Topping A90 Headphone Amplifier Review

[AdamG]

Bonjour à tous, tout d'abord je suis français je traduis mes propos via Reverso... désolé !

Jusqu'à présent j'utilisais la sortie casque de mon Naim 272 (Il fait streamer, dac et préamp, prix environ 4500 euros) avec un Focal Clear, je suis abonné à Qobuz Hires. J'étais satisfait de l'écoute et pour avoir comparé plusieurs casques d'ampli entre 500 et 1000 euros, le 272 était meilleur... jusqu'à ce que je décide de commander le A90 suite aux excellents avis que j'ai pu lire...

Le numéro de série est 2110....2022, c'est une fabrication récente ? en tout cas il n'y a aucun défaut, je le trouve de très bonne facture, de qualité, le potard de volume est bon, lisse comme il se doit... J'utilise une sortie RCA ligne de 272 et il n'y a pas de bruit.

Pour l'écoute j'utilise la sortie 6.35 que je préfère à la sortie XLR sur le Clear.
Deux choses importantes à mon avis, remplacer le cordon secteur livré avec le A90 par un meilleur qualité (j'utilise un Neodio PC1 qui va très bien !) et la phase secteur.

Bravo Topping d'avoir conçu un ampli casque de cette qualité pour moins de 500 euros... c'est le meilleur, et de loin, ampli que j'écoute depuis longtemps ! ça me rappelle un Benchmark HPA4 que j'écoutais avec le même casque il y a quelques semaines... douceur mais dynamique, sonorité superbe, aigus raffinés, basses basses tenues... neutres mais dans le bon sens du terme, non chiant, le son change à chaque morceau, s'il est mal enregistré tant pis, mais quand c'est bien enregistré, quel bonheur !!!

Pour conclure, je pense que même s'il n'est pas très cher, comme il est de qualité il faut un dac de grande qualité, sinon il ne fera qu'amplifier les défauts... Merci de m'avoir lu !

Please post in English in the future. Thank you kindly for your assistance and understanding. Welcome Aboard Sir!

Translated:

Hello everyone, first of all I'm French, I'm translating my remarks via Reverso... sorry!

Until now I was using the headphone output of my Naim 272 (It is a streamer, dac and preamp, price around 4500 euros) with a Focal Clear, I subscribe to Qobuz Hires. I was satisfied with the listening and having compared several amplifier headphones between 500 and 1000 euros, the 272 was better... until I decided to order the A90 following the excellent opinions I could read...

The serial number is 2110....2022, is it a recent manufacture? in any case there is no defect, I find it to be of very good quality, the volume knob is good, smooth as it should be... I use an RCA line output of 272 and it does not there is no noise.

For listening I use the 6.35 output which I prefer to the XLR output on the Clear.
Two important things in my opinion, replacing the power cord delivered with the A90 with a better quality one (I use a Neodio PC1 which is fine!) and the mains phase.

Bravo Topping for having designed a headphone amp of this quality for less than 500 euros... it's the best, by far, amp I've been listening to for a long time! it reminds me of a Benchmark HPA4 that I listened to with the same headphones a few weeks ago... soft but dynamic, superb sound, refined treble, bass low bass... neutral but in a good way, not boring, the sound changes with each piece, if it's badly recorded too bad, but when it's well recorded, what happiness!!!

To conclude, I think that even if it is not very expensive, as it is of quality you need a high quality dac, otherwise it will only amplify the faults... Thank you for reading me!

 

[registlse]

Thank you and sorry I thought I posted in English...

 

[Veri]

Bravo Topping for having designed a headphone amp of this quality for less than 500 euros... it's the best, by far, amp I've been listening to for a long time! it reminds me of a Benchmark HPA4 that I listened to with the same headphones a few weeks ago...

They should be similar indeed

 

[slave of JESUS]

Kindly Greeting everyone from ASR!
I'm not just asking out of curiosity.
I wondering if it's worth buying a stack.
Does anyone have PERSONAL experience with DT1990 + A90 + D90SE(LE) stack?
Or DT1990 + A90 + X16?
Which stack is better in terms of clarity on mid's and high's?
Does anybody compare A/B A90 with X16 and D90SE(LE)?
Who have PERSNONAL expirience with both unit's?
Thanks in advance for YOUR response's!

 

[Veri]

Which stack is better in terms of clarity on mid's and high's?

Neither will change the mids and highs of your DT1990. You would need EQ for that, like autoEQ or sonaworks. Or invest in different headphones

 

[slave of JESUS]

Neither will change the mids and highs of your DT1990. You would need EQ for that, like autoEQ or sonaworks. Or invest in different headphones

Thank YOU for response!
Is there a better headphones for mixing and mastering under 1k that have superior mid's and high's compared to 1990?
Is it possible to get clearer sound for A90 with other DAC + headphones combo under 2k?
I already have A90.

