Topping PA7 Plus Amplifier Review

[kazsud]

Did you take a temperature reading or is this based on touch/perception? I'd be interested in comparing temps with the amps on for a defined period. Sorry didn't work out for you.

No, but it was a lot hotter than the ragnarok I used to own.

 

[mike70]

Kef reference 1 ... definitive speakers, and my dream to someday

 

[kleinjoshuaa]

I expected higher SINAD than ‘just 102dB‘. Makes it even more difficult to recommend over the NC252 which is 100€ less expensive

There's no way to get an NC252 amp in the US for that price.

 

[mdsimon2]

There's no way to get an NC252 amp in the US for that price.

Audiophonics is 415 eur, obviously depends on exchange rate but that is still less than $450 right now. Shipping is also a bit on the high end coming from Europe but out the door price is definitely less than $500. A few months ago shipped price was $450. And if you buy multiple you can save on shipping as the incremental cost is reasonable (I have 5 from Audiophonics lol).

Michael

 

[kazsud]

Has anyone ever tried to return someing to Apos? It's been 8 days since I put in a request and have only gotten an automated reply telling me someone would email me. Never buying a product from them ever again.

 

[jmar1334]

Has anyone ever tried to return someing to Apos? It's been 8 days since I put in a request and have only gotten an automated reply telling me someone would email me. Never buying a product from them ever again.

I emailed Apos to return my SMSL SU-6 DAC after it started to malfunction, and it took right about a week for them to email me back. My return was accepted not long after that. All I had to pay for the replacement was $12 in shipping.

 

[frogmeat69]

I emailed Apos to return my SMSL SU-6 DAC after it started to malfunction, and it took right about a week for them to email me back. My return was accepted not long after that. All I had to pay for the replacement was $12 in shipping.

Pretty much the same experience here, except I got a response in a few days. Also took a while to get the replacement, but otherwise the whole thing was smooth.

 

[ampguy]

Looks like this amp may be the current sweet spot for reliability, and also has balanced and RCA inputs so nice for a streamer with bal DAC and turntable setup. Doesn't measure as well as my PA5 in many areas, but the differences shouldn't be audible. I just can't decide between the Plus and regular, as the regular has more than enough output power for me.

 

[kazsud]

Looks like this amp may be the current sweet spot for reliability, and also has balanced and RCA inputs so nice for a streamer with bal DAC and turntable setup. Doesn't measure as well as my PA5 in many areas, but the differences shouldn't be audible. I just can't decide between the Plus and regular, as the regular has more than enough output power for me.

The regular is back ordered.

 

[Namesbuck]

The regular is back ordered.

Yep. Two weeks last I checked on Apos but you might be able to snag on Amazon if you're feeling lucky. Seemingly none of the usual YouTubers have it either since I haven't seen a review.

 

[Ykar]

Happy to report that after a week of use I am enjoying the PA7 and E70 combo. My only nitpick would have been a scratchy pot on the PA7 but that seems to have mostly resolved itself with use. Turntable/phono noise has been greatly reduced and digital inputs including a wiim, RPI4, and cd player are all playing nice and sound good. I noticed a little bass impact reduction but nothing that can't be fixed by turning up the sub volume (high level connection).

I know this may look like a strange question but did you notice something like a loose part inside the amp when gently shaking it or moving it upside down / back and forth ? sounds like a small metallic part slightly moving inside. Trying to understand if this is normal (maybe a mobile part of a relay ?) or if there is something wrong (the PA7 seems to works just fine beside that). Thanks

 

[Namesbuck]

I know this may look like a strange question but did you notice something like a lose part inside the amp when gently shaking it or moving it upside down / back and forth ? sounds like a small metallic part slightly moving inside. Trying to understand if this is normal (maybe a mobile part of a relay ?) or if there is something wrong (the PA7 seems to works just fine beside that). Thanks

Not strange to ask at all. I did not feel/hear anything loose on initial setup. I actually had the same thing happen to me this morning on one of my Makita 18v battery packs that is worriesome.

 

[Ykar]

Not strange to ask at all. I did not feel/hear anything loose on initial setup. I actually had the same thing happen to me this morning on one of my Makita 18v battery packs that is worriesome.

Found it ! that's the trigger input socket shim that is loose, inside the enclosure. Trigger socket is a bit recessed when looking from the outside but it seems to hold its position ok when inserting 3.5 jack. Nothing critical here but a bolted trigger socket would have been a much more secure alternative. Cheapish !

 

[kazsud]

So after 3 weeks apos finally authorized my return. Probably gonna get the Starkrimsons.

 

[Namesbuck]

Found it ! that's the trigger input socket shim that is loose, inside the enclosure. Trigger socket is a bit recessed when looking from the outside but it seems to hold its position ok when inserting 3.5 jack. Nothing critical here but a bolted trigger socket would have been a much more secure alternative. Cheapish !

View attachment 290676
View attachment 290680

Thanks for updating us. I won't be unplugging my trigger cable unless absolutely needed now.

 

[EJ3]

Found it ! that's the trigger input socket shim that is loose, inside the enclosure. Trigger socket is a bit recessed when looking from the outside but it seems to hold its position ok when inserting 3.5 jack. Nothing critical here but a bolted trigger socket would have been a much more secure alternative. Cheapish !

