Topping Mini 300 Amplifier Review

[Steve Dallas]

I purchased mine in January and leave it on 24/7 (turning down at bedtime) stacked on the E70V. Going from RCA (especially in configuration with a computer) to balanced was a joy. I could never crack the problem of getting silence even with the HS02 isolator on the usb line. The Mini 300 is such a nice unit and the looks work for me too.

Looks like you are running full correction. If you like your speaker's response above 500 hz, you could try just a partial and see if that livens things up.

I agree, there's no reason this amplifier should sound lean. It has to be down to the speaker or setup.

I am running correction to 900Hz. The graph says 1000Hz, but that is incorrect. I could limit Dirac to 500Hz on the right channel, but the left has considerable peaking between 500 and 900Hz and sounds better limited to 900Hz.

 

[tb2025]

Here is my not so mini review of the Mini 300 after 30 days...

My home office setup is Silent PC (w/Dirac) ->MOTU M4 -> Mini 300 -> OG KEF R3. My listening distance is about 7' from the speakers. Balanced TRS connections are used between the DAC and amp. The Mini 300 volume control is at 100% and the M4 volume control is at 50%. PC volume controls are all set to 100% with a -10dB gain reduction in the Dirac standalone processor. I do not run subs in this room.

Average SPL is ~65dBc with peaks of ~70dBc as measured with a Radio Shack SPL meter in the center of my headspace. The amp is on for roughly 12 hours per day with music playing about half that time.

My objective was to move from RCA to balanced connections to reduce noise and sell my Peachtree Nova 300 while it still has considerable resale value, as I am not using any of its many features beyond the amp itself in HTB mode. The decision was between the Buckeye NCx252MP 2 channel and the Mini 300 at 1/5 the price, 1/4 the size, and 1/3 the power.

Results are that I don't notice any difference at all except the very slight tweeter hiss and intermittent RFI noise I had with the Nova is gone. The Mini 300 keeps up just fine and sounds exactly the same while managing to use less power, run cooler, be smaller, and be quieter.

Heat has not been a problem. It sits on a console in 76F / 24C open air and barely gets warm to the touch, even after hours of use. The power supply sits on the floor under the console, where it also barely gets warm.

In terms of power, it is again fine for my use case. Since most of us actually use < 5 Watts the vast majority of the time, the old 100W at 8R rule for home audio still holds, and half that power for lower SPL in smaller rooms is perfectly suitable. Zero concerns.

As previously mentioned, I do not believe the comments claiming the Mini 300 sounds lean--at least in my use case. KEF R3s are not the easiest speakers to drive in the bass region, and the Mini 300 sounds exactly the same across the FR as the 5.5x more powerful ICEpower Nova 300. People claiming it sounds lean must be pushing it beyond its design limits or are victims of sight bias in which the small things must sound small, much like people believe metal dome tweeters sound metallic, silk dome tweeters sound soft and smooth, ribbons sound airy, etc.

Assuming the Mini 300 is reliable and can sit there and do amp things trouble-free for years, I am very pleased with it.

For those who may be interested, here is a graph of my right speaker showing its Dirac-corrected and slightly extended response as driven to ~75dB average by the Mini 300 during setup / testing:

View attachment 547674


Not lean.

Here is my not so mini review of the Mini 300 after 30 days...

My home office setup is Silent PC (w/Dirac) ->MOTU M4 -> Mini 300 -> OG KEF R3. My listening distance is about 7' from the speakers. Balanced TRS connections are used between the DAC and amp. The Mini 300 volume control is at 100% and the M4 volume control is at 50%. PC volume controls are all set to 100% with a -10dB gain reduction in the Dirac standalone processor. I do not run subs in this room.

Average SPL is ~65dBc with peaks of ~70dBc as measured with a Radio Shack SPL meter in the center of my headspace. The amp is on for roughly 12 hours per day with music playing about half that time.

My objective was to move from RCA to balanced connections to reduce noise and sell my Peachtree Nova 300 while it still has considerable resale value, as I am not using any of its many features beyond the amp itself in HTB mode. The decision was between the Buckeye NCx252MP 2 channel and the Mini 300 at 1/5 the price, 1/4 the size, and 1/3 the power.

Results are that I don't notice any difference at all except the very slight tweeter hiss and intermittent RFI noise I had with the Nova is gone. The Mini 300 keeps up just fine and sounds exactly the same while managing to use less power, run cooler, be smaller, and be quieter.

Heat has not been a problem. It sits on a console in 76F / 24C open air and barely gets warm to the touch, even after hours of use. The power supply sits on the floor under the console, where it also barely gets warm.