 

[escalibur]

Kindly Greeting everyone from ASR!
I'm not just asking out of curiosity.
I wondering if it's worth buying a stack.
Does anyone have PERSONAL experience with DT1990 + A90 + D90SE(LE) stack?
Or DT1990 + A90 + X16?
Which stack is better in terms of clarity on mid's and high's?
Does anybody compare A/B A90 with X16 and D90SE(LE)?
Who have PERSNONAL expirience with both unit's?
Thanks in advance for YOUR response's!

I recommend you to give a try to Dekoni Elite Velour pads.

DT 1990 Pro

back to Beyerdynamic back to measurements home published: Jul-16-2017, updated: Oct-03-2021 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘iro…

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

 

[Phoney]

My A30 Pro never went past 50% volume on mid gain with -6db preamp gain on the HE6se v2. I sold the HE6se to someone with the A90, and he says he is nearly on max volume on high gain with it and that it is clipping and distorting? Maybe this has been answered before, but I find it very strange. I had another guy tell me before that he didn't feel like the A90 was driving the HE6se properly, but I didn't believe him at the time.

 

[maxxevv]

My A30 Pro never went past 50% volume on mid gain with -6db preamp gain on the HE6se v2. I sold the HE6se to someone with the A90, and he says he is nearly on max volume on high gain with it and that it is clipping and distorting? Maybe this has been answered before, but I find it very strange. I had another guy tell me before that he didn't feel like the A90 was driving the HE6se properly, but I didn't believe him at the time.

Perhaps you should ask them what's their source too.

Their DAC / playback source may not be supplying the full 2V / 4V to the A90. Thus output may be lower than what the amp is capable of.

May LGV40 plays significantly louder than my alternate phone an Unidigi when routed through the same Matrix headphone amp direct outputing to the same headphone (not the HE6se ) of mine.

 

[Phoney]

Perhaps you should ask them what's their source too.

Their DAC / playback source may not be supplying the full 2V / 4V to the A90. Thus output may be lower than what the amp is capable of.

May LGV40 plays significantly louder than my alternate phone an Unidigi when routed through the same Matrix headphone amp direct outputing to the same headphone (not the HE6se ) of mine.

They both used 4v dacs.

 

[Blorg]

My A30 Pro never went past 50% volume on mid gain with -6db preamp gain on the HE6se v2. I sold the HE6se to someone with the A90, and he says he is nearly on max volume on high gain with it and that it is clipping and distorting? Maybe this has been answered before, but I find it very strange. I had another guy tell me before that he didn't feel like the A90 was driving the HE6se properly, but I didn't believe him at the time.

Is he using the balanced out? Balanced out on the A90 is almost 4x the power of the SE. The A30 Pro doesn't have this variance with all outputs being single ended but powerful. Balanced on the A90 is similar power (only slightly higher) to single ended on the A30 Pro.

With the HE6SE V2 I'm usually at or below 12 o'clock on high gain balanced on the A90, using Oratory1990's Harman EQ which has a -5.5dB preamp.

The music he listens to could also impact this, like classical tends to be mastered with more dynamic range but a quieter overall level. I don't have an issue listening to classical on it either though, although I might be a little up from 12 o'clock then.

The A90 really should be enough for the HE6SE though IMO, and balanced it does have very slightly more power than the A30 Pro (not so much it should make any difference though). I couldn't listen for a sustained period anywhere near the max power in high gain. 12 o'clock in mid gain would sound a little quiet to me though.

 

[Phoney]

Is he using the balanced out? Balanced out on the A90 is almost 4x the power of the SE. The A30 Pro doesn't have this variance with all outputs being single ended but powerful. Balanced on the A90 is similar power (only slightly higher) to single ended on the A30 Pro.

With the HE6SE V2 I'm usually at or below 12 o'clock on high gain balanced on the A90, using Oratory1990's Harman EQ which has a -5.5dB preamp.

The music he listens to could also impact this, like classical tends to be mastered with more dynamic range but a quieter overall level. I don't have an issue listening to classical on it either though, although I might be a little up from 12 o'clock then.

The A90 really should be enough for the HE6SE though IMO, and balanced it does have very slightly more power than the A30 Pro (not so much it should make any difference though). I couldn't listen for a sustained period anywhere near the max power in high gain. 12 o'clock in mid gain would sound a little quiet to me though.

Yes everything was balanced, no problems with settings or anything. These guys allways run everything balanced. I saw there has been reports on issues with A90 and HE6se with other members here aswell.

 

[Blorg]

Yes everything was balanced, no problems with settings or anything. These guys allways run everything balanced. I saw there has been reports on issues with A90 and HE6se with other members here aswell.

