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Topping LA90 Review (Integrated Amplifier)

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 35 4.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 50 6.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 193 24.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 524 65.3%

  • Total voters
    802

ex audiophile

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Well, any of the purifi or Hypex based amps. If you aren't in Europe then audiophonics probably isn't going to be your "go to".
Isn't the dollar pretty strong against the Euro these days? Maybe not such a bad time for Apollon or Audiophonics for those in the US.
 

HiFidFan

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Meh. IDK. The price point, In an age of high value active speakers, I can't understand the use case for this amp.
 

srkbear

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I applaud them for their efforts. The 'half way across the globe' thing is going to be hard nut to crack for them. I've said it before, if I was back in Shenzhen I'd be owning this, and their other products.

In a better world, I'd like to see the full of Schiit guys (sorry, I can't help myself over their goofy name) push the limits that Topping is pusing. As it is, the latter offer good value, but it's not up to some of the standards that Topping is known for.
I’d also like Schiit to refrain from language on their site that so obviously disdains the principles of this one (along with Topping’s), especially as they position their inferior DAC technology as superior based on some evidence-free je ne sais quoi—

“All Yggdrasil versions use integrated multibit D/A converters—no delta sigma or discrete ladders here. While delta sigma designs can provide exceptional steady-state measured performance, we don’t believe they are proper to a cost-no-object DAC. And, while discrete multibit ladders are interesting, we prefer the repeatable performance of integrated DACs.”
 

Billy Budapest

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Profiteering?
Isn't that the purpose of a business?
If their pricing model is wrong it will be adjusted or fail.

For this quality $800 is fair market.
But WE will not determine this. The market will.
Keep in mind supply chain issues and world-wide inflationary pressures due in part to energy shortages and the war in Ukraine. Prices are going up on almost everything.
 

DDF

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I am afraid this will not happen as it is time consuming TBD properly, and Amir needs to produce many many reviews to keep the ASR going with high number of readers, contributors and supporters.
And it is not easy, I can tell you that sometimes I need several months to find out a hidden issue. Hidden issue like output stage oscillations due to fast surge from cable connected to the output ..... You never know and not everything can be simulated. You are gaining experience during the whole professional life.

In the absence of an engineering damp heat or thermal cycling chamber, an easy and reasonably useful predictor of reliability risk would be to play it overnight & then pop the lid and quick test temperature.

In that absence, the extensive user community feedback here is most helpful. I rejected most "highly recommended" DAC candidates due to glaring design or reliability issues that popped up over months. We get to watch these companies' teething pains play out in real time.

It would add value to accompany each review with a user feedback voting function, in some broad categories TBD such as "my unit failed" or "my unit has a design bug", similar to the auto world's "LemonAid" customer feedback model. This is the fire audio companies feet should be held to these days because they are abusing this much more than excess noise or distortion. That voting could be subject to abuse but the thread search function allows sorting the wheat from the chaff.

In the end, the SINAD race is mostly just replacing consumer spending recommendations chasing mythical sonic attributes derived by uncontrolled subjective reviews with consumer spending recommendations chasing mythical sonic attributes derived by controlled objective reviews.

The 100 vs 120 dB SINAD fixation is also bizarre and ironic when you consider that speakers are reviewed with ports radiating pipe resonances 15 dB down and that hardly raises an eyebrow.
 

Joemoonit

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Is it a good amp for people listening to KEF LS50s from across the room? Nope, not at all. Put those KEFs on a desk though and listen nearfield and it's fine. If you have 90dB efficient floorstanders, you can't do better. $800 is cheap enough for this level of performance I would just get two of them if I wanted a lot of power in reserve, because even in bridged operation it's STILL as good as it gets.
Hello, I have KEF LS50 meta and Topping P5. It all depends on the size of the room. Mine is just 3x4 (12 sq. mt) and I just can't go over 2 o'clock. I'm used to loud concerts and high sound level also in my car. In a flat it will be just impossible to go over that level, my cellphone measured 85 db which is more than you need.
 

