Topping A50s Headphone Amplifier Review

[ninetylol]

@JohnYang1997 Sorry to bother you.

Any real advantage to go with P50 linear power supply? I actually wanted to go for it for looks and peace of mind, but just read output power drops by 30% to 2,4W per channel with P50. Whats your honest opinion on the matter?

 

[Human Bass]

What if you unplug the cable from A50s? Would you still hear the radio through the amp?

Nope. The cables that act as an antenna. Without the cables, the only noise i get is a tiny bit of pot scratchness when turning.

 

[Toku]

Nope. The cables that act as an antenna. Without the cables, the only noise i get is a tiny bit of pot scratchness when turning.

It is effective to attach the ferrite core of the attached document to the A50 side of the input RCA cable of A50 to prevent interference from the radio waves of your radio broadcast. If 1 is not effective, increase it to 2 or 3.

 

[Human Bass]

It is effective to attach the ferrite core of the attached document to the A50 side of the input RCA cable of A50 to prevent interference from the radio waves of your radio broadcast. If 1 is not effective, increase it to 2 or 3.

I will try that. Thanks.

 

[kkeretic]

Got the balanced cable today for my Sundara and so far everything seems to work ok. But now I have noticed that if i leave the amp on without the input signal (PC turned off, D50s on auto standby), it turns itself off after a while. Let's say 10-15-20 minutes. I'm 90% sure it didn't do that when I had the same headphones plugged over the 6.35mm output. Is this something normal, a feature or a (possible) problem?
Edit: replugged the cable and now it is still on after about an hour, everything else turned off . Hm. At least it is not switching off when I listen music .

 

[ninetylol]

Got the balanced cable today for my Sundara and so far everything seems to work ok. But now I have noticed that if i leave the amp on without the input signal (PC turned off, D50s on auto standby), it turns itself off after a while. Let's say 10-15-20 minutes. I'm 90% sure it didn't do that when I had the same headphones plugged over the 6.35mm output. Is this something normal, a feature or a (possible) problem?

Mine never did auto turn off so far. I just got balanced cable for my Sundara two days ago though. Maybe its overheating?

 

[kkeretic]

Mine never did auto turn off so far. I just got balanced cable for my Sundara two days ago though. Maybe its overheating?

It is cold on touch.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

Finally a nice headphone-stand

Topping P50 + A50s + D50s

 

[Bogdan V]

Did anyone, by chance, ever compare the A50s to the ifi ICAN SE or the idsd BL?

 

[Veri]

Did anyone, by chance, ever compare the A50s to the ifi ICAN SE or the idsd BL?

I had an iDSD BL for a long time. It packs quite a punch in terms of power, but the internal DAC is the bottleneck. It's hardly better than 16-bit performance. Modern ones do better than 20 bit. It's close to ancient really, and with sensitive gear the noise floor can creep up.
No such issues w/ A50s combined with a good, proper DAC.

 

[Bogdan V]

Thanks Veri. I used to own the idsd BL and wasn't very pleased with it either. I ended up swapping it for idac2 + icanSE, which proved to be a much better fit for me.
As I need to get a different DAC with more inputs, I was considering swapping the ican SE for something else, like A50s. Was curious if anyone did transition from any of the ifi micro amps to an A50s, or a D50s/A50s combo.

 

[Veri]

As I need to get a different DAC with more inputs, I was considering swapping the ican SE for something else, like A50s. Was curious if anyone did transition from any of the ifi micro amps to an A50s, or a D50s/A50s combo.

I transitioned from it to a L30/E30 combo (E30 can be replaced by any good DAC really), and I think overall it's just clearer and nicer sounding. Something in the iFi stuff holds back overall transparency. That's my experience
I can't personally compare to the '50' topping range though.

 

[max1236]

Has anyone noticed the unit gets pretty hot if you leave it on with no music playing? I put my amp on top of my dac as well. I try and turn it off when I leave my desk. If I forget and come back its like a hand warmer

 

[max1236]

Finally a nice headphone-stand

Topping P50 + A50s + D50s

View attachment 109234

Nice setup, do you think the linear supply is worth it? Im running mine with arya and d50 its pretty good already and im not even using balanced.

 

[polestarBoi]

Did anyone, by chance, ever compare the A50s to the ifi ICAN SE or the idsd BL?

I do have the Ican SE. The ICAN souns a little bit warmer and MAYBE with a little more bass impact/presence. While the A50s (at least out of the 4.4 balanced) sounds a little more even and with slightly better separation and a blacker background. Haven't done any actual 1 to 1 volume matched comparasions so take the above impresions as you will, they most likely sound the same other than the A50s having way way lower noise floor wich is inmensly obvious with IEMs. (The above impressions where with an HD660s)

 

[polestarBoi]

Has anyone noticed the unit gets pretty hot if you leave it on with no music playing? I put my amp on top of my dac as well. I try and turn it off when I leave my desk. If I forget and come back its like a hand warmer

Mine stays a little warm to the touch but that's about it. Running always on for about a month now

 

[Rayman30]

My Heresy blew up, would this be a good replacement? would the power difference be noticeable?

 

[raif71]

My Heresy blew up, would this be a good replacement? would the power difference be noticeable?

Sorry about that. Did you find out why your heresy blew up? I just got a used Magni 3+ so would like to know how/why the Heresy blew up. Thanks

 

[Rayman30]

Sorry about that. Did you find out why your heresy blew up? I just got a used Magni 3+ so would like to know how/why the Heresy blew up. Thanks

I am not sure, I do not see any evidence of poor wiring or a bad outlet so I suspect something internal went. I am going to send it to Schiit to find out, il post back with what they say... worst thing it took my Sundara's with it

 

[half_dog]

So I find what my problem is. I bought my A50S to my mom house and the fm radio interference was gone. So where I live the radio station has too much of a strong signal it seems that even well shielded starquad directional cables seem to struggle rejecting

My knowledge of cables tells me that quadstar only works with balanced signals and directional cables for audio (even more for unbalanced signals) is almost snake oil...for unbalanced audio signals a nice coaxial cable with double braid shield do a wonderful job. Better than that just a conformable cable - I may being talking BS