Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

[xaon60]

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?

No anomaly on R-820F examined at 5.4 Ohms and at the lowest at 3.2 Ohms. Still a marvel of listening with room correction, low frequencies in the bones. Used it for a little over an hour yesterday afternoon at a fairly high volume.

 

[BoredErica]

Is Topping willing to replace Pa5 w/ PA5 II or is that not possible? Topping support has issues sending email to my gmail address so I will try another email service provider.

 

[klimal]

It happened again. 6 months after getting it back from the first repair, it started to crackle and hiss in the left output and gradually lose its spl. Now it is out of warrany and i would need to pay for shipping and repair in China.
Is it worth the hassle. I must say it was a great listen when it worked.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

It happened again. 6 months after getting it back from the first repair, it started to crackle and hiss in the left output and gradually lose its spl. Now it is out of warrany and i would need to pay for shipping and repair in China.
Is it worth the hassle. I must say it was a great listen when it worked.

That's a bummer. I have a PA5 also. Good so far, but if I was in your situation, I'd just replace it with the Mark II. Especially now that it's on sale.

TOPPING PA5 II/ PA5 II Plus Compact Desktop Amplifier

Experience superior sound quality with the Topping PA5 II Compact Desktop Amplifier. Designed with a fully balanced structure, low distortion levels, high power output, and comprehensive circuit protection, it offers a pure, noise-free audio experience. The Topping PA5 II ensures every beat...

apos.audio

 

[Power Pop 23]

It happened again. 6 months after getting it back from the first repair, it started to crackle and hiss in the left output and gradually lose its spl. Now it is out of warrany and i would need to pay for shipping and repair in China.
Is it worth the hassle. I must say it was a great listen when it worked.

Ouch. My PA5 is still working and sounds great. I would hold off on purchasing a Topping PA5 II until more time has passed to assess its' reliability.

 

[MAB]

It happened again. 6 months after getting it back from the first repair, it started to crackle and hiss in the left output and gradually lose its spl. Now it is out of warrany and i would need to pay for shipping and repair in China.
Is it worth the hassle. I must say it was a great listen when it worked.

Topping and the resellers said they extended the warranty to 2 years. Is your amp over 2 years old?

 

[Toku]

It happened again. 6 months after getting it back from the first repair, it started to crackle and hiss in the left output and gradually lose its spl. Now it is out of warrany and i would need to pay for shipping and repair in China.
Is it worth the hassle. I must say it was a great listen when it worked.

No matter how many times I repair PA5, I don't know if it will work properly. It's like buying a lottery.
I would request a replacement PA5 ll during the warranty period.

 

[xaxxon]

Topping and the resellers said they extended the warranty to 2 years. Is your amp over 2 years old?

If you're like me and have to pay to ship to china even for warranty repair, it's not worth it. They are trash. You don't throw good money after bad.

 

[Eldus]

My warranty is ending in February. No issues so far. But I am a little worried, and with the PA5 II and PA7 on sale...

 

[MAB]

If you're like me and have to pay to ship to china even for warranty repair, it's not worth it. They are trash. You don't throw good money after bad.

Agreed. They really just need to refund the money. The amp is a lemon.

 

[Talisman]

That's a bummer. I have a PA5 also. Good so far, but if I was in your situation, I'd just replace it with the Mark II. Especially now that it's on sale.

TOPPING PA5 II/ PA5 II Plus Compact Desktop Amplifier

Experience superior sound quality with the Topping PA5 II Compact Desktop Amplifier. Designed with a fully balanced structure, low distortion levels, high power output, and comprehensive circuit protection, it offers a pure, noise-free audio experience. The Topping PA5 II ensures every beat...

apos.audio

In practice he is complaining about having had a defective product which, despite a repair, has already had new problems and the advice is to give money to the same company?
So are you rewarding a company that used you as a beta tester again? did I get it right?
I don't know, but am I the only one who finds the idea ridiculous?

 

[Sokel]

I don't know, but am I the only one who finds the idea ridiculous?

Nope.

 

[Power Pop 23]

My warranty is ending in February. No issues so far. But I am a little worried, and with the PA5 II and PA7 on sale...

FYI

Fosi Audio is bringing a differential (balanced) version of their V3 amplifier to market called the 'ZA3'.

FOSI AUDIO ZA3 Stereo / Mono Amplifier

This small Fosi Audio ZA3 integrated amplifier has the particularity of being able to operate in both stereo and mono mode. It incorporates two TI TPA3255 amplifier chips enabling it to deliver up to 2x150W or 1x240W @ 4Ω.

www.audiophonics.fr

The Fosi Audio ZA3 may be an alternative for Topping PA5 owners - if the ZA3 is reliable.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

I don't know, but am I the only one who finds the idea ridiculous?

