Topping A90 Headphone Amplifier Review

[auronthas]

hi, i just received A90, initially thought it should be easy to drive my HE4XX , but I was wrong, I need to set to high gain and dial to 12 o'clock , listening to classical music. Other genres, probably medium gain , 3-4 o'clock should be alright. My initial impression.

 

[Jimbob54]

Any word on the street about the power amp. I'm just waiting to see if anyone on this planet has the capacity to produce something to dethrone the ABH2 after half a decade of dominance.

Pre amp. Not power.

Edit ignore, I can't read!

 

[jae]

Any word on the street about the power amp. I'm just waiting to see if anyone on this planet has the capacity to produce something to dethrone the ABH2 after half a decade of dominance.

Price to performance wise, the purifi and hypex stuff is definitely a contender at one third the price of the ABH2. But it would still be nice to see a complete product in a competitive price range that doesn't use those modules.

I think there were some talks of a topping power amp but it is far into the future. Keep an eye on SMSL's implementation of the infineon stuff at the lower end of things

 

[w1000i]

hi, i just received A90, initially thought it should be easy to drive my HE4XX , but I was wrong, I need to set to high gain and dial to 12 o'clock , listening to classical music. Other genres, probably medium gain , 3-4 o'clock should be alright. My initial impression.

What is your DAC? use maximum out of your DAC to the amp

 

[EchoChamber]

Price to performance wise, the purifi and hypex stuff is definitely a contender at one third the price of the ABH2. But it would still be nice to see a complete product in a competitive price range that doesn't use those modules.

I think there were some talks of a topping power amp but it is far into the future. Keep an eye on SMSL's implementation of the infineon stuff at the lower end of things

I vouch for the Purifi modules, I have the Nord Three SE 1ET400 MKII Monos. Best amps I’ve ever had in my 20+ years of being a mad, but practical, audiophile - I never had that level of transparency and detail retrieval without perceived distortion. It made me rethink my whole system. And then I found this forum...

 

[boXem]

Price to performance wise, the purifi and hypex stuff is definitely a contender at one third the price of the ABH2. But it would still be nice to see a complete product in a competitive price range that doesn't use those modules.

I think there were some talks of a topping power amp but it is far into the future. Keep an eye on SMSL's implementation of the infineon stuff at the lower end of things

Some days ago I took the time to compare ABH2 to 1ET400A in ASR measurements. If I remember well, the ABH2 is better only in the noise compartment. For all other metrics performance is the same, or the 1ET400A wins.
So the 1ET400A is a contender in performance at lower price. It wins in performance / price.
In my humble opinion, low distortion amplification at low price will not come from using Infineon / TI / ST chips. Time will tell.

 

[EchoChamber]

looks lovely and with a MQA sticker = end game my usual question: where did you get it, how long did it take to arrive and how much?

I bought the A90 and D90 from Apos and paid $499 and $799 respectively (no discounts). I chose the free shipping option but they kindly upgraded shipping to express to avoid long delays (without me asking).
Both units shipped together in one package from mainland China to New Jersey on Wednesday and arrived at my door yesterday (Saturday).

 

[EchoChamber]

Some days ago I took the time to compare ABH2 to 1ET400A in ASR measurements. If I remember well, the ABH2 is better only in the noise compartment. For all other metrics performance is the same, or the 1ET400A wins.
So the 1ET400A is a contender in performance at lower price. It wins in performance / price.
In my humble opinion, low distortion amplification at low price will not come from using Infineon / TI / ST chips. Time will tell.

A little off topic, but this is how the Nord implementation of the Purifi modules looks:

 

[raif71]

hi, i just received A90, initially thought it should be easy to drive my HE4XX , but I was wrong, I need to set to high gain and dial to 12 o'clock , listening to classical music. Other genres, probably medium gain , 3-4 o'clock should be alright. My initial impression.

I'm assuming you're not using balanced. Go for balanced if you want more power

 

[Jimbob54]

I'm assuming you're not using balanced. Go for balanced if you want more power

Also, got any kind of volume normalising going on in player apps?

 

[MalinYamato]

A dedicated Pre-amp from Topping, to come later.

What!? A90 + D90 MQA, not end-game, after all Do I also need a pre90 Why? Is there anything else I need?

 

[Jimbob54]

What!? A90 + D90 MQA, not end-game, after all Do I also need a pre90 Why? Is there anything else I need?

Need, no. Want, probably

 

[Veri]

What!? A90 + D90 MQA, not end-game, after all Do I also need a pre90 Why? Is there anything else I need?

A90 already has a stellar pre functionality though so if you own that stack it can do all you'd want, already A90 is not remote motorised though, of course.

 

[rurika]

Got A90 today. Very surprise cause I hadn't thought DHL deliver on Sunday. Will play with it tonight.

 

[BDWoody]

Got A90 today. Very surprise cause I hadn't thought DHL deliver on Sunday. Will play with it tonight.

After that, maybe you can spend some time with your new A90!

 

[auronthas]

What is your DAC? use maximum out of your DAC to the amp

D90, set to DAC mode

 

[w1000i]

D90, set to DAC mode

What other mode ? if you can use preamp mode and raise the output to max.

 

[rjley]

D90, set to DAC mode

What does that mean, setting the D90 to dac mode? It's a dac.

 

[EchoChamber]

What does that mean, setting the D90 to dac mode? It's a dac.

It bypasses the volume control. The output is fixed in DAC mode.

 

[rjley]

It bypasses the volume control. The output is fixed in DAC mode.

Just trying to understand what that accomplishes and how to make that setting?