Topping B100 Amplifier Review

[Zwepp]

Two of my least favorite things in an amplifier combined: monoblock and external PSU
And it barely has enough power to drive some bookshelves. Well, one. Not exactly sure who this product is aimed at.

It's always funny to me that there are so many people who are more power hungry than the average (bookshelf) speaker. I've powered a whole lot of speakers with the 25/50 watts Wadia 151 PowerDAC Mini with great succes. Think about Kef LS50 Meta, JBL HDI-3600, Linn Majik 109, Mission 752 Freedom etc... This Topping amp will do great for many, many users.

 

[WillBrink]

I think the target market is people who don't need a lot of power, but want very clean amplification.

Not everyone needs a lot of power. For example, take a 4 ohm speaker with 86dB/1W sensitivity. This amplifier will drive it to over 104 dB. Assume that the listener listens at 80 dB. There still is 24 dB of available headroom. Moreover, many speakers encounter high distortion and compression above 100 dB, and probably should not be pushed that hard anyway.

As an example, my first home audio amplifier was a Rotel 20W/channel integrated amplifier. I used it with SpeakerCraft No. 4 speakers. I don't recall their sensitivity, but it probably was somewhere around 89 dB or so. That system played plenty loud for me, without distortion, even in a very open room.

If you can get 104db from a speaker with 86db of sensitivity and still have headroom, that makes sense for some. Thanx. I have to admit I'm programed to automatically want more power then that amp supplies, yet rarely listen to music above 90db with some 95db peaks.

 

[Cbdb2]

That's with a 20kHz measurement bandwidth. The harmonics are falling off the measurement. Amir is only measuring one harmonic of 20kHz and it's already shooting up. Don't let Topping's AP plots deceive you.

Why would harmonics above 40khz matter? The IMD of the 32 tone test is very clean in the audible range.

 

[Mnyb]

You have to consider distance from the speaker sitting a desktop distance in a small room is diffrent , another meter distant and your down 6dB more for the direct sound , if you an open plan house then the room would not support much so the 104 dB a meter from the speaker is not that in many peoples listening position ? rather 94 dB ?

 

[DanielT]

As an example, my first home audio amplifier was a Rotel 20W/channel integrated amplifier. I used it with SpeakerCraft No. 4 speakers. I don't recall their sensitivity, but it probably was somewhere around 89 dB or so. That system played plenty loud for me, without distortion, even in a very open room.

Was it a Rotel RA-920AX?

What is preferable? An amplifier with 20 watts RMS but with 75 Music Power vs an amplifier with 50 watts in 8 Ohm where, if I understand Amir correctly, there is no extra temporary, short-term power to be extracted because the amplifier's protection circuit kicks in?

Perhaps it should be added that Rotel only mentions Music Power. However, the conditions under which this Music Power operates are not mentioned:

Rotel RA-920AX Stereo Integrated Amplifier Manual | HiFi Engine

www.hifiengine.com

 

[usern]

You are kidding, right?

It has no power of significance and yet it claims to be a "power" amplifier. It's a medium powered 50wpc mono, plugpack supplied little box with poor ventilation and no features. It's also expensive at USD$600 for a pair.
It shuts down when a 4R load is presented.
It has no ability in dynamic or short term bursts.
Its continuous power output is in excess of the capabilities of the supplied power supply ratings.

Amir has not presented any compliant continuous power output tests for this little Topping box. What he did do, caused it to shutdown. LOL.

There's no compliant testing here in relation to power output claims or power output performance.

Could you provide a resource that does such testing for audio electronics and presents them publicly?

And you really seem to dislike Topping or other Chinese manufacturers.

 

[antcollinet]

Was it a Rotel RA-920AX?

What is preferable? An amplifier with 20 watts RMS but with 75 Music Power vs an amplifier with 50 watts in 8 Ohm where, if I understand Amir correctly, there is no extra temporary, short-term power to be extracted because the amplifier's protection circuit kicks in?

Perhaps it should be added that Rotel only mentions Music Power. However, the conditions under which this Music Power operates are not mentioned:

View attachment 392670

Rotel RA-920AX Stereo Integrated Amplifier Manual | HiFi Engine

www.hifiengine.com

From what I remember of "music power" it is not a short term transient power capability - it is just the peak of the RMS power (x 1.4) doubled to account for the 2 channels. It was a way for cheap ass manufacturers to make their amps look as though they have much more power than they really have.

This 50WRMS amp would be rated as about 140W Music power. It is basically a lie.

