Topping LA90 Review (Integrated Amplifier)

[DualTriode]

Hello All,

I just purchased a silver Topping LA90 to give a tryout driving JBL D2/M2 Tri-Amped CD Horn Tweeters.

A Benchmark amplifier is driving JBL 2123 101dB/Watt mid-range drivers.

A Crown Com Tech 400 amplifier drives the JBL 2226 woofers.

Thanks DT

 

[DSJR]

Forty years ago isn't long ago for me although I accept it's a lifetime ago for many here. I don't know what was going on back then, but the 1980's HiFi Choice books were full of amplifier sonic differences (maybe sighted and casually not level matched, but to them, each amp 'sounded' different). Thing is, the (my) estimated SINAD figues from this yesteryear era put most amps in the 60's and 70's as the levels of distortion were horrendous by today's standards - this being why some amps today are judged by their designers as 'good enough' I feel with SINAD in the 80's, compared to these once well respected figures of forty years ago, some of which really *did* sound good without the 'paper flat' kind of presentation which some did have (I wonder what causes this - it's certainly measurable).

So yeah, this amp has magnificent figures within it's power levels (don't care what you lot say, it's still cheap really when you look at the (almost) cr@p hard-clipping integrateds available from UK audio dealers and 'salons' at far higher prices). Your rooms are larger so greater listening distances may well demand a 200WPC model giving good safe headroom, but our smaller rooms will be fine if our neighbours are (central Europe seems to have a lot of apartment style dwellings and neighbours above and below as well as sideways may not be receptive to high level listening with shedloads of bass pumping through the walls...

 

[Zek]

I just purchased a silver Topping LA90

After #740 posts, finally someone who ordered this amp.

 

[pjug]

After #740 posts, finally someone who ordered this amp.View attachment 202826

Is there a trophy for that?

 

[Lorenzo74]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping LA90 integrated amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $800.
View attachment 202305
I must say, this is one interesting industrial design. Everything oozes style despite the diminutive package. This aspect continues in the operation of the unit with the sound of the relays solidly clicking indicating something good is going to happen. Here is the side view:

View attachment 202306

While quite solid, you can pick it up with one hand. The small size is aided by a massive external switching power supply:
View attachment 202307

Here are its ratings:
View attachment 202309

Back to the unit, you can see three balanced inputs. Volume control can be bypassed although I did not do so for my testing. You can also operate LA90 in bridged mono mode. There is also 12 volt trigger.

There are to gain settings. One at 10 dB and another at 20 dB (nominal).

Topping LA90 Measurements
These are non-bridged mode measurements. Bridged setup follows this section. Let's start with our dashboard of 5 watts into 4 ohm in low gain mode:


View attachment 202314

I don't need to tell you that this is a stunning level of achievement. We have a power amplifier producing almost the same SINAD as a state of the art DAC! Using this number, LA90 grabs the top spot with ease with a nice gap to boot:

View attachment 202315

Here it is zoomed:
View attachment 202319
You might be thinking that it can only do so with low gain but that is not true. Even in high gain performance is spectacular:

View attachment 202317

It would still achieve top spot in our rankings and achieve full audible transparency.

Not only is distortion vanishingly low, so is noise level:
View attachment 202320

View attachment 202321

Frequency response is flat and wide as expected:
View attachment 202323

Being class AB design, it has no load dependency.

Crosstalk is incredibly good although it loses a tiny bit relative to last champ of amplifiers:

View attachment 202324

Multitone test shows the very low distortion levels:

View attachment 202325

Let's see how much power we have:
View attachment 202326

So power is modest in non-bridged mode. But note how good the high gain mode is so I would feel just fine using that for operation of the unit if you need to. Allowing distortion to rise to 1% naturally gets us more power:

View attachment 202328

Here is 8 ohm:

View attachment 202329

Oops. "High Power" should be "High Gain."

Changing frequencies shows the same excellent performance:
View attachment 202331

Despite being pushed deep into clipping, the amplifier did not complain until I got to 20 Hz where its over temperature shut it down.

