Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

[Eetu]

Topping PA5 manual available here:
https://www.tpdz.net/newsinfo/575024.html

 

[Dennis_FL]

Amirm,

Just when I was happy with my setup, you go and post a review like this. Uuurrrrgh!

I may need to take up golf: it’s certainly cheaper than following ASR.

The good news: at least this Topping amp could keep me from doing something crazy like buying a Benchmark amp or Genelec speakers.

Seriously, combine this amp with a pair of Elac DBR62 Reference speakers along with a Topping E50 DAC and a RaspPi streamer and you have a true, audiophile level, world class system that would be an endgame system for most reasonable people. Total price: less than a thousand bucks. Simply amazing.

BTW, open this little black box, please, so we can see how and where the magic happens.

I think Sonos set the ball rolling years ago with the powered speaker and your phone as the source. Now the KEF LS50 wireless puts a better speaker and better DAC on a Class D amp and adds an HDMI input. But the price of both Sonos and KEF can be wallet draining.

I too, was staring at my 60 pound AB amp and adjacent AVR 11.2 box and wishing it would go away and just leave the floor space. I have the LS50 metas, and a Gustard X16 DAC. I also have a Raspi 4. All I needed was a preamp, and an amp the size of the DAC and that could happen. Yesterday I spotted the preamp in a Black Friday sale and pulled the trigger. I searched and searched for a nice Class D and gave up. And then, poof...I see this review of the Topping.

My dream is coming true. I'm still a little nervous about replacing a 200W /ch AB with a 140 W/Ch D so I'll procrastinate a little more.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Where are you all buying from, apos?

Most US folks are likely on Amazon.

 

[amirm]

What is meant by "...and volume control is the traditional one (not rotary).", please ?

Sorry, should have said "rotary encoder." That is, it is an analog pot, rather than a digital one with electronic (or mechanical) volume control.

 

[Tsetse]

I only have rca output on DAC. Is it possible to DIY a rca to TRS balanced cable? Will this work?

 

[sonci99]

Am I the only the one to think that at 350 bucks, this thing is too expensive, no remote, limited power, only 2 inputs..
At that price you can have a Nad or Denon integrated, much better looking, and sound differences would be minimal..

 

[amirm]

The performance matches all production units or this one was faulty ?

Measurements for other units were posted by others with similar performance. But I am happy to test another if someone wants to drop ship it to me.

 

[amirm]

I only have rca output on DAC. Is it possible to DIY a rca to TRS balanced cable? Will this work?

It should but you won't get maximum power unless the DAC can produce 2.5 volts (some can, most cannot).

 

[amirm]

Am I the only the one to say that at 350 bucks, this thing is too expensive, no remote, limited power, only 2 sources..
At that price you can have a Nad or Denon integrated, much better looking, and sound differences would be minimal..

Those things are huge if all you want is a desktop amp. The measured performance gap is also quite considerable. But if neither matters to you and said products have been measured by me so you know what their exact performance is, sure, you can opt for those.

 

[Doodski]

Am I the only the one to say that at 350 bucks, this thing is too expensive, no remote, limited power, only 2 sources..
At that price you can have a Nad or Denon integrated, much better looking, and sound differences would be minimal..

Hmmz. $459.00 in Canada + GST tax. I suppose if a person wants this package size and the specs this has they will pay the price of admission.

 

[CedarWind108]

Sorry, should have said "rotary encoder." That is, it is an analog pot, rather than a digital one with electronic (or mechanical) volume control.

Would the analog volume control have increasing distortion as the volume goes down?

 

[Dennis_FL]

So if you need a remote, you should use a DAC with such and leave the amp with fixed volume.

What is the downside of skipping the preamp other than losing a place to plug in the headphones?

 

[pma]

Nice results! The only thing I am not happy with is the distortion rise with frequency, especially at higher power. This would be more clear in a standard THD+N plot vs frequency at say 20W. Yes I can read it from THD+N plots vs amplitude at different frequencies but THD+N vs frequency is a standard measurement. Also standard is CCIF IMD 19+20kHz at say 1/4 of max power, as it clearly shows HF nonlinearity. Is there a reason why it is not tested at ASR, @amirm ?

OK so please let me do it myself

from the THD+N vs. level at different frequencies

this is the derived THD+N vs. frequency at 20W/4ohm

It is definitely not bad but not in line with low noise and 1kHz distortion results. It indicates to worsening of linearity with frequency. I do not agree that distortion rise with frequency is to be "normal".

 

[F1308]

Congratulations, Topping.
Many thanks.

It goes without saying we are only waiting to see your first and next steps into your abandoned arena of SOTA loudspeakers.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I only have rca output on DAC. Is it possible to DIY a rca to TRS balanced cable? Will this work?

There are plenty of RCA to TRS cables. Try amazon. Many are under $20 usd.
You will not have a balanced line but no worries at all.

 

[F1308]

Sorry, should have said "rotary encoder." That is, it is an analog pot, rather than a digital one with electronic (or mechanical) volume control.

Thank you. Is it feeling heavy as you try to turn it...? You know that loaded feeling of the old "real thing"...

 

[amirm]

It is definitely not bad but not in line with low noise and 1kHz distortion results. It indicates to worsening of linearity with frequency.

You can see the same with multitone:

I value non-linearity less at higher frequencies since threshold of hearing is lower there. Harmonics of 1 kHz land in the 2 to 5 kHz where our hearing is very sensitive. So in that sense, whoever picked 1 kHz decades back, was smarter than he may seem.

As to running THD+N, as you know, the problem is standardizing on bandwidth. With noise shaping, in some digital amps, it is unfair to them to use much bandwidth above 20 kHz. Multitone test gets around that.

 

[amirm]

Thank you. Is it feeling heavy as you try to turn it...? You know that loaded feeling of the old "real thing"...

It has good feel but it is not the heavy, mass loaded volume controls of 1970s if that is what you are asking.

 

[F1308]

I only have rca output on DAC. Is it possible to DIY a rca to TRS balanced cable? Will this work?

Check Topping...Probably find a DAC for the price of a cable.

 

[F1308]

Measurements for other units were posted by others with similar performance. But I am happy to test another if someone wants to drop ship it to me.

I promise I was deeply joking, on that I give my word.