 

[terryforsythe]

You have to consider distance from the speaker sitting a desktop distance in a small room is diffrent , another meter distant and your down 6dB more for the direct sound , if you an open plan house then the room would not support much so the 104 dB a meter from the speaker is not that in many peoples listening position ? rather 94 dB ?

The numbers I provided were for a single speaker. Remember, you probably would have two speakers, which adds +3dB. So, compared to a single speaker measured at 1m, two speakers measured at 2m will be down about -3dB. If we assume two 4 ohm speakers with 86dB/1W sensitivity, at 2m you still will get to over 101 dB. If the speakers are 86dB/2W (2.83V), you still get to over 98 dB at 2m. That, in my opinion, is plenty of headroom for someone who listens to their music at moderate volume. Moreover, at those levels, many bookshelf speakers will be exhibiting relatively high levels of distortion and compression, and probably should not be played that loud.

 

[terryforsythe]

Was it a Rotel RA-920AX?

I don't remember the model. It was back in the mid 80's.

 

[REK2575]

Terrific measured performance at reasonable cost, combined with dubious build-quality & reliability, nonexistent customer support, and guaranteed to be abandoned by the manufacturer when they churn out yet another new model in about 10-12 months ... Yup, it's another Topping.

 

[DanielT]

From what I remember of "music power" it is not a short term transienet power capability - it is just the peak of the RMS power (x 1.4) doubled to account for the 2 channels. It was a way for cheap ass manufacturers to make their amps look as though they have much more power than they really have.

This 50WRMS amp would be rated as about 140W Music power. It is basically a lie.

Interesting.Thanks for the clarification.

I didn't think Rotel would venture into such murky power waters.

 

[Mnyb]

You have to try it ? If it actually drives your speakers with all programm material to all levels you want ? Then it’s a good contender.

Me I’m a bit spoiled with all active speakers I’ve had ?

So maybe the B200 or AHB2 cuts it ? But I would probably throw some high powered class-D at a passive speaker

 

[antcollinet]

Interesting.Thanks for the clarification.

I didn't think Rotel would venture into such murky power waters.

I think at the time they had to quote it because the competition (the likes of Amstrad) were using it as their headline power rating. At least they specified the real power ratings first.

I remember looking at Amstrad (or radio shack) ghetto blasters with big posters next to them saying things like 100W PMPO. (Peak music power output)

 

[ex audiophile]

what do you need that level of power for?

I don’t think we need to go there. Amir has 1000 watt amps, others are fine with 50. @restorer-john is an expert and I thought many of us would appreciate his opinion.

 

[totti1965]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping B100 "monoblock" amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $299.
View attachment 392530
I was surprised by the desktop/low profile of the amplifier. I expected something a lot taller/chunkier especially since this is a class B amplifier and not class D. Power supply is of course external:
View attachment 392531
Nice to see balanced input, three gain settings and trigger input.

The front panel power button is touch sensitive. You have to learn to just touch and remove your finger for it to power on. When it goes into protection, you have to hold it until error codes disappear and then touch again for powering up.

A wish for a follow up version is a series of tall color LED bars going from left to right for visual enjoyment. Kind of like this:

If you are not familiar with my power amplifier audio measurements, please watch this tutorial:

Topping B100 Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with balanced input at low gain:
View attachment 392532
Distortion is vanishingly low at -141 dB. Power supply spikes are taller than it actually. So we are left with noise which is limited by the analyzer. Still, the B100 manages to grab the top spot in our rankings:
View attachment 392538
I know, there is no gain there so let's go up to medium gain:
View attachment 392539
Performance is essentially the same as we again, limited by analyzer inherent noise. This requires a bit higher than 4.5 volt to reach max power. So let's test high gain:
View attachment 392540
Now we see a bit more noise limiting SINAD. But even then, we are better than threshold of hearing.

I hope you are using this amplifier with balanced connection but in case you are not, here are the measurements using RCA at medium and high gains (latter needs less than 1 volt for full power):

View attachment 392541

Edit: this should say high gain, not low:
View attachment 392542

Check out this stunning performance in noise department at 5 watts and max power:
View attachment 392543
View attachment 392544

From here on I will stay with medium gain using XLR balanced input.
View attachment 392545

We can tell from above graph that there is no increase in distortion at higher frequencies. As a result, our 19+20 kHz result remains excellent as well:
View attachment 392546

Not being a class D amplifier, there is no concern regarding load dependency (an issue with some class D amps):
View attachment 392547

The protection circuit is aggressive with 4 ohm load, not allowing the amplifier to go into clipping:
View attachment 392548
This means that if you hear any distortion, it is somewhere else and not in the power amplifier. I tried to measure power at 1% THD but the protection circuit would not allow it. THD would remain incredibly low and then shut down if I increased input voltage. So 86 watts is what you get for max and peak power. Company spec is 83 watts which is an honest assessment. They do spec 100 watts at < 1% THD which I probably could achieve if I tried harder.

