• 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 PA7 Plus Amplifier Review

Rate this stereo amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 15 4.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 36 9.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 149 40.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 168 45.7%

  • Total voters
    368

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,376
Likes
234,541
Location
Seattle Area
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping PA7 Plus stereo class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $549.
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced review.jpg


The PA7 Plus is stylish with firm switches that have nice action. You can select power on/off or trigger input. In addition, you have a choice of balanced or RCA inputs:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced back panel power supply review.jpg


Yes, there is a monster external power supply. It provides a whopping 52 volts at 6.5 amps! I really like the staggered speaker terminals as it allows even the largest speaker connectors to fit in there without interference. Other derktop amplifiers use much tighter spacing.

The amplifier has large vents on the back, sides and bottom. In use the left side got firmly warm but nothing concerning.

Note that there is a non-Plus version (PA7) that has lower power and lower cost ($449).

Topping PA7 Plus Measurements
Let's start with our usual measurements starting with balanced input:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Measurement.png


As you see gain is medium level at max volume at nearly 20 dB. SINAD lands in our excellent category and even sneaks into our top 20 best amplifiers ever measured:
Best stereo amplifier review test 2023.png

Best stereo amplifier review 2023.png


RCA input shows more ground currents and noise but still holds its own:

Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier RCA Measurement.png


But note that gain increases substantially to 26 dB.

Noise performance is extremely good:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced SNR Measurement.png


We are talking about near state of the art DACs at full power!

Multitone shows off the very low distortion:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Multitone Measurement.png


Excellent channel separation is achieved despite the very small enclosure, beating vast majority of amplifiers I test:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced crosstalk Measurement.png


An interesting filter is implemented which sharply reduces load dependency:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Frequency Response Measurement.png


I take that 0.7 dB to get load independence.

Let's get into our power measurements:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Power into 4 ohm Measurement.png


191 watts with very low distortion into two channels is fantastic for such a small amplifier. Here is the same with 1% THD:

Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Max and Peak Power into 4 ohm vs frequency Measurement.png


Even at 8 ohm you have lots of power:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Power 8 ohm Measurement.png


Note how the noise floor competes with Purifi reference amplifier and even its distortion! It is just short of its power.

There is more distortion at higher frequencies but below 1 kHz, it is extremely good:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Power into 4 ohm vs frequency Measurement.png


Reactive Amplifier Power Testing
I tested the PA7 Plus using the PowerCube reactive load that simulates both capacitive and inductive loads as to better match behavior of a real speaker. Response at 4 an 8 ohm was excellent:
Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Balanced Reactive Measurement.png


I could even get it to work with 2 ohm but one out of two times it would go into protection and stay there.

Conclusions
Even though the PA7 Plus is based on a commercial amplifier IC, it is clearly that significant engineering optimizations have gone into the design to produce such a low noise and distortion amplifier. The package is excellent and power supply quite hefty to enable very high power output (nearly 400 watts combined at 4 ohm!). Yes, you have a big brick to hide but the amp itself remains quite small on the desk. You could even use it in a main system if you leave the volume set and use the DAC or a pre-amp with a remote.

I am happy to add Topping PA7 Plus to my recommended list.

Note: amplifiers are some of the least reliable audio gear due to high currents and voltages involved. I short circuited the PA7 Plus and while it created a large spike, it nicely went into protection and recovered. Still, if you are risk averse, you may want to wait a bit to see what the reliability turns out to me.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:

Matias

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
5,031
Likes
10,806
Location
São Paulo, Brazil
Thanks for the review.

For a little more (~430 usd) I would definitely get an NC252MP based amp like the Nord below (link measurements from KJF). Better high frequency behavior, more power, internal power supply.

 
Last edited:

juliangst

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Dec 11, 2021
Messages
957
Likes
980
Location
Germany
I expected higher SINAD than ‘just 102dB‘. Makes it even more difficult to recommend over the NC252 which is 100€ less expensive
 

Bleib

Major Contributor
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
1,254
Likes
2,252
Location
Sweden
I expected higher SINAD than ‘just 102dB‘. Makes it even more difficult to recommend over the NC252 which is 100€ less expensive
Do we know the SINAD for this?

I think it's doubtul that the SINAD difference PA7(+) vs PA5 is possible to hear
 

JktHifi

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2023
Messages
387
Likes
195
Max 107 watt @ 8 ohm
SINAD above 100db
RCA not good

I cast vote #2, same to Fosi Audio BT20A Pro (previous review) because of the price and not using XLR (SingleEnded man everywhere forever). Sorry, no to XLR
 
Last edited:

delta76

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 27, 2021
Messages
1,615
Likes
2,460
Great performance, but someone disappointing after PA5 (reliability aside, but maybe that was the reason?)
I will hold off my purchase though. in this economic, early buyers are usually rewarded, but not in this case I assume.
 

juliangst

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Dec 11, 2021
Messages
957
Likes
980
Location
Germany
Do we know the SINAD for this?

I think it's doubtul that the SINAD difference vs PA5 is possible to hear
I don’t think you can tell anything apart above 90dB SINAD. But for some people getting the highest possible SINAD is a purchase reason.
The NC252 has a SINAD of 90-95dB IIRC but it also performs better on the other tests.
 

IAtaman

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
2,276
Likes
3,836

Sokel

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
5,848
Likes
5,787
Had the convention been 5KHz instead of 1Khz NC252 would have better SINAD.
Note that at 6Khz (where NC252's graph is) PA7's SINAD would be even worst than the one at 5Khz in Amir's chart,you can tell by the higher ones.
I hope that chart is with the higher gain so they would be comparable cause if it's with the lower one things are even worst.
 

Matias

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
5,031
Likes
10,806
Location
São Paulo, Brazil
I hope that chart is with the higher gain so they would be comparable cause if it's with the lower one things are even worst.
NC252MP has fixed gain around 25.5 dB, higher than PA7 around 20 dB.
 
Last edited:

Sokel

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
5,848
Likes
5,787
NC252MP had fixed gain around 25.5 dB, higher than PA7 around 20 dB.
Yes,that's why I said it,PA7 has around 20db on the XLR measurement and around 26db with RCA.
The later would be comparable,the former would have an unfair advantage.
 

SylphAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 16, 2021
Messages
192
Likes
286
Location
Philippines
Slightly out of topic, at what THD level does the power cube measure the Vrms? 1% or maybe 10%? Because the amp might be stable at +/-60deg but the THD goes very high at those levels.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom