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Topping PA5 II Stereo Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
A picture still doesn't explain why.
Anyway, this is a better illustration (stolen from the excellent "The G Word, or How to Get Your Audio off the Ground" by Bruno Putzeys );
I am late to this game by a couple years. Received my first amp with the TI chip this week. I asked for a recommendation from Topping, just had to pull trigger on a PA5 II before seeing a reply from them.
The recommendation was get a B100 for my system. Low level power at lowest distortions.
But hooked the PA5 II up Monday and listened a little. Had to cobble up a XLR female to TRS cable. Find the proper power cord for brick. Did not see one in the box. The first one found looks to be 20ga.
Spent an hour fiddling with spade lugs on the outputs. Locking bananas arrive today. Ring lugs would work, but the analog amp used has 5 ways.
Only got 30 minutes listening in before wife came home from work. Noticed immediately the bass output was deeper and taunt. Crisp. Turned off the subwoofer to evaluate. Made the Micromega integrated sound flabby and loose.
But mids and highs seemed off. Veiled is a good word. Loss of clarity. Loss of resolution. Was glad only purchased a PA5. Buyers remorse is not so bad at this price point.
Let the PA5 play. Started diddling with sub settings. Dropped crossover frequency, levels seemed easy to dial in. Turned up to too high a level and backed off.
Left powered up for most of yesterday. Only played for an hour.
Today it may be I am now used to it. Mids and highs are clearer. Do not notice the better bass. I know “burn in” is a dirty word. But whether it burnt in, dielectrics formed, holes and electrons aligned, or some combination it sounds fine today.
One item, the speaker power requirements are minuscule. Many headphone amps could drive the speakers to my listening levels. Doubt if amp has output a watt so far. Listen at 70 to 90dB with 105 dB efficient speakers.
Considered a headphone amp few years ago to get the crazy low noise floor and distortion. Decided needed more power.
Glad again I ordered a PA5 II and not a pair of B100. For a different reason. The PA5 II may be all that is needed.
Now if they offered an amp like the TP RA3, stereo, internal supply, a remote, and had B100 performance plastic would be pulled out immediately.
The ill fated TP RA3 had the feature set I want. Did not even hear about it until they were long gone.
Can happily live with a PA5 II for now.
Great job!!
The recommendation was get a B100 for my system. Low level power at lowest distortions.
But hooked the PA5 II up Monday and listened a little. Had to cobble up a XLR female to TRS cable. Find the proper power cord for brick. Did not see one in the box. The first one found looks to be 20ga.
Spent an hour fiddling with spade lugs on the outputs. Locking bananas arrive today. Ring lugs would work, but the analog amp used has 5 ways.
Only got 30 minutes listening in before wife came home from work. Noticed immediately the bass output was deeper and taunt. Crisp. Turned off the subwoofer to evaluate. Made the Micromega integrated sound flabby and loose.
But mids and highs seemed off. Veiled is a good word. Loss of clarity. Loss of resolution. Was glad only purchased a PA5. Buyers remorse is not so bad at this price point.
Let the PA5 play. Started diddling with sub settings. Dropped crossover frequency, levels seemed easy to dial in. Turned up to too high a level and backed off.
Left powered up for most of yesterday. Only played for an hour.
Today it may be I am now used to it. Mids and highs are clearer. Do not notice the better bass. I know “burn in” is a dirty word. But whether it burnt in, dielectrics formed, holes and electrons aligned, or some combination it sounds fine today.
One item, the speaker power requirements are minuscule. Many headphone amps could drive the speakers to my listening levels. Doubt if amp has output a watt so far. Listen at 70 to 90dB with 105 dB efficient speakers.
Considered a headphone amp few years ago to get the crazy low noise floor and distortion. Decided needed more power.
Glad again I ordered a PA5 II and not a pair of B100. For a different reason. The PA5 II may be all that is needed.
Now if they offered an amp like the TP RA3, stereo, internal supply, a remote, and had B100 performance plastic would be pulled out immediately.
The ill fated TP RA3 had the feature set I want. Did not even hear about it until they were long gone.
Can happily live with a PA5 II for now.
Great job!!
Ever heard about expectation bias?
thebarrel9
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Thanks for the info. Turned out this amp was a great purchase and was on sale (apos) when I ordered it a few weeks back.
I picked up some Martin Logan motion 15i a few years ago when Best buy was clearing the discontinued model out. Enthusiasm recently went sky-high as I rearranged a loft to accommodate active listening area with a nice sweet spot and speaker placement.
Speakers are a 92db 5(ish)-ohm bookshelf w/ 5.25" driver and folded ribbon tweeter on stands w/ isolation pads. The transient sound wasn't like anything I had ever heard before, so I wanted to step up the signal portion of the system because I liked the potential.
My first config was to use my denon AVR-X4000 which was sitting around idle to power the bookshelf and use an active subwoofer low-pass at 60 hz. When i used a blu-ray player as a transport into the AVR DAC, I was not happy at all. Canned, compressed, lifeless.
