Exactly , maybe the SINAD is a few notches lower than the Topping but can u beat the peace of mind you get from JDSYeah. JDS Labs support is the best I have ever encountered.
And I dabbled with some various company's support
I don't own any JDS products but do own 4 Topping DACs and a Topping amp and have never needed customer support. @audiosciencestudent There-you have a valid data point.
Me too. Purchased January 2020, used daily. Boring and reliable. Only excitement comes from the music it's fed!
As far as the original Atom amp goes, and the new one is powered on in exactly the same way, there is no pop on or off noise as the unit starts at minimum volume i.e. to switch it on you move the volume knob from zero. Obviously switching it off is the same but in reverse. Zero noise, even with sensitive, low impedance IEMs.
Excellent track record for Topping , sounds good.
John Seaber from JDS responded within a few hours, on a Sunday, thats unheard of, just awesome.
John Seaber from JDS responded within a few hours, on a Sunday, thats unheard of, just awesome.
He said Atom+ and Atom2 both have muted power up and power down. So no amplified pop-noise to fear.
He also said that I should not worry, competent DC-coupled devices should have zero DC-offset.
I think he stands for JDS devices are competent.
Told me also how to use a multimeter to check the DC-offset of my DAC.
Results for my SMSL SU-1:
DC-offset does not to be an issue with the SU-1:
Unit off: 000,1 mV
Unit on but no music playing (no input): 000,1 mV
Turn on/off: 000,1 mV
while streaming music from Wiim Mini: up to 003,5 mV (but that could be my hands not beeing perfectly steady)
Renders it competent too, I guess, at least safe-to-use.
So no worries using Atom2 as a preamp for Hypex, as long as sources are without DC-offset, because as @restorer-john said, even at low gain, if the DC-offset is just under 280mV where protection kicks in, it still can end up very bad for the woofers.
So check your sources DC-offset, Atom2 as a preamp will not safe the day when your sources are rendered „not competent“ by having a broken design.
Cheers!
And thanks again ASR and JDS for the advise!
Topping was founded in 2008. They are not going anywhere. I have 3 devices made by this company at home - all under heavy usage, and I have experienced 0 problems these few years I have used them. I buy them from China, but I could as well buy them in a local store in which case the warranty would be a seller, and not a manufacturer problem as far as I am concerned. The most important thing here is that we don't have proper tools to measure reliability. You might think that googling the problem will help - but it won't. It's at best more anecdotal examples, at worst black PR done by competition. If a manufacturer believes that it's product is more reliable than the one of competition he will give you a longer warranty free of charge. Jds Labs offers a standard 2-year warranty for their products. The same I get with Topping products when I am buying in a local store, one year longer if I buy from China. BTW I have friends who work in one of the biggest audio stores in Poland and they do not report any reliability problems regarding Topping. Don't know about other companies from China.
the only lemon dac i ever owned was a klipsh heritage dac/hp amp, went through 3 of them. they all developed distortion through their right rca output. the smsl dac and hp amp i got to replace it has been bulletproof, gave my dad a topping d20 he ran it for years. gave him a kardas toneboard has also been flawless.
