I got my A7 set up, now. A word of advice for
@3eaudio -- Can you
please make it so that the volume bypass switch isn't enabled by default? I am pretty sure I was very close to blowing my speakers when I played a song for the first time. Because my DAC is in DAC mode, it outputs at max volume (I control volume from my amps rather than my DAC), and with the bypass enabled on the A7, it meant that it was
double max volume!!
The other problem is that after I paused any sound, there are two audible pops that I can hear coming from my speakers (even at two feet away). This does
not occur with my Topping PA5 II amplifier even when my ear is an inch away from the drivers (I even reconnected the PA5 II, and tested it out in the unlikely event that I hadn't noticed before). The pop is heard from both the tweeter and woofer. I have not tested to see if it has to do with the amp's auto sensing, but that is something I will have to do another time.
As it stands right now, I think I have to return the amplifier because that popping from pausing any sound is a non-starter for me.
Edit:
BTW, I am still going to give this thing a fair shake, though. I am going to see if the behaviour changes with auto sensing disabled. Failing that, I will try using a different DAC as the popping is virtually identical to a popping issue I have noticed with my D50 III's PEQ enabled (
Important to note: I did not have PEQ enabled when the pops presumably from the A7 were observed). I have a Topping E50 DAC that I can use to rule out the D50 III as the culprit.
In my setup, I also have a Topping L50 HPA, which has a bypass feature, so I can daisy chain everything together. All three devices (DAC, HPA and amp) are connected to each other via balanced TRS cables. This is all to say that as an added test component, I will also try to connect the E50 directly to the amplifier to rule the L50 out as well. If that also fails to eliminate the popping, then I will have to sadly return the A7.
Settings on the A7 itself, after nearly blowing up my speakers (and surely freaking out my condo neighbours

), I only flipped the switch to disable the volume bypass. RCA Gain is set to Low (but I don't think it's applicable since I'm not using the RCA inputs?).