View attachment 290676
View attachment 290680

Your determined search found a design failure "BUILT IN" flaw. AMAZING!

 

[Ykar]

Found it ! that's the trigger input socket shim that is loose, inside the enclosure. Trigger socket is a bit recessed when looking from the outside but it seems to hold its position ok when inserting 3.5 jack. Nothing critical here but a bolted trigger socket would have been a much more secure alternative. Cheapish !

So I gave it a lifetime fix hopefully. As I feared, the trigger socket (plastic) is screwed directly in the metal enclosure but screw threads are just loose.
I desoldered the wires, unscrewed the socket, replaced the ridiculous stock shim with black rubber o-ring, added teflon tape on the loose threads, tightened back securely, resoldered and voila.
As an alternative, I could also have gone with no shim inside + bolt outside the enclosure (that's the way those sockets are supposed to be mounted originaly) but I wanted to keep the socket flush with the outside enclosure.
Hopefully all PA7 don't have the same issue.
Note 1 : E70 has 2 trigger sockets but these are firmly secured with a screw from the outside, so different and much better design.
Note 2 : despite this is a PA7 (non plus) the board is labeled PA7 Plus, so I guess both models share the exact same board and design. (Edit : board is labeled "PA7/PA7 Plus")

 

[Abrise]

Despite all the rant on Topping quality and the heavy promotion of NCore252 based amplifiers in this thread, I have eventually purchased the Topping PA7 amplifier together with its companion the less controversial Topping E70.

I took that decision because
-No NCore are available from a local supplier. And I don’t want to buy from 11000km away
-There is a local Topping reseller with a one year warranty
-It is the first amplifier with significative power below 1000€ in the list of @Matias https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZlTOYxmPs938gqHjtDABkWS-MApu7uJjzIGnJ2Elm6Y/edit?pli=1#gid=0 and it’s even below 450€.
-It has received the Golfing Panther award. I am not shy to say that I am deeply influenced by @amirm choices.

I have selected the nonplus option because all my loudspeakers are 8 Ohms nominal and on the Topping website https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/999139.html the difference is 125 to 135w at 1% THD ie 0.4dB. And I was not ready to pay 100€ more for less than half a decibel of power.

I have received it and I was immediately delighted. I tried it with my old pairs of Triangle Naia and Triangle Antal 202. It was so good that I decided to upgrade my 22 years old Antal to something better. I have just received a pair of Focal Aria 936. After recalibration of Acourate room correction I can say that I never had a stereo system so good in my life.

Here are some additional information.

Temperature wise it doesn’t get very hot. It gets the same temperature in between whether the DAC or the amplifier is on the top. We have 37degrees C in between DAC and amp. for a room temperature of 25 degrees C after several hours of intensive testing and listening. The power supply doesn’t get hot and can thus easily be hidden in a cabinet.

Below are some measurements I have made to confirm that PA7 or PA7 plus don’t differ much. I am using nonprofessional tools but the excellent A1DA cosmos ADC with Topping isolator HS02 . The generator is the E70 itself on USB and XLR output. The dummy load is made of 4x2Ohms 100W resistors that are also used as a voltage divider. All my loudspeaker being 8 Ohms nominal at 1000Hz I thus used 8 Ohms dummy load except for the first measurement to verify consistency with @amirm.

Sinad on 4Ohms 5 Watts 20kHz bandwidth is confirmed to be the same as the pa7+ at 102dB

The following are all on 8 Ohms, 0 dbfs is 31.777 V Or 126W

With a load of 8Ohms we have about the same sinad : 103 dB

To tell the truth I was a bit embarrassed by @amirm measurements “Power versus distortion @4ohms 45kHz bandwidth” as it get a few curves with big bellies. But the worse curves are in the inaudible range. @amirm was not worried anyway by these curves. I thus wanted to look at what it will look like if we limit the bandwidth to the audible range.

In the legend you have the THD+N of the various frequencies at 10W which is by the way the lowest part of the curves. I believe it is very good.
So in these conditions only the 4kHz curve is a bit naughty. All the others are well tamed. And even the 4kHz is far for being catastrophic. The chart also shows the maximum power without distortion at around 90W.

As it is significant, I am also joining the multitone test at 5W which gives the Pa7 at least 18 bits of distortion free until the highest frequencies.
By the way I am not sure of what is 5W here and if it has the same meaning for all software as the max power is here around 43W during the test. (max -4.65dBfs). The test is severe anyway.

I hope that I have confirmed that the Pa7 is as good as the Pa7+ and I can confirm that it gives me intense pleasure.
I must acknowledge that it is thanks to @amirm recommendations .

 

[mike70]

there's no measurements to check for reliability ... only time.
ncore modules have no claims at the topping level.

 

[Ykar]

Temperature wise it doesn’t get very hot. It gets the same temperature in between whether the DAC or the amplifier is on the top. We have 37degrees C in between DAC and amp. for a room temperature of 25 degrees C after several hours of intensive testing and listening.

Do you mind checking what's the voltage of your power supply (is it 52V as well ?)
I get slightly higher temp from PA7plus, same room temp (25°C) and several hours of listening, low to moderate volume. See top and bottom case temp in the attached pics below (amp sitting on a custom build pair of NC250MP monos)