Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

[IPunchCholla]

You seem to be digging the assembling your own gear stuff.

I am! I just built custom crossovers for my current speakers. Managed to get a flatter response out of them, meaning far less overhead needed for the EQ. Pretty excited!

 

[Doodski]

I am! I just built custom crossovers for my current speakers. Managed to get a flatter response out of them, meaning far less overhead needed for the EQ. Pretty excited!

Cool. Did you get a kit for the X-overs or did you do calculations and stuff?

 

[IPunchCholla]

Cool. Did you get a kit for the X-overs or did you do calculations and stuff?

Built an impedance meter from scratch (except for the sound card) based on the diagram they provided in REW. Used that, a Umik, and REW to measure the impedance and FR and derive the S/T values, as they were nowhere available online. SpeakerSim for the modeling. Ran through a ton of variants before settling on a final version. I still need to add more damping to the cabinet, speaker gaskets, and make sure the cables and crossovers are secured well enough (I had an uptic in distortion in one speaker around 250hz and could hear something rattling during the 90db sweep). After that, I plan on rebuilding the cabinets!

 

[Doodski]

Built an impedance meter from scratch (except for the sound card) based on the diagram they provided in REW. Used that, a Umik, and REW to measure the impedance and FR and derive the S/T values, as they were nowhere available online. SpeakerSim for the modeling. Ran through a ton of variants before settling on a final version. I still need to add more damping to the cabinet, speaker gaskets, and make sure the cables and crossovers are secured well enough (I had an uptic in distortion in one speaker around 250hz and could hear something rattling during the 90db sweep). After that, I plan on rebuilding the cabinets!

WowzerZ. You move fast and effectively. Wasn't it not long ago that you where trying to get some soldering practice in and asking questions about circuitry? You obviously have a very strong foundation in maths and theory to progress this rapidly. Impressive!

 

[IPunchCholla]

Well, I might be an artist, but my dad was a physicist, and I seem to have a brain for math and patterns. But maybe more importantly, I tend to be a bit obsessive and worry every problem until I understand it sufficiently to move on. There were a lot of failed steps in there, but learning is just failing forward and I love learning!

 

[Nzama]

he has pulled away so much, he's posting in Sabaj threads... :/

indeed made my day!

 

[F1308]

Built an impedance meter from scratch (except for the sound card) based on the diagram they provided in REW. Used that, a Umik, and REW to measure the impedance and FR and derive the S/T values, as they were nowhere available online. SpeakerSim for the modeling. Ran through a ton of variants before settling on a final version. I still need to add more damping to the cabinet, speaker gaskets, and make sure the cables and crossovers are secured well enough (I had an uptic in distortion in one speaker around 250hz and could hear something rattling during the 90db sweep). After that, I plan on rebuilding the cabinets!

There is no success like failure, and failure is no success at all.
So sayeth Bob Dylan.



And it is July and my PA5 is flawless.
And I enjoy it every single minute.
Great buy. A must have.

 

[terrys999]

Using mates pa5
No problems since adding a fan weirded or what.

Problem I have run into is listening to hires radio on moode.
Most tracks are showing ovrs on adi 2 dac fs. Bummer...

Can’t really lower dac vol.... it’s set to +13 -3.5db which is around 2.6 ish volts.
Any lower and it won’t supply enough juice for pa5.

Oh well will have a play. Sounds dam good , shame my 2 pa5 s went quiet.

 

[ampguy]

I shipped mine back to Apos, their customer support has been good. The rep I've been primarily communicating with indicated that the newer ones than the one I set back have issues resolved, so that is promising. Apos provides a prepaid shipping label, no refunds after 45 days, but they do honor the warranty work for Topping, so new one is coming, I had to pay shipping for the new one. Will report on it when it arrives.

 

[terrys999]

Issues resolved?
Dam maybe they have fixed the problem.
That’s great. Good luck.

 

[Doodski]

Issues resolved?
Dam maybe they have fixed the problem.
That’s great. Good luck.

I think the people that in very good faith bought this model deserve a explanation for the cause of the fault(s).