Let's not how the B100 blows the competition out of water with respect to noise level. It was so low that I had to move the graph up to see its results above! The analyzer noise actually takes over around 30 watts as it changes its gain to accommodate higher voltage (the step up).

8 Ohm measurement does allow clipping due to lower currents required:
View attachment 392549

Once again we see the massive gap in noise and distortion vs our reference blue line. We are talking 25 dB!

Even more amazing is the fact that B100 maintains its superlative performance at all frequencies, down to 20 Hz!
View attachment 392552

Amplifier is ready on power up although I did overserve a tiny improvement after a few minutes:
View attachment 392550

The amplifier only got modestly warm after the power testing:

View attachment 392551

P.S. I don't have PowerCube measurements for you due to aforementioned aggressive protection circuit, not allowing me to measure peak power.

Edit: forgot the power on/off noise:
View attachment 392594

Conclusions
Topping is clearly its own competition, constantly pushing the envelop in noise and distortion. Even when you get used to them delivering on these fronts, they come up with this amplifier where test after test shows excellence in engineering and utmost dedication to highest levels of fidelity. All of this comes in a compact enclosure with a reasonable cost. I have no choice but to bow to their mission and abilities.

It is my absolute pleasure to recommend the Topping B100 monolock amplifier.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

@amirm: Thank you so much for this amazing test!
How it comes, that on Toppings website the frequency range is minus 0.5 dB @ 100 kHz (@ 4 Ohms)
(So it is a Bandwith for also hearing Short wave radio); but if YOU measure the best
Topping amps it is about minus 2.5 dB @ 100 kHz, which is kind of „normal“ very very good (twice as wide as Hypex)
I guess it is something systematically and has to do with the Audio Precision APx555 set up and not with
„Bandwith cheating“ of Topping?


https://www.audiophonics.fr/img/cms/Images/Produits/19K/19759/desc-mesures.jpg

 

[Negatywny]

Terrific measured performance at reasonable cost, combined with dubious build-quality & reliability, nonexistent customer support, and guaranteed to be abandoned by the manufacturer when they churn out yet another new model in about 10-12 months ... Yup, it's another Topping.

yeah, they cut the support after a year and tetris swill stop working xD

 

[vert]

FWIW I've had zero issues with my either my Topping, SMSL or Loxjie devices. I do appreciate what those Chinese manufacturers are doing when so many are stuck in the 1990s. It's called... innovating.

 

[EJ3]

True.

But, there are many, many amplifiers on the market with internal power supplies. Nothing wrong with targeting a certain market segment that does not mind, or even prefers, an external power supply.

An advantage to having an external power supply is that if it fails, it can be replaced fairly inexpensively without sending the amplifier out for repair. It also makes it easier to diagnose whether a problem is due to the power supply - if you have a problem with one amplifier, plug it into the other amplifier's power supply and see if it works.

I am not in the market for one. But, at the desk, I find an external power supply on an electrical cord to be an annoying thing that I end up kicking around and in the homes main system, it has to be somehow hidden. I am definitely not the customer for it.

 

[EJ3]

It's always funny to me that there are so many people who are more power hungry than the average (bookshelf) speaker. I've powered a whole lot of speakers with the 25/50 watts Wadia 151 PowerDAC Mini with great succes. Think about Kef LS50 Meta, JBL HDI-3600, Linn Majik 109, Mission 752 Freedom etc... This Topping amp will do great for many, many users.

In my current home, I'll agree. But I am used to having a living room (where the stereo resides) with about 5 times the cubic volume to deal with. And I will have that again, one day. So, if it's not at least 100 watts a channel @ 8 OHMS, (and close to double @ 4 ohms) it's just not going to do it for me.

 

[Negatywny]

I need to go and post under 200W amp thread that this amp is not for me, cause i don't need so much power
Oh, and the internal power supply isn't my prefered solution also. So yeah, things aren't grate here, and i hope they'll change xD
And i'll remind my opinion every two pages: Yeah people, this amp doesn't EXACTLY MEET MY NEEDS, YOU KNOW?