I stumbled upon this site looking for DAC upgrade and really liked the functions the ES II lite offered so ordered one and it lived up to the hype. I noticed my headphones really bringing through what I wanted my loudspeakers to deliver so I felt like the internal amp of the AVR didn't "play well" with the loudspeakers.
Suspicion confirmed, as the tin can sound and lack of dynamics of the AVR internal amp have been erased completely with loudspeaker play after moving to the topping PS5 II. Current config is the Topping ES II lite connected via USB to iphone running "max" Tidal files (up to 192k 24bit). Analog SE RCA from DAC into the AVR (AVR is still in the chain only as a preamp, as I have multiple analog RCA to switch and AVR acts as crossover for sub/high pass for bookshelf speakers). Other is output from a moon phono stage amp.
Preamp out from AVR runs into my new topping PA5 II (max volume on topping power amp) and then obviously speaker wire from topping amp direct to bookshelf speakers. No more ear fatigue on frequencies which were running away in recordings like Peter Gabriel's "big time" or essentially the last few (hyper compressed) Queens of the Stone Age albums. Very flat, very enjoyable listening. Golfing panther for sure and fingers crossed on reliability as it seems to be the biggest risk in this very hi-return/low cost option.
I picked up some Martin Logan motion 15i a few years ago when Best buy was clearing the discontinued model out. Enthusiasm recently went sky-high as I rearranged a loft to accommodate active listening area with a nice sweet spot and speaker placement.
Speakers are a 92db 5(ish)-ohm bookshelf w/ 5.25" driver and folded ribbon tweeter on stands w/ isolation pads. The transient sound wasn't like anything I had ever heard before, so I wanted to step up the signal portion of the system because I liked the potential.
My first config was to use my denon AVR-X4000 which was sitting around idle to power the bookshelf and use an active subwoofer low-pass at 60 hz. When i used a blu-ray player as a transport into the AVR DAC, I was not happy at all. Canned, compressed, lifeless.
I stumbled upon this site looking for DAC upgrade and really liked the functions the ES II lite offered so ordered one and it lived up to the hype. I noticed my headphones really bringing through what I wanted my loudspeakers to deliver so I felt like the internal amp of the AVR didn't "play well" with the loudspeakers.
Suspicion confirmed, as the tin can sound and lack of dynamics of the AVR internal amp have been erased completely with loudspeaker play after moving to the topping PS5 II. Current config is the Topping ES II lite connected via USB to iphone running "max" Tidal files (up to 192k 24bit). Analog SE RCA from DAC into the AVR (AVR is still in the chain only as a preamp, as I have multiple analog RCA to switch and AVR acts as crossover for sub/high pass for bookshelf speakers). Other is output from a moon phono stage amp.
Preamp out from AVR runs into my new topping PA5 II (max volume on topping power amp) and then obviously speaker wire from topping amp direct to bookshelf speakers. No more ear fatigue on frequencies which were running away in recordings like Peter Gabriel's "big time" or essentially the last few (hyper compressed) Queens of the Stone Age albums. Very flat, very enjoyable listening. Golfing panther for sure and fingers crossed on reliability as it seems to be the biggest risk in this very hi-return/low cost option.
Videoteque73
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Hello! I got a Wiim Ultra and have a nice Rega/EAR record player and pre phono. My problem is that both output RCA, how can I connect them to both outputs of the Topping? I still didn't purchase the amp, if you have a nice option for an amp with two RCA inputs it would be great. For the moment the only idea that comes to my mind is this two Neutrik adapters. Not a great solution.
staticV3
Grand Contributor
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2019
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Record player->WiiM Ultra Line or Phono in->PA5II
By routing the Rega through your WiiM, you can make use of its built-in PEQ to apply cartridge correction, loudspeaker correction, and room correction, improving vinyl playback.
The WiiM supports per-input EQ settings, so whatever you configure for vinyl playback would only be applied to the Line/Phono input and not to any other input.
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What's wrong with using the adapters (or RCA-to-Neutrik cables)?
Videoteque73
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Always better to go direct than use an adapter, in this case it's two adapters.
Videoteque73
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Thanks a lot, I have to try it. I have a very nice EAR 834p phono preamp, but then I can go in the Line input. I guess I am trying to avoid putting the analog signal through digital, but mostly for "romantic" reasons than because I think I will hear a big difference. Now I have to try!
Depends. It is not an adapter in the sense of somehow changing the signal, but just a connector. Do you think the connector will have an audible effect on the sound?
Videoteque73
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Not one that I can hear, but it will protrude behind the amp. Maybe as Static proposed I just have to use the proper input in the Wiim.
I have had my system up in a loft for over twenty years. The open areas helped with room acoustics. But found myself going up there to listen less and less over time.
Two things changed my habits. One was finding incredible products from Topping, SMSL, and WiiM. SOTA performance for less than Best Buy prices. The other is I listen downstairs. The sound is 100% reflected. Cannot see the speakers.
Wish I had started listening downstairs a couple decades ago.
First photo is up to loft from the listening chair.
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