Topping Mini 300 Amplifier Review

[Tell]

Leaving equipment on 24/7 for "convenience" makes no sense in the modern world of smart plugs and high power bills. Literally everything in my house is on a surge-protected extension cord connected to a smart plug. "Hey Google, turn on the tv/hifi".

So you have lots of stuff running 24/7 to not have your class D amplifier not running 24/7?
No smart home stuff will ever enter my home though, but sometime in the future I might start using the red button on my powerstrip for my two class D amps and DSP. Will of course be less convenient, but our modern world is way to convenient already so some friction will only do me good.

 

[Angst92]

So you have lots of stuff running 24/7 to not have your class D amplifier not running 24/7?

As some examples, I have a single smart plug that controls power to my tv/hifi/game consoles and another that controls power to my work desk/pc/amplifiers etc so I just ask it to turn entire setups on or off, no reason to leave it all powered overnight. The smart plugs use half a watt each, my sub uses 10w in standby.

 

[Dave TR3A]

As some examples, I have a single smart plug that controls power to my tv/hifi/game consoles and another that controls power to my work desk/pc/amplifiers etc so I just ask it to turn entire setups on or off, no reason to leave it all powered overnight. The smart plugs use half a watt each, my sub uses 10w in standby.

 

[Angst92]

View attachment 552310

oh, I'm so sorry for responding directly to a sarcy question. I didn't realise that discussion that you don't care about wasn't allowed.

 

[Steve Dallas]

Considering how low my electricity cost is, it would cost me $8 per year to leave the Mini 300 on 24x365. Another way to look at that is a smart plug would take ~6 years to pay for itself, assuming it lasts that long.

I know there are smart plugs with limited features that do not have to be connected to a home assistant, but as a matter of principle, I will never introduce a Chinese spy microphone into my home on purpose.

Having said that, as I mentioned before, I mostly remember to turn it off at night, and it saves a huge amount of electricity compared to what it replaced.

 

[billou5767]

Young man, with small brain?

WTF.

We are talking about amplifiers not ipads.

And TVs are even worse. Would love to know how much electricity and money you have wasted.
Doh.

none all my electronic on pause stand , all my electonic a go down dead .. to begin with the switch

 

[billou5767]

Considering how low my electricity cost is, it would cost me $8 per year to leave the Mini 300 on 24x365. Another way to look at that is a smart plug would take ~3 years to pay for itself, assuming it lasts that long.

I know there are smart plugs with limited features that do not have to be connected to a home assistant, but as a matter of principle, I will never introduce a Chinese spy microphone into my home on purpose.

Having said that, as I mentioned before, I mostly remember to turn it off at night, and it saves a huge amount of electricity compared to what it replaced.

in europe the law its under 0,5W / hour a lot of product its 0,1 W : under 5 KW / year : in france under 3 euro

and i am in cold contry 6 months / year : its heat the bedroom

 

[stuartkohl]

Leaving equipment on 24/7 for "convenience" makes no sense in the modern world of smart plugs and high power bills. Literally everything in my house is on a surge-protected extension cord connected to a smart plug. "Hey Google, turn on the tv/hifi".

This is definitely a case of. "You do you and I'll do me."

Is there an absolute correct answer to the question of "leave it on or turn it off?" I don't know. I tend to turn things off, but that's the way I've always done things.

We shouldn't talk about "sense" or "no sense" though, because what makes sense to me may not to you. Your way is not wrong, it's just your way. No judgement.

 

[fpitas]

I just have a switched surge-protected power strip for all my gear. I feel so...old-fashioned lol.

 

[Angst92]

This is definitely a case of. "You do you and I'll do me."

Is there an absolute correct answer to the question of "leave it on or turn it off?" I don't know. I tend to turn things off, but that's the way I've always done things.

We shouldn't talk about "sense" or "no sense" though, because what makes sense to me may not to you. Your way is not wrong, it's just your way. No judgement.

Perhaps I should have added "in my opinion" to the statement.

 

[stuartkohl]

Perhaps I should have added "in my opinion" to the statement.

As someone once said, "I have my opinions and you're entitled to them."

No worries. It wasn't a big deal.

 

[davmol]

I know there are smart plugs with limited features that do not have to be connected to a home assistant, but as a matter of principle, I will never introduce a Chinese spy microphone into my home on purpose.

To be fair most of the smart-device microphone spying is done by American devices (of course, still made in China), but regardless if the device is Chinese or American, I like keep them on a dedicated vlan and for anything that needs an internet connection to function I limit their upload bandwidth to near zero. I mean, is there any better way to torture a voyeur than by forcing to watch a buffering circle that never ends?

