Topping Mini 300 Amplifier Review

[Wickers]

Can't wait for the Topping E50 II DAC review.

 

[Tell]

Can't wait for the Topping E50 II DAC review.

View attachment 501376

The E50 is objectively perfect, so what is there to wait for in a review of MK2 since the odds of it being less than even more objectively perfect is next to none?

 

[Sokel]

I tried to overlay the Power vs. Distortion graphs of the original PA5 (transparent) and the Mini 300 (solid). The horizontal scale was quite different but I think the overlay is quite ok. This seems to imply that the Mini 300 beats the PA5 by about 5 dB in 15, 10 and 5 kHz distortion!

View attachment 501375

That's a nice chart!
The faint Amir's comment at the back "no power loss at 20Hz" matters most I think.

Not because about the 20Hz specifically, but in general an amp has to deliver where is needed most, and that's lows.

 

[staticV3]

That's a nice chart!
The faint Amir's comment at the back "no power loss at 20Hz" matters most I think.

Not because about the 20Hz specifically, but in general an amp has to deliver where is needed most, and that's lows.

Agreed, but OTOH there's hardly any 20Hz in TV, music, and movies.

Most content is regrettably HPFed at 30-40Hz.

 

[Sokel]

Agreed, but OTOH there's hardly any 20Hz in TV, music, and movies.

Most content is regrettably HPFed at 30-40Hz.

That's why I said not about 20Hz specifically.
It's a good index that if it does 20's well it will do the rest.

It's not tested at 40Hz the way mini tested though so we don't know for sure.

 

[TimF]

Volume knob on the right side as you face the equipment has become largely predominant.

 

[staticV3]

Volume knob on the right side as you face the equipment has become largely predominant.

started with DACs so the screen isn't blocked when you adjust settings/volume, then carried over to Amps for a consistent look

 

[Jcrow]

I will likely pick one of these up when they arrive at my local store. Nice to know it also measures well, though, I’m not too surprised.

 

[jimroge]

Bought this little guy because the speaker b on my pioneer AV finally gave out, used it to drive my office speakers while a was used for pc. I could see from previous reviews that Toppings graphs are accurate as is the case again from Amir's measurements. Fantastic value here going to drive my affordable accuracy modded pioneers, I'm in budget audiophile heaven!

 

[TurtlePaul]

Wow. I have 2 reactions when I see a device like this at $200. I am like "Why on EARTH (wind & fire) don't we get such strong performance-for-the-buck with higher priced devices, diminishing returns be d-mned"? The second reaction is... are these devices somehow designed specifically to perform in benchtests, somehow hiding flaws? But the second one seems hard to defend, since the tests are pretty comprehensive (only "flaw" seems some distortion in higher frequencies... maybe...).

You know how in the headphone and source market we have devices with $2 opamps that are audibly perfect? The equivalent in the amp market seems to be the $6.50 TPA3255/3251 chips that can deliver audibly perfect performance up to ~200 watt.

The key is when Bruno Putzeys figured out how to put a class D output filter inside of the feedback loop and how to increase the order of the feedback loop without driving the amp into instability. The benefit that we are now seeing is that these improvements can be achieved with the addition of a few passive components (capacitors and resistors) and some electrical engineering math. At first this only benefitted Bruno's employers as he had a number of patents from the late 90s and 00s.

Now that the patents are expired and we have five different China-based amp makers (Topping, Fosi, 3E, Douk, Aiyima) competing, it is getting very hard for these chip makers to charge a lot for what in the end of the day is a couple small capacitors and a resistor network. This amp is basically a "PA5 III plus" where Topping is undercutting the price due to increased competition since the PA5's original release date (3e A5, Fosi v3 mono, Duok A5 Pro, etc.)

The class AB 'big iron' amp makers should be hiring electrical engineers to increase the order of the global negative feedback networks in their amps. Class AB amps have enough bandwidth that they should all be able to deliver 120 dB SINADs like the recent Topping LA90/B100/B200. I wonder if the old guard is going to rise to the challenge, fade away, or sell nostalgia and brand by sticking with their existing achitectrures.

 

[xanalog]

Closed for a bit while I cleaned up some off topic posting that got too verbose.
Carry on!

