Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

[terrys999]

Well, today my second PA5 now won't stop hissing even with a fan on. I am officially amp-less.

Ohh
Dam I feel for you. That horrible sinking feeling.
Really I don’t see topping coming back from this, the failure rate is ridiculous,

They need to call back all pa5s .
A major disaster.

They will have to scrap and start again.

I had 2 failure within 5 weeks.
Thank god I kept my other amps, I never sell when replacing anything. Thank god i didn’t.

It’s obvious that’s it’s a disaster, they can’t fix, they have redesign modify part or parts.
Tragic

 

[MAB]

Wow..Its a bit of a change in ASR policy then. Helping ?, thats new . All the main guys did was roast me when i started the thread on the E30 jitter problems with the new chip..a most unpleasant experience ..since the E30 thread continues with unhappy Topping customers it seems nothing has changed ..

By main guys, do you mean John Yang roasted you?
Just wanna check.

 

[DMill]

not every PA5 fails, more like 10-30%. You are lucky owner, for now.

A 10% failure rate would be catastrophic by any measure. Needless to say 30% is almost incomprehensible if those numbers are to be believed.

 

[Doodski]

A 10% failure rate would be catastrophic by any measure. Needless to say 30% is almost incomprehensible if those numbers are to be believed.

When I provided warranty service for Alpine Electronics the warranty service repair rate was 0.15% We had more than that amount of units in for warranty service and they where serviced as in-warranty but in reality they needed a cleaning or broken buttons replaced and silly stuff like that that is not actually a manufacturer defect. That is good quality mechatronics stuff.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

ASR: “Topping … we can make you and we can break you.”

 

[Doodski]

ASR: “Topping … we can make you and we can break you.”

I imagine the commentary about the recent breakdowns of Topping product is alll over the internet.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

I imagine the commentary about the recent breakdowns of Topping product are alll over the internet.

Yes kind of sad though. I was an early adopter buying a Topping D10 DAC which I have been perfectly happy with.
I find the ability to return items you just don’t want these days kind of ridiculous. It leads to a lot of waste and is hard on vendors. Years ago you could only return some thing if it was defective or flawed in some way.
But you should certainly be able to return some thing that is flawed without so many questions from the seller. The hoops people have had to go through to return these amps is mind-bogglingly bad customer service.

 

[Doodski]

Yes kind of sad though. I was an early adopter buying a Topping D10 DAC which I have been perfectly happy with.
I find the ability to return items you just don’t want these days kind of ridiculous. It leads to a lot of waste and is hard on vendors. Years ago you could only return some thing if it was defective or flawed in some way.
But you should certainly be able to return some thing that is flawed without so many questions from the seller. The hoops people have had to go through to return these amps is mind-bogglingly bad customer service.

Years ago one would go to the local retailer or service depot and receive personalized service. Taking shortcuts resulted in this situation.

 

[MAB]

Wow..Its a bit of a change in ASR policy then. Helping ?, thats new . All the main guys did was roast me when i started the thread on the E30 jitter problems with the new chip..a most unpleasant experience ..since the E30 thread continues with unhappy Topping customers it seems nothing has changed ..

By main guys, do you mean John Yang roasted you?
Just wanna check.

The reason I ask is I remember that thread, and Topping-John Wang did roast you badly. I just reread the thread from start to finish and I think it bears some reflection.
At first on the E30 jitter thread some good discussion occurred between various ASR members and even a manufacturer to try to root cause what you observed. Then Topping-John Yang weighs in:

I find his initial response "Seriously..." to be professionally unacceptable. Maybe I am missing some back story, or am out of my depth to the actual issue, or misread the tone. But then he taunts you to just return it in his second post. Then he doubles down in his third post, he accuses you of just being angry (hostile???) because you went though a full month of circles for a product you paid money for? And then got passive-aggressively slammed by Topping-John Yang at first opportunity???

You are not frustrated by the customer service reply. You are frustrated by a full month of trail and error, receiving recommendation and making decisions that don't work. Just calm down and have a great day and enjoy life. People are too hostile to each other nowadays.

And then tells you to have a great day and enjoy life, with your malfunctioning widget that his company sold you for your money? These are the responses of a clown. I felt really badly for @billdylan and thought you actually did great to stay calm.

We have called out Topping and the resellers in this thread for using stall tactics on the customer, not valuing the customer's time, putting the burden on the customer. That won't work, and it actually isn't fair. We paid you, not visa-versa. The E30 Jitter thread responses reinforce the concerns in this thread. None of your customers have time to enjoy deeply participating in a return, especially when the goal seems to be preventing the return!

@TOPPING-Service needs to come correct on this. For instance, I am in week three of my cycle of one thousand emails with Aoshida on my intermittent-channel issue with an A30 Pro. I have asked for your assistance in this thread, and you have stated you are here to offer assistance. What do you mean by offering assistance? Ghosting me isn't assistance.

 

[mccririck]

Well, today my second PA5 now won't stop hissing even with a fan on. I am officially amp-less.