Finally, you don't need any warm up:
View attachment 202332

Topping LA90 Bridged Mode Performance
A shorting wire is provided to connect the two negative speaker bindings together allowing bridged mode from the top two posts. Here is our dashboard again:

View attachment 202333

Performance is still exceptional. Here is our SNR:
View attachment 202334

Due to more power available now, we cross the amazing 140 dB SNR threshold. What this says is that even if you play at 140 dB, the noise level will be at or below threshold of hearing! Of course there is not enough power there to do that but basically you know that noise is not part of the equation with LA90 as even 5 watt measurement hits below threshold of hearing.

We want to know the power increase though so here it is (with 8 ohm which is the minimum impedance):
View attachment 202335

Now we get good bit of power at 95 watts with almost no penalty relative to non-bridged mode. Notice the massive gap as far as noise floor relative to Purifi amplifier.

Allowing for 1% distortion we get:
View attachment 202336

Here is the super wideband spectrum of the amplifier while producing 5 watts:

View attachment 202338

Edit:
Power Tests at 2 Ohm (Stereo) and 4 Ohm (Bridged)
Requests were made to test the amplifier beyond its minimum load impedance specs. Let's start with 2 ohm load while driving one channel in stereo mode. Dashboard still shows superb performance:

View attachment 202703

Let's now sweep the power:
View attachment 202704

You don't get extra power relative to 4 ohm but the amplifier was stable and did not even go into protection.

Now let's switch to Bridged mode (both amplifiers driven in differential mono) and run our power sweep again:
View attachment 202706

Now we see the amplifier "doubling down" producing nearly 200 watts into 4 ohm. Again, the amplifier was well composed and kept driving into clipping region without complaining, or shutting down.

Again, the above tests are beyond the amplifier specifications and tests I never run as such.

Conclusions
It is clear that Topping engineers are bringing their expertise in designing ultra low noise and distortion in headphone amplification to power amplifiers. As such, they have outdone every amplifier I have measured in that regard, getting ahead to capture the #1 position with a large gap to #2 choice.

The amplifier is not for everyone though. Power level is modest as compared to competitors. And you have that large external power supply. My wish is another version of this amp with built-in power supply, motorized volume control with bridge mode standard. For now, we need to celebrate one of the most important development in delivering transparent, high fidelity amplification to audiophiles in a very attractive package.

It is my absolute pleasure to recommend the Topping LA90. History is made on this day folks!

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Would be great for ASR members if You could arrange a (live?) video interview/discussion with Topping Chief Engineer.
With Q&A session at the end.

Anyone interested?
As you said History is made today.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Measurements of LA90 a way better than Emotiva's.

He is surely talking about audible benefits in which case the much higher power before onset of higher distortion benefits the Emotiva.
No way I'd personally buy the Topping over the power ability's of the Emotiva. As always YMM.

Pro-Audio and Lighting Calculators : dBs, time, arrays, Hz, DMX ...

Calculators: sound reinforcement (SPL, voltis, dBm, cable, coverage, wavelength, frequency, time, distance, arrays), lighting (DMX) and projection

www.doctorproaudio.com

View attachment 202800

Usually I listen to my modded and tweaked KEF Q100 (84-85 dB, 3.9 Ohms) < 70 dBSL continuous. Many of my classical music vinyl recordings have tracks with DR15 (15 dB peak). Modern "popular" recordings < 8 or 10 dB peaks.

80 dBSPL continuous in a ROOM is LOUD -> I want at less 80+15 = 95 dBSPL peak


Near field: in phase -> + 3 dB

If 1.8 m (near field) and 0.1% (62 w / 4 Ohms)

View attachment 202805

Not sure why you show power levels that with this amp that completely negate the low distortion design.
Why buy and pay for SOTA if you use it beyond it capacity to provide that quality?

Nobody thinks at less than 70db much power is required.
However at 3meters you show 95db with 56watts which is already well beyond what this amp produces at 8ohms at SOTA distortion levels.

Many do not think 80db is all that loud. I'd guess a lot of folks find them selves doing some 85-95 average volume sessions ESPECIALLY with compressed productions. And now look at less compressed recordings having to reproduce 10+db peaks on top of 85-90db SPLS.

