You can find them in Google image search. Topping A70 pro internals.
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Topping A70 Pro HP & Preamp Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Thank you. Had tried different keywords but internals did it.
I purchased my A70 Pro exactly 18 months ago, and since then it's averaged being powered on for 16 hours per day. This can be averaged to 12 months straight, or 5,840 hours.
When I bought it, I decided that, even though I like looking at the display with its brightness set to "high", in time, when the backlight dims, I'd like to be able to increase the brightness to bring it back to life lol. So I settled on medium brightness. Well, when I got the A70 Pro, I used it for 6 months with the D70 Pro Sabre, before switching to the D90 III Sabre. Well...
At this point, my D70 Pro Sabre and A70 Pro are about 4000 hours apart, with the D being 4000 hours younger.
What I've noticed:
I didn't expect there to be any more than a barely perceptible difference in brightness between them now as to compared to when they had the same number of hours, seeing as there's only a 4,000 hour difference and I wasn't running the thing full tilt, but there is... The brightness decrease is noticeable - A is probably 3-5% dimmer than D at this point. Something I didn't foresee or expect to happen, but did, is there's been a colour temperature change on the A. The A has become cooler - noticeably cooler.
I do some photography, it's another hobby that I'm into. I'm not into specs of cameras nearly as much as audio stuff, but to give you an idea how much I'm invested, I've got a mirrorless DSLR camera, a telephoto lens, and a couple macro extension tubes for my standard lens to make my macro photos a-mazing. At this point I'm good enough to be able to adjust the exposure, ISO, and aperture manually, and have the light balance match between photos, just by eye. Sure, there's a trick for when you double the ISO you halve the exposure, but when you start messing with the aperture and you're using the not-the-greatest built in LCD to make the adjustments... Yeah, so I've got an eye for these things. And for adjusting colour temperature, too, I'm about as good. The temperature difference between the A and D is 600-700K at this point. In the beginning there was a difference too (the A was cooler than the D) - but only barely perceptibly, by 100-150K. The displays do also have different viewing angles, so while they are the same size and look to be the same make and stuff, something is different between them...
So at this point I've lowered the brightness of the display to "low".
Yes, there's an Auto option, which does have the screen go black, but that's not what I want. I don't want every pixel on the screen to display (0,0,0), what I want is for the LCD to continue showing whatever the device's display would have all the time, but turn off the backlight after 5-10 minutes of no adjustment. This should be an option in the menu if Topping's going to be using displays that dim 3-5% and go 500K cooler after running at medium brightness for 5,000 hours... And include something about "the average user will definitely notice their display, at 10,000 hours, will have become a cooler temperature, and if they'd been running "medium" brightness from the start, by 15,000 hours they will have to increase medium to high brightness to maintain the original brightness. As time progresses, the display will get cooler and cooler, dimmer and dimmer. By 30,000 hours, the display will look obviously blue, and by 40,000 hours, "high" brightness will be more like half way between "low" and "medium", maybe a little closer to "low" than "medium"."
That's how I believe the displays will age in the A70 Pro and D70 Pros at this point...
I hope Topping releases some firmware updates with specific feature additions to address this - stuff to allow more conservative backlight management. Not to force it (if you're reading...), but to switch off the backlight. I really hope this is something that is able to be done with the hardware... If it is, add a timer option that can be applied to all of the brightness options, to turn off the backlight after x time since last user input (2, 5, 10, 20, 30 seconds, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes). Better yet, have two fields - one for seconds, one for minutes, and allow 0 to 59 in each of them. This way, anyone can pick any time between 0m 1s alllll the way up to 59m 59s!
If you do this within 6 months, most people can save their displays before they've deteriorated to an ugly state - even people who got them near launch and ran them more than me!
As an aside, does anyone know where one could buy a couple compatible LCD displays?
When I bought it, I decided that, even though I like looking at the display with its brightness set to "high", in time, when the backlight dims, I'd like to be able to increase the brightness to bring it back to life lol. So I settled on medium brightness. Well, when I got the A70 Pro, I used it for 6 months with the D70 Pro Sabre, before switching to the D90 III Sabre. Well...