Arnas

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For anyone complaing.
1st. Purify unit with nice preamp will cost double of that so why you crying when its not fair comparison?
2nd. Just, because its no use for your case. Move on and buy Audiophonics purify, not everything is made for your majesty.
P.S why I have to pay double for Purify + Preamp for worse performance when my room is small or my listening setup is desk!?
Only complaint would be weird connectors???
 

pma

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In the absence of an engineering damp heat or thermal cycling chamber
In the risk of being accused of OT, you reminded me my career of almost 40 years ago when we tested Tamara system in a -50 C/+50 C thermal cycling “chamber” that was able to absorb 2 10 ton trucks …..
 

juliangst

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I guess we’ll all have to wait for the Soncoz Power amp/proclaimed AHB2 competitor
 

DualTriode

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Hello All,

I like the looks of this Topping LA90 amplifier.

It looks like the JBL D2 compression drivers in my active 3-way system may have a new amplifier to drive them.

Low noise, low distortion.

SINAD 120dB’s wow.

Thanks DT

Tri-Amp
 
Last edited:

Arnas

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I share wholeheartedly this sentiment.

If this was priced $499, the market would have been disrupted. All these low power talk would have been superceded by price/performance.

Lately I feel Topping is inching towards more profiteering (excuse this it's just an opinion) than being famous for disruption. Off course I don't fault that approach.
You have to be really delusional to post this... Casing like that already cost A LOT!
 

PeteL

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I’d also like Schiit to refrain from language on their site that so obviously disdains the principles of this one (along with Topping’s), especially as they position their inferior DAC technology as superior based on some evidence-free je ne sais quoi—

“All Yggdrasil versions use integrated multibit D/A converters—no delta sigma or discrete ladders here. While delta sigma designs can provide exceptional steady-state measured performance, we don’t believe they are proper to a cost-no-object DAC. And, while discrete multibit ladders are interesting, we prefer the repeatable performance of integrated DACs.”
"We prefer"... "We don't believe"... Different than: Our product is superior, I think. And you know, they have something for everybody, you can buy good measuring DACs from them, for cheap. I do think that there are more scandalous things to worry about. It's a hobby, there's a market for that, I let people make their own decision, let them believe what they want. Disdain... A bit much don't you think?
 

sprellemannen

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Part of me feels like as a forum people should figure out minimum SINAD required for nobody on the planet to ever hear a difference with.
I agree with this, and the same goes to other measurements. Some measurements would be better to group into categories, like say "Excellent", "Good", "Poor", "Awful". If there is no audible advantage between SINADs of 110 and higher, say, a SINAD of 120 should not being judged any better than one of 110. I feel this is an important next step in improving ASR (and I want to thank Amir for his stunning work).
As this belongs to "Improving ASR" (and can be separate threads there), I will not write more on this in this thread.
 

dsnyder0cnn

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Only complaint would be weird connectors???
The XLR/TRS connectors look pretty normal to me. Often found on pro audio gear. It's easy to find 1/4 in TS to RCA adapters if RCA is needed. Would have only cost Topping a few cents to include a pair in the box. :)
 

ctbarker32

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I won't be home until tomorrow. I can then try to test it. For now what is the application for 2 ohm load? I have not tested one speaker that goes that low.
My Martin Logan's at high freq hit 2 ohm. In the early days of Class D, using IcePower based amps, I could repeatedly shutdown my amps at a pretty low db level. Things have now improved in this area.
 

Arnas

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The XLR/TRS connectors look pretty normal to me. Often found on pro audio gear. It's easy to find 1/4 in TS to RCA adapters if RCA is needed. Would have only cost Topping a few cents to include a pair in the box. :)
I see... But why not rca connectors?
 

PeteL

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I see... But why not rca connectors?
The power is low, but (both) gain settings are low too for typical consumer rca equipped equipment. It's pretty much made for their balanced DACs... Now, do we need 3? They should have labeled low gain and very low gain.
 
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