Topping B100 Amplifier Review

[renaudrenaud]

A magnificent style exercise succeeded by Topping...

But the price is way too high for the actually useful performance it offers due to relatively little power (although in 1975 it would have been considered a powerful amp...). And external power supplies are a pain.

If reliability is there (we hope that lessons have been learned from a previous catastrophic amp model from this point of view), this amp would be the perfect companion for a high-efficiency horn-mounted speaker: transparency, absence of breath and noise in the bass...
And even, let's face it, with a pair of 90 dB sensitivity speakers, whose impedance does not fall below 4 ohms, installed in a 30 m2 living room, listened to at a distance of 3 m from listen...


PS. There are still six voters who rated this amp poorly: we wonder on what measurement bases...

At the moment you live in Paris or London, you are happy with a 30m2 living room. So I guess there is a large number of people interested in stellar performance for low price and living in 80m2.

 

[VMAT4]

Tiny 8341A contains 250 W for Bass (Class D) +150 W for Midrange (Class D) +150 W for Treble (Class D) amps and it's intended use is 1-1.5 meters listening distance.
Also note that those are active so way more efficient thatn something like the 84dB sens Kefs for example.

One would think that Genelec could get away for a lot less if such power is not needed.

Those Genelecs are rated at 118 dB maximum SPL. That's great for pro use. Most us will not use that. I could get by with a lot less.

 

[pma]

On desktop? I still doubt it, most desktop speakers are not far away.

On a stand next to me. 65 cm from my head. I feed it with 200W amp and it is just right with uncompressed music.

 

[Sokel]

Those Genelecs are rated at 118 dB maximum SPL. That's great for pro use. Most us will not use that. I could get by with a lot less.

Actually 101dB long term SPL which is the meaningful spec.Which is respectable for the size (and size of mainly the bass driver) but nevertheless performance is there at your desktop.
I'm not on the side of bare minimum obviously and I'm glad Genelec is not either.

 

[DanielT]

Thanks for the review Amir.

Fascinating to see what a lot of feedback can result in. I didn't even know it was possible to get that SINAD level with a class B amplifier.
But it's probably a tradeoff where SINAD is prioritized over power, isn't it?

Speaking of tradeoff. Personally, I would have traded in a slightly worse SINAD for more power. But I'm not the intended customer group for this amp on the other hand.

 

[Haskil]

At the moment you live in Paris or London, you are happy with a 30m2 living room. So I guess there is a large number of people interested in stellar performance for low price and living in 80m2.

No, at home, it's much larger (36 m2 wide open with 20 m2 on one side and 28 m2 on the other with a stairwell 12 m high and 6 m2) and higher ceilings than the standard height of 2.5 m...
But I was not talking about me, but about a living room size deliberately a little larger than that of many fellow citizens of my country - France. The standard size of a living room in a recent building built for an “average French person” is more like 20 m2.

I don't really understand your remark because in 80 m2 and with a pair of speakers with 92 dB efficiency and 4 ohms impedance this amplifier will be sufficient, fair but sufficient, even if as I said, it is expensive for its performance really useful... including its relatively low power, but its measurements recorded by Amir are independent of its conditions of use: these are the measurements that we note... and a power of 80 watts is not a defect in itself...

It would be like giving it a bad rating if it was 1500 watts because personally we wouldn't need such power...

 

[Negatywny]

As bill gates said, 50W should be enough for anyone.

 

[Bogda]

I'm quite stunned at this performance from a Class B design... nice testing @amirm.

View attachment 392580

View attachment 392581


JSmith

These pictures sure look nice and tidy, but I do not understand thermal design.
Class B is efficient, but why do you have a heat-sink enclosed inside a small box? Don't you need some went holes on the top of the case or some way to transfer the heat directly to the metal case?

 

[voodooless]

Don't you need some went holes on the top of the case or some way to transfer the heat directly to the metal case?

There are massive vent holes on either side of the case:

Is it enough? Maybe..? Definitely don't stick this in a cupboard, especially not with one side against a side panel

 

[EddNog]

Sometimes it amazes me how easily people dismiss gear just from looking at charts and numbers without ever actually listening. I’ve been driving a pair of LS50 Metas with B100s for over a week now and can’t possibly be more thrilled with how they sound. Plenty of power to cleanly push them (although I do run an SVS SB-3000 subwoofer to bolster the bottom-end) to volume levels much higher than I am comfortable listening at from a distance of 3 meters away in a room over 7 meters by over 3 meters in size. I have yet to experience a single hiccup in performance or functionality, having yet to trigger a shut off or anything of that nature. They run cooler than any of the Fosi class-D amps I’ve used up until now (both, ZA3 and V3 Mono) and the build quality is tangibly superior (binding posts alone are 10X better quality). I haven’t even bothered with High gain, having so far tested only Low or Medium with balanced input and settled into using Medium. And that’s with room EQ!

The absolutely stellar measurement data simply reinforces what I’m hearing: stunningly good sound out of small, cool-running little packages that completely defy any previous conceptions of what a Class-B amplifier can do.

Of course…people will always find something to complain about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Ed

 

[restorer-john]

There are massive vent holes on either side of the case:

That because in China, hot air moves sideways.

I'd make it some nice elevated feet and stand it vertically. It'd look better too.

 

[miero]

Or attach the amplifier to the back side of loudspeaker and sell the expensive audiophile loudspeaker cable

 

[voodooless]

I'd make it some nice elevated feet and stand it vertically. It'd look better too.

You'll need to create some kind of a stand, though, so that air can flow from the bottom to the top. You could even mount a few fans in it

 

[Doodski]

I'm curious about the wires coupled on the heatshink.
Is it a thermal sensor?Can't be grounding as heatshinks must be,that should be underneath.

(if it's a bimetal thermal switch I'll sue them for stolen IP,I suggested that at fosi thread )

I think it is a thermal sensor that ties in with the microcontroller for thermal protection and regulation. I've seen these used extensively although on the other hand I have seen thermal switches used a ton too in car audio class AB amps.

 

[Negatywny]

for the love of god stop fanning 40'C amps

 

[Hayabusa]

The power button starts to blink a code and amp is shut down. You have to power the unit down and power it back up to recover.

OK that's a serious minus point I would say....

 

[Sokel]

for the love of god stop fanning 40'C amps

I'm with you if their potential is 10-15W of power losses.
But if they advertise something like 300W and the datasheet looks like this...

(link)

Of course throwing a fan on an amp is not trivial but I can understand people who worry about it.

 

[Mnyb]

Nice , got a fine vote from me . Just not enough power especially as you have room EQ etc that eats headroom and the trend seems to be even more inefficient speakers .

i like 200wpc for an 8 ohm speaker

 

[pma]

Numbers are nice, though I would like to see even better PSU (mains) residuals suppression. I think this amp was designed to be measured by Amir.

 

[EddNog]

... I think this amp was designed to be measured by Amir.

Would not be a first.

-Ed