Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

[tvrgeek]

I am too lazy to try to search the forums what happened to you with a D30pro?

D30pro sounded great. But I had several stutters and skips I could not blame on the host. Then I could never get the driver stack, Windows Media player with SourceForge ASIO plugin and the Topping driver to work together. They did on my Focusrite. I could never get actual help from the JRiver support forum, so I gave up with it.

With headphones, I could hear tiny details just above the background. Not though speakers. So it is very good sounding. If I had actual help on JR, I would have kept it and hoped for no more stutters. It was close to my Asgard so probably warmer than sitting alone. Cause? Should not have been enough. I actually liked having a remote which surprised me. I use a sequencer to power up my stereo, triggered by the USP coming alive on the PC. Sometimes, it did not come on and you had to press the volume knob.

Now this little amp, PA5 , they claim is about 45W. So thinking basic overhead as we assume in an old AB, that means it is a 30W amplifier. It should be looked at as a 30W amplifier. Desktop, or "comfortable" music in an apartment. If you expect to play live orchestra levels full range, then it is totally the wrong class of amp. I have an old SMSL 10W Tirpath on my desk. The PA5 might be a very sweet upgrade as I am contemplating building some near-field monitors. I remembered I have the cabinets and a pair of XT25's. So only need the woofers and crossover. I have used the SB 17 series before, so I know them.

 

[tvrgeek]

If you want an idea of what sort of build quality can be achieved for very little money check out this :-

Amptastic | The Small Audio Company

Amazing Tripath TA2020 based mini Hi-Fi audio amplifiers and high quality audio cables

www.amptastic.com

And JDS, Schiit, Emotiva build here in the US. But your comparisons are still not based on the realities of product development and manufacturing. I have been involved in both. A hobbyist can design a Tri-Path and stick it is a generic case. Almost zip development cost. It is clear Topping spent a lot of money developing the the PA5. You have to pay for it. If you want an old Tri-Path, fine buy one. They can be pretty good if done well. I may bot be a fan of Toppinig, but my first career was in manufacturing, so I have some appreciation.

 

[DSJR]

Just wanted to confirm that the physical position of the volume control knob means absolutely nothing here, as all it is, is a level matching control which is adjustable... the Aiyima will ALWAYS appear to sound louder than the Topping for oft repeated reasons, so if comparing, turn the A07 down using the control on the front so it matches the Topping..

 

[GeorgeWalk]

How is the volume knob position a useful tool to compare amp topology behaviour??? Amp A : volume knob at 9 o'clock position, 105db. Amp B : volume knob at 2 o'clock position, 105 db. Both clips at anything higher than that. In your case, you would just need to turn up the volume on the PA5 to get the same exact volume as the A07. The A07 will not play louder than the PA5 without running in clipping levels. Volume knob position is and never will be an acceptable comparison tool.

Why not just set the volume knob to "11"?

 

[MarkWinston]

Why not just set the volume knob to "11"?

Set it to a dirty dozen for good measures.

 

[antcollinet]

Turn up everything louder than everything else.

 

[tvrgeek]

Turn up everything louder than everything else.

But guys, don't you know, the amp that goes to 11 is louder. Never heard of SpinalTap? Where have we failed the younger generations education?

 

[antcollinet]

I was going for the Deep Purple reference.

 

[DSJR]

I was going for the Deep Purple reference.

Really showing our age now

 

[somebodyelse]

But guys, don't you know, the amp that goes to 11 is louder. Never heard of SpinalTap? Where have we failed the younger generations education?

xkcd tried

I was going for the Deep Purple reference.

Hard to be sure with that one - Motorhead was my first thought, but there are more.

 

[antcollinet]

xkcd tried

Hard to be sure with that one - Motorhead was my first thought, but there are more.

Did Motorhead make it onto the master?

 

[tvrgeek]

Moterhead was after me.

 

[somebodyelse]

Did Motorhead make it onto the master?

I just see their t-shirt more often than I listen to Made in Japan. Lemmy was apparently referencing Purple when he named the album. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Meatloaf got the idea for the song too.

 

[Eggs Ackley]

I got that extra push over the cliff on mine...

 

[mocenigo]

I think this is just a power amp. What “typical” means is not clear. 26Db of gain is a consumer electronics “standard” and “typical” power amps have gains of 23Db, 15Db, 6Db (yes, some SE DHT low power amps to be used with very high efficiency horn loaded speakers), unity gain (like current followers), 26Db, 29db, 32db, you name it. On everything else you are absolutely right. People that complain that the PA5 sounds “weaker” just do not realise that different amps may have different gains. In this particular case I think it was just bad choice of terminology more than a criticism of the device.

By the way, this reminds me why in my opinion SINAD is the wrong metric for an amplified. We should maybe rank by (SINAD+GAIN). We have seen that amps like the AHB2 that have different gain settings have also different SINAD values, and the SINAD improves at lower gain settings.

 

[Klint]

We will se if size matters.

 

[tvrgeek]

"Standard?" I thought standard was whatever you needed in gain to reach the rated power with 2V RMS SE. So of course, every amp gain would be different.

Usually, at least with AB amps, the "weaker" amp does not have the power supply current, so you get level dependent linear distortion.

 

[mocenigo]

D30pro sounded great. But I had several stutters and skips I could not blame on the host. Then I could never get the driver stack, Windows Media player with SourceForge ASIO plugin and the Topping driver to work together. They did on my Focusrite. I could never get actual help from the JRiver support forum, so I gave up with it.

With headphones, I could hear tiny details just above the background. Not though speakers. So it is very good sounding. If I had actual help on JR, I would have kept it and hoped for no more stutters. It was close to my Asgard so probably warmer than sitting alone. Cause? Should not have been enough. I actually liked having a remote which surprised me. I use a sequencer to power up my stereo, triggered by the USP coming alive on the PC. Sometimes, it did not come on and you had to press the volume knob.

Now this little amp, PA5 , they claim is about 45W. So thinking basic overhead as we assume in an old AB, that means it is a 30W amplifier. It should be looked at as a 30W amplifier. Desktop, or "comfortable" music in an apartment. If you expect to play live orchestra levels full range, then it is totally the wrong class of amp. I have an old SMSL 10W Tirpath on my desk. The PA5 might be a very sweet upgrade as I am contemplating building some near-field monitors. I remembered I have the cabinets and a pair of XT25's. So only need the woofers and crossover. I have used the SB 17 series before, so I know them.

Yeah I now remember that discussion. What a bummer. But this is a testing/quality control problem at Topping. For instance, why does the D90 sometimes start producing screeching noise at 768Khz with some computers, and why is there is no update to fix that? Why is the software often lacking (take for instance the way the volume control accelerates using the remote on some of their DACs?), or the remote have such a narrow working angle? The products sound great, but they lack something in UX refinement.

 

[mctron]

By the way, this reminds me why in my opinion SINAD is the wrong metric for an amplified. We should maybe rank by (SINAD+GAIN). We have seen that amps like the AHB2 that have different gain settings have also different SINAD values, and the SINAD improves at lower gain settings.

This explanation seems reasonable to me for an amp with balanced input:

"Yes, there is a bit of "cheating" going on in the form of low gain of 19 dB. Benchmark AHB2 which landed on top used the same. In practice, this is not a problem at all since max power was achieved at 2.5 volt which is well within the 4 volt range of balanced DACs."

 

[tvrgeek]

For years ( decades?) Paul Klipsch complained "What the world needs is a good 10W amp" alluding to his basic paper showing how distortion and efficiency were inversely proportional. So a PA5 on a K-horn? Of course, Manley built a really good 10W amp and K-horns still sounded like, well horns.