No. And no.
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The key is honestly rather obvious. The included power supplies are actually 300W.
So 4A is not correct?
I am very excited. I have ordered on the day PA5 was announced. Not sure when the shipping will start. I have the pairing E50 coming on Friday. 15% Black Friday sales is happening. I am replacing my Bryston 3BST. The amp sounds great however it always has the transformer hum. As soon as the music stops, I can hear the hum easily. My listening volume is quite low in my small 10"x11" room. I figured that 1-5W should do exceptionally well to drive my PSB Stratus Silver. PA5 should have plenty headroom just in case.
It's down rated. The power supply itself can supply 8A or so.
I'm no expert, but my understanding is these kinds of SMPS can do 150%, 200% or whatever of rated current only for a brief time and then go into protection. So this downrating is different than that?
In 100W both channel condition, the amplifier would shut down before the SMPS at around 1 minute mark. The SMPS is more than adequate for this amplifier. And considerations have been put into the weight, size, air flow, heat dissipation etc for both the supply and the main device itself. Only that it is possible to achieve this level of power and performance with the current selling price with distributors and still be able to profit.
Btw the usual commonly seen DC plug may spark or cause plugging in to E50 for example to destroy other devices. This plug is still standardized and is much much more reliable.
Thanks. Looking forward to seeing where you go from here with your power amplifiers.
BoredErica
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I don't understand the negativity with this product. Measures well and is really cheap. Way better than a lot of junk people try to sell for way more and seems to get more hate. Not everyone needs super large amounts of power. If anything that just means higher chance of blowing the speakers because I did something really stupid. Sometimes I feel like 95%+ of people on ASR are listening far or mid field and they can't imagine some people listening very nearfield like I do. I don't want more power, I want a smaller product with low noise so I don't have to worry about very nearfield listening even with sensitive speakers and a sound-isolated room. It's $339 shipped on Hifigo right now for me ($321 with CC cash back). That's $180 less vs Buckeye while having superior noise performance. Speaking of WAF, I am the wife and the only thing I wish the PA5 could do is integrate the power brick into the unit somehow for a little less clutter.
And yeah, the thd+n skyrockets when it reaches its limits. And? You have the measurements. If you need more power it's not for you but acting like all products need to be seems to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole to me. Wait for Amir's review if you'd like, that's probably the prudent thing to do. Beyond that I don't get the controversy unless I'm missing something.
And yeah, the thd+n skyrockets when it reaches its limits. And? You have the measurements. If you need more power it's not for you but acting like all products need to be seems to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole to me. Wait for Amir's review if you'd like, that's probably the prudent thing to do. Beyond that I don't get the controversy unless I'm missing something.
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Equipment such as power supplies have a rated performance that can be used continuously and a peak rating that can be used beyond that for a short time.
The power adapter used for the PA5 is rated at 38V / 4A, but in reality it can carry a current that exceeds the rating for a short time. But that's usually less than a second.
I use a 24V / 10A LLC type power supply from a Japanese manufacturer called COSEL as a test power supply for audio equipment. This product is rated at 10A but allows a peak current of 15A.
For equipment such as audio amplifiers where the load current fluctuates constantly and violently, a large output is possible using the allowable peak current range.
Audio amplifiers require large currents only during peak moments. Normally, only a current much smaller than the rated current flows.
This kind of power supply design is done in most audio amplifiers. The power supply section of the power amplifier is a costly part, and there are no products that match the rated output of the power supply section with the audio output, except for ultra-high-end products. In the integrated amplifier with a built-in power supply, it is rare to talk about the details of the power supply section, but in reality, such a design method is used.
For products that use a power adapter, such as the PA5, the rating is clearly marked on the power adapter. Those who see it will surely wonder why the power supply unit is smaller than the power of the amplifier.
I think most people wanted and expected a product from Topping the delivered stellar performance everywhere and would outshine every competitor. What they got was a product that spec wise is IMO perfect for desktop/nearfield usage but maybe not optimal for your main setup. I think if Topping releases a bigger Amplifier with twice the power and similar specs most of these points will be mood, because than it is clear what product is meant for which usecase.
I hope they release at least ttwo more amps to go with the D30 Pro and the d90se. The First being maybe 50-100% stroner and having multiple balanced and unbalanced inputs and the letter being a halo product for a D90se/Pre90 stack that is meant to compete with the NC400/Purifi modules.
The DC connector used in the PA5 has been used in commercial equipment for over 50 years. I have also used it in many of the devices I designed. There are several variations and it is still a standard connector product.
F1308
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BoredErica
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I think Topping should produce amps with higher output and I think they will. The PA3 had 19db worse THD+N performance at 50mW compared to PA5. Maximum power at 8ohms increased from 27w to 52w or so. They have improved, and I look forward to seeing if they improve even further.
Personally my nearfield setup is my main setup, at least in the next several years. Life sometimes dictates what we can or can't do, and I can only make the most of it.
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Walter
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I agree, but I suspect that for some, it may just reflect disappointment that this is not the Topping amp they have been waiting for--the one that is 100+ watts plus that John Yang has said is coming. So anything short of that is going to meet with their disapproval no matter how good it is. Some have specific measurement criteria which they consider absolutely essential, and they criticize any amp that does not perform up to their standards--which is completely reasonable. Others, I'm not so sure about. Personally, i think Amir's tests will confirm that it outperforms a lot of much more expensive amps. Wolf's already did.
Isn't this one 120W+ into 4ohm? A 200W+ one is also going to happen not too far into the future.
One of my friends says that the bigger the appearance and the heavier the audio equipment, the better the sound. He always tells me that "small audio equipment sounds bad and is a complete toy."
He seems to be very fascinated by the beautiful promotional texts of the makers and the texts that beautifully praise the products of audio critics. I don't think that would be the case if he had a little more correct electrical knowledge.
But I prefer the smallest and more powerful ones that are the exact opposite of him.
I use the small PA3s, AO200, A20a all as the main amp. The PA5 ordered this time will be added to this.
It's really great to be small and light! The sound is good even if it is small! And those amps have the necessary and sufficient power.
I'm no longer interested in big and heavy amps. I'm also not interested in products with small but expensive price tags.
Walter
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I was about to edit my post to say "into 8 ohms," which I inadvertently omitted, but you replied too quickly!
This is old school mentality where big transformers and large heatsinks meant high power. Distortion caused by lack of power is really frustrating, so this "common wisdom" was correct indeed last century.
Now we know better that high performance class D designs changed the game. And as with all changes, there are those ahead of the curve, those on the bulk, and those lagging behind until they catch up to what is the "new common wisdom". It just takes time.
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I have been wondering about this approach, as it does seem common with budget amps that have external power supplies.
For a 120W sine wave into 4 ohms, we have 22V RMS and about 31V peak. So peak current is almost 8A in each channel. Can a 4A rated power supply give you 15A peaks? The answer would seem to be yes at 1000Hz, from the testing. But capacitors can give a lot of peak current for a short time. What happens at low frequency where the peak current is one to two orders of magnitude longer time. Is the power supply up to the task in this case? I don't know - just asking.
I don't want to be critical of Topping as this is question for a lot of products. Maybe further discussion would be better in another thread. Or even better: @amirm would you consider doing some testing to see if these kinds of power supplies run out of juice at high power/low frequency?
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