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Poll for Topping PA5 owners only please.

Is your Topping PA5 amp defective?

  • Yes

    Votes: 123 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 123 50.0%

  • Total voters
    246
Joined
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That's interesting. Perhaps the problem is in fact the volume control. I have had zero issues so far. The volume knob on mine has remained at maximum since day one.
I don't know why. As long as I don't move the knob, there will be no noise. The quality of this machine is really worrying. I don't know if it will break out in the future
 

raest

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the noise on mine was volume-independent (i.e. it remained at the same 65-70ish db no matter where the volume knob was positioned, 0 or 100%)
 

Ml2316

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you're probably getting more audio snobs who don't own it clicking on this thread to vote 'yes' than budgetphiles who don't own it clicking no.
 

Slayer

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you're probably getting more audio snobs who don't own it clicking on this thread to vote 'yes' than budgetphiles who don't own it clicking no.
Pure nonsense without any evidence to back your statement. If as you say were true, one could postulate the numbers to be much higher.
 

TheWalkman

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I’ve had mine since early December (‘21) and use it 3 to six or more hours per day. I currently have it attached to a pair of Elac DBR-62s. It works perfectly (and sounds great and is plenty loud, too.)
 
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Ml2316

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Pure nonsense without any evidence to back your statement. If as you say were true, one could postulate the numbers to be much higher.
You can postulate whatever you like. All I'm doing is postulating. I think it's important to introduce this possibility. Also, I've noticed there are far more angry audio snobs here than angry budgetphiles. Probably because the latter is more of a rational preference, while the former is an emotional preference.
 

MAB

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You can postulate whatever you like. All I'm doing is postulating. I think it's important to introduce this possibility. Also, I've noticed there are far more angry audio snobs here than angry budgetphiles. Probably because the latter is more of a rational preference, while the former is an emotional preference.
Topping is the problem, not ASR.

I own one of the PA5 that went bad.
I bought it to replace a piece of vintage gear that I needed to work on.
I bought it due to the measured performance published here in ASR. I believe those measurements and I still value them. And the PA5 sounded fine for the first few days just as the measurements suggested.

I ran into the similar problems with the unit, and similar bewildering customer service. Right now this thread shows 21 out of 73 people report issues that are allegedly similar to mine. I have no way of knowing if trolls influenced this up or down. I don’t want ASR to change their review methodology. I want the manufacturer (who does participate here) to fix this problem they have created. People with industry experience, technical knowledge, and credibility on this forum have pointed out that Topping and other manufacturers are focusing on SINAD and neglecting other key aspects of a well-executed product. I think the this thread and the thread on the PA5 review show that the user experience has been poor for many. So ASR seems to be working to provide a scientific basis for the performance, and a forum for feedback. Did ASR sucker people to buying risky products? I feel that I went in eyes wide open, bought a product from a manufacturer that has a different business model; essentially Amazon without a return policy. Perhaps others were duped. Maybe we should start a poll on how many people feel duped by ASR!!! If so, also need a poll on how many manufacturers just design to ASR's SINAD and neglect the remaining elements of good circuit practices!!!

Debating ASR review methodology misses the point. Trying to factor quality is beyond the scope of any bench test. Telling Amir to leave the unit plugged in for a few more days will do little to tell if the manufacturer has designed their device to be reliable across multiple use conditions, across multiple unit samples, across time. And won't tell if the unit will provide specified performance with zero glitches across all use cases.

This informal poll can't be trusted to get the true defect rate. None of this can accurately capture the customer heat, or the manufacturer's and seller's response. Debating each other and asking ASR to change is not the right direction. Topping needs to make the changes.
 

JGeez

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Topping is the problem, not ASR.

I own one of the PA5 that went bad.
I bought it to replace a piece of vintage gear that I needed to work on.
I bought it due to the measured performance published here in ASR. I believe those measurements and I still value them. And the PA5 sounded fine for the first few days just as the measurements suggested.

I ran into the similar problems with the unit, and similar bewildering customer service. Right now this thread shows 21 out of 73 people report issues that are allegedly similar to mine. I have no way of knowing if trolls influenced this up or down. I don’t want ASR to change their review methodology. I want the manufacturer (who does participate here) to fix this problem they have created. People with industry experience, technical knowledge, and credibility on this forum have pointed out that Topping and other manufacturers are focusing on SINAD and neglecting other key aspects of a well-executed product. I think the this thread and the thread on the PA5 review show that the user experience has been poor for many. So ASR seems to be working to provide a scientific basis for the performance, and a forum for feedback. Did ASR sucker people to buying risky products? I feel that I went in eyes wide open, bought a product from a manufacturer that has a different business model; essentially Amazon without a return policy. Perhaps others were duped. Maybe we should start a poll on how many people feel duped by ASR!!! If so, also need a poll on how many manufacturers just design to ASR's SINAD and neglect the remaining elements of good circuit practices!!!

