With Klipsch speakers…
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Topping PA3s Review (Desktop Amplifier)
- Thread starter amirm
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Eggs Ackley
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Yes. Fortes from 1986. 98dB sensitivity, no problem. I prefer this amp to the six watt se tube amp I was using.
Tube amp…
andrewskaterrr
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I hooked mine up to my JBL Studio 590s and it gets loud.
Eggs Ackley
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Musical Paradise MP-301 MKIII.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
I took the 2 TR8 screws out of the back, but couldn't get it to come apart. There may be more screws under the feet but I don't want to take them off. Sorry.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
What I can say about this amp is this. I tested with my 6ohm 92dB JBL Studio 590s, and it pushed them above listenable levels without getting hot. The noise floor of the amp is lower than my Outlaw 7000Xs, and no hiss. The only issue is I get interference with speakers with I believe unshielded drivers. My 3 pronged Alesis RA-100 amp doesn't have this issue.
@andrewskaterrr interference with active speakers? Does it change if you move the speaker cables around? Since the output of the PA3s is likely unfiltered there will be a lot of high frequency noise on those cables; I have no idea if this would active active speakers. It's unlikely, I suppose, but maybe it could.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
These are passive speakers plugged into the PA3S. I tried moving power supply, speaker cable, everything. The common denominator was the speakers. 2 other sets of speakers don't have this issue.
I have a 6Ω or 4Ω passive speaker connected to my PA3s and I don't see any such symptoms.
In your video image, the speaker is connected only to R-ch. Is it the same symptom for L-ch?
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
I tested it on my JBL Studio 590s and a pair of old Sony towers, and neither had this issue. These are the only speakers that did it, and yes it was through both speakers although different for each speakers. That’s why I think it’s down to EMI/lack of PA3S grounding with, I assume, unshielded drivers in the speakers.
Perhaps the PA3s have a filterless output, just like the SMSL amp products that use the MA1207 chip. But I think the noise coming out of the amp is high frequency noise and will never sound like your video.
From your PA3s symptoms I suspect a power supply unit or PA3s failure.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
I’m not sure how it would be power supply or amp failure though? You can hear the typically cell phone interference sound kick in towards the end. Interestingly enough it will go down after like 30secs, but the noise floor is still much higher than when it’s connected to other speakers, and still makes some noise randomly.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
Here’s a more thorough video using some clips from the other day.
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Just received mine. I ordered a black one, but got silver. Now I have E30, L30 and PA3s on my desktop. Getting this kind of sound for a few hundred bucks is really thought provoking and makes you think about all the "bad buys" one has made throughout the years. The PA3s is replacing a Nobsound 3116 and even though that was fine for the price, there is no comparison in terms of sound quality.
andrewskaterrr
Active Member
Topping is killing it with cheap quality devices. This was the last piece to complete the desktop eco system for many. ~$450 for transparent DAC & HP Amp, and a best in class Power Amp.
There is a gain difference between R-ch and L-ch of RCA input
I purchased PA3s immediately after its release and have been testing it so far. Since I received the TRS<->TRS cable for balanced connection this time, I did a comparative test of sound quality between RCA-unbalanced connection and TRS-balanced connection. At that time, it turned out that the center position of the sound emitted from the speaker was shifted to the left when the input was RCA. Probably the cause is that there is a gain difference between the left channel and the right channel of PA3s.
I replaced the input source DAC with D10S, E30, E50, DX3Prp+ for confirmation and compared, but the symptoms were the same.
I also used Topping's genuine RCA cable and 3 other types of RCA connection cables, but the symptoms did not change. This symptom does not occur when the input is TRS-balanced input.
My PA3s serial number is 2107 ******. Do you have any of these symptoms in your PA3s?
Measurements by @amirm are only done with TRS-balanced input. I really want @amirm to test with RCA-unbalanced inputs.
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** postscript **
After that, I repeated the balance-unbalance switching test and investigated the cause, and found that it works normally occasionally.
Immediately, intuitively, I suspected that the contact of the input switching relay had a poor contact, and after repeating the balance-unbalance switching 300 times or more with the input switching button on the front panel, the operation became normal as with the balanced input. The cause of this problem seems to be the quality of the installed input switching relay.
I purchased PA3s immediately after its release and have been testing it so far. Since I received the TRS<->TRS cable for balanced connection this time, I did a comparative test of sound quality between RCA-unbalanced connection and TRS-balanced connection. At that time, it turned out that the center position of the sound emitted from the speaker was shifted to the left when the input was RCA. Probably the cause is that there is a gain difference between the left channel and the right channel of PA3s.
I replaced the input source DAC with D10S, E30, E50, DX3Prp+ for confirmation and compared, but the symptoms were the same.
I also used Topping's genuine RCA cable and 3 other types of RCA connection cables, but the symptoms did not change. This symptom does not occur when the input is TRS-balanced input.
My PA3s serial number is 2107 ******. Do you have any of these symptoms in your PA3s?
Measurements by @amirm are only done with TRS-balanced input. I really want @amirm to test with RCA-unbalanced inputs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** postscript **
After that, I repeated the balance-unbalance switching test and investigated the cause, and found that it works normally occasionally.
Immediately, intuitively, I suspected that the contact of the input switching relay had a poor contact, and after repeating the balance-unbalance switching 300 times or more with the input switching button on the front panel, the operation became normal as with the balanced input. The cause of this problem seems to be the quality of the installed input switching relay.
Last edited:
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I haven't noticed anything to that effect. I only use RCA for mine, but I simply move my speakers around to get good stereo image. I do have a slight imbalance in my headphones (probably because of how they are seated on my head), but at least it the difference in the PA3s isn't very pronounced, if it exists.
Thank you for your reply.
As I added to the previous post, the cause was a poor contact of the input switching relay.
I was suffering from an unthinkable symptom, but I found the cause and now it works fine.
I can't say too many requests because the price of the product is low, but I would like to request Topping a little more effort to improve the quality of the product.
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