 

[F1308]

I shipped mine back to Apos, their customer support has been good. The rep I've been primarily communicating with indicated that the newer ones than the one I set back have issues resolved, so that is promising. Apos provides a prepaid shipping label, no refunds after 45 days, but they do honor the warranty work for Topping, so new one is coming, I had to pay shipping for the new one. Will report on it when it arrives.

Issues ?
What issues, please ?

 

[Slayer]

I shipped mine back to Apos, their customer support has been good. The rep I've been primarily communicating with indicated that the newer ones than the one I set back have issues resolved, so that is promising. Apos provides a prepaid shipping label, no refunds after 45 days, but they do honor the warranty work for Topping, so new one is coming, I had to pay shipping for the new one. Will report on it when it arrives.

1) You're trusting what a rep told you. (Talk about faith) Wouldn't you think if these issues were truly resolved, this would have been stated by topping somewhere, if not here, then anywhere would suffice.
After Topping has already been notified of the issues by members here and also Amir, It just seems strange they have not made a statement which anyone so far is aware of. But the Apo's rep knows.
2) Nice they are providing a shipping label for a defective product still under warranty. But why should you be paying shipment for a replacement product? I'm almost sure you paid to have the original one purchased to be shipped to you, so doesn't seem right you are paying to have the replacement unit shipped.

You have just made another great post of why I wouldn't want to play the Topping lottery. Anyways, hope it works out for you in the end.

 

[Doodski]

1) You're trusting what a rep told you. (Talk about faith) Wouldn't you think if these issues were truly resolved, this would have been stated by topping somewhere, if not here, then anywhere would suffice.
After Topping has already been notified of the issues by members here and also Amir, It just seems strange they have not made a statement which anyone so far is aware of. But the Apo's rep knows.
2) Nice they are providing a shipping label for a defective product still under warranty. But why should you be paying shipment for a replacement product? I'm almost sure you paid to have the original one purchased to be shipped to you, so doesn't seem right you are paying to have the replacement unit shipped.

You have just made another great post of why I wouldn't want to play the Topping lottery. Anyways, hope it works out for you in the end.

I'm buying USA product when I upgrade from the desktop PC to a DAC/AMP/AIO for my headphones. No if and or buts about that.

 

[MAB]

1) You're trusting what a rep told you. (Talk about faith) Wouldn't you think if these issues were truly resolved, this would have been stated by topping somewhere, if not here, then anywhere would suffice.
After Topping has already been notified of the issues by members here and also Amir, It just seems strange they have not made a statement which anyone so far is aware of. But the Apo's rep knows.
2) Nice they are providing a shipping label for a defective product still under warranty. But why should you be paying shipment for a replacement product? I'm almost sure you paid to have the original one purchased to be shipped to you, so doesn't seem right you are paying to have the replacement unit shipped.

You have just made another great post of why I wouldn't want to play the Topping lottery. Anyways, hope it works out for you in the end.

I appear to have failed the Topping lottery twice now.
My A30 Pro started having the left channel fade intermittently. I swapped cables, sources, etc. and three different headphones... The A30 is the problem. Tapping the top of the A30 case gets the issue to go away.

The good news is I bought it from Aoshida-USA through Amazon. I hear they are great. And thus should be different than shenzhenaudio... So a brief explanation from me stating the amp is broken should have gotten me a return shipping label and either a refund or some replacement/repair pathway.
The not so good news is, Aoshida seem to have the same playbook as shenzhenaudio.
I am now in a loop with them, and they want me to start sending videos and redoing stuff and inventing new angles. Plus getting me to cooperate.

Don't worry, we will help you solve the problem together. Our products support one year warranty We need your help, let's find out the reason together, if the TOPPING factory says it needs to be returned for repair, we will also support it. 1. In both RCA and XLR input modes, is there no sound from the left channel in both RCA and XLR output modes? 2. In the two input modes of RCA and XLR, in the three headphone output modes of XLR, 4.4mm and 6.35mm, there is no sound from the left channel? 3. We know that you have changed cables and audio sources. If the left and right RCA cables are switched, is there no sound from the left channel? Please try a different headset. 4. Do you have other amps with the same connection and environment? If I replace the A30pro with other amps, will the left and right channels work normally? 5. Please take a video to us, and we will provide it to the TOPPING factory for judgment. Please send it to the mailbox of the attached picture, not Amazon because Amazon will block the video and we can't see it. Please answer the above questions and provide the video, thank you for your understanding and cooperation. waiting for a reply,

Does product support one year warranty mean they do this for the rest of the year?

