Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

[Azathoth]

"Amir gets paid to shill Topping and then shits on other brands"

^What colleague of mine said about this site in general so he would probably say this for this review, and he's an idiot.

Anyways bravo Topping, for topping(nearly) the charts once again. I would go deeper into speakers, but damn I don't have a good place for them yet, and I just bought some passive speakers from JBL, the 305P MKii. Will probably get the next iteration once I have a new house and a proper treated room to fully appreciate what speakers could do, after years of life support on headphones.

 

[Madjalapeno]

Mmm. five of these in a nice rack mount would give me ten channels ...

 

[pma]

Amir,

Can you please confirm that the 19 dB of gain is at maximum volume position?

Michael

This should be an answer as it is declared by the manufacturer

Source: https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/737898.html

 

[somebodyelse]

The pinning isn't allowed in the EU due to IEC 60320, despite it features de C E-sign which is curious enough, we won't see that in EU, only for the US allowed.

Please explain for those of us without access to, or detailed knowledge of, the standard.

 

[abdo123]

@amirm Is it possible to add THD vs Frequency graph @ a particular voltage(s) for the amplifier reviews moving on? For example the Topping Amplifier is superior @1W / 2.83V with regard to distortion (and thus has a higher SINAD score) than say the Purifi Eigentakt Eval1, but the topping goes haywire at higher levels of voltage, even below clipping.

 

[D700]

How about some D30Pro love Topping? XLR and double the output. Double the height if needed to fit in that power supply

 

[antcollinet]

@JohnYang1997 I take back my criticism. £50 less than expected and measuring not only best in class, but almost best in all classes. I'm still looking for more power though.

If your next release can top 100W into 8Ω with similar measurements, and without putting the price up too much - you'll have a sale here.

 

[mslim]

The Black Topping D-01 thing inside the PA5 is the secret sauce? So that no one can "reverse engineer" the secret? Very small part......

 

[F1308]

@JohnYang1997 I take back my criticism. £50 less than expected and measuring not only best in class, but almost best in all classes. I'm still looking for more power though.

If your next release can top 100W into 8Ω with similar measurements, and without putting the price up too much - you'll have a sale here.

I guess those 100W will need US $899.
Time will tell.

 

[Walter]

I was looking at the specs for the Hypex NC122MP and I have to think it was at least one of the targets here. The PA5 slightly beats it in power and significantly in noise and distortion, losing only in the less linear THD to frequency, in a cheaper and smaller package with a volume knob--although I'm not sure how much smaller it really is if you include the power supply. Well done, JohnYang.

 

[tecnogadget]

Ok it is very impressive in terms of measurement but does it sounds good ?
It is not because it is technically very impressive that in terms of musicality it will do the job, no ?

An amplifier doesn’t work by magic nor by “ears telepathy” or “musicality voodoo ”, it is indeed an electronic device, that takes a low level input signal and it amplifies it by adding a determined amount of gain.

Thus if we are talking about an electronic machine, shouldn’t we then assert or benchmark its performance by the same standards (using anocher electronic machine for measurements as Amir does) ? Yes we do. Even not getting technical at all, the logic should make sense to any layman.

If it measures well, meaning beyond the threshold of audibility then there isn’t any single reasoning to not sound “fine” nor “right”.

 

[Dennis_FL]

I have that rack ,Gustard ain't fitting on it,in it ,it'll fit around it or under it.

Yep...I see that now. Gustard = 220x50x170 Rack =150x132x43

But the PA5 will fit

 

[F1308]

Old power amps lacked volume control, achieved at the pre, is it a need nowadays due to the architecture or anything else, please ?

 

[mdsimon2]

This should be an answer as it is declared by the manufacturer

View attachment 168602

Source: https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/737898.html

Thank you!

 

[pma]

I was looking at the specs for the Hypex NC222MP and I have to think it was at least one of the targets here. The PA5 slightly beats it in power and significantly in noise and distortion, losing only in the less linear THD to frequency, in a cheaper and smaller package with a volume knob--although I'm not sure how much smaller it really is if you include the power supply. Well done, JohnYang.

You would need to know output impedance plot vs. frequency. It is very important. Hypex and Purifi show these measurements, @amirm and @JohnYang1997 do not. Hypex datasheets are most trustable to me, so far. Topping still shows some suspicious measurements like this

https://nwzimg.wezhan.net/contents/sitefiles3604/18020413/images/5158231.jpg

without mentioning any details like power used. This is a typical marketing plot. I appreciate the results that PA5 has reached in this test at ASR, but do not appreciate some info spread by Topping.

 

[Klint]

This should be an answer as it is declared by the manufacturer

View attachment 168602

Source: https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/737898.html

I think the question is where to put the volume control when used as a power amp.

 

[pma]

I think the question is where to put the volume control when used as a power amp.

As you need it. Max. gain is 19.1dB.

 

[_thelaughingman]

@JohnYang1997 Kudos sir. Topping and you have knocked another one out of the park.

 

[buz]

... where do we go from here?

Moar powar

 

[Eggs Ackley]

I think this rack is too small for them, E50, L50, and PA5.

The pa3s is keeping the rack warm until pa5 arrives.