At this point, my D70 Pro Sabre and A70 Pro are about 4000 hours apart, with the D being 4000 hours younger.
What I've noticed:
I didn't expect there to be any more than a barely perceptible difference in brightness between them now as to compared to when they had the same number of hours, seeing as there's only a 4,000 hour difference and I wasn't running the thing full tilt, but there is... The brightness decrease is noticeable - A is probably 3-5% dimmer than D at this point. Something I didn't foresee or expect to happen, but did, is there's been a colour temperature change on the A. The A has become cooler - noticeably cooler.
I do some photography, it's another hobby that I'm into. I'm not into specs of cameras nearly as much as audio stuff, but to give you an idea how much I'm invested, I've got a mirrorless DSLR camera, a telephoto lens, and a couple macro extension tubes for my standard lens to make my macro photos a-mazing. At this point I'm good enough to be able to adjust the exposure, ISO, and aperture manually, and have the light balance match between photos, just by eye. Sure, there's a trick for when you double the ISO you halve the exposure, but when you start messing with the aperture and you're using the not-the-greatest built in LCD to make the adjustments... Yeah, so I've got an eye for these things. And for adjusting colour temperature, too, I'm about as good. The temperature difference between the A and D is 600-700K at this point. In the beginning there was a difference too (the A was cooler than the D) - but only barely perceptibly, by 100-150K. The displays do also have different viewing angles, so while they are the same size and look to be the same make and stuff, something is different between them...
So at this point I've lowered the brightness of the display to "low".
Yes, there's an Auto option, which does have the screen go black, but that's not what I want. I don't want every pixel on the screen to display (0,0,0), what I want is for the LCD to continue showing whatever the device's display would have all the time, but turn off the backlight after 5-10 minutes of no adjustment. This should be an option in the menu if Topping's going to be using displays that dim 3-5% and go 500K cooler after running at medium brightness for 5,000 hours... And include something about "the average user will definitely notice their display, at 10,000 hours, will have become a cooler temperature, and if they'd been running "medium" brightness from the start, by 15,000 hours they will have to increase medium to high brightness to maintain the original brightness. As time progresses, the display will get cooler and cooler, dimmer and dimmer. By 30,000 hours, the display will look obviously blue, and by 40,000 hours, "high" brightness will be more like half way between "low" and "medium", maybe a little closer to "low" than "medium"."
That's how I believe the displays will age in the A70 Pro and D70 Pros at this point...
I hope Topping releases some firmware updates with specific feature additions to address this - stuff to allow more conservative backlight management. Not to force it (if you're reading...), but to switch off the backlight. I really hope this is something that is able to be done with the hardware... If it is, add a timer option that can be applied to all of the brightness options, to turn off the backlight after x time since last user input (2, 5, 10, 20, 30 seconds, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes). Better yet, have two fields - one for seconds, one for minutes, and allow 0 to 59 in each of them. This way, anyone can pick any time between 0m 1s alllll the way up to 59m 59s!
If you do this within 6 months, most people can save their displays before they've deteriorated to an ugly state - even people who got them near launch and ran them more than me!
As an aside, does anyone know where one could buy a couple compatible LCD displays?
sphinx2000
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Hi everyone, I'm new here and still getting up to speed. I bought the A70 Pro shortly after release but due to crazy life circumstances (new job/moving/travel etc.) it ended up sitting in a box for maybe 18-24 months (give or take) until last week when I finally am able to return to this fun hobby 
It's working extremely well (I need a DAC... right now feeding it audio from an Oppo UDP which is the only thing I have on hand that's a decent DAC) and it's crazy loud, crisp and dynamic with my Sennheiser HD800s. Excited to push it further.
Question - when I powered it up in DFU mode it mentioned firmware 1.04. I was able to upgrade to 2.05 relatively quickly and easily. Is there any information on what actually changed between 1.04 (which I imagine was fairly close to the launch firmware) and the current version? Just curious.
