Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

[farmouss]

Did someone complain like this about D90/A90 pricing?
Would this complaining also happen if these were named A60/D60?

What is the problem? Made in China or the number 30?

What are the prices for the GD Audio Stuff measuring like shit?

It's just the positionning really
I mean.... The DAC itself compared to what the DX7 Pro offers, doesn't justify the high price IMO

Or I guess, it's just that I was expecting them to be 100€ less each... And so I'm disappointed about that that's all

 

[Veri]

What is the problem? Made in China or the number 30?

I guess, the number 30

 

[ninetylol]

I guess, the number 30

Yeh bad marketing and naming scheme and also shady tactics (prototype sent to Amir, no Release date, no price beforehand). Its exactly the opposite of what Topping stood for before which is transparency.

At least thats my thoughts about it.

 

[jdizzle]

View attachment 116196

What the hell is wrong with you Topping? what is this price positioning all about?
Are you getting big headed?

Man, this is disappointing

This stack is out of the way...

is this on shenzhen? they dont show up for me in US

 

[bboris77]

I am fascinated by the grille pattern on top of the A30 Pro I haven't been able to find good pictures of it, but it seems asymmetrical and it almost resembles a message in Morse code. I wonder what inspired this design and I would be interested to know how Topping ensured the structural integrity of the casing with so many vent openings. I am assuming it is a fairly thick chunk of metal.

EDIT: Audiophonics has a much better photo of it.

 

[jdizzle]

is this on shenzhen? they dont show up for me in US

oh i see its on audiotronics a french website

 

[farmouss]

Yeh bad marketing and naming scheme and also shady tactics (prototype sent to Amir, no Release date, no price beforehand). Its exactly the opposite of what Topping stood for before which is transparency.

At least thats my thoughts about it.

I feel exactly the same... It's all about transparency here
I can't stop thinking that they used this community and Amir's work in their pricing strategy, new year's excuse? I'm not buying it sorry

Free marketing, free margin, on the back of the people that are helping them, well, I just don't like this kind of behavior

Maybe I'm wrong and it's just my feelings, but I've made my mind anyway

Doesn't take away it's a good product, just not at the right price IMO

 

[Vini darko]

Just checked Amazon all topping products seem around 40% more expensive than last time I checked. Ouch
Edit: checked Shenzhen audio and prices are normal. It's just gougers on amazon , looking at you Linsol

 

[jannek]

No change in prices at Amazon Germany.

 

[ninetylol]

Just checked Amazon all topping products seem around 40% more expensive than last time I checked. Ouch
Edit: checked Shenzhen audio and prices are normal. It's just gougers on amazon , looking at you Linsol

Linsoul is out of their mind. They are charging 20% more and on some products another 40% shipping fee (LOL!). They seem to not be able to get enough. Hope they go down with moves like that. Also Shenzhen Audio is gone from Amazon.de and now Topping does some questionable stuff too. Dont know whats up with the chinese audio market atm.

No change in prices at Amazon Germany.

Yeh Aoshida HiFi-DE is the only good shop left They get my full support.

 

[highpurityusbcable]

If Topping will move away from budget market I will delete them from my friend list...

 

[Veri]

If Topping will move away from budget market I will delete them from my friend list...

 

[Tatteredmidnight]

This is certainly a strangely positioned product. It’s clearly above the A50s in price and performance, but the naming convention just creates massive confusion. I don’t know that there is anything else approaching the power, noise and distortion performance near this price.

Having said that, I think maybe the manufacturers are missing the plot a bit. Does the extra performance of this unit really justify the price premium over my Atom, which is also a preamp. When will we start seeing meaningful feature separation to distinguish these products rather than adding dB of academic performance here and there. At lest the SH-9 is trying something different in the price bracket with a ladder resistor attenuator.

 

[Matias]

Should have been called D60/A60 and all price expectations would be met.

 

[solderdude]

I am assuming it is a fairly thick chunk of metal.

The slits on the side and the bigger holes on the top suggest the enclosure is fairly thick. I don't think one would need to worry about the enclosure not being strong enough. I suspect one can stand on it without making a dent.

If it is a message what would be the start point and direction to read. are small holes a 0 and bigger ones a 1.
Or are 'missing' holes a 0, small holes a 1 and the bigger ones a 2. In this case it isn't binary anymore and would make sense if there were 3 hole sizes. We could be having nibbles instead of bits making the encoding more difficult and increases the amount of possible information.

It looks like they wanted holes on top (which would only do something when the bottom and PCB also had holes or there would be openings on the side or rear. Maybe someone came up with not making slits (so 80's) or holes of equal size in a boring pattern and decided to make it more fun and aesthetically pleasing ?

Nah... the message thing is more appealing. Maybe someone figures out the message... some hints @JohnYang1997 ?

 

[hotdogsandwich]

I feel exactly the same... It's all about transparency here
I can't stop thinking that they used this community and Amir's work in their pricing strategy, new year's excuse? I'm not buying it sorry

Free marketing, free margin, on the back of the people that are helping them, well, I just don't like this kind of behavior

Maybe I'm wrong and it's just my feelings, but I've made my mind anyway

Doesn't take away it's a good product, just not at the right price IMO

Its hard to be transparent right now when supply chains are really screwed up. I design and manufacture a small line of products and my suppliers are all over the damn place, its a struggle to give people accurate information.

 

[JohnYang1997]

The slits on the side and the bigger holes on the top suggest the enclosure is fairly thick. I don't think one would need to worry about the enclosure not being strong enough. I suspect one can stand on it without making a dent.

If it is a message what would be the start point and direction to read. are small holes a 0 and bigger ones a 1.
Or are 'missing' holes a 0, small holes a 1 and the bigger ones a 2. In this case it isn't binary anymore and would make sense if there were 3 hole sizes. We could be having nibbles instead of bits making the encoding more difficult and increases the amount of possible information.

It looks like they wanted holes on top (which would only do something when the bottom and PCB also had holes or there would be openings on the side or rear. Maybe someone came up with not making slits (so 80's) or holes of equal size in a boring pattern and decided to make it more fun and aesthetically pleasing ?

Nah... the message thing is more appealing. Maybe someone figures out the message... some hints @JohnYang1997 ?

Just an aesthetic design.

 

[Robbo99999]

If Topping will move away from budget market I will delete them from my friend list...

Well, as long as they continue to make some value & performance products in their lineup then I don't particularly mind if they offer some "overpriced" products that sit at the absolute pinacle of SNR (etc) in the market, I just won't be buying the "overpriced" products. I own the Topping E30 DAC, and I see that as totally reasonable pricing for excellent performance, as long as they continue to offer these kind of value & performance products then that's all good.

 

[Veri]

Well, as long as they continue to make some value & performance products in their lineup then I don't particularly mind if they offer some "overpriced" products that sit at the absolute pinacle of SNR (etc) in the market, I just won't be buying the "overpriced" products. I own the Topping E30 DAC, and I see that as totally reasonable pricing for excellent performance, as long as they continue to offer these kind of value & performance products then that's all good.

Yeah sure. I'm also sticking with my L30 for now. A30 Pro is a great option between it and the A90. Perfect for Beyerdynamic 600Ωs, T50RPs etc. Few people would need this much single ended power output, so there remain plenty of budget options for the rest of us

 

[bigjacko]

For everyone talking about the price, maybe it is because of USD dropped hard. I thought they would priced them $300 each, the real prices did surprised me, but when I recall USD dropped, everything makes sense. L30 and E30 also got more expensive too because of USD drop.