Topping G5 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

[srkbear]

Yep you are right. Apple is inferior in usability, inferior in features, inferior in stability, inferior in software quality, inferior in hardware quality, inferior in repair-ability (unless you have an oldschool model upto like iPhone 8).
Apple is the most exploited, has had the most security holes uncovered, has lost the most customer data, had the most hardware scandals... and yet people continue to buy their garbage and actually pretend like they give a crap about their users. They are making their phones harder and harder to repair, integrating their circuits through backroom deals so that there is no way to obtain parts to repair your devices and locking down the OS from their own hardware chips so you can only run their approved software.
iOS overall is extremely unfriendly to use; here in 2022 it doesn't even have a proper file system. It doesn't allow any kind of file to be stored and accessed easily, it doesn't work with external devices unless they have "certifications". Hell they don't even have expandable storage or secondary browser capabilities... All browsers use their garbage safari engine which they have total control over.

Literally nothing about apple is good in any sense of the word. Everything about their cheap shoddily made sweat shop Indian and Chinese (they don't even hire upstanding good wage factories with actual ethical practices unlike most Chinese companies do) made garbage is exactly what it sounds like. Overpriced scams to rake unsuspecting people of their cash, just like their little lightning certification scam.

So nobody should ever pay a single cent for that certification and I for one specifically only purchase products that DON'T have lightning certification so I don't donate money to a company that chose to use neurotoxins in its factories for product assembly because they could save a few cents per device vs clean chemicals.

I’m sorry, I usually highly respect your contributions here but I’m unaccustomed to someone espousing such vitriolic, monomaniacal bile towards a manufacturer of gizmos unless some primally wicked member of their family of origin is a minimum 90% shareholder of the company.

 

[Jimster480]

I’m sorry, I usually highly respect your contributions here but I’m unaccustomed to someone espousing such vitriolic, monomaniacal bile towards a manufacturer of gizmos unless some primally wicked member of their family of origin is a minimum 90% shareholder of the company.

It is just that their crimes against humanity top most any other company in the world and their overall emissions footprint is larger than most countries. They create more trash per year than many of the smaller countries combined.
So I feel strongly about a company which causes such havoc to all of humanity, and yet is defended by some as being anything other than basically the definition of evil.

However don't take my contribution here as a defense of any other company, because by no means am I saying that Google for example is actually a good company by any stretch of the word. Which is often how people consider my despise of Apple as somehow some defense of Google. For many years I have had to deal with my own family members purchasing and defending Apple as a company. When I worked in IT and Fullstack Dev @ multiple different companies; I was constantly bombarded by Apple users crying to make things work specifically on Apple products due to their limitations.
From custom PDF implementations to Passkey generators to having to deal with obscure formats and different color pallets; Apple products have plagued / stressed almost every job I've ever had in the tech world. So as someone who cannot even count the number of hours wasted supporting iTrash products.... I can say that my overall feelings towards that company are solidified and definitely a "sore subject".
However I apologize for such harshness coming out in this thread about the Topping G5 and its lack of "Lightning Certification" (thankfully) as some Apple defenders and other onlookers may be unprepared for such strong statements against a company they either like or are indifferent towards.

 

[TheTalbotHound]

What opamp is used in the amp part of the G5?

 

[Bronco]

Apple products have plagued / stressed almost every job I've ever had in the tech world…

I believe their products are often designed to provide substantial digital capability to people who have no desire to become too deeply enmeshed “in the tech world”. To that end, I think it’s fair to say they’ve been something of a success.

 

[usersky]

lol, well is hard to believe a company that "gives a crap about its users" can get to the level Apple is right now, you can fool people, but not forever.

Oh but you can and not just that, they enjoy it, some of them/us what to be abused, as the song says. But back to G5, something tells me that this is not for iPhone users all that much. You know, why would you use anything like this with iPhone when iPhone does all that perfectly and more? If you think it's not then it's just that you hold it wrong. iPhone with no good PEQ ability (not for streaming services anyways) is not where buyers for G5 would generally be IMO. Now let's not idealize Android aither, it just a race to the bottom between these two when it comes to how they value their users. And a rather profitable one.

 

[Madlop26]

Oh but you can and not just that, they enjoy it, some of them/us what to be abused, as the song says. But back to G5, something tells me that this is not for iPhone users all that much. You know, why would you use anything like this with iPhone when iPhone does all that perfectly and more? If you think it's not then it's just that you hold it wrong. iPhone with no good PEQ ability (not for streaming services anyways) is not where buyers for G5 would generally be IMO. Now let's not idealize Android aither, it just a race to the bottom between these two when it comes to how they value their users. And a rather profitable one.