Edit: throwing an AI research model at this, I got the following output in case it's helpful to anyone. I have no idea whether it's accurate. I just wanted to get an idea about what changed and a review of Topping's documentation as well as this thread led to more questions than answers The summery is a bit damning but my first hand experience after a couple of days with the device is that it works and sounds great. However I may have well missed the juicy teething process!
-----
Archived user discussions reference significant concerns, including "pops," "volume limiting," and even fears of the amplifier "blowing up headphones" or "bricking". One user, reflecting on their early ownership, noted, "I had some issues early on with mine but they worked themselves out in a few weeks, during which time there were several firmware updates. I can't even remember what the issues were anymore.". This context establishes that the v1.04 firmware was flawed and that Topping began issuing patches (however quietly) to stabilize the product soon after launch.
Forum discussions from late 2023 show this fragmentation. One user mentioned updating from v1.04 to v1.07, indicating v1.07 was a circulated patch. Another user, writing in November 2023, reported purchasing two new, sealed A70 Pro units from different vendors; both "arrived sealed and with 1.07 firmware.". That same user then updated their units to v2.01 , another interim version that appears to have been unofficially circulated or factory-installed.
This evidence points to a "rolling patch" release schedule. Topping was likely addressing (unknown) stability bugs on the assembly line with v1.07 and v2.01, while early-adopter v1.04 owners were left without a public update path. This created a fragmented user base, where different owners experienced entirely different sets of bugs and stability levels depending on when their unit was manufactured.
The Bug: Users on the AudioScienceReview forum reported that their A70 Pro units would randomly and momentarily stop playing audio. This audio dropout was consistently accompanied by an audible "relay click" from within the unit, after which the sound would resume.
The Community Investigation: One user ("simontomi") performed the high-level diagnostic work that Topping had not. This user noted that the audio cutout could be reliably triggered by a specific audio track and, most critically, that the cutout occurred more frequently when the VU meter display was active. This crucial insight correctly identified the bug as being related to the unit's processing load or a power-draw contention issue, rather than a simple audio path defect.
The "Silent Patch" Fix: This user escalated the issue to their reseller, providing the precise description and steps to reproduce it. The reseller, after contacting Topping, was given a brand-new firmware, v2.02, described as "fresh off the press.". After flashing the v2.02 update, the user reported, "the issue seems to be resolved.".
The Discrepancy: Another user ("Antagron") later confirmed that v2.02 had been uploaded to the official Topping website, but observed, "...the changelog doesn't mention this issue... strange.". This event establishes a clear and deliberate pattern of behavior from the manufacturer:
Official Fix: As previously established, Topping's official documentation only acknowledges a minor visual fix: "Fix the bug where the screen displays abnormally in rare cases.".
Undocumented Critical Fix: The second "smoking gun" of this investigation comes from a Reddit user ("utollwi") who was troubleshooting their amplifier. This user reported:
By installing the v2.05 update, the user's amplifier received a cumulative update that packaged all previous patches. The "list of changes" they received in that single file includes:
It's working extremely well (I need a DAC... right now feeding it audio from an Oppo UDP which is the only thing I have on hand that's a decent DAC) and it's crazy loud, crisp and dynamic with my Sennheiser HD800s. Excited to push it further.
Question - when I powered it up in DFU mode it mentioned firmware 1.04. I was able to upgrade to 2.05 relatively quickly and easily. Is there any information on what actually changed between 1.04 (which I imagine was fairly close to the launch firmware) and the current version? Just curious.
Edit: throwing an AI research model at this, I got the following output in case it's helpful to anyone. I have no idea whether it's accurate. I just wanted to get an idea about what changed and a review of Topping's documentation as well as this thread led to more questions than answers
The summery is a bit damning but my first hand experience after a couple of days with the device is that it works and sounds great. However I may have well missed the juicy teething process!-----
A. Initial Release State (v1.04) and Early Issues
The user's starting point, firmware v1.04, represents the initial launch state of the product. Community discussions from this period indicate that the A70 Pro, in its v1.04 state, was perceived by a segment of users as unstable.Archived user discussions reference significant concerns, including "pops," "volume limiting," and even fears of the amplifier "blowing up headphones" or "bricking". One user, reflecting on their early ownership, noted, "I had some issues early on with mine but they worked themselves out in a few weeks, during which time there were several firmware updates. I can't even remember what the issues were anymore.". This context establishes that the v1.04 firmware was flawed and that Topping began issuing patches (however quietly) to stabilize the product soon after launch.
