Topping A90 Headphone Amplifier Review

[Veri]

You are not wrong at all. Indeed THX brighter or A90 warmer.

I disagree with such statements. The 789 has never, not once sounded bright to me. Nor would I expect it to .....

 

[Ntrax]

I disagree with such statements. The 789 has never, not once sounded bright to me. Nor would I expect it to .....

Then the A90 is warmer.. hehe if that's make you feel better.

 

[bahamot]

Oppo PM1 and A90 sounds really nice. Much prefer the combo over A90+HD650 and A90+DT880.

 

[Ddd]

Just sharing some info.

Just in case anyone want to use another external amplifier using A90 to duplicate a XLR 4V passthrough

Pre Amp out 4V
Mid gain.
Roughly around 2 O clock position

Enjoy.

 

[Ddd]

I disagree with such statements. The 789 has never, not once sounded bright to me. Nor would I expect it to .....

Haha.

THX never sounded bright.

THX only sounded brighter when compare to A90.

And

A90 only sounded warmer when compare to THX.

Depend where is your reference point.
Any how, both are good sounding amp.

 

[Veri]

Any how, both are good sounding amp.

Agreed!

 

[Ntrax]

You are not wrong at all. Indeed THX brighter or A90 warmer.

Indeed...I'm comparing those both. But you don't want to accept, like having warm amp is a disgrace...lol

 

[NDC]

I just ordered the A90... turning into a bit of a Topping-dominated gear list in my signature and I regret nothing.

 

[Veri]

I just ordered the A90... turning into a bit of a Topping-dominated gear list in my signature and I regret nothing.

Enjoy! It is an awesome piece of kit.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

i'm thinking about getting one now....does a90 drive "hard" headphones like HE6 to great extend? Been hearing good things about it!

 

[Veri]

i'm thinking about getting one now....does a90 drive "hard" headphones like HE6 to great extend? Been hearing good things about it!

If you use 4-pin XLR or 4.4mm balanced outputs then yeah, it has crazy amount of power on tap. Especially when using with 4V balanced DAC input.

 

[frogmeat69]

i'm thinking about getting one now....does a90 drive "hard" headphones like HE6 to great extend? Been hearing good things about it!

I have the HE6se, and it drives those cans just fine through the balanced outputs.

 

[NDC]

Hey all, can you plug two headphones into the A90 simultaneously - e.g. one in SE out, one in balanced out? Does this cause any issues?

 

[NDC]

Yes. But don't recommend it when the paralleled impedance is lower than 8ohm.
For example there's no issue if you connect two 45ohm planars and a hd660s. But connect two Aeon may be a little too much for my recommendation for disclaimer. You should be fine majority of the time tho.

Found an answer earlier in the thread. Assume I should be fine with a HE4xx in balanced + Sennheiser HD58x in the SE

 

[Veri]

Found an answer earlier in the thread. Assume I should be fine with a HE4xx in balanced + Sennheiser HD58x in the SE

Should work OK HD58x is a low load.

 

[daclogic]

@JohnYang1997 can you tell me the ohm output on RCA and XLR when used as a preamp? (apologies if I have missed it in the previous 66 ages)

 

[JohnYang1997]

@JohnYang1997 can you tell me the ohm output on RCA and XLR when used as a preamp? (apologies if I have missed it in the previous 66 ages)

20/40

 

[Berdugo]

Anyone having a contact issue with the supplied power cable ? And even with other power cables ? Here's a video with the supplied power cable, the cable is inserted as deep as possible here :

The cable has to be in a specific position for the amp to turn on, it's a bit annoying. I don't know if it's related, but like other people, I hear a hiss when moving my mouse, probably a grounding issue since my former headphone amp was not grounded and did not exhibit that problem. Using the Isoearth function of my iFi iUSB 3.0 helps mitigate the noise, but does not eliminate it entirely.

Other than that, I'm loving that amp.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Anyone having a contact issue with the supplied power cable ? And even with other power cables ? Here's a video with the supplied power cable, the cable is inserted as deep as possible here :

The cable has to be in a specific position for the amp to turn on, it's a bit annoying. I don't know if it's related, but like other people, I hear a hiss when moving my mouse, probably a grounding issue since my former headphone amp was not grounded and did not exhibit that problem. Using the Isoearth function of my iFi iUSB 3.0 helps mitigate the noise, but does not eliminate it entirely.

Other than that, I'm loving that amp.

Noted

 

[JohnYang1997]

In the meantime I recommend not to use the device and disconnect the cable. This is for the safety both for you and your headphones. Even though we implemented protection circuits. We cannot guarantee the state of operation.