 

[MAB]

I'm buying USA product when I upgrade from the desktop PC to a DAC/AMP/AIO for my headphones. No if and or buts about that.

Or perhaps a product that has solid support where you are... In any case, yeah having support is as important as having something with great performance.
I get treated so uniformly well at musical instrument stores (local shops and online), and have had widely variable luck with audio stores.
I was hoping Aoshida USA or Shenzhenaudio would be similar to Sweetwater (for example). But not quite there...
So, I got a broken PA5
A freshly malfunctioning A30 Pro
And a still working D30 Pro
So if only one had broken, then 2 out of three ain't bad, right?

But now that two out of three are bad, Meatloaf is telling me something important...

 

[Doodski]

Or perhaps a product that has solid support where you are... In any case, yeah having support is as important as having something with great performance.

I'm in Canada so my choices are Asian imports or USA. I'll go USA. I've done that for decades and will persist in that for audio gear.

 

[MAB]

I'm in Canada so my choices are Asian imports or USA. I'll go USA. I've done that for decades and will persist in that for audio gear.

Got it! We're lucky to have support for Bryston in the USA. I love their gear. What a great company.

I do love these little dinky HiFi pieces. It just seems that Topping is missing out on the customer experience.
And for what I spent on the A30/D30 pro stack, an RME DAC from Sweetwater would have been the way to go...

 

[Doodski]

It just seems that Topping is missing out on the customer experience.

No doubt. They are really dropping the ball.

an RME DAC from Sweetwater would have been the way to go...

Yes, and one gets all the features with it and the 100+ page manual. It is so comprehensive. I read the easy to comprehend well laid out owner's manual so that I understood what it is about and it's a real nice piece of gear. Very pro. I guess that's why @amirm uses it on his test bench.

 

[terrys999]

I appear to have failed the Topping lottery twice now.
My A30 Pro started having the left channel fade intermittently. I swapped cables, sources, etc. and three different headphones... The A30 is the problem. Tapping the top of the A30 case gets the issue to go away.

The good news is I bought it from Aoshida-USA through Amazon. I hear they are great. And thus should be different than shenzhenaudio... So a brief explanation from me stating the amp is broken should have gotten me a return shipping label and either a refund or some replacement/repair pathway.
The not so good news is, Aoshida seem to have the same playbook as shenzhenaudio.
I am now in a loop with them, and they want me to start sending videos and redoing stuff and inventing new angles. Plus getting me to cooperate.

Don't worry, we will help you solve the problem together. Our products support one year warranty We need your help, let's find out the reason together, if the TOPPING factory says it needs to be returned for repair, we will also support it. 1. In both RCA and XLR input modes, is there no sound from the left channel in both RCA and XLR output modes? 2. In the two input modes of RCA and XLR, in the three headphone output modes of XLR, 4.4mm and 6.35mm, there is no sound from the left channel? 3. We know that you have changed cables and audio sources. If the left and right RCA cables are switched, is there no sound from the left channel? Please try a different headset. 4. Do you have other amps with the same connection and environment? If I replace the A30pro with other amps, will the left and right channels work normally? 5. Please take a video to us, and we will provide it to the TOPPING factory for judgment. Please send it to the mailbox of the attached picture, not Amazon because Amazon will block the video and we can't see it. Please answer the above questions and provide the video, thank you for your understanding and cooperation. waiting for a reply,

Does product support one year warranty mean they do this for the rest of the year?

That’s the sort of half ass reply I would have expected from topping.
They are asking you to try the obvious, you should reply “ just give me a dam refund ha,
The unit is broken dah..
I got similar questions from China about 2 new day old mobiles, shocking .