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Topping A90 Headphone Amplifier Review

hmscott

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So are you saying that L M H gain settings on the A90 behave differently when volume matched from the D90 PRE?
Listen for yourself - Explore the options, it's all part of the fun. :)
For high gain, listening Beatle's Here Comes the Sun (24bit/96KHz Qobuz), I only need volume pot at 9.
D90 is in DAC mode, connected to A90 with short XLR cable.

Really like what I hear from the D90+A90 and DT880. Sounds smooth to me, no need EQ anymore. Next gotta try Sennheiser HD650 and Oppo PM1.
That's great, it's wild how the 600 ohm and 250 ohm DT880 follow about the same range on M / H Gain - the 250 ohm also works in L Gain as well, a bit past 12 o'clock on the volume dial.
 
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hmscott

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Yeah, for sure, but was genuinely interested in what you found. I don’t even know - should they even be the same?
I was seriously saying you need to experiment with it yourself, don't be afraid to explore H Gain - starting with the volume all the way down of course - and explore L Gain on normally hard to drive headphones. Explore the range of options for getting the same output level available with the A90 and D90.

Changing the drive of the D90 into the A90 headphone amp can also produce interesting results. The D90 in PRE mode from -3.0dB all the way down to -30dB can drive the A90 adequately with low noise, and allow you room to explore L / M / H Gain with sensitive IEM's.

I can't tell you what you will hear - that's up to your ears, headphones, and ability to listen, but if you have the time - don't we all these days - it's worth exploring the range of gain / drive options for each IEM and headphone.

I find it takes some time to acclimate to the new setting even at the same effective output level. I've found it enjoyable to not necessarily drive the A90 so hard or drive the headphones so hard, back off the volume level output to your ears a bit more than you think necessary and let your ears adjust to the lowered volume and then try that same volume level at each Gain setting adjusting the drive of the A90 as needed to give you enough range on the volume dial.

I hope that helps explain what I said earlier in more detail, explore all the options. :)
 
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Ddd

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Since some only post when they have issue with RCA. So I am here to report that I don't have issue with D90 and A90 connected through RCA. Even with high gain, max volume and HD650 connected to 4.4mm.
Happy for you!

Well.. Not everyone can hear it even maybe it is there. Some people ears are more sensitive towards it maybe? Haha but just gonna XLR connect them and issue solved! Enjoy!
 

Ntrax

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Agree, not everyone can hear it. I can't hear it. I sold it.
 

Veri

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I have my D90 MQA connected to the Smyth A16 Realizer and the A16 connected to the A90... no noise and the pairing is heaven... you should hear the glorious 12 channels per ear in full ATMOS mode...
Any pictures of your set-up? In any case now THAT is something I'd be willing to pay money for to hear for myself :D ;)
 

dixter

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This is the Smyth A16 Realiser stack with the Topping D90 MQA feeding the A16 and the A16 feeding the Topping A90 Amp... The preset loaded into the A16 is the 24 ch Dolby ATMOS speaker setup from the Surrey Recording Studio... so with the A90 Amp feeding the HD800 headphones a Full Atmos 24 ch ( 12 ch per ear ) and virtualized sub woofer in a configuration of 15.1.8 ... I think it sounds fantastic...


IMG_1793s.jpg
 
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Rix403

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Hey ASR, question with the a90. Long time lurker/learner, but now I’m head scratching a bit.
A90 arrived and I found it isn’t performing on my Focal Stellia as well as my M15 dap. There is bass missing in comparison and less ‘slam’.

That said, the desktop set up is using a PS Audio NuWave DSD dac. I know this dac isn’t favoured here, but could it be the culprit vs. a dap with the new AK4499 chip?

My only other guess is since the Stellia is low impedance, perhaps the M15 has a higher current that opens up the bass on the headphone better.

Setup is New MacBook > USB > PS Audio > short RCA > Topping > Balanced to Stellia.

Thanks,
 

Racheski

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This is the Smyth A16 Realizer stack with the Topping D90 MQA feeding the A16 and the A16 feeding the Topping A90 Amp... The preset loaded into the A16 is the 24 ch Dolby ATMOS speaker setup from the Surrey Recording Studio... so with the A90 Amp feeding the HD800 headphones a Full Atmos 24 ch ( 12 ch per ear ) and virtualized sub woofer in a configuration of 15.1.8 ... I think it sounds fantastic... View attachment 76631
That looks insane! But how does the HD800 present all of these different channels if there is only a L and R driver?
 

Racheski

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Hey ASR, question with the a90. Long time lurker/learner, but now I’m head scratching a bit.
A90 arrived and I found it isn’t performing on my Focal Stellia as well as my M15 dap. There is bass missing in comparison and less ‘slam’.

