P50 right? Would be great to let people know the real difference with different supply. Would be great to also have FFT with 50mV output. Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I'm aware of gain however the gain chosen correlates to the measurements which indicate a conservative power output for 1/4.

As far as pot quality it's hard to argue against having a better pot making a difference. Other amps have faced issues with pot quality including Topping and surely a high quality part would save RMAs and enhance user experience.

The power wise, it depends on whether you want headroom or actual power output. Hardly anyone needs the latter. This is considering people actually only listen at a few milliwatts. 100mV into hd600 or hd660s will be very loud. Otherwise we would use 12dB with basically no degradation in performance.

Not gonna lie, the need for lower gain is from Zeo from Z Reviews. The 9dB gain was a big jump in A50. So sure we got 6dB.

But don't worry too much. If you don't like that just choose something else or wait for something new.

 

[kkeretic]

As it happens, I also have the older Topping A50 in for review.

Well, better late than never . Thanks a lot. Seems I am double fried now considering I have two of them. Suddenly they no longer sound to me as good as they did before I saw these results . Well, I guess life goes on.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Well, better late than never . Thanks a lot. Seems I am double fried now considering I have two of them. Suddenly they no longer sound to me as good as they did before I saw these results . Well, I guess life goes on.

Maybe this will make you feel better.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/ifi-zen-dac-and-headphone-amp-review.9885/

 

[JohnYang1997]

For comparison

-100dB = 0.001%
-106dB = 0.0005%
-109dB = 0.00035%

 

[kkeretic]

Maybe this will make you feel better.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/ifi-zen-dac-and-headphone-amp-review.9885/

I saw a review (on Croatian) of that device on a reputable local tech portal and they praise it there regarding its acoustic performance. I had put it on my wish list, but then I saw a review here .

 

[kkeretic]

For comparison...
-100dB = 0.001%
-106dB = 0.0005%
-109dB = 0.00035%

Well, to be honest, I am using my A50 with Sennheiser HD599 and AKG K712 on SE out equalized via FabFilter Pro-Q 3 VST Plugin under foobar2000, with -6dB to -7dB on a plugin's preamp. And I never exceed 12 o'clock on low gain because it starts to sound just too unpleasantly loud for me. So I guess A50 is actualy not so bad when used this way. It actually sounds nice.

 

[ninetylol]

Oh wow, glad i returned my A50 back in the day.

Nice progress with the A50s @JohnYang1997

 

[jaguone]

Sorry for this noob question. I don't have the technical skills you guys have and appreciate your insights. I understand that the major difference between L30 and A50 is the balanced output but I am wondering which one is better suited for sensitive IEMs (SE).
I have a pair of IEMs (imp: 28 Ohm, sens: 116 db@1mV) that I'd like to use.

 

[ninetylol]

Sorry for this noob question. I don't have the technical skills you guys have and appreciate your insights. I understand that the major difference between L30 and A50 is the balanced output but I am wondering which one is better suited for sensitive IEMs (SE).
I have a pair of IEMs (imp: 28 Ohm, sens: 116 db@1mV) that I'd like to use.

Same 50mv SINAD for both, so save the money and get the L30

 

[Atanasi]

Sorry for this noob question. I don't have the technical skills you guys have and appreciate your insights. I understand that the major difference between L30 and A50 is the balanced output but I am wondering which one is better suited for sensitive IEMs (SE).
I have a pair of IEMs (imp: 28 Ohm, sens: 116 db@1mV) that I'd like to use.

I would pick L30 because of -9 dB gain.