Topping LA90 evaluation and discussion (Integrated Amplifier)

[staticV3]

What BS are you talking about?
Is that not you calling BS on boXem's claim?

If so, then I'm sorry for misunderstanding.

 

[TheBatsEar]

What BS are you talking about?

The BS-posting by @boXem | audio here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...eview-integrated-amplifier.33362/post-1166018

 

[TheBatsEar]

Is that not you calling BS on boXem's claim?

No, i'm calling BS on his comment about the people that think it's a great achievement and about his blood pressure.

 

[raest]

this thing is as poor as it gets. chasing pointless SINAD numbers waaay past audibility and waaaay past what this amp is even capable of outputting to the average speaker, sacrificing huuuge amounts of power compared to the competition, efficiency, and the inability to drive demanding loads all for a price that puts it in a bracket with hypex based amps which thoroughly and utterly obliterate and annihilate this little thing in everything except "how much beyond audible can you push sinad"

would've been fine at 200$. at MSRP, this is easily a headless panther

 

[TheBatsEar]

this thing is as poor as it gets. chasing pointless SINAD numbers waaay past audibility and waaaay past what this amp is even capable of outputting to the average speaker

Not sure i understand, i think it's useable for many, if not most, speakers. Not everyone has a McMansion with wood frame and paper/gypsum walls combined with Kappas as speakers. ;-)
How much power do you think is needed for most speakers?

I have to agree about the power supply however. It's cheesy and a replacement would be hard to get in a few years.

It appears Toppings marketing hasn't managed the expectations properly. People expected outstanding in any category, but didn't get it.

 

[Ra1zel]

Interesting to see that an amplifier not able to drive less than 4 ohm is considered as great by so many people. Another thread I will stop reading for the goodness of my blood pressure...

Quite mind-boggling isn't it?

On the other note such excitement over some super overkill thd+n baffles me. The single most important metric for a power amp is well... power, you are not going to play Salon2 with some room correction on top with this amp.

Top tier amp that can't be used with any top tier full range passive speaker.

 

[nawfal07]

In my haste to organize this rush of threads. I screwed the pooch and accidentally pulled @amirm ’s review into the merge. So the System re-sorts all posts by time stamp. I have since pulled Amir’s review out of the merged mess I created and it is a separate thread as if should be.

Here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pping-la90-review-integrated-amplifier.33374/

My apologies for the confusion and rearrangement of the posts.

Should rename this thread by replacing “Review” with “Discussion” or something.

 

[Ra1zel]

Only manufacturers that can't compete will agree with you.

I bet at Benchmark they just said "we will beat them with even better specs"

They don't have to, this amp doesn't compete with benchmark.

 

[Red@]

Hello guys,
Any idea on the input impedance ?

 

[TheBatsEar]

They don't have to, this amp doesn't compete with benchmark.

Ok.

 

[AdamG247]

Should renamd this thread by replacing “Review” with “Discussion” or something.

Good catch @nawfal07 . Thread renamed so not to be confused with Amir’s Review Thread. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[raest]

Not sure i understand, i think it's useable for many, if not most, speakers. Not everyone has a McMansion with wood frame and paper/gypsum walls combined with Kappas as speakers. ;-)
How much power do you think is needed for most speakers?

I have to agree about the power supply however. It's cheesy and a replacement would be hard to get in a few years.

It appears Toppings marketing hasn't managed the expectations properly. People expected outstanding in any category, but didn't get it.

i live in a 55m^2 apartment, currently, so in a vacuum, the power would be sufficient. but considering this things' apparent utter inability to drive even slightly more demanding loads (and my R7s would qualify), it's pathetic, and it provides very little headroom for room correction (the PA5 is already insufficient to correct some high Q nulls in the bass in my case) or particularly dynamic music. Toppings' own PA5 (which i currently own) provides more juice, for more loads, much more efficiently, and at sinad numbers beyond human hearing.

why would i pay 3 times more for an amp that does the primary job of an amp (i.e. provide power) worse, while consuming more electricity? if i'm spending that kind of money, i expect great features (loads of inputs, a good dac etc) or significantly more power. this is one of the most pointless products i've seen, as the only "benefit" it provides is completely inaudible numbers for genitalia measuring contests. which, at the price, is honestly insulting.

 

[antcollinet]

...genitalia measuring contests...

 

[Zek]

it provides is completely inaudible numbers for genitalia measuring contests

A competition whose bigger ...

 

[TheBatsEar]

i live in a 55m^2 apartment, currently, so in a vacuum, the power would be sufficient. but considering this things' apparent utter inability to drive even slightly more demanding loads (and my R7s would qualify), it's pathetic, and it provides very little headroom for room correction (the PA5 is already insufficient to correct some high Q nulls in the bass in my case) or particularly dynamic music. Toppings' own PA5 (which i currently own) provides more juice, for more loads, much more efficiently, and at sinad numbers beyond human hearing.

why would i pay 3 times more for an amp that does the primary job of an amp (i.e. provide power) worse, while consuming more electricity? if i'm spending that kind of money, i expect great features (loads of inputs, a good dac etc) or significantly more power. this is one of the most pointless products i've seen, as the only "benefit" it provides is completely inaudible numbers for genitalia measuring contests. which, at the price, is honestly insulting.

You drifted from "average speakers" to your personal situation.

Yesterday Benchmark was the king, which was accepted. Today you don't agree it's Topping, because they don't have enough watts. How many watts does it take to accept their victory?

 

[Vini darko]

You drifted from "average speakers" to your personal situation.

Yesterday Benchmark was the king, which was accepted. Today you don't agree it's Topping, because they don't have enough watts. How many watts does it take to accept their victory?

1.2 jigga watts

 

[TheBatsEar]

1.2 jigga watts

Those are rookie numbers.

 

[nawfal07]

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Only manufacturers that can't compete will agree with you.

I bet at Benchmark they just said "we will beat them with even better specs"

Not really I don’t believe Benchmark cares about beating anybody. They stick to quality engineering, not trying to play a numbers game. You got the wrong company IMO.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Quite mind-boggling isn't it?

On the other note such excitement over some super overkill thd+n baffles me. The single most important metric for a power amp is well... power, you are not going to play Salon2 with some room correction on top with this amp.

Top tier amp that can't be used with any top tier full range passive speaker.

Most people that really know what’s going on could care less about this numbers race. It’s the missinforned that push the narrative.