Maybe want to be abused, but we are talking about hundred of millions of recurrent users, then the thing start to become more than a rather average or standard practice of the company, sure there may be others that can offer more, for your particular needs, anyway, I agree G5 not for a typical iPhone user, in my case I will use it with hard to drive cans while still mobile at home, very small niche indeed.

 

[srkbear]

Oh but you can and not just that, they enjoy it, some of them/us what to be abused, as the song says. But back to G5, something tells me that this is not for iPhone users all that much. You know, why would you use anything like this with iPhone when iPhone does all that perfectly and more? If you think it's not then it's just that you hold it wrong. iPhone with no good PEQ ability (not for streaming services anyways) is not where buyers for G5 would generally be IMO. Now let's not idealize Android aither, it just a race to the bottom between these two when it comes to how they value their users. And a rather profitable one.

I’m an iPhone user myself, and since Apple is being strongarmed into abandoning the lightning connector for USB-C by 2024, I guess my biggest concern should be at this point whether the USB-C OTG cables that came with my current portables will be compatible with the iPhone 15/16 (or whatever).

But if I did worry about that I’d be fooling myself—because I’m just as likely to have “upgraded” to the newest portable by then as well—surely they’ll be some successor to the pentaconn jack by then, or some other new standard that entices me into purchasing the latest and greatest.

What’s missing in all this planned obsolescence designed to keep us forking out our cash is if any of these “innovations” translate into anything resembling an audible improvement—we’ll likely be chasing SINADs into the 150s by then but I’ll have also shaved another 2,000hz off my hearing range.

 

[TRDK]

Just arrived - but without lightning cable (iPhone)

 

[TRDK]

Works fine with Roon (Forest USB-C) - had a bit problem installing the drivers, but now it works. First impression: Great SQ - lot of power. Will do some more testing this WE

 

[Kosta]

Works fine with Roon (Forest USB-C) - had a bit problem installing the drivers, but now it works. First impression: Great SQ - lot of power. Will do some more testing this WE

Do you mind letting us know if you can use it while charging - keen on this but worried about the 10hrs battery life.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Man, this is so good. Fine Panther award for an SINAD like this on a truly portable setup, no less! This puts the laughing stock called Chord to shame!

 

[Georgrig]

It is just that their crimes against humanity top most any other company in the world and their overall emissions footprint is larger than most countries. They create more trash per year than many of the smaller countries combined.
So I feel strongly about a company which causes such havoc to all of humanity, and yet is defended by some as being anything other than basically the definition of evil.

However don't take my contribution here as a defense of any other company, because by no means am I saying that Google for example is actually a good company by any stretch of the word. Which is often how people consider my despise of Apple as somehow some defense of Google. For many years I have had to deal with my own family members purchasing and defending Apple as a company. When I worked in IT and Fullstack Dev @ multiple different companies; I was constantly bombarded by Apple users crying to make things work specifically on Apple products due to their limitations.
From custom PDF implementations to Passkey generators to having to deal with obscure formats and different color pallets; Apple products have plagued / stressed almost every job I've ever had in the tech world. So as someone who cannot even count the number of hours wasted supporting iTrash products.... I can say that my overall feelings towards that company are solidified and definitely a "sore subject".
However I apologize for such harshness coming out in this thread about the Topping G5 and its lack of "Lightning Certification" (thankfully) as some Apple defenders and other onlookers may be unprepared for such strong statements against a company they either like or are indifferent towards.

I don't have a problem with Topping not getting a certification; good for them. I have a problem with Topping claiming that the G5 is Apple compatible without backing it up.

 

[AlexScan]

I learn to this portable amp for replace my DAP+DAC (AP80X-Pro+#9038SG3) since the last month... and now you have already test them Amir, thank !

For me it's the DAP killer than i need... but you miss one measure, and this is the most important for me : Sinad with LDAC BT input...(24/96 990kbits setting)

According to this APX555 measurement LDAC is capable to reach the full potential of the G5, like USB input :

 

[bahamot]

@WolfX-700 measured G5's BT performance

 

[TRDK]

I don't have a problem with Topping not getting a certification; good for them. I have a problem with Topping claiming that the G5 is Apple compatible without backing it up.

Just to let you know - the G5 works fine wit my iPad Pro

 

[TRDK]

 

[ririt]

Just to let you know - the G5 works fine wit my iPad Pro

Did you get a lightning version?

 

[TRDK]

Did you get a lightning version?

Not yet. But I did get a refund to buy on local.

Just did a test with the lightning cable from my iFi Go Bar - works just fine

 

[Atanasi]

Did you get a lightning version?

Modern iPad Pros have USB C.

 

[TRDK]

Modern iPad Pros have USB C.

Sure - But not iPhones. The G5 works just fine with lightning cable to iPhones and with USB-C to IPad Pro