Your gut is right. It is a no brainer to me. You've listed all the topping warranty issues - and no, you won't hear the difference between 90+db and 120dB Sinad - not with speakers - and definitely not in real world listening. Even if you had young ears.
) with a Cadenza Black hanging off it, fed into a four box Paradise phono stage.
Indeed and pulled the trigger on them (Apollon) today.
Gain does not impact bass as long as input levels are adjusted by the same (but opposite) amount as the gain change.I owe you an update, as there have been some changes to my setup that have significantly overhauled my initial impressions.
Driven by curiosity, I connected a different pair of speakers to the power amps: the KEF R3. I know them well and highly value them for the quality and delicacy of their high frequencies. To my surprise, I discovered two things:
1. While the highs on the R3 are excellent and subtle, they lack the resonance of the ribbon tweeters in the Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G. On the MAs, the drum cymbals ring out beautifully, as if they were right there in the room. On the KEFs, that sensation disappears. Don’t get me wrong—it’s still excellent, but the liveliness of the presentation is lower.
2. Much to my astonishment, the KEF R3 provided more bass than the MA. This puzzled me, and after a bit of digging, I discovered that both bass reflex ports on my MAs were plugged. That’s how they were set up with my previous amplifier, and I had simply forgotten about it.
I immediately reconnected the MAs to the Topping B200. Oh my God! What a difference. So much bass—almost too much. Since the MAs have two ports each, I settled on keeping the bottom one plugged while leaving the top one open.
And now for the most important part: after restoring the bass to my MAs, I switched the amplifiers back to Low Gain mode. The difference is massive. The accuracy and detail are staggering, but above all, the decay and resonance of the instruments—cymbals, acoustic guitar—it’s a completely different level of quality.
That’s why I’m correcting what I wrote earlier. I was listening on High Gain because I felt I was lacking bass. Now that the bass reflex ports are unplugged and the low end has returned, I sincerely recommend listening on Low Gain instead. For me, it’s like having a completely new amplifier. I didn’t spend a penny, yet I’m getting that "new gear" joy all over again!
. Excellent review. So much info here. I was wondering if someone could help me? I am seriously considering buying 2 of the B200's, but i am so confused . On Amazon it shows 3 diff listings for the B200's and even diff prices. When i asked Rufus(AI Bot) in amazon which ones were for use in North America 120 Voltage it could not give me a exact 100% answer and all the info in the description dont seem to give me a straight answer either. Does the power brick work automatically on 120 V and 240V? . Of course the last thing I wanna do is buy the 240V and have to deal with the hassle of sending them back to Amazon. Please any help would be very much welcomed. Thank you so much all.
Hello all
Thank you so much for responding. Ok so i would have to check if the actual plug head is for NA .
Would you be using the ABH2 bridged? What speakers and how far do you sit from them? The Benchmark has a long and successful track record and is built like a tank, that's the non technical, sorta, side of things.
I'm not considering the AHB2 - it's a bit out of my budget. I'm gonna drive the F228be and listening from 15-20ft away with sub. Currently using a Wiim Amp Ultra and wonder what I'm missing, so planning on getting either B200 or EVAL6.Would you be using the ABH2 bridged? What speakers and how far do you sit from them? The Benchmark has a long and successful track record and is built like a tank, that's the non technical, sorta, side of things.
I'd go with the Purifi, personally, if you listen at or above moderate levels. If you're not having any issues with the WiiM I doubt you're gonna hear a difference with the other two. The ABH2 (IK you're not considering just thought I'd mention it)will have a distortion advantage above 1khz.
You won't regret getting the B200's. They have a, dare I say it, "sweetness" that I didn't hear from the SMSL PA-X GanFET amp I used before it. And while I am currently toggling between "home-built" IcePOWER 2000AS2-HV and the Hypex Nilai 500 modules (in a dual-mono configuration), both of which offer a tremendous amount of Class-D power, neither has the sweetness of the B200. Having said that, what's keeping me from going back to the Topping's is the sheer control the DIY amps have over my main speakers (Eminent Tech LFT-8b's).
I'm lucky I didn't hear any difference between PA5 II+ and LA90, so I sold the latter. Played at moderate levels for months..
How much current does B200 provide?
It depends on the load impedance. Also, Topping's specifications state that the measurements for the specifications were made using 220VAC/50Hz for the mains power. If you have different mains power, as we do in the U.S., the output power may be a little lower. In the first post in this thread Amir lists output power for different load impedances, presumably using 120VAC/60Hz. From those measurements you can compute the current as I=(P/Z)^0.5.
