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Topping A90 Headphone Amplifier Review

Skinner001

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Received my Topping A90 today. It´s going back. But I believe I learned a lot. THX 789 AAA is likely enough to drive my ether c flow but it´s the design of the thx and topping amps that is lackluster. Neither of these are as transparent as my old yamaha RX-V 440 rds receiver on the ether c flow though they certainly aren´t world apart at all in signature. Actually similar but just the delivery that differs. I can´t get the sense of being there with the A90 and THX the same way there is a veil in them. Dynamics is not the same. They sound dryer despite having compressed dynamics. Biggest difference is in the treble whereas the bass is just so slightly more textured and tighter on the receiver where topping and thx 789 actually do more bass. Again subtle but it makes such a difference. Mid range feels a bit clumsy on the A90 where on the Thx that is at least quite decent.

Now I suppose there is capacitors needing to burnin on the A90 but I lost all faith it can get there.
 

Veri

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Received my Topping A90 today. It´s going back. But I believe I learned a lot. THX 789 AAA is likely enough to drive my ether c flow but it´s the design of the thx and topping amps that is lackluster. Neither of these are as transparent as my old yamaha RX-V 440 rds receiver on the ether c flow though they certainly aren´t world apart at all in signature. Actually similar but just the delivery that differs. I can´t get the sense of being there with the A90 and THX the same way there is a veil in them. Dynamics is not the same. They sound dryer despite having compressed dynamics. Biggest difference is in the treble whereas the bass is just so slightly more textured and tighter on the receiver where topping and thx 789 actually do more bass. Again subtle but it makes such a difference. Mid range feels a bit clumsy on the A90 where on the Thx that is at least quite decent.

Now I suppose there is capacitors needing to burnin on the A90 but I lost all faith it can get there.
You know most receivers have a total afterthought headphone output right? Likely not transparent at all.
 

RHO

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Received my Topping A90 today. It´s going back. But I believe I learned a lot. THX 789 AAA is likely enough to drive my ether c flow but it´s the design of the thx and topping amps that is lackluster. Neither of these are as transparent as my old yamaha RX-V 440 rds receiver on the ether c flow though they certainly aren´t world apart at all in signature. Actually similar but just the delivery that differs. I can´t get the sense of being there with the A90 and THX the same way there is a veil in them. Dynamics is not the same. They sound dryer despite having compressed dynamics. Biggest difference is in the treble whereas the bass is just so slightly more textured and tighter on the receiver where topping and thx 789 actually do more bass. Again subtle but it makes such a difference. Mid range feels a bit clumsy on the A90 where on the Thx that is at least quite decent.

Now I suppose there is capacitors needing to burnin on the A90 but I lost all faith it can get there.
You are just trolling, right?
 

Malaj

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You know most receivers have a total afterthought headphone output right? Likely not transparent at all.
I dont use the headphone output though its quite good on this one but yes heard of that some 7 years ago. Its quite a frustration to not find any dedicated headphone amplifier for magneplanar like lcd 2 or ether c to perform better.
 
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I dont use the headphone output though its quite good on this one but yes heard of that some 7 years ago. Its quite a frustration to not find any dedicated headphone amplifier for magneplanar like lcd 2 or ether c to perform better.

Let me get this straight, you are powering your headphones from the speaker terminals of an old $20 Yamaha av-receiver? Do you mind posting a picture of your set-up so we can see your setup, you using something similar to this,



?
 

Malaj

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Yes similar to first link but with spades :)

20$ is the used price but new then I believe it was well under 400$. I have since then compared it to a yamaha a-s301 and to my ears it perform on the same level but I get better synergy on my old yamaha. Nad C316 i like quite similar level but its noise floor buzz was really aggressive and it appeared to have some spike when booting up which worried me. My old receiver is also way more practical with the lcd screen and digital volume control as you dont have much range for volume adjustment.

Anyway done experiment ING done now but top three amos for my ether c Flow is all speaker amplifiers to my ears just on another level compared to topping a90 and other dedicated headphone amos I tried.

Second link does it have resistors to lower the output? I wouldnt want that I have no kids that can turn the volune up and destroy my headphones anyway :)
 

d2k5000

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I bought a the a90 through Apos audio in June. Sounds great to me. Once you get used to to such low distortion, tube amps just sound fuzzy and gross.

I did have a question about the volume knob. Is it normal for there to be a channel imbalance at very low volumes? It seems to be low enough that it is not a problem, but it is kind of close to listening volume when I use a sensitive iem.
 

Veri

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I bought a the a90 through Apos audio in June. Sounds great to me. Once you get used to to such low distortion, tube amps just sound fuzzy and gross.
Definitely agreeing with you.. :)
 

Atanasi

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I did have a question about the volume knob. Is it normal for there to be a channel imbalance at very low volumes? It seems to be low enough that it is not a problem, but it is kind of close to listening volume when I use a sensitive iem.
It is normal with potentiometers. A90 has about 40 dB of potentiometer range with ± 0.5 dB channel balance. The low gain option gives 9.5 dB more. You can add digital volume control if this is not enough.
 

akelew

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I saw this has a listed frequency response starting at 20hz..?

Does this mean it can't play below 20hz?

Was thinking of running it with some Audeze planars that can go flat to half of that and I listen to EDM which does go that low..
 

RHO

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I saw this has a listed frequency response starting at 20hz..?

Does this mean it can't play below 20hz?

Was thinking of running it with some Audeze planars that can go flat to half of that and I listen to EDM which does go that low..
index.php
 

akelew

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So if its -/+ 0.5db to 10hz why not put that that as the listed frequency response instead of -/+ 0.5db to 20hz?
 

RHO

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So if its -/+ 0.5db to 10hz why not put that that as the listed frequency response instead of -/+ 0.5db to 20hz?
You'll have to ask Topping. ;)
 

Feilong4

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I got a question about using the A90 in pre amp mode. I currently have it hooked up via XLR to a SMSL DA-9 speaker amp.

Is it ideal to have the dial on the A90 on max and control the volume on the DA-9 amp, or safe to have the dial on max on the A90 in pre amp mode (if it would fry the DA-9) and control the volume on the DA-9? I fried a cheap little resistor component before with a speaker amp so just thought I'd ask a stupid question before I do something stupid.
 

murl

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Trying to decide between this and an HPA4. Objectively this looks better and is much cheaper but ive always wanted a benchmark product.
 

enricoclaudio

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Trying to decide between this and an HPA4. Objectively this looks better and is much cheaper but ive always wanted a benchmark product.

I also wanted the HPA4 so bad but changed my mind after reading this comparison review and no regrets.


As a headphone amp only, can't get any better than the A90. If you need a stellar pre amp with headphone amp, then the HPA4 is the way to go.
 

murl

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I also wanted the HPA4 so bad but changed my mind after reading this comparison review and no regrets.


As a headphone amp only, can't get any better than the A90. If you need a stellar pre amp with headphone amp, then the HPA4 is the way to go.
Won't the topping work as a preamp as well?
 

enricoclaudio

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Won't the topping work as a preamp as well?
Yes but only one input, the HPA4 has 2 inputs, remote, touch screen and better volume control. I don’t need a pre amp so the A90 works better for me.
 

murl

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Makes perfect sense thank you for the clarification.

Does anyone see a reason I couldn't use the line out on my element X?
 
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