I am sorry I must go OT:
--------------
@amirm,
Your repeated consistency in presenting your review hardware' measurements is much appreciated and is impeccable.

Thank you and much respects for standardizing the standards!

 

[martin900]

【Quiet, Safe, and Reliable Operation】Engineered for silent startup/shutdown, and equipped with overheat and overcurrent protection, ensuring long-term reliability and zero noise during playback.


More important question - does it have a full DC protection?
These little gizmos aren't the most reliable sometimes.

 

[TurtlePaul]

【Quiet, Safe, and Reliable Operation】Engineered for silent startup/shutdown, and equipped with overheat and overcurrent protection, ensuring long-term reliability and zero noise during playback.


More important question - does it have a full DC protection?
These little gizmos aren't the most reliable sometimes.

This is from the TPA3251 datasheet (the Mini300 operates in BTL mode):

9.4.2 DC Speaker Protection
The output DC protection scheme protects a connected speaker from excess DC current caused by a speaker wire accidentally shorted to chassis ground. Such a short circuit results in a DC voltage of PVDD/2 across the speaker, which potentially can result in destructive current levels. The output DC protection detects any unbalance of the output and input current of a BTL output, and in the event of the unbalance exceeding a programmed threshold, the overload counter increments until its maximum value and the affected output channel is shut down. DC Speaker Protection is disabled in PBTL and SE mode operation.

 

[amirm]

More important question - does it have a full DC protection?

The amplifier IC has exceptionally robust protection circuit so I am sure we are covered there.

 

[oleg87]

Neat, but I'll let other people beta-test this thing.

 

[RickS]

I am sorry I must go OT:
--------------
@amirm,
Your repeated consistency in presenting your review hardware' measurements is much appreciated and is impeccable.
View attachment 501410
Thank you and much respects for standardizing the standards!

Np, this does not appear off topic. The deleted posts were about petrol prices and EU politics.

 

[Cogito]

Good luck finding a replacement for that oddball 38V power brick with the GX12 connector when it goes poof.

Just keep the connector and splice it to the replacement brick cable.

 

[NTK]

【Quiet, Safe, and Reliable Operation】Engineered for silent startup/shutdown, and equipped with overheat and overcurrent protection, ensuring long-term reliability and zero noise during playback.


More important question - does it have a full DC protection?
These little gizmos aren't the most reliable sometimes.

Also, note that the TI TPA signal paths are not DC coupled. Any significant DC at the output will be due to a fault in the amplifier.

 

[SoundMagic]

Does anyone know a 6 or 8 channel amplifier in a box with inbuilt power supply for $500? Of course I can buy 4 of these but a single box solution will be nice.

 

[perceptionist]

You know how in the headphone and source market we have devices with $2 opamps that are audibly perfect? The equivalent in the amp market seems to be the $6.50 TPA3255/3251 chips that can deliver audibly perfect performance up to ~200 watt.

The key is when Bruno Putzeys figured out how to put a class D output filter inside of the feedback loop and how to increase the order of the feedback loop without driving the amp into instability. The benefit that we are now seeing is that these improvements can be achieved with the addition of a few passive components (capacitors and resistors) and some electrical engineering math. At first this only benefitted Bruno's employers as he had a number of patents from the late 90s and 00s.

Now that the patents are expired and we have five different China-based amp makers (Topping, Fosi, 3E, Douk, Aiyima) competing, it is getting very hard for these chip makers to charge a lot for what in the end of the day is a couple small capacitors and a resistor network. This amp is basically a "PA5 III plus" where Topping is undercutting the price due to increased competition since the PA5's original release date (3e A5, Fosi v3 mono, Duok A5 Pro, etc.)

The class AB 'big iron' amp makers should be hiring electrical engineers to increase the order of the global negative feedback networks in their amps. Class AB amps have enough bandwidth that they should all be able to deliver 120 dB SINADs like the recent Topping LA90/B100/B200. I wonder if the old guard is going to rise to the challenge, fade away, or sell nostalgia and brand by sticking with their existing achitectrures.

Can't wait for Mini 500/PA7 Plus successor/TPA3255 at a competitive price.