Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

[Roland68]

Nope. Has been available for some time now. eBay item number:285388427931

That's a bit of an exaggeration, only been listed for a few days, the article was only created on 18 July.

 

[Toku]

Nope. Has been available for some time now. eBay item number:285388427931

Orders for the PA5 ll have started, but it won't actually be shipped from China until August. The product is not ready yet.
So no one has actually received the PA5 ll/Plus yet.

 

[racingpht]

Orders for the PA5 ll have started, but it won't actually be shipped from China until August. The product is not ready yet.
So no one has actually received the PA5 ll/Plus yet.

What's the safe environment temperature range for PA5II, or in general all the Topping Amplifiers?
My PA7 case idles about 42c while environment is around 26c. Is it a good condition for long term use?
I didn't remember PA5 gen1 has a hot case when idling.

 

[MAB]

Some people compare the PA5 against a hypex purifi, difficult to believe that a tpa3255 based amp, no mater how good the implementation, can compare against a purifi

I think it's best to compare it to something that's more systematically broken than a PuriFi or Hypex amp. In any case, your anecdote is slightly absurd.

 

[Toku]

What's the safe environment temperature range for PA5II, or in general all the Topping Amplifiers?
My PA7 case idles about 42c while environment is around 26c. Is it a good condition for long term use?
I didn't remember PA5 gen1 has a hot case when idling.

The PA7 uses two TPA3255s and generates a little more heat, but the entire case has a heat dissipation structure. I don't think the case temperature will exceed 50°C if the room temperature is below 30°C. However, when it gets close to 50 degrees Celsius, people tend to feel that the temperature is higher than the actual temperature, and some people make a fuss about it, saying, "It gets really hot." However, in terms of electronic circuits, this degree of temperature is no problem at all.

The amplifier chip of PA5/PA5 ll is TPA3251, which is one step smaller than PA7. A heat sink is attached to the amplifier chip, and it is a structure that circulates the internal air and cools it. That's why the case has some slits to help air circulate.
I don't really like this method because the heat dissipation effect is not good.
The installation environment of PA5/PA5 ll is the same as that of PA7, and there is no problem if it is a common temperature environment.
A common problem with the PA5 was that the op amp module at the input of the amp was completely filled with resin, completely eliminating any heat escape.

 

[racingpht]

Bought it from shenzhenaudio. Let's see how it works..

Ok that's how it's evolved for my broken PA5:

1: The unit was bought 2022 NOV, and it's already passed 180 days mark. I have low expectations for how it will be solved, but would like to limit my damage as much as possible.
2: I talked to Shenzhenaudio, they agree that I purchase a new PA7 and ship back the PA5 for full refund.
3: It took about 2 weeks that the unit was shipped back(at my cost) and they refund in full USD into my paypal account.

It's not perfect, and cost me on various things such as shipping/customs/currency exchange loss/paypal fees, around $100 CAD in total. Still in the end the unit is not a total loss and without too much back and forth, so I'm moving on from here.

 

[turion64]

The PA7 uses two TPA3255s and generates a little more heat, but the entire case has a heat dissipation structure. I don't think the case temperature will exceed 50°C if the room temperature is below 30°C. However, when it gets close to 50 degrees Celsius, people tend to feel that the temperature is higher than the actual temperature, and some people make a fuss about it, saying, "It gets really hot." However, in terms of electronic circuits, this degree of temperature is no problem at all.

The amplifier chip of PA5/PA5 ll is TPA3251, which is one step smaller than PA7. A heat sink is attached to the amplifier chip, and it is a structure that circulates the internal air and cools it. That's why the case has some slits to help air circulate.
I don't really like this method because the heat dissipation effect is not good.
The installation environment of PA5/PA5 ll is the same as that of PA7, and there is no problem if it is a common temperature environment.
A common problem with the PA5 was that the op amp module at the input of the amp was completely filled with resin, completely eliminating any heat escape.

There has been the theory put forth, by a chap named gamerpaddy (who also created a fix for the infamous black, potted circuit), that it wasn't really the heat, per se, that killed the SMD components (directly) on the board but it was the expansion & contraction of the resin heating up that was pulling those components off the PCB over time. If you actually open the amp up one can see that the whole soldering & cleaning job was not well done either.

 

[billdylan]

Oh my. Working with Cloris (YangYang Cai)?
She and her predecessor drug my return out over 9 months. It was surreal. Then they lost my amp after I paid $85 to ship it back. Since they demanded I return it marked "earphone, $20 value" it wasn't even insured. They claimed they never received it. After 9 months of nonsense, I yelled at them and got an 80% refund, but I wanted my money back and all of it so I sent this:
View attachment 298627
Cloris refunded me the remaining 20% after this email I never asked for the $85 shipping fee, I should have. They still owe me a few hundred dollars for the email correspondence IMO. Oddly, after almost a year, I found the amp returned to me, shipped to me from Shenzhen Audio unpackaged in a plastic mailing bag, still with the left-channel defect. So I sent it to gamerpaddy so he could debug and fix the amp's fundamental problem. The fact that they lied to me for so long about not receiving my amp, then for some odd reason returning it to me is beyond my comprehension.

Shenzhen sold you an amp they knew is defective design, this has been clear for over a year now and admitted by Topping and the resellers. They likely feel they can get away with it due to location and double-talk. I would not put up with a single bit of their shenanigans. Also, all sales of this amp should stop, it seems like they are pawning off garbage on unsuspecting customers. This is incredibly irritating, since it continues.

Wow...been a while since I was on the forum..Then it was the E30 Dac I was arguing about abd fighting the Topping Lovers and 'unofficial Spokes person' for Topping ....feels like deja Vu...

