• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

Billy Budapest

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Messages
1,810
Likes
2,674
The Topping PA5 will be fine. According to Amir's LS50 Meta review (see link below), its distortion level at 96 dB SPL is already quite high. That's 31 W (at the 4 ohm nominal impedance) input. Therefore the PA5 has sufficient power to drive the LS50 Meta to its maximum usable SPL.

In my wife’s home office system, she is driving a pair of LS50’s with a 60wpc Amazon Echo Link Amp and it has more than enough power.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,279
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
From the photos posted, I would say it is NOT a genuine Alps. I heave neither seen nor googled the same genuine Alps. And my printed Alps catalogue does not know it as well.

We know Alps will make, and have made just about any pot/switch combination a manufacturer wants. Consider they used to make a vast range of concentric, multi gang pots of the same size/format for car audio- for many decades. That's why we have that size- it was created for the car-audio market by Alps (Alpine).

The caps I just don't know if they are genuine or not. Nichicon has changed so much recently I cannot be sure.

But here are some genuine random picked Nichicon UFGs from my Mouser sourced stock. Notice the vent crimp stamp. It is much finer and ends before going under the sleeve.

1638659350983.jpeg


The pattern on the top, it's precision and the moulding of the base are all specific, and unique to each capacitor manufacturer. It's one of the ways to determine the vast number of Chinese fakes being sold.
 
Last edited:

Billy Budapest

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Messages
1,810
Likes
2,674
We know Alps will make, and have made just about any pot/switch combination a manufacturer wants. Consider they used to make a vast range of concentric, multi gang pots of the same size/format for car audio- for many decades. That's why we have that size- it was created for the car-audio market by Alps (Alpine).

The caps I just don't know if they are genuine or not. Nichicon has changed so much recently I cannot be sure.

But here are some genuine random picked Nichicon UFGs from my Mouser sourced stock. Notice the vent crimp stamp. It is much finer and ends before going under the sleeve.

View attachment 170245

The pattern on the top, it's precision and the moulding of the base are all specific, and unique to each capacitor manufacturer. It's one of the ways to determine the vast number of Chinese fakes being sold.
Looks like Topping better check its parts suppliers because although the two bigger caps marked Nichicon have vent stamps that look the same as above, the small caps don’t seem to have any vents! Maybe they aren’t at risk of blowing up, though, and don’t need venting.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,279
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Looks like Topping better check its parts suppliers because although the two bigger caps marked Nichicon have vent stamps that look the same as above, the small caps don’t seem to have any vents!

The small value capacitors don't have vents. That's normal.
 

SylphAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 16, 2021
Messages
192
Likes
286
Location
Philippines
Here's what I can see (attached pics)
1) Softstart switch
2,3,4,5) Codaca CSCF2012 series (CSCF2012-100MC), this is smaller than SER291X series of coilcraft inductors, but just right for the application
6) Single power supply for housekeeping
7) 4 Input coupling caps for TPA3255 inputs, another 4 input coupling caps on the buffer frontend inputs

44pin probably is TPA3255 since the voltage is 38V, components like OC_ADJ 22K ohm resistor is on pin 7, FREQ_ADJ(600kHz) 10K ohm is on pin 8, etc..

Engineering efforts that were made here are on the PCB layout itself as well as the PFFB section on the input. It uses multilayer PCB which is more expensive.

Cost cutting is done on the housekeeping power supply, he can easily use dual supply for the opamps. But using dual supply can add significant cost on BOM.

Here's a comparison with my Sylph-D400 100W 8ohms / 200W 4ohms / 400W 2 ohms. With passive PFFB from TI notes, it can only get -97dB THD+N on 10W 4ohms.

I believe the next Topping PA amp will have a similar power output.

Sylph-D400+4R+10W.png



IMG_0558 - small.jpg
 

Attachments

  • ToppingPA5_06.PNG
    ToppingPA5_06.PNG
    1.3 MB · Views: 263
  • ToppingPA5_10.PNG
    ToppingPA5_10.PNG
    1.6 MB · Views: 343
  • ToppingPA5_26.PNG
    ToppingPA5_26.PNG
    2.2 MB · Views: 346
Last edited:

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,426
Likes
3,981
Location
SoCal
Are there any components in this amp that command 3x price over the PA3? It’s a rhetorical question, no need to answer. Topping is becoming greedy, I’m voting against this trend with my wallet or rather by not using it.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,426
Likes
3,981
Location
SoCal
I think the price for the parts is just right, if you will DIY one module and recreate this from scratch, most probably you will arrive at a similar price.

Ok, so what's in this amp that's not in their own PA3 that triples the price?

index.php
 

Bruce Morgen

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
864
Likes
1,237
Ok, so what's in this amp that's not in their own PA3 that triples the price?

Whatever it is, the result is considerably more power and vastly better SINAD -- in fact, the PA3's SINAD is closer to the dirt-cheap Aiyima A07's than to the PA5's superb number. That said, I take your point -- perhaps the fabled "point of diminishing returns" now lives at the A07's sub-$100 USD price point when it comes to power amps.
 

voodooless

Grand Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
10,223
Likes
17,800
Location
Netherlands
Ok, so what's in this amp that's not in their own PA3 that triples the price?

index.php
See here for a good summary:
 

BoredErica

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
629
Likes
899
Location
USA
Are there any components in this amp that command 3x price over the PA3? It’s a rhetorical question, no need to answer. Topping is becoming greedy, I’m voting against this trend with my wallet or rather by not using it.
??????????
What am I reading right now LOL
 

SylphAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 16, 2021
Messages
192
Likes
286
Location
Philippines
Ok, so what's in this amp that's not in their own PA3 that triples the price?

index.php
TPA3255 alone is already 8USD to 13USD each, more than x3 the price of the one used in PA3.
Inductors are more expensive, multilayer PCB is more expensive, SOTA opamps in the buffer section costs more. Small bump in the price of BOM hurts very much in manufacturing costs.

+the cost of potting epoxy and sanding off the parts.. JK haha

You gotta give incentive to the designer so that he'll continue making the best creations.
 

0bs3rv3r

Active Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2019
Messages
248
Likes
234
$250 is more money.

They are not selling parts, they are selling a damn fine amplifier. Market determines the price, usually. If you are right, then they won't sell many. My guess is that they will sell heaps however.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,426
Likes
3,981
Location
SoCal
Did post #1084 not answer it?

I didn't read the whole thread, so thanks for pointing to that. However XRK is based in DC, so his assessment can be a bit skewed considering Topping is a fully Chinese operation.
 

gvl

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 16, 2018
Messages
3,426
Likes
3,981
Location
SoCal
They are not selling parts, they are selling a damn fine amplifier. Market determines the price, usually. If you are right, then they won't sell many. My guess is that they will sell heaps however.

They will likely sell many, this doesn't change the fact it's expensive for what it is.
 
Top Bottom