Topping B200 Monoblock Amplifier Review

[Cbdb2]

Great performance!

I'm just concerned about the long-term reliability. It seems like Topping uses 35V capacitors with 30V DC on them (60V from power supply / 2).
What is the effect on MTBF? As a design engineer, I understand the choice. But if my company designs something to serve for at least 10 years, my reliability engineer would not allow me to use the electrolytic cap spec'ed for anything below 50V.

View attachment 433276

At 30V, 50°c ambient those caps (35V, 85°) should last around 13,000 hrs. (4hrs a day for 10years). Changing to 50V 85° caps increases that to 19,000 hrs. Changing to 35V 105°c caps increases that to 52,000 hrs! So the big killer is temperature, anyone know how hot these boxes get?

Electrolytic Capacitor Life Calculator - Power Electronics Calculators and Tools

This calculator will compute W, dBW, and dBm Conversion.

eepower.com

 

[Tlow98]

I've had mine for a little over 2 months now. The sound is so pure, but of course that is subjective. Any problems have been with integrating it with my AVR and Eversolo A8 (also purchased at the same time). My only disappointment in the review/product has to do with my expectations. I was expecting the power output to mirror that of the Topping L90 discreet in mono mode--the B200 is significantly lower, especially in burst.
Mabe

I was also a little miffed by the b200s comparative lack of headroom, but after looking at running the LA90 in mono… I realized I just couldn’t/wouldn’t use them because they only work with 8ohm loads in mono. That's 20% of the speaker market these days. They’d be borderline worthless to me, or at best an expensive experiment on my own dime. I did fall in love with that 279 watt figure tho - a heart breaker!

In the end, a real, usable 150-ish watts @ 6 ohm that I can crank is double what I have with my PA7 (non plus) and that feels like a solid upgrade, especially since I'm not pushing the lower couple octaves as I'm running a subwoofer. The other option I was looking at was the Orchard Audio 150w monos, but they're pretty much double the price @ $1,250 each and in some ways aren't as 'good'.

Do you find them lacking in power for what you need?

 

[MAB]

Dependant upon the thermal dissipation calculations required.

To generalise by saying 'they should be vertical' given the number of people including myself stating that they barely get warm, would indicate that maybe Topping know what they are doing.

No argument at all.
The first part of what I said is important:

if the heat sinks are part of the thermal design, they should be vertical unless force-air cooled.

'Part of the thermal design' implies you have done the power/thermal calculations explicitly! The statement wasn't a generalization at all.

I was commenting on an earlier post that expressed surprise and doubt that heat sink orientation is important in general. In fact, the penalty is quite large as can be seen in the link I included above, and many heat sink manufacturers publish dramatic horizontal vs. vertical performance differences for passive applications in their data sheets. For the B200, I doubt the fins are even needed based on your and other comments, but I am not in any position to do that calc.

 

[board]

yes but.....Zanden Audio 8120F:30.500$! ....But you are very brave who you spent those money only for an amp!

​

Best money I ever spent - right after the money I spent on the Zanden CD player, which is the best CD player ever made, according to Framer - it finally makes digital sound like analogue .

 

[mike70]

Best money I ever spent - right after the money I spent on the Zanden CD player, which is the best CD player ever made, according to Framer - it finally makes digital sound like analogue .

Oh yes, Fremer is a great objective reference.

 

[MAB]

Yeah, can’t really see these forks and torches marches in other reviews. Feels almost a bit childish.

Actually, most good stuff brings out the forks! Many KEF, Genelec, etc. review threads devolve to tribal wars at some point!!!
Interest = conflict in this case. The B200 is interesting to many people based on the performance alone.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Best money I ever spent - right after the money I spent on the Zanden CD player, which is the best CD player ever made, according to Framer - it finally makes digital sound like analogue .

Digital sounds like analog, meaning analog sounds like digital. Is this an audiophile haiku?

 

[board]

Oh yes, Fremer is a great objective reference.

Totally! That's why I ran out and bought the Zanden CD player he raved about plus of course their amp while I was at it.
But wait! Don't just take Framer's word for it! 6Moons Audio also wrote a rave review of the Zanden CD player. Then the deal was sealed. I had to have it!

 

[Tlow98]

Would be great if someone could elaborate on NFCA and AB. What’s at the core of the B200?

Completely agree. As an engineer, I really want to know what the secret sauce is here. Mostly, just as an academic exercise.