To each his own. I don't know of another $350 amplifier that sounds as good as my PA5. If it died, I'd want another one, and I'd jump at the chance to pick it up for only $200. It's safe to assume that Topping learned their lesson with the OG PA5 and won't repeat the same mistakes in the Mark II. For $200 (less than the cost of a nice dinner out with my wife), I'd be willing to take that chance. If we were talking $2k, probably not.

 

[Vladetz]

To each his own. I don't know of another $350 amplifier that sounds as good as my PA5. If it died, I'd want another one, and I'd jump at the chance to pick it up for only $200. It's safe to assume that Topping learned their lesson with the OG PA5 and won't repeat the same mistakes in the Mark II. For $200 (less than the cost of a nice dinner out with my wife), I'd be willing to take that chance. If we were talking $2k, probably not.

Maybe topping pa7? More expensive, but close
Still no reports of failures

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Maybe topping pa7? More expensive, but close
Still no reports of failures

Perhaps. But, have there been any reports of issues with the PA5 Mark II? I've not seen any, and it's been out about the same amount of time.

 

[MAB]

Perhaps. But, have there been any reports of issues with the PA5 Mark II? I've not seen any, and it's been out about the same amount of time.

Mis-wired polarity:

Strange polarity issue with new amplifier (Topping PA5 II Plus)

Just got my new Topping PA5 II Plus amplifier today and got it hooked up right away once I got home. Played my favorite tracks but the sound was strange - hollowed midrange and almost no bass, so I thought it must be a polarity issue. So I swapped the wires of one speaker and the sound was back...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The new TP RA3 amp is blowing up though, likely more problems with Topping's encapsulation obsession. The PA5 II also has circuit encapsulation, so Topping continue to make amps that are bound to blow up. I would paste links but I got tired of pasting links to Topping's reliability problems. Their customer service is way worse though, so not sure if details about reliability are the core problem, yes reliability may be technically interesting, but given the after-sales service will affect all of their products probably a good idea to not recommend Topping until they demonstrate good business practices.

 

[MAB]

To each his own. I don't know of another $350 amplifier that sounds as good as my PA5. If it died, I'd want another one, and I'd jump at the chance to pick it up for only $200. It's safe to assume that Topping learned their lesson with the OG PA5 and won't repeat the same mistakes in the Mark II. For $200 (less than the cost of a nice dinner out with my wife), I'd be willing to take that chance. If we were talking $2k, probably not.

But Topping didn't learn their lesson one single bit.
For instance the LA90D has 50% showing signs of poor survival rate:

[Poll] What is your experience with the reliability of the Topping LA90D?

Quick update on my situation: When I switched from D90LE to DX5 as the DAC, everything is working normally now. Will debug why D90LE did not work later - looks to be user error on my end.

www.audiosciencereview.com

RA3 encapsulated module blown up:

TP RA3 Rackmount Amplifier Review

Take a look here... if you are looking for an alternative to the RA3 or PA5 with comparable measurements and better reliability ) https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/3e-audio-260-2-29a-tpa3255-ha3588-coilcraft-pffb-fully-differential.47660/#post-1707012 I already build...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Repeat purchase of this defective gear and excuses made for reliability problems doesn't help.
Also, in 100 tries you won't be able to distinguish between a properly working Topping and another amp. That's if your amp doesn't have a marginality that you just hadn't noticed.

 

[Vladetz]

Perhaps. But, have there been any reports of issues with the PA5 Mark II? I've not seen any, and it's been out about the same amount of time.

Anyway after Shenzhenaudio offered me refund for faulty pa5 (and shipment) I set e70v and pa7 with two arctic p12 fans running on 5v

 

[MAB]

Anyway after Shenzhenaudio offered me refund for faulty pa5 (and shipment) I set e70v and pa7 with two arctic p12 fans running on 5v

It's kind of sad the number of people who now have fans running on their Topping gear, out of the mistaken belief that it will help with the reliability of their Topping gear. Here is Topping's own statement:

Not something that can be solved by a fan, it is a localized internal overheating that can be improved by adjusting the manufacturing process of the components. As a whole there is no problem with PA5 heat dissipation.

Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

The joys of chip supply shortage. They either under-specced something missed something in the design or received poorly QA'ed parts. Impossible to tell from the statement. No recall, so probably best to wait till everyone else buys the lemons before ordering a PA5. Chinese manufacturing...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Topping's unreliability causes some understandable hysteria. That's one of the bad side effects of unreliability.

Using a fan, even one that is said to be 'silent', eliminates any performance advantage the PA5 has over other amps.

Arctic P12 PWM PST: The most famous rumbling fan - HWCooling.net

Arctic P12 PWM PST in detailThere are a lot of droning or downright rumbling fans out there, but none have been as popularized by this sound profile as the Arctic P12. Probably also because this acoustic deficiency is really pronounced here and has pushed the manufacturer to make design changes...

www.hwcooling.net