Right I'm definitely not buying one until this is sorted.

 

[Doodski]

Right I'm definitely not buying one until this is sorted.

Not to be a stick in the mud although with the total lack of in-country service the prospect of purchasing the product is kind of tainted.

 

[restorer-john]

Not to be a stick in the mud although with the total lack of in-country service the prospect of purchasing the product is kind of tainted.

When the Topping brand was just another little Asian 'dac-in-a-can' operation with limited sales, a funny name, weird messed-up ergonomics but cheap and cheerful, nobody cared if a few blew-up or failed. The products were totally disposable.

Now they are attempting to play with the big boys, targeting audiophiles worldwide with deeper wallets and with supposedly much better performing and quite expensive (some would say overpriced) products. Part of selling that to a market are local customer service centres, trained technicians, parts backup and support. They have none of that and play a game of pass the parcel (at the buyers expense). The onus cannot be put on a customer for incurring financial losses due to a faulty product. They need to learn that fast.

We (ASR) helped @JohnYang1997 with ergonomics, spelling and lettering errors, suggestions and guidance for improving their products. They took that free advice and improved their products. We received no thanks.

Quid pro quo: look after your customers who paid you money in good faith.

 

[MAB]

When the Topping brand was just another little Asian 'dac-in-a-can' operation with limited sales, a funny name, weird messed-up ergonomics but cheap and cheerful, nobody cared if a few blew-up or failed. The products were totally disposable.

Now they are attempting to play with the big boys, targeting audiophiles worldwide with deeper wallets and with supposedly much better performing and quite expensive (some would say overpriced) products. Part of selling that to a market are local customer service centres, trained technicians, parts backup and support. They have none of that and play a game of pass the parcel (at the buyers expense). The onus cannot be put on a customer for incurring financial losses due to a faulty product. They need to learn that fast.

We (ASR) helped @JohnYang1997 with ergonomics, spelling and lettering errors, suggestions and guidance for improving their products. They took that free advice and improved their products. We recieved no thanks.

Quid pro quo: look after your customers who paid you money in good faith.

Thanks John, so well stated.
And, you @TOPPING-Service have another opportunity here to learn from ASR. There are experts from a range of disciplines here telling you that your customer service is not aligned with your business goals.

 

[Doodski]

Thanks John, so well stated.
And, you @TOPPING-Service have another opportunity here to learn from ASR. There are experts from a range of disciplines here telling you that your customer service is not aligned with your business goals.

If I where still in consumer electronics sales or service of audio gear I would drop Topping like a hot potato! It's bad for business.

 

[DMill]

I like SINAD. I love products I can hand down to my kids.

 

[restorer-john]

I love products I can hand down to my kids.

I don't think our kids are going to want our gear, regardless of how good or reliable it is.

 

[Doodski]

I don't think our kids are going to want our gear, regardless of how good or reliable it is.

Some of it is pretty rowdy and intriguing. Worthy of a hand me down anyway!

 

[REK2575]

The reason I ask is I remember that thread, and Topping-John Wang did roast you badly. I just reread the thread from start to finish and I think it bears some reflection.
At first on the E30 jitter thread some good discussion occurred between various ASR members and even a manufacturer to try to root cause what you observed. Then Topping-John Yang weighs in:
View attachment 218660
I find his initial response "Seriously..." to be professionally unacceptable. Maybe I am missing some back story, or am out of my depth to the actual issue, or misread the tone. But then he taunts you to just return it in his second post. Then he doubles down in his third post, he accuses you of just being angry (hostile???) because you went though a full month of circles for a product you paid money for? And then got passive-aggressively slammed by Topping-John Yang at first opportunity???


And then tells you to have a great day and enjoy life, with you malfunctioning widget that his company sold you for your money? These are the responses of a clown. I felt really badly for @billdylan and thought you actually did great to stay calm.

We have called out Topping and the resellers in this thread for using stall tactics on the customer, not valuing the customer's time, putting the burden on the customer. That won't work, and it actually isn't fair. We paid you, not visa-versa. The E30 Jitter thread responses reinforce the concerns in this thread. None of your customers have time to enjoy deeply participating in a return, especially when the goal seems to be preventing the return!

@TOPPING-Service needs to come correct on this. For instance, I am in week three of my cycle of one thousand emails with Aoshida on my intermittent-channel issue with an A30 Pro. I have asked for your assistance in this thread, and you have stated you are here to offer assistance. What do you mean by offering assistance? Ghosting me isn't assistance.

Thank you for posting this. After reading this patronizing, obnoxious, and incredibly unprofessional reply, I will never buy a Topping product again.

Have a great day and enjoy life, @JohnYang1997

 

[DMill]

I don't think our kids are going to want our gear, regardless of how good or reliable it is.

Idk. My kid already stole my Grado headphones. I always keep one eye open when I sleep now.

 

[MAB]

I don't think our kids are going to want our gear, regardless of how good or reliable it is.

Aw John... My daughter stole my Nikon F3. She liked it the moment she saw it.