 

[MRC01]

Topping amplifiers until now have had average levels of power. That is changed with B200 landing in "high power" category now while still maintaining its superb noise and distortion:
View attachment 432853
View attachment 432854

That little bump in THD+N appears @ 8W @ 8 ohms and @ 16W @ 4 ohms, suggesting it is voltage related. As this is a class AB amplifier, could that be the point at which the signal voltage exceeds the bias so both sides are no longer conducting - it switches out of symmetric class A to class AB?

 

[manisandher]

... but after looking at running the LA90 in mono… I realized I just couldn’t/wouldn’t use them because they only work with 8ohm loads in mono.

That's not correct: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...monoblock-amplifier-review.61206/post-2243030

 

[Tlow98]

That's not correct: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...monoblock-amplifier-review.61206/post-2243030

Damn, true that. Thanks for correcting. "Z Reviews" had a poor experience on YouTube and attributed it to the Ohm rating. Also, now I'm seeing Topping rates the LA90 for 4 ohm loads, as well. And this is me hoping I made the right choice with the B200s... le sigh. Food for thought...

 

[totti1965]

Well, this is exciting. My b200s are boxed and awaiting the pre90 that arrives tomorrow. Yay!

For me, this is my first ‘big boy’ setup. I have a feeling my Elac UBR62 might be holding me back a bit, but that’s a worry for another day.

Congrats!

Passive Speakers:

Try the new audio first fidelia or the Ascend Acoustics Sierra LX or, if you are rich, the Epos ES 14 N

https://www.spinorama.org/pictures/Audio%20First%20Design%20Fidelia.webp

https://www.spinorama.org/pictures/Ascend%20Acoustics%20Sierra-LX.webp

https://www.spinorama.org/pictures/Epos%20ES14N.webp

 

[Endibol]

That's only your opinion though, I weighed up the advantages and pitfalls, ordered from China.

Now which stays the Toppings or the Benchmark AHB 2 ??.

The Benchmark is over three times the price but more easily serviceable.

And has a very responsive sales & service department!

 

[lc6]

Put two of those in a single box, add a buitl-in SMPS, make the heat-sink fins vertical for better convection, and you have a real winner that can out-compete Benchmark, etc.

 

[Impossible]

My knowledge of amplifiers architecture is far from great.

If this amplifier had a toroidal transformer would it be of benefit or no difference?

 

[tim5]

Best money I ever spent - right after the money I spent on the Zanden CD player, which is the best CD player ever made, according to Framer - it finally makes digital sound like analogue .

Im dreaming now MF M6si 500.I find it 4000 eyro....but...30kilos!

 

[Soniclife]

It's actually a thing in thermal design:
View attachment 433253

https://www.digikey.com/Site/Global/Layouts/DownloadPdf.ashx?pdfUrl=F51974C9A6D544F1A7D8F119514B67FF

For natural convection, the difference can be large.

So yeah, if the heat sinks are part of the thermal design, they should be vertical unless force-air cooled.

It may be that this amp's heat sinks are cosmetic and they play little or no role in thermals. Electronics with critical cooling needs tend to orient the heat sinks properly (or fail early). I have at least one amp that would not be happy with high power operation without the heat sink oriented properly.

The review notes the amp reducing power when it gets hot, which indicates it could do with better cooling when pushed.

 

[babadono]

My knowledge of amplifiers architecture is far from great.

If this amplifier had a toroidal transformer would it be of benefit or no difference?

Power is supplied by a separate SMPS brick. There is no transformer to change to a toroid.
SMPS = Switch Mode Power Supply

 

[Burns]

Im dreaming now MF M6si 500.I find it 4000 eyro....but...30kilos!

MUSICAL FIDELITY M6500i

Trzon oferty wzmacniaczy zintegrowanych Musicala tworzą modele M3si, M5si oraz M6si - wszystkie są nowymi konstrukcjami z tzw. serii si. Nie ...

audio.com.pl

what was the reason for such a decision of the designers, because it translates into a very low S/N index, amounting to 61 dB, and the dynamics, despite the great power, stops at the level of 88 dB. The frequency response (Fig. 1) already looks normal, for 4 Ω the drop of -3 dB appears at approx. 90 dB.

In the spectrum of harmonics (Fig. 2) you can see above all... a high level of noise, all harmonics are hidden in its spectrum. THD+N lower than 0.1% THD+N (Fig. 3) can only be obtained for output power exceeding 84 W at 8 Ω and 115 W at 4 Ω, which is again influenced by high noise.