Anyway, to get me back on topic, for those who listen to speakers and headphones, I was just thinking that the Mini 300 amp, stacked with the matching width E50II DAC and the L50 headphone amp looks like incredible value compact high-performance system, all-in at $430! Throw in a WiiM mini for streaming and that's all the bases covered.

Unfortunately for UK buyers Topping store subscribes to the geo-locked price gouging routine, so it's £430 instead of the £320-ish it should actually be after conversion, but via Aliexpress with a current voucher I could get it down to £350, which is still great value.

 

[gasolin75]

Trying se, rca in sounds good mabye trs is more open sounding

Don't notice any volume dfiffrence im still not geting max power from the amp, what to try except for vlc that can go above 100% volume

Source input on my wiim ultra can ´give a litte distortion set top high but latest update gave it aut headroom to help preventing clipping, raised source input by 2 db

 

[fpitas]

On a practical note connecting this thing. I tried XLR to TRS adapters, but they were too large diameter for the jack spacing. I went with short XLR to TRS adapter cables instead.

 

[davmol]

On a practical note connecting this thing. I tried XLR to TRS adapters, but they were too large diameter for the jack spacing. I went with short XLR to TRS adapter cables instead.

They also tend to be weighty, I use them with the DX5II and I do wonder if they strain the sockets, plus they look a bit unsightly hanging out the back when sat on a desktop! OK, I've just convinced myself to get some XLR to TRS cables!

 

[somebodyelse]

Unfortunately for UK buyers Topping store subscribes to the geo-locked price gouging routine, so it's £430 instead of the £320-ish it should actually be after conversion, but via Aliexpress with a current voucher I could get it down to £350, which is still great value.

You forgot about the VAT and import duties that Ali include in the price shown for the UK. They aren't included in the US price - they may get a bill for the import duties and/or tariffs on or after arrival, plus state taxes they're meant to pay. Assuming an exchange rate of 0.74 and 20% VAT it should be £382 - I don't know if there are other duties to add, so the gap might close further.

 

[fpitas]

The sale seems to be over on Amazon. They're $139 now, although I see a USED - LIKE NEW one for $109 if someone is brave,

 

[gasolin75]

and 139 euros in europe

 

[davmol]

You forgot about the VAT and import duties that Ali include in the price shown for the UK. They aren't included in the US price - they may get a bill for the import duties and/or tariffs on or after arrival, plus state taxes they're meant to pay. Assuming an exchange rate of 0.74 and 20% VAT it should be £382 - I don't know if there are other duties to add, so the gap might close further.

That's the point though when it comes to the Topping Store, it's £431 because they don't do any currency conversion. They geo-lock currency based on the destination shipping address and then take an approach that $1=£1=€1. When it comes to Ali, yes they do charge VAT on baskets under £135 (whether they actually pay it to the UK treasury is a different matter) but beyond £135 the VAT is deducted from the basket and becomes chargeable on arrival, same as any other country. On that basis the price a UK or EU buyer sees when buying direct from China, on a basket value beyond £135, should be the same as their core USD base price, and if they won't allow payment in USD then it should be reflective of the currency conversion from USD at the time of sale, as per the calculation in your comment. It should never be the case that $1=£1=€1, which is just plain old price gouging.

The example here would be that the Topping Mini300 is $119 on Topping Store (interestingly it says "all costs included"), so $119 plus 20% (for EU / UK) VAT is $142, which would be about £105 or €103 today, yet Topping Store locks the price at £119 / €119 based on shipping address, so effectively we are being overcharged £14 as a UK buyer, or €16 as an EU buyer, for the same item shipped from China. In the past this was never a problem, because we just paid Chinese sellers using USD, regardless of location, but this is getting more and more difficult to achieve, and is why this is not about just Topping, but seems more like a national directive in China to deal with the economic slowdown as salaries and standards of living continue to go up (which is a good thing).

Back to the amazing value of this stack:
I just added it all to my basket on Aliexpress, (Mini300 + E50II + L50), and there is also now a £20 discount for paying with paypal, so adding also the £50 discount on order value, the whole stack can be acquired for £283 exc VAT (£339 Inc VAT, should it be charged), which is astonishing value. Same stack direct from Topping Store with geo-locked pricing is £431 inc VAT.

 

[gasolin75]

I just added it all to my basket on Aliexpress, (Mini300 + E50II + L50), and there is also now a £20 discount for paying with paypal, so adding also the £50 discount on order value, the whole stack can be acquired for £283 exc VAT (£339 Inc VAT, should it be charged), which is astonishing value. Same stack direct from Topping Store with geo-locked pricing is £431 inc VAT.

So no bundle,link to it ?