For the MetaLS50 example then subtract 1db for the 83db sensitive Meta speaker and add .5 meters more distance. for a slightly larger space.
Now allow for the SOTA 36watts at 8ohms and the SOTA level 56watts @4ohms

Enough for a SOTA 80-85db session with LESS than 10db peaks.

If one wants high 80's-90db sessions with 10db peaks.
You will need about 100 watts for 95db peaks
You will need about 305watts to hit 100db peaks (which is very loud but again some will do this, and if you system is low distortion it does not sound that crazy loud and can be super fun and pleasing. In a distorting system then yes I find this SPL intolerable. The Meta is not likley a good candidate for this SPL unless HP'ed to subs at 100hrz or higher. Many other speaker are though and many are also low sensitivity. 82-85 is not unusual.)

This doesn't even account for anyone who is adding Bass boost or any PEQ that is + or anything Dirac might be asking from the amp. The times one uses well over 100watts are not that rare for a lot of us - even over 300watts. There is a reason the Active and DSP'd LS50 uses 300watts.

I am not poo-pooing this amp just stating that obvious to me at least. Why buy state of that art distortion levels if you end up using the amp in such a way it produces normal or even much worse distortion?

Plus nobody is likely to hear the difference between amps with slightly higher levels of distortion and if they have a meaningful power advantage then that is likely more of an asset.

This is a SOTA desktop or small room system that is amazing for that and in larger spaces with demanding speakers is not a great choice IMHO.

 

[pseudoid]

Chinese made Hi-fi equipment, and extremely tolerant towards non-Chinese made stuff,

This brings up a touchy conversation that is inherently problematic.
We do not discuss warranty/servicing requirements of hardware and updates that may be required for firmware/software.
I cannot speak for other countries, but U.S. consumers expect a certain amount of "Customer Service (CS)" contact from the companies they engage with.
I have no clue what the reliability statistics of these audio-hardware that are Chinese designed and manufactured.
I am willing to take chances in purchasing hardware from direct online Chinese sellers, but only when the price is sweet enough for me to ignore the pains I may endure if the hardware becomes DOA and/or requires CS (if available). ...TL&DR...
However, when the price of such Chinese goods near 4 figures (as is the case with this exemplary Topping LA90); I most definitely search and consider non-Chinese manufacturers, which (may) have a reliability track-record and one that does have a real CS.
Maybe Topping has become more of an International company, rather than their original name-to-fame that was reasonably-priced audio gear...

 

[MerlinGS]

You want lazy and uninsightful? Try praising YouTube videos that have never existed, and then conflating bass management (what I stated is a necessary condition for an integrated amp to be worth the name in the sentence you truncated then emphasized) and room correction.

As for the mere existence of other crap integrateds, sure I agree there are more of those than useful ones. So what? We should be pressing manufacturers to make better stuff. The Buchardt integrated is a great example. The first drafts were terrible, but they took criticism seriously and in the spirit of good faith from which it came. They ended up releasing an integrated with a fantastic feature set.

My apologies, for some reason I always associated your name with a youtuber that reviews/measures speakers with similar equipment as Amir's. As to your claims of conflation, 2 points. You raise the issue of RC in your post, and directly reference Dirac Live and ARC and you mention room correction, but you argue that I conflated the two. If you are going to make the argument of conflation, at least verify your post is not referencing RC.

As to limiting the argument to bass management, that actually makes your argument even more spurious. Bass management is extremely uncommon in stereo setups, and many arguments can be made on either side, especially in the context of where this amp does well. My argument does not change and your assessment remains lazy. The market dictates what is needed, is not the "mere existence of other crap integrateds" that dulls your argument, is the extreme rarity of integrateds with bass management that makes your argument questionable (i.e. that integrateds that do not include bass management are essentially failures). Moreover, if bass management is critical to a user, there are numerous ways of addressing this. At the risk of repeating myself, one can:

1. Use a PC as a source (and use numerous tools to address bass management)
2. Use a source that provides bass management
3. Pass the source through electronics that provide DSP prior to reaching the amp (I have a MiniDSP that provides Dirac for any HDMI source, this can easily be converted to analog and address bass management, system loudness could be addressed through the source)
3. Use speakers that have integrated DSP to address bass
4. Use speakers that do not need bass management (the use cases I discussed for this amp, make the necessity of bass management questionable, and most users would not want to pursue that path)
4. Alternatively, and for many users this is a preference, take steps to correct room issues, and use speakers that provide sufficient bass instead of using having to rely on bass management.