 

[turion64]

So I was intrigued by the reviews on this amp and finally bought a used (working) one on Fleabay. Took out the potted circuit and put in one of gamerpaddy's circuits, put in riser panels so I could quickly switch future boards if necessary and put his replacement board in. Sounds just like the original. It really is a great sounding Class-D amp! I de-potted the original module, replaced 2-3 resistors that look like they got damaged in the process and replaced both the 5532s because one didn't look good either (just kinda beat up). Put that bare board back in (and drilled about 8 small vent holes in the case right above it; probably unnecessary) and it sounds great too! Will leave the original in, and like gamerpaddy said, will "see how long" everything lasts.

Also, had a bunch of his boards made at JLCPCB and intend to try some frivolous opamp rolling.

Thanks again gamerpaddy!

Cheers

 

[billdylan]

So I was intrigued by the reviews on this amp and finally bought a used (working) one on Fleabay. Took out the potted circuit and put in one of gamerpaddy's circuits, put in riser panels so I could quickly switch future boards if necessary and put his replacement board in. Sounds just like the original. It really is a great sounding Class-D amp! I de-potted the original module, replaced 2-3 resistors that look like they got damaged in the process and replaced both the 5532s because one didn't look good either (just kinda beat up). Put that bare board back in (and drilled about 8 small vent holes in the case right above it; probably unnecessary) and it sounds great too! Will leave the original in, and like gamerpaddy said, will "see how long" everything lasts.

Also, had a bunch of his boards made at JLCPCB and intend to try some frivolous opamp rolling.

Thanks again gamerpaddy!

Cheers

Great work from Gamerpaddy to save the Topping pa5. Reminds Me of when I bought A Topping E30 Dac with the the new CS8416 Chip back in 2022..Opened it up, pulled out the the CS8416 ...Unsoldered all the internal connections , then threw it away and bought a SMSL Audio Sanskrit 10th Mk 2 desktop Dac that actually worked ..Yah Gotta Laugh..

 

[Gringoaudio1]

Great work from Gamerpaddy to save the Topping pa5. Reminds Me of when I bought A Topping E30 Dac with the the new CS8416 Chip back in 2022..Opened it up, pulled out the the CS8416 ...Unsoldered all the internal connections , then threw it away and bought a SMSL Audio Sanskrit 10th Mk 2 desktop Dac that actually worked ..Yah Gotta Laugh..

Need more information. Why did you disassemble the E30?

 

[turion64]

Don't know what billydylan's issues were but one of the complaints about the unit was when you connected it to a coaxial output from a number on CD players the analog signal output to the preamp/amp would skip/jitter.

 

[turion64]

I don't want to open the flood gates here (it's just me), and I'm only offering this to folk in the USA (and members of this forum), but if you'd like me to do the gamerpaddy fix on your broken PA5 just PM me and we can work something out. I've done it on my PA5 and it works fine. Again, it's just me doing this, to give back to the diy community that has been valuable to my learning curve on building all things stereo, so this won't be a high production facility and timeliness won't be a key thing here. Costs will be only for production of the boards & shipping. If the gamerpaddy fix doesn't work the cost will only be to ship the unit back to you. I'm retired and it's my hobby.

Cheers, Pete

 

[Laserjock]

I don't want to open the flood gates here (it's just me), and I'm only offering this to folk in the USA (and members of this forum), but if you'd like me to do the gamerpaddy fix on your broken PA5 just PM me and we can work something out. I've done it on my PA5 and it works fine. Again, it's just me doing this, to give back to the diy community that has been valuable to my learning curve on building all things stereo, so this won't be a high production facility and timeliness won't be a key thing here. Costs will be only for production of the boards & shipping. If the gamerpaddy fix doesn't work the cost will only be to ship the unit back to you. I'm retired and it's my hobby.

Cheers, Pete

Mine hasn’t left the box it came in yet.
I’ll keep this in mind if/when I break it out

 

[JeremyFife]

I don't want to open the flood gates here (it's just me), and I'm only offering this to folk in the USA (and members of this forum), but if you'd like me to do the gamerpaddy fix on your broken PA5 just PM me and we can work something out. I've done it on my PA5 and it works fine. Again, it's just me doing this, to give back to the diy community that has been valuable to my learning curve on building all things stereo, so this won't be a high production facility and timeliness won't be a key thing here. Costs will be only for production of the boards & shipping. If the gamerpaddy fix doesn't work the cost will only be to ship the unit back to you. I'm retired and it's my hobby.

Cheers, Pete

What a lovely offer - nice one

(No use to me, I'm in Scotland and my PA5 is holding on, but what a fantastic thing to do)

 

[Guddu]

I don't want to open the flood gates here (it's just me), and I'm only offering this to folk in the USA (and members of this forum), but if you'd like me to do the gamerpaddy fix on your broken PA5 just PM me and we can work something out. I've done it on my PA5 and it works fine. Again, it's just me doing this, to give back to the diy community that has been valuable to my learning curve on building all things stereo, so this won't be a high production facility and timeliness won't be a key thing here. Costs will be only for production of the boards & shipping. If the gamerpaddy fix doesn't work the cost will only be to ship the unit back to you. I'm retired and it's my hobby.

Cheers, Pete

very thoughtful and generous.
Cheers

 

[turion64]

Mine hasn’t left the box it came in yet.
I’ll keep this in mind if/when I break it out

Hopefully I won't be dead by then...LOL

Cheers

 

[turion64]

Has anyone done a poll to find out if a greater number of failures occurred with people driving 4 ohm speakers versus 8 ohm ones?

 

[turion64]

very thoughtful and generous.
Cheers

Thanks...the diy community has always been supportive and helpful. I'm appreciative of the comradery. Maybe I just have a soldering addiction..LOL

 

[Laserjock]

Hopefully I won't be dead by then...LOL

Cheers

Lol, right?!