I'll just stick to my SR35, it's more than enough power for the E3. The bulging battery on a new G5 is not something I want to deal with. I'll wait till Topping makes a G5 II.
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Topping G5 - Is the battery serviceable ?
- Thread starter Rja4000
- Start date
Hello, also my G5 had the swelled battery. After a few months of non-use I found it in the conditions you see in the photos.
Fortunately the one year warranty was still valid, but the warranty conditions say that the item must be shipped at your own expense to China for repair.
Unfortunately shipping from Italy to China costs about 45 euros with DHL with insurance up to 100 euros. Wanting to insure it for the full value, the cost goes up.
I saw in this forum and elsewhere that it is not impossible to change the battery yourself, so I contacted Topping support directly and proposed, instead of repairing it (shipping is too expensive) sending only the replacement battery. Initially Topping stated that it was not possible to ship the battery due to international regulations, but in the end after my insistence they accepted. Now the package is on the way and I'm waiting for it to arrive.
However, for those who have expired warranty, the battery is of common type and can be found (even with the right connector) on Aliexpress for little money (about 10 euros).
If it can be useful I share the link on Head-fi.org of a user who made a nice tutorial:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-topping-g5-battery-replacement.973593/#post-18241541
Personally it had never happened to me before that the battery of a device swelled like this, especially after only a few months. The fact remains that such a defect is unacceptable for a manufacturer like Topping.
Fortunately the one year warranty was still valid, but the warranty conditions say that the item must be shipped at your own expense to China for repair.
Unfortunately shipping from Italy to China costs about 45 euros with DHL with insurance up to 100 euros. Wanting to insure it for the full value, the cost goes up.
I saw in this forum and elsewhere that it is not impossible to change the battery yourself, so I contacted Topping support directly and proposed, instead of repairing it (shipping is too expensive) sending only the replacement battery. Initially Topping stated that it was not possible to ship the battery due to international regulations, but in the end after my insistence they accepted. Now the package is on the way and I'm waiting for it to arrive.
However, for those who have expired warranty, the battery is of common type and can be found (even with the right connector) on Aliexpress for little money (about 10 euros).
If it can be useful I share the link on Head-fi.org of a user who made a nice tutorial:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-topping-g5-battery-replacement.973593/#post-18241541
Personally it had never happened to me before that the battery of a device swelled like this, especially after only a few months. The fact remains that such a defect is unacceptable for a manufacturer like Topping.
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Ken Tajalli
Major Contributor
They say nothing is cheap for no reason!
the opposite is certainly not valid. There are stuff that are expensive for no reason!
Count Arthur
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Topping, will buy in batteries, capacitors, resistors, etc.. from third parties, and I guess it's always possible to get a bad batch.
It's not always just smaller manufacturers, didn't Samsung have issues with the batteries their mobile phones a few years back? Although it's quite possible that Samsung actually made their own batteries, so what do I know.
Ken Tajalli
Major Contributor
It is not as simple as that!
There are selected batches, A rates and then there are B rates and so on.
I am gonna sound the horn for Chord now (knowing I get told off), but even the Mojo1 batteries were chosen for their longevity. Most lasted 5 years or longer. When I needed a battery, it wasn't that it had swollen up. Indeed, I have not heard of any with swelled batteries. I follow the headfi thread. There could have been some isolated few, but I don't know of any. The charging circuit has three thermal sensors. The charging circuit, charges the batteries to about 95% and then cutout. The battery is stuck to the upper shell, isolated from the circuit, as they knew it was the coolest part of the assembly. On Mojo2, there is a smart PSU/Charging circuit that is smart, under FPGA control, to further protect the battery.
The battery itself, is custom made by a specialist US company. Only Chord has those batteries!
What I am trying to say is that Chord went into some lengths to make sure they last, it wasn't just luck of the draw. But they could, because they charged £400. Atleast they knowingly did not short change their customers.
Not to mention that the rest of their devices (Hugo range etc.) are of the same high quality all the way, down to the quality of push buttons, sockets etc.
Again Chord is not a large company, they are almost a cottage industry!It's not always just smaller manufacturers, didn't Samsung have issues with the batteries their mobile phones a few years back? Although it's quite possible that Samsung actually made their own batteries, so what do I know.
Look at Hifiman, they are riddled with QC issues. But the Sundara and EDXS, if you get a good one, are fantastic value.
I hate the term Chi-fi, it smells of racism. But the atmosphere surrounding some Chinese vendors, is the usuall, " sell as cheaply as you can, as many as you can primarily".
If you get lucky and get a good one, then you can pay peanuts for something that otherwise be much more expensive if it was made by some EU, UK or US manufacturers.
Samsung had only one issue once!
Heulpic
Member
I'm the latest addtion on the G5 swollen battery club. 
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