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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

Holmz

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@JohnYang1997 stated on ASR a couple days ago they don't know what's causing the problem so how could they have possibly have fixed it on newer units?

One could imagine a working unit and a broken one sitting side by side, and someone, somewhere, determining what part is different between the two units in-situ.

Or even that same person could pull every part out and start testing them in isolation, to end up saying, ‘ “whoa-la” I found a difference’.

There has to be one of that sort of person somewhere in the world, or maybe I am thinking of a fictional paper I read once??
 

vkvedam

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One could imagine a working unit and a broken one sitting side by side, and someone, somewhere, determining what part is different between the two units in-situ.

Or even that same person could pull every part out and start testing them in isolation, to end up saying, ‘ “whoa-la” I found a difference’.

There has to be one of that sort of person somewhere in the world, or maybe I am thinking of a fictional paper I read once??
Only if it is so simple, as an engineer I know the plight when something goes wrong like this but I understand the frustration as a customer as well :)
 

delta76

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One could imagine a working unit and a broken one sitting side by side, and someone, somewhere, determining what part is different between the two units in-situ.

Or even that same person could pull every part out and start testing them in isolation, to end up saying, ‘ “whoa-la” I found a difference’.

There has to be one of that sort of person somewhere in the world, or maybe I am thinking of a fictional paper I read once??
As an engineer - albeit not a hardware one - I can tell you it is not that easy.

At best you can identify, oh this capacitor has busted. but why? is it a design error, or a manufacturing error?
At worst, you gather 10 samples, and each and every of them has different faults. What do you do?

Not defending Topping, I think they could have done (much) better handling the warranty claim. But if it was an easy fix, I'm sure they would already already identified and fixed it. Based on the information they shared, they couldn't.
 
Last edited:

Calleberg

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Well, I've worked in the electronics business, even with troubleshooting of consumer electronics. Finding what is causing the problem would be a piece of cake for any decent manufacturer. Even if it's nature is intermittent, it would not be too difficult to stress the returned units to start acting up again.

The next step, fixing it might be more difficult depending on the root cause.
Maybe it is just a component worked too close to its limits, simple? Yes, but it might still be a big headache for you if it is epoxied into that black blob that you have thousands of on the shelf and happens to be one of the most expensive parts in the BOM. Maybe it is worth the risk depleting your stock by sending them to market instead of scrapping all those expensive parts?

The above is just an hypothetical example of what could be going on. One thing is fore sure though, they are not going to solve anything by sitting on their asses doing nothing.
 
Last edited:

jevchance

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Sometimes it's easy to determine which component has failed and spot trends, sometimes it's not easy to determine what caused the component to fail. It seems like the trend is the left channel, but if the two channels have identical electronics, what is causing component X on the one side to fail and not the other? Also, why is it failing in some cases and not others? Is it operator error or a manufacturing process problem? It's not always cut and dry.

The situation is not ideal, for the affected customers or for Topping. Give them some time to make the situation right. They know very well if they don't, it will have a negative impact on their business.
 

Canuck57

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I emailed Cloris and they've replied so hopefully that will resolve it.
"Cloris" reminds of a certain Seinfeld episode where Jerry was trying to remember a woman's name!
 
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JeremyFife

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I did the same!
My PA5 has finally arrived in Shenzhen and is on its way to Topping. I've asked for a refund, but I'm getting a repair. I've said I'll need an explanation as some sort of guarantee that the fault won't reoccur... We'll see.
I am also dealing with Cloris.

I'll have forgotten what the flamin' thing sounds like by the time I eventually get it back!!

Forced me to get a headphone amp and 'phones though ... not the same (for me) but still sounds great. Silver lining...
 

Maciekw

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For 9 months my amplifier worked perfectly. Unfortunately, today an irregular noise appeared in the right channel. It increases after some time after switching on. I am disappointed.
For information, the amplifier and power supply were plugged in all the time. The amplifier did not overheat.
I am unlikely to decide in the future to purchase equipment manufactured by Topping.
 

Holmz

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I am unlikely to decide in the future to purchase equipment manufactured by Topping.

^This^

Combined with the Topping apologists, who somehow want me to believe that Ishikawa analysis does not exist, and that a board with say 10 components, can somehow have 10! (factorial) numbers of failure modes.

And the same apologists telling me that Topping is great value and top quality gear.
Topping may be good, but I only have two hissying amps I have personally heard… so I have to contrast my reality against the endless lore of the personal testamony of the Topping faiithful.

0 for 2 is enough for me to seem like it is statistically relivent.
 

iamsms

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While I am not in the "never topping" camp yet, I am firmly in the "purchase topping from local dealers, pay taxes and extra if needed" camp.