That said, the desktop set up is using a PS Audio NuWave DSD dac. I know this dac isn’t favoured here, but could it be the culprit vs. a dap with the new AK4499 chip?

My only other guess is since the Stellia is low impedance, perhaps the M15 has a higher current that opens up the bass on the headphone better.

Setup is New MacBook > USB > PS Audio > short RCA > Topping > Balanced to Stellia.

Thanks,
Have you tried replacing the PS Audio DAC with a different DAC and/or using XLR cables instead of RCA cables between the DAC and A90?
 

Rix403

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Have you tried replacing the PS Audio DAC with a different DAC and/or using XLR cables instead of RCA cables between the DAC and A90?

I have not tried those yet. Wasn't sure if using XLRs or changing the DAC would be the fix to what I'm experiencing. Just don't want to run out and spend money unnecessarily. I don't have a lot of gear. Just the basics from a stereo system and recently trying out headphones. The dac is borrowed from my stereo. Felt someone here may know where to point the finger, like the dac, rca, M15 having a dsp or colored amp, or maybe there is a difference in the current of the two amps to open the bass & sub-bass of the Stellia. A90 sounds wonderfully clean, though.
 

dixter

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Hey ASR, question with the a90. Long time lurker/learner, but now I’m head scratching a bit.
A90 arrived and I found it isn’t performing on my Focal Stellia as well as my M15 dap. There is bass missing in comparison and less ‘slam’.

That said, the desktop set up is using a PS Audio NuWave DSD dac. I know this dac isn’t favoured here, but could it be the culprit vs. a dap with the new AK4499 chip?

My only other guess is since the Stellia is low impedance, perhaps the M15 has a higher current that opens up the bass on the headphone better.

Setup is New MacBook > USB > PS Audio > short RCA > Topping > Balanced to Stellia.

Thanks,
You might try to hook up the M15 to the A90 via the output jacks of the M15... my choice would be M15 4.4 balanced into a XLR to the A90... for desk top use you would be using the A90 for the Amp while on desktop and not stressing the M15 amps (they can get pretty warm) and then of course you just unplug the M15 for portable use... the A90 in that case would mirror the M15 sound output...
 

Rix403

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You might try to hook up the M15 to the A90 via the output jacks of the M15... my choice would be M15 4.4 balanced into a XLR to the A90... for desk top use you would be using the A90 for the Amp while on desktop and not stressing the M15 amps (they can get pretty warm) and then of course you just unplug the M15 for portable use... the A90 in that case would mirror the M15 sound output...

This could very well be true and a perfect solution, but my M15 is not in hand at this time to try. Loaned out. Was hoping to have a desk top set up that simply out performed it and the dac would be shared with the stereo system.
 

dixter

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That looks insane! But how does the HD800 present all of these different channels if there is only a L and R driver?
The A16 has a special processor in it and there are very specific Atmos Room presets that adhere to a standard Atmos room setup... for example... you can choose a preset that has left and right or left/right/center... then left/right/center/rear surrounds... the preset rooms go all the way up to 24 channels.. an example being 15.1.8 in this case 15 speakers surrounding you... a subwoofer and 8 over head speakers... you can solo each speaker if you want also... and for each of those speaker positions you get to choose what speaker you want... it comes with two speaker sets.. or you can record any speaker you want and place them into the virtual room(s). In order for the speakers to sound perfect you perform a couple of routines that take what ever headphone you want to use and with small microphones in your ears you place the headphones on your head and tones are played and recorded back to the A16 where the headphone frequency response is flattened out so there is no headphone coloration anymore... then you take the microphones out of your ears and play back the flattened frequency response where you get to fine tune the frequencies and their amplitudes depending on your personal hearing ability... so once this is completed, your brain via your ears and headphones is perfectly linear across the frequency band via the headphones... now when you play back source material thru the A16 you get a perfect simulation of the speaker you chose to populate the 24 channels.. its all done with the special processor in the A16... I chose the A90 amp due to its low noise/plenty of power and lack of coloration in the output to the headphones... the HD800 headphone becomes a different headphone with this setup.. its chosen as its open sounding and fairly linear or technical in sound signatures... once you linearize the HD800 then you can feed it your own chosen sound signature... the A16 makes a good sounding headphone a perfect headphone... The D90 MQA was chosen as its a nice clean DAC that works well with TIDAL MQA and I do use the blu tooth with the M11Pro too... so its a good source to feed the A16... the other sources feeding the A16 are my Oppo 4K bluray, Apple TV4K and the Playstation 4... soon to be Playstation 5 :) ...
 
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