Debating ASR review methodology misses the point. Trying to factor quality is beyond the scope of any bench test. Telling Amir to leave the unit plugged in for a few more days will do little to tell if the manufacturer has designed their device to be reliable across multiple use conditions, across multiple unit samples, across time. And won't tell if the unit will provide specified performance with zero glitches across all use cases.

This informal poll can't be trusted to get the true defect rate. None of this can accurately capture the customer heat, or the manufacturer's and seller's response. Debating each other and asking ASR to change is not the right direction. Topping needs to make the changes.
This poll, of course, tells us nothing about the actual failure rate of the product. I have a PA5 and it's worked fine for months. I have purchased several Topping products, all on Amazon, and all had 30 day returns -- or even extended returns during the holidays. I returned one of the products. It worked fine but I just wanted another model. I also communicated with Topping via email about a problem I had with a headphone amp and got a speedy and satisfactory response.

I am just one data point. However, I would have thought if the failure rate is actually over 20%, I would find people all over the Internet screaming about it. I would see quality issues on lots of reviews on Amazon, Apos, etc. I don't. On a Google search on the issue, the ASR forum comes up as the primary result.

I certainly agree ASR's testing isn't to blame. It tests what it tests. Beyond that, ASR does a service by providing a robust forum for exactly this kind of discussion. And, I certainly understand the upset people feel when a product they paid good money for doesn't work.
 

Zhuge Liang

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Sad to report another failure case.

I bought the PA5 new three weeks ago (mid April). I've read interesting discussion about inrush current. So left it on 24/7. The amp sounded very good for three weeks. But it started to develop noise in one channel (left) from yesterday. It's not static but intermittent (and audibly annoying) noise at 300hz -- confirmed by FFT app. Today, the issue seems more obvious. I decided to return the unit and requested rma. At least I was a little lucky that the issue happened before 30-day window ends.

For the reference, I have another monoblock power amps in the house, they did not exhibit this problem at all even after 2.5 years of heavy uses.
 

Toku

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Has there been a similar issue with pa3s? I got mine back in September 2021 and everything seems fine thus far. I barely ever turn it off though.
I bought the PA3s and PA5 soon after they went on sale. The two amps have been running continuously every day to this day and haven't had any problems so far.
 
OP
Eggs Ackley

Eggs Ackley

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It would seem that samples from early in the production run are having fewer problems. I haven't been keeping close score but that seems to be the trend.
 
OP
Eggs Ackley

Eggs Ackley

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My serial is 211012xxxx. A good guess would be October 12 2021. I believe they were released in December. No issues here yet, fingers crossed.
 
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TheWalkman

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211012xxxx serial number here as well. I’m guessing our amps were part of the initial production run. When demand likely spiked after Amir’s review, could QA in subsequent units suffered these problems, perhaps cutting corners to keep up?

As mentioned before, my Topping has worked flawlessly for six months and I’m running it virtually every day for hours. I’m a happy customer.
 
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AudioArchitech

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edit: worked for most of the day, then issues came back.

ASR forum member(s) said they could avoid static noise on PA5 by:

- Start with PA5 off
- Crank the volume to max
- Turn it on and don’t touch the volume dial after.
- Only adjust volume from Preamp/Source

Today I unpacked it and set it all up again and it was running all day with no issues. No static or pops and when I stopped the music it was DEAD SILENT just like before !!! I was feeling pretty confident after 10-12 hours without issues, then the noise just came back :(
 
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edit: worked for most of the day, then issues came back.

ASR forum member(s) said they could avoid static noise on PA5 by:

- Start with PA5 off
- Crank the volume to max
- Turn it on and don’t touch the volume dial after.
- Only adjust volume from Preamp/Source

Today I unpacked it and set it all up again and it was running all day with no issues. No static or pops and when I stopped the music it was DEAD SILENT just like before !!! I was feeling pretty confident after 10-12 hours without issues, then the noise just came back :(
I tested this method for several days. There is a chance of failure, sometimes there is a lot of noise.

When there is no noise when turning on, you can get a long mute time unless you no longer turn off the power.

If the startup sequence is DAC --- Pa5, there is a great chance to be muted. If the startup sequence is Pa5 --- DAC, there is a great chance of noise.

This is not a long-term solution. We have to urge TOPPING to solve this fatal fault.
 

AudioArchitech

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I did startup sequence DAC --- then Pa5. Had music on all day (with a few pauses). No issues, then it just recently crept back in.

I'll try powering everything off, start over and see how long it lasts again.
 
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