B. Interim Versions (v1.07, v2.01): The "Factory-Patched" Units
The firmware progression from v1.04 was not linear for the public. Evidence strongly suggests that Topping began addressing bugs on the production line by shipping newer units with interim firmware versions that were not publicly released for existing owners.Forum discussions from late 2023 show this fragmentation. One user mentioned updating from v1.04 to v1.07, indicating v1.07 was a circulated patch. Another user, writing in November 2023, reported purchasing two new, sealed A70 Pro units from different vendors; both "arrived sealed and with 1.07 firmware.". That same user then updated their units to v2.01 , another interim version that appears to have been unofficially circulated or factory-installed.
This evidence points to a "rolling patch" release schedule. Topping was likely addressing (unknown) stability bugs on the assembly line with v1.07 and v2.01, while early-adopter v1.04 owners were left without a public update path. This created a fragmented user base, where different owners experienced entirely different sets of bugs and stability levels depending on when their unit was manufactured.
C. The Critical v2.02 Update: Fixing the "Relay Click" Audio Dropout
Firmware v2.02 represents the most significant, well-documented undocumented fix in the A70 Pro's history. This update addressed a "show-stopper" flaw that multiple users had reported.The Bug: Users on the AudioScienceReview forum reported that their A70 Pro units would randomly and momentarily stop playing audio. This audio dropout was consistently accompanied by an audible "relay click" from within the unit, after which the sound would resume.
The Community Investigation: One user ("simontomi") performed the high-level diagnostic work that Topping had not. This user noted that the audio cutout could be reliably triggered by a specific audio track and, most critically, that the cutout occurred more frequently when the VU meter display was active. This crucial insight correctly identified the bug as being related to the unit's processing load or a power-draw contention issue, rather than a simple audio path defect.
The "Silent Patch" Fix: This user escalated the issue to their reseller, providing the precise description and steps to reproduce it. The reseller, after contacting Topping, was given a brand-new firmware, v2.02, described as "fresh off the press.". After flashing the v2.02 update, the user reported, "the issue seems to be resolved.".
The Discrepancy: Another user ("Antagron") later confirmed that v2.02 had been uploaded to the official Topping website, but observed, "...the changelog doesn't mention this issue... strange.". This event establishes a clear and deliberate pattern of behavior from the manufacturer:
- A critical, product-breaking bug is identified by the community.
- The community is forced to act as a QA department, providing reproducible evidence.
- Topping develops and quietly releases a "silent patch" (v2.02) to fix it.
- The official changelog omits any mention of this critical fix, presumably to avoid public admission of a significant product flaw.
D. The v2.05 Update: The Official vs. The Actual Fixes
The v2.05 firmware, which the user successfully installed, follows the exact same pattern.Official Fix: As previously established, Topping's official documentation only acknowledges a minor visual fix: "Fix the bug where the screen displays abnormally in rare cases.".
Undocumented Critical Fix: The second "smoking gun" of this investigation comes from a Reddit user ("utollwi") who was troubleshooting their amplifier. This user reported:
This report, corroborated by another user in the same discussion , provides the definitive missing piece of the changelog.
By installing the v2.05 update, the user's amplifier received a cumulative update that packaged all previous patches. The "list of changes" they received in that single file includes:
- The initial, unknown stability fixes from the v1.07/v2.01 factory patches that resolved the v1.04-era "pops" and instability.
- The critical v2.02 fix for the "relay click" audio dropout bug.
- The critical v2.05 fix for the non-functional 4.4mm balanced output.
- The minor, and only officially documented, v2.05 fix for the "abnormal screen display".
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