Again, my apologies for confusing you with the youtuber (btw, his reviews are generally excellent).

 

[gvl]

This amp will be OK as a desktop amp, as many will use it like.

And on the desktop one will likely be better served by active monitors, so the use case isn’t all clear to me at the price point.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

And on the desktop one will likely be better served by active monitors, so the use case isn’t all clear to me at the price point.

Use case ... I would picture a nice little living room system tucked into the bottom of a TV stand.

 

[Ingenieur]

You think so, right? Really?

Below is a record during listening in home living room conditions with a speaker with some 89dB/2.83V/1m sensitivity.

The apparent clipping is not the amplifier, but it is in the CD data. Tchaikowsky 1812 Telarc, BTW. 35Vp amplifier output.

View attachment 202757

Recording of October 1979: The Telarc 1812 Overture

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (Op.49), Capriccio Italien (Op.45 ), "Cossack Dance" from Mazeppa (LP), plus Marche slav, Op.31, Polonaise and Waltz from Eugene Onegin , Op.24, Festival Coronation March (CD). Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Chorus; Children's Choir of Greater Cincinnati...

www.stereophile.com

What does the 58.61 V represent?
Rise time 208 uSec ~ 20 kHz
Or based on waveform 800 uSec, >5 kHz

The CD 'clipped'?
Or the volume was high?
That equates to >110 dB (35 V)
You over drove the amp

Statistical anomaly

Editor's Note
Although the dynamic range on this disc sounds absolutely stupendous, it is only about 45dB between the softest and the loudest (bass drum) musical passages. This may seem absurdly low to those of us accustomed to thinking in terms of 110dB fortissimos, but it is roughly 15dB more dynamic range than is on the statistical average of symphonic LPs, and 5dB more than on any audiophile disc we have encountered!

This is 45 dB
Average is 30 dB for classical lp's
Some audiophile lp's are 40 dB

Assume 89 dB/1 W/1 m
Listening at 65 dB (peak is 110 based on your numbers).
89 - 65 = 24 dB below 1 W
4 m, subtract 6, net 18 below
Add 3 for 2 speakers and 3 for room gain
24 again. (Room gain and reflections are critical, especially for bass). eff numbers are anechoic.

-24 dB on 1 W = 0.004 W (65 dB SPL)
At 110 dB, + 45 dB = 31,600 x
126 W

I have my doubts
btw: that is a vinyl lp, lol

The average is about 30 dB max
1000 x or 4 W (65 to 95 dB)
Or listening at 75 dB (peak 105)
0.04 W to 40 W.

 

[martijn86]

Forty years ago isn't long ago for me although I accept it's a lifetime ago for many here. I don't know what was going on back then, but the 1980's HiFi Choice books were full of amplifier sonic differences (maybe sighted and casually not level matched, but to them, each amp 'sounded' different). Thing is, the (my) estimated SINAD figues from this yesteryear era put most amps in the 60's and 70's as the levels of distortion were horrendous by today's standards - this being why some amps today are judged by their designers as 'good enough' I feel with SINAD in the 80's, compared to these once well respected figures of forty years ago, some of which really *did* sound good without the 'paper flat' kind of presentation which some did have (I wonder what causes this - it's certainly measurable).

So yeah, this amp has magnificent figures within it's power levels (don't care what you lot say, it's still cheap really when you look at the (almost) cr@p hard-clipping integrateds available from UK audio dealers and 'salons' at far higher prices). Your rooms are larger so greater listening distances may well demand a 200WPC model giving good safe headroom, but our smaller rooms will be fine if our neighbours are (central Europe seems to have a lot of apartment style dwellings and neighbours above and below as well as sideways may not be receptive to high level listening with shedloads of bass pumping through the walls...

