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Stereophile tested a Topping Pre90
- Thread starter Ingenieur
- Start date
777
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2019
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Unfair rules on both sides
Anyway, the real winners are boys from Texas Instruments, ESS Sabre, AKM, Analog devices, etc... For me, the biggest winner of the 2021 year is ... OPA1612 !Unfair rules on both sides
Dont know what you mean with on both sides? Do you mean me as a consumer plays unfair looking for best price/perf. ratio? I dont think so.
- Thread Starter
- #25
It's hard to compare an item that cost 3.5% (0.035 x) as much as another.Let's be serious, Topping just put some chips on the board. The credit goes to those who created the chips. Topping didn't invent anything in audio. It is absolutely normal to be cheap at what components it has in it. Topping, SMSL and others like them are just a few computer engineers and that's it. They probably weren't able to make a motherboard and reoriented themselves to audio because it's easier to stick 3 chips. Well, does Topping compare to Nelson Pass? Be seriosus... I bought four Topping products and two SMSL because are cheap and for me are enough but that doesn't stop me from seeing who's Topping and who's Nelson Pass
But they did.
Favorably.
Pass is doing the same. Capitalizing on the work done by others decades prior.
But that is how it works, very little new groundbreaking work, but continuous improvement. For the better.
For the 1/2 cost of the XP alone an excellent system can be had.
Music server, notebook, $1,000
DAC Topping $900 with volume control
AMP Benchmark $3,000
Speakers, $4,000, your choice
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I love reading from the apologists for the old audio guard as they try to justify why we should even think about esoteric gear such as the nonsense, yes I use the word deliberately, such as the Pass pre-amp at 17.5K. Honestly. And that statement that anybody can do it regarding modern computer aided audio circuit design is just flat out ridiculous. Sorry, but it is.
That is the same type of thinly veiled bias that those who rip on popular music use when they say all of the modern music is just garbage made by audio engineers, anybody can do it. I always say to them to put their money where their mouth is and write a chart topping hit and then I'll take them more seriously. I'm not at all a fan of the political order in China, but there is no denying it, they have taken the audio world by an absolute storm and western nation apologizers feel a need to attack at every opportunity. Sad really. Maybe we should learn from them. There probably is a lesson here.
That is the same type of thinly veiled bias that those who rip on popular music use when they say all of the modern music is just garbage made by audio engineers, anybody can do it. I always say to them to put their money where their mouth is and write a chart topping hit and then I'll take them more seriously. I'm not at all a fan of the political order in China, but there is no denying it, they have taken the audio world by an absolute storm and western nation apologizers feel a need to attack at every opportunity. Sad really. Maybe we should learn from them. There probably is a lesson here.
LOL
Shouldn't they?
I moved the latest off topic stuff to the catch-all...
Let's try to keep the review threads clear please.
Let's try to keep the review threads clear please.
You can bet the OPA1612 was almost completely designed and tested on a computer by engineers. Can anybody just do that?Unfair rules on both sides
If I further that reasoning.. Good food is about the farmers.. not the cook/chef..Let's be serious, Topping just put some chips on the board. The credit goes to those who created the chips. Topping didn't invent anything in audio. It is absolutely normal to be cheap at what components it has in it. Topping, SMSL and others like them are just a few computer engineers and that's it. They probably weren't able to make a motherboard and reoriented themselves to audio because it's easier to stick 3 chips. Well, does Topping compare to Nelson Pass? Be seriosus... I bought four Topping products and two SMSL because are cheap and for me are enough but that doesn't stop me from seeing who's Topping and who's Nelson Pass
What about music which is made in the Western World or just 7 notes ?
Perhaps Nelson Pass makes his own transistors?
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
Well, he did actually. He bankrolled SemiSouth to manufacture a run of SITs to his specifications.
- Thread Starter
- #35
Also called a V-FET
en.m.wikipedia.org
The SIT was invented by Japanese engineers Jun-ichi Nishizawa and Y. Watanabe in 1950.
This device is also known as a V-FET, and can be found in some of the more upmarket amplifiers from Sony back in the late 1970s and Yamaha from 1973 - 1980.
Digital do MaiN - Wikipedia
The SIT was invented by Japanese engineers Jun-ichi Nishizawa and Y. Watanabe in 1950.
This device is also known as a V-FET, and can be found in some of the more upmarket amplifiers from Sony back in the late 1970s and Yamaha from 1973 - 1980.
I tried the Topping Pre90 with the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. The Pre90 colors the sound compared to the crystal clear sound of using the RME ADI-2 alone. With the Pre90 in the chain the sound is a bit more harsh and offers less clarity. I won't be using the Pre90 with this setup. Those that think the Pre90 doesn't add color should compare it directly with the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. The difference is amazingly easy to notice.
JRS
Major Contributor
Good for Stereophile. While we may prefer that they be more honest and conduct DBT's and declare no audible difference, that's an awfully big bite from the hand that feeds them. I see it as courageous, and for those saavy readers who can read behind the lines, a good reason to pocket the difference, and use the money for something that matters. I am also sure that whatever differences in sound perceived are all about pride of ownership, though the run of specialty transistors certainly provides cover for the impression of superior sound.
MakeMineVinyl
Major Contributor
It takes some degree of chops to lay out a printed circuit board to achieve the excellent specifications that Topping is getting. I wouldn't discount that.Let's be serious, Topping just put some chips on the board. The credit goes to those who created the chips. Topping didn't invent anything in audio. It is absolutely normal to be cheap at what components it has in it. Topping, SMSL and others like them are just a few computer engineers and that's it. They probably weren't able to make a motherboard and reoriented themselves to audio because it's easier to stick 3 chips. Well, does Topping compare to Nelson Pass? Be seriosus... I bought four Topping products and two SMSL because are cheap and for me are enough but that doesn't stop me from seeing who's Topping and who's Nelson Pass
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
A preamplifier traditionally is a multi input buffer and gain stage that allows various capability ancillary sources to perform to spec and not be negatively affected in terms of degradation of THD, level, or deviations in frequency response.
2k ohms input impedance is a ridiculous burden on upstream devices.