And not just any local sellers, sellers that won't make me ship devices back to China in case of a failure during warranty period. I asked headphones.com folks recently for example, and I was told they ask customers to handle warranty related issues directly with topping, which probably mean taking multiple videos and shipping back to China I assume. Where as for Apos, if anything goes wrong, they mentioned that I'll have to ship the device to their Arizona facility - which is definitely a plus in my book.
 

terrys999

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Topping need to stop selling this amp. Period
They posted that they would continue selling it! Wtf!!!

This amp has a component defect, they admitted that in their post.
Stop selling and recall all pa5s.

Anyone who purchase this amp after all this boll.... needs to see a shrink.
I had 2 and they both failed,
It’s like selling cars and engine seizes.
Not to mention the return services, which verges on criminal.

Stuff topping bla bla... kiss my a..


Oh ye check out amazon. Lots of same problems.
 

jevchance

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Reply received from Aoshida HIFI.

Dear XXX, You could return the PA5 back to China for repair. It support one year warranty. You could send it to our China address, and we will repair it for you, do not need repair fee. But you need to pay for the shipping cost from US to China. Of course, we will pay the shipping cost from China to US. Of course, you can buy insurance for it. Logistics requirements: 1. It must only pass USPS postal logistics, not UPS, DHL etc. 2. The declared value of the package must be declared US$20. 3. If the declaration is not strictly in accordance with 20 US dollars, the package may incur customs duties, which should be borne by the customer. 4. Before sending the package, please send us the pictures of all product accessories. 5. After sending, please tell us the tracking number. 6. After repair, we will declare this package at USD$20 and ship to you, maybe you will not need pay the duty. Our address is : Recipient: Weilin Wang Address:Room 101, Building 6 Hongfengchuangyiyuan, Jiangxia Cun, Huangshi Street, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China Zip code: 510420 Contact number: +86 13660337403 7. Please tell us your full name , address, and telephone number. After fix it up, we will ship it back to you. Reply awaited, Judy (Aoshida hifi)
Looks like you were right @MAB. I'm not very comfortable with this situation. If I'm forced to proceed down this path, I'll have to seek insurance through an outside provider.
 
Last edited:

terrys999

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Reply received from Aoshida HIFI.


Looks like you were right @MAB. I'm not very comfortable with this situation. If I'm forced to proceed down this path, I'll have to seek insurance through an outside provider.

Don’t just don’t.
Declare package is worth $20.
And if it goes missing??? You loose shed load of cash.

I swear to god I for one will never ever on God’s green earth ever buy from topping again.
Biggest con yet.

Topping deserve zero customers allowing this.
It highly illegal,
Topping are signing their own down fall.
How I get so f.. pis...

They tried it with me on shite Chinese phones.

Amirm should refuse to test all topping in protest.
 

vkvedam

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That's interesting, Shenzenaudio (Cloris) advised me to declare it at $100 as returned goods and they would be sending me a brand new replacement plus shipping charges refunded. Can't ask for more from the dealership. Sorry to hear about your experiences :(
 

MAB

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Reply received from Aoshida HIFI.


Looks like you were right @MAB. I'm not very comfortable with this situation. If I'm forced to proceed down this path, I'll have to seek insurance through an outside provider.
:facepalm:
Sorry to hear, but predictable since it seems the resellers all seem to be using the same playbook to keep their costs as close to zero as possible, at your expense.
I would demand a self-addressed pre-paid return label. See what happens.
 

MAB

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That's interesting, Shenzenaudio (Cloris) advised me to declare it at $100 as returned goods and they would be sending me a brand new replacement plus shipping charges refunded. Can't ask for more from the dealership. Sorry to hear about your experiences :(
That's a change from my experience. Here is the exact text from Shenzhenaudio:
1.Pls help us to declare the shippment under US$30. And ship it with postal service like USPS/EMS/Postal service. Shipping fees not included.2.And you don't have to clarify the detail of the product, you could just fill it as "earphone" without the Brand name and product name when you return it back.
Of course, they lost my PA5 and then tried to blow the whole thing off. I screamed at them over email until they refunded me the entire amount (after negotiation, they gave me 80% of the purchase, but I just screamed louder until they gave me the remining 20% back:eek:). I never got my cost of shipping, but I only have so much vitriol in me...

So, I guess I am saying; be persistent. That being said, I think that Cloris and Shenzhenaudio are well-intentioned but have no idea what it means to sell a product.
 

daftcombo

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Seeing the poll results now. 33% of failure as for now. That is a quite a lot.

I have two Topping devices at home: a D10 which now randomly stops delivering sound after ten minutes, and an E30 which has been working fine for now.

I also have an SMSL AD18, which turns itself on randomly during the night.

Four years ago, for me, that kind of product was to be considered as disposable, I wanted to try them but was not ready to spend more than 200$ on a unit. I guess I was right after all.
 
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