It's possible he just listens very loud, but it would be very loud, louder than I can go, louder than is good for you. The HE6SE is a genuinely hard to power headphone and it will be quieter than basically anything else at the same volume position. The HE6SE is the only headphone I can go to or slightly beyond 12 o'clock on high gain on the A90, although that's with a -5.5dB preamp.

People do listen at different volumes and at the top end the power required for a small volume increase is exponential, you do go from not that much power to a huge amount of power very quickly.

The thing about the "more power" nuts and the HE6SE though, who will claim the A90 isn't enough and you need more than the 5W (!) into 50Ω the A90 does. A lot of these people who run it off speaker amps and put insane amounts into it end up breaking the headphone. While there are definitely QC issues with the HE6SE I do wonder if this is connected, there seems to be a correlation between driver failure / stuck membranes and "it needs 40-50W off a speaker amp" or "I had a +27dB sub bass boost".

 

[Devian]

I want to tell you an interesting story.
3 mixing engineers(10+ years of mixing), two LCD-X(2021 edition) headphones and Apogee Duet2.

3 amplifiers for AB:

Topping A90
Rupert Neve RNHP
SPL Phonitor One

The price range is $500-$600

Rupert Neve RNHP was an obvious winner. Warm, Transparent, very comfortable for mixing. Coloration is OK for work.

SPL Phonitor was so so. But the biggest disappointment is Topping A90. It has the best measurement on paper( according to audiosciencereview ).
The sound was disliked by everybody. Muddy bass, strange mids and highs, and very annoying dark coloration. It was clearly heared on LCD-X.

So, I do not believe in measurements after this AB testing. I'm selling my topping and getting RNHP. Another friend took RNHP after this test for his LCD-X.

I've also checked topping as a volume control for Amphion One15. This dark coloration just ruins all music on amphions. Everything sounds live "dark velvet" with the lost of details.

 

[Blorg]

Muddy bass, strange mids and highs, and very annoying dark coloration.

That sounds like the LCD-X all right.

 

[Devian]

That sounds like the LCD-X all right.

View attachment 234476

Could you show me the headphones with flat frequency response?
So, do you want to tell me that LCD-X are not suitable to AB the amps or DACs? Thats funny.

 

[bahamot]

If dac and headphone amps has flat FR, and you don't like how the stack sounds from your headphones... what does it tell you? you don't like your headphones FR.

 

[Devian]

If dac and headphone amps has flat FR, and you don't like how the stack sounds from your headphones... what does it tell you? you don't like your headphones FR.

I bought topping a90 one year ago. I'm using motu 1248 as a source with good cables (Sommer Carbocab 225).
And I prefer to plug LCD-X into the motu1248 headphones jack instead of topping.
I plug LCD-X to the topping and hear a loss of details and colorisation. 1 minute of listening to the topping and I want to go back to the motu.
Motu sounds less punchy and less solid, but it's more neutral and preserve more details in sound.

I love my LCD-X. They sounds very different when DAC/AMP is changed. It proofs the high quality of the headphones.

I also have Fostex TR-50 and HD25. HD25 sounds interesting on topping, but HD25 is not LCD-X

 

[mediocrebutarrogant]

I bought topping a90 one year ago. I'm using motu 1248 as a source with good cables (Sommer Carbocab 225).
And I prefer to plug LCD-X into the motu1248 headphones jack instead of topping.
I plug LCD-X to the topping and hear a loss of details and colorisation. 1 minute of listening to the topping and I want to go back to the motu.
Motu sounds less punchy and less solid, but it's more neutral and preserve more details in sound.

I love my LCD-X. They sounds very different when DAC/AMP is changed. It proofs the high quality of the headphones.

I also have Fostex TR-50 and HD25. HD25 sounds interesting on topping, but HD25 is not LCD-X

you clearly have something wrong going on. LCD x is an easy to drive headphone, its advertised as no amp needed plug into any 3.5 mm jack. what EQ profile are you using ?From my limited experience , while they say topping amps lack soul, even L30 makes me weep with me sundaras. Got the A90D from sweden for 400 euro on ebay on the way lol

 

[Devian]

you clearly have something wrong going on. LCD x is an easy to drive headphone, its advertised as no amp needed plug into any 3.5 mm jack. what EQ profile are you using ?From my limited experience , while they say topping amps lack soul, even L30 makes me weep with me sundaras. Got the A90D from sweden for 400 euro on ebay on the way lol

It's not about the power. Gain: L with 12 oclock volume is enough.
I've tried to use realphones with built-in profie for lcd-x(2021) and tried to use it with no profile. It doesn't change the "topping effect"
Topping really degrades details in sound to my ears and put every track into the darkness.