In terms of power, it is again fine for my use case. Since most of us actually use < 5 Watts the vast majority of the time, the old 100W at 8R rule for home audio still holds, and half that power for lower SPL in smaller rooms is perfectly suitable. Zero concerns.

As previously mentioned, I do not believe the comments claiming the Mini 300 sounds lean--at least in my use case. KEF R3s are not the easiest speakers to drive in the bass region, and the Mini 300 sounds exactly the same across the FR as the 5.5x more powerful ICEpower Nova 300. People claiming it sounds lean must be pushing it beyond its design limits or are victims of sight bias in which the small things must sound small, much like people believe metal dome tweeters sound metallic, silk dome tweeters sound soft and smooth, ribbons sound airy, etc.

Assuming the Mini 300 is reliable and can sit there and do amp things trouble-free for years, I am very pleased with it.

For those who may be interested, here is a graph of my right speaker showing its Dirac-corrected and slightly extended response as driven to ~75dB average by the Mini 300 during setup / testing:

View attachment 547674


Not lean.

Did you use the original power supply?

 

[gasolin75]

top setting trig enables aut on/off when you turn on/off a streamer or dac when using a 12 volt trigger cable between the 2 units

 

[gasolin75]

I agree, there's no reason this amplifier should sound lean. It has to be down to the speaker or setup.

The amp sounds open and balanced, bass is neutral,balanced,smooth

 

[Steve Dallas]

Did you use the original power supply?

Yes.

 

[tb2025]

Yes.

Well, I’m using the Mini 300 to drive the JBL Stage A130, but the sound quality fluctuates randomly and erratically. I suspect either a power supply failure or internal circuit drift. I really love its SQ, when it behaves. It might just be an isolated defective unit. I’ve already sent it to Topping for warranty inspection, hoping they can identify the root cause.

 

[gasolin75]

Psu is much cooler than the amp it self

 

[stuartkohl]

I picked up one of these to play with. It's a very nice little amp and I'm really enjoying it. The only complaint I could really make is that it's so small that the back panel is rather crowded. I'm sure that increasing the size so you could spread the connectors out a bit would increase the cost though, so it's probably not worthwhile.

Ok, I have another complaint. I don't really like white LEDs on audio equipment. I prefer red, green, or even amber.

 

[gasolin75]

#648

It's green on the psu (permanent marker make it darker)

It's Yellow on the amp

 

[Jarrett]

I picked up one of these to play with. It's a very nice little amp and I'm really enjoying it. The only complaint I could really make is that it's so small that the back panel is rather crowded. I'm sure that increasing the size so you could spread the connectors out a bit would increase the cost though, so it's probably not worthwhile.

Ok, I have another complaint. I don't really like white LEDs on audio equipment. I prefer red, green, or even amber.

Tell me about it! The amount of stress it gave me using bare wire speaker cables (before I gave in and added banana plugs)

 

[stuartkohl]

#648

It's green on the psu (permanent marker make it darker)

It's Yellow on the amp

I have the psu behind the rack, so that LED isn't visible.

The one on the front of the amp is definitely white on my amp.

 

[gasolin75]

More yellow than white.

Try modding it

 

[stuartkohl]

More yellow than white.

Try modding it

I may try that. Thanks!

 

[gasolin75]

What can a led in red,green cost on temu ? 1 or 2 euro for 10 green and red leds ?

My volume knob on my wiim ultra is yellow

Shouldn't be to difficult to change or paint with a permament marker

 

[ThsM]

[...]
The TPA3255 chip that the Mini300 is built around includes integrated DC-offset fault protection. The TPA3255 detects current unbalance or DC offsets across the bridge outputs and shuts down the entire switching stage (putting the output into a high-impedance state) in microseconds to prevent damage to connected speakers.

Are there different implementation of the Mini 300? As Google tells me, that the Mini 300 has a Infineon Merus MA5332MS amp chip.

 

[gasolin75]

AI say tpa 32xx that is the closest we get to know what chip it is

On stated it was a 3251 chip do to the low distortion in the highs the 3255 can't do

 

[ThsM]

That's wired. If I ask Google "Topping mini 300 which amp chip is used", I get the following:

 

[staticV3]

Are there different implementation of the Mini 300? As Google tells me, that the Mini 300 has a Infineon Merus MA5332MS amp chip.

No, just AI nonsense.

All Mini 300's use a TPA325x (highly likely 3251)

 

[gasolin75]

 

[ThsM]

Thanks for the clarification and sorry for the confusion. Shouldn't trust Google AI .
I really liked my loxjie A30 with Infineon chip und hoped to get another good measuring amp with Infineon chip.
But if it has a TI chip anyway, I could spent the extra 80€ to get a proper 3e Audio A5.