I definitely noticed some differences in amplifiers that I owned. In recent years, I owned a pair of B&W towers. First with a Denon AVR, which sounded fine. It was my baseline for those speakers. When I bought a slimline Marantz AVR, it became noticeable that kickdrums had this cardboard sound to them. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but it got even more pronounced with Audessey room correction. When I later saw that those B&W towers dipped below 2 Ohm in the lower octaves and my AVR's don't play well with a 2 Ohm load, I started experimenting with a power amplifier. A Crown rack amplifier was a cheap external solution to provide lots of stable power at 2 Ohm. And voila, it didn't have the cardboard sounding kickdrums! Now the crown wasn't perfect either, the fan turned on pretty early, it had a noticeable hiss and it had quite a loud, compressed character. Not at all enjoyable for longer listening sessions.
That's when I got a Hypex NC250MP and finally nothing bothered me about it.

If amplifiers sound different, it is likely because they don't interact well with the speakers or they are flawed. Mind you, some of those flaws can sound really good. I heard Tarantula from Beck through a class D amplifier and through a tube amplifier and the tube effect really added a cool dimension to that song. But that's it right, it adds something and you can't control what. Why buy a flawed device in the hopes that you might somehow like that flaw? I rather have a flawless amplifier, the music should sound good and if I still want to add some flavour, I use DSP so it is exactly my flavour.

 

[razamanaz]

I have these speakers http://yb-audio.pl/realizacje/zephyr_le/ and a 2x25W amplifier https://neurochrome.com/products/modulus-186
Speakers distort at maximum volume (25W)
I wonder what speakers can not distort at 300W?
I rarely turn on more than 2.5W

 

[antcollinet]

I have these speakers http://yb-audio.pl/realizacje/zephyr_le/ and a 2x25W amplifier https://neurochrome.com/products/modulus-186
Speakers distort at maximum volume (25W)
I wonder what speakers can not distort at 300W?
I rarely turn on more than 2.5W

Why do you think it is the speakers distorting and not the amp. If you run a 25W amp at full wack, the music will most likely be clipping.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

What does the 58.61 V represent?
Rise time 208 uSec ~ 20 kHz
Or based on waveform 800 uSec, >5 kHz

Looking at the image it's set to 10v per graticule thus about 80v full scale. This puts 58 volts right about where the trace is on the right hand side of the display. That clipped peak appears to represent 74 volts. This also puts the lower level to the left at about 20 volts...

So 20 squared / 8 time 0.707 puts it at 35 watts average power ... with a peak at around 480 watts ... more than enough to make your years bleed. As I commented earlier I've worked on movie theatre equipment that isn't driven this hard.

 

[razamanaz]

Why do you think it is the speakers distorting and not the amp. If you run a 25W amp at full wack, the music will most likely be clipping.

specially pointed out the amplifier, it does not clip at 25W

 

[antcollinet]

specially pointed out the amplifier, it does not clip at 25W

Clipping at 40W. That is only 2db above 25W. If you are running music at 25W, the peaks will most likely be clipping.

 

[pma]

So 20 squared / 8 time 0.707 puts it at 35 watts average power ... with a peak at around 480 watts ... more than enough to make your years bleed. As I commented earlier I've worked on movie theatre equipment that isn't driven this hard

Movie theatre is movie theatre. Have you also worked at a recording studio for classical music? Your average power estimation is based on a very short part of the track so it is pointless to indicate to listening level set. Below is the full track rip.
BTW I do not understand your calculations. Peak voltage is 35Vp (zero level is in the middle of the scope screen as usually) and 35Vpeak with 4ohm load would make 306.25W peak power. The impedance is in fact close to 6 ohm so it is less.
58.61V refers to 58.61Vpeak-peak on the whole screen .

 

[TheBatsEar]

This thread is getting ridonculous.
People saying there is no speaker/room combination in the world where you can live with less than half a kilowatt@8R.

480 watt peaks? Really? What do you do with that, pulverize kidney stones?

 

[NTK]

specially pointed out the amplifier, it does not clip at 25W

To be more precise, the amp doesn't clip at 25 W for a 1 kHz single frequency sine wave with a crest factor of 3 dB, which is the test signal used in this test. With a signal (e.g music) that has a high enough crest factor, it will clip at 25 W or lower.