Topping Pre90 Review (preamplifier)

[ririt]

I’ve had my Pre90 since last week and I’m really enjoying it. I haven’t really done direct comparisons, but I ‘think’ it’s made an improvement in my system that was previously the E30 into a Purifi based power amplifier. My normal listening levels were -30 to -20 and I think that’s a part of why the sound has improved here. I really like the way the unit looks, the resistor based volume control seems much quieter than the Saga preamplifier I have stored away at the moment - the volume changing doesn’t bother me at all, but I don’t sit at a desk with this preamplifier.

Outside of the lack of inputs, my complaint about this units would basically be one thing, at this point; the remote control range sucks. The Schiit preamplifiers have much greater range, this can only change the volume and modes properly within about 6-8 feet. I sit further than that which means I have to get up to change the volume - not ideal. I feel like this is a major flaw in a stereo preamplifier. It has the same range as the E30's remote. If anyone knows of a good product I can use to extend this, please let me know.

I am glad to know that you are happy with your Pre 90. I have a question regarding a feature highlighted by Topping: do you confirm that you can fix the volume of a given input while still having the possibility to control the volume (up or down) for the second input? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[Matias]

Anyone using -30 to -20 dB digital attenuation will greatly benefit with the addition of a nice analog pre-amplifier such as the Topping Pre90. Lot more SINAD to be gained than upgrading to the greatest DAC. Of course having both is the end goal hehe.

 

[Cujobob]

I am glad to know that you are happy with your Pre 90. I have a question regarding a feature highlighted by Topping: do you confirm that you can fix the volume of a given input while still having the possibility to control the volume (up or down) for the second input? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Sadly, I don’t have a balanced source at the moment and don’t have the extender. There is only one set of unbalanced RCA in on the unit itself.

 

[GCL]

Thanks for the Info.

 

[Guerilla]

[QUOTE="

Outside of the lack of inputs, my complaint about this units would basically be one thing, at this point; the remote control range sucks. The Schiit preamplifiers have much greater range, this can only change the volume and modes properly within about 6-8 feet. I sit further than that which means I have to get up to change the volume - not ideal. I feel like this is a major flaw in a stereo preamplifier. It has the same range as the E30's remote. If anyone knows of a good product I can use to extend this, please let me know.[/QUOTE]
I think John mentioned that pointing a little downwards or was it up? is better

 

[Guerilla]

The IR beam on the Pre90's remote points a little bit upwards, so you should ”aim low”
Cheers!

 

[GCL]

The IR beam on the Pre90's remote points a little bit upwards, so you should ”aim low”
Cheers!

How does the Schiit Freya + compare in sound to the Pre90

 

[misterdog]

It would be interesting to see how couple of DAC sources, with a high output impedance, are measuring with this preamp, given the possible impedance mismatch. I wonder if there will be bass roll-off with some sources, especially with those having output caps.

Output Impedance

I did not get a chance to measure output impedance but from data I have seen elsewhere, it rises to well over 1000 ohm. This is about 5 to 10 higher than it is normally. An output buffer stage has been eliminated to improve measured performance with the cost being that output impedance goes up. When you think of pairing this DAC with headphone and power amplifiers, make sure their *input* impedance is at least 10 times higher or 10 kHz and above. You should be OK with many products but with others, you may see a voltage drop. Seeing how M400 has more than 4 volts output anyway, maybe this is not a concern in practice.

From Amir's SMSL M400 review.

I'm toying with the idea of trying the Pre 90 with my M400.

 

[JohnYang1997]

From Amir's SMSL M400 review.

I'm toying with the idea of trying the Pre 90 with my M400.

M400 will be fine with and without pre90.

 

[misterdog]

The main reason for my interest is that I also have a phono stage from my turntable.
Am I correct in thinking that using a single ended RCA input, to the balanced output, for my balanced Neurochrome power amps, that the Pre 90 converts the SE signal into a balanced output signal ?

If so is there any penalty or even benefit of this.

 

[GCL]

Just Pulled the trigger on the Pre90 . I will report back in a couple weeks after I get a chance to listen to it.

 

[DiegoV]

Can the unused inputs be disabled so you don’t have to cycle through all of them? For example I am only using 2 XLR inputs and have the ability to disable the rest so that I only have to cycle through 2 inputs and not all of them.

 

[hhunterst]

Hello,
my setup is A90+d50s, i have connected neumann kh120 speakers, sennheiser hd650 headphones and a phono pre amp.
now i saw the pre90 is available.
does it makes sense to buy the pre90 with my setup? what would be the benefits? how can i connect the pre90 in my system, because the pre90 and a90 have boath volume control. should the a90 be on full volume and regulate the volume with the pre90?
thank you

 

[Veri]

does it makes sense to buy the pre90 with my setup? what would be the benefits? how can i connect the pre90 in my system, because the pre90 and a90 have boath volume control. should the a90 be on full volume and regulate the volume with the pre90?
thank you

Doesn't really make sense to me, I would just use A50s and its volume if i were you.

 

[Atanasi]

does it makes sense to buy the pre90 with my setup? what would be the benefits? how can i connect the pre90 in my system, because the pre90 and a90 have boath volume control. should the a90 be on full volume and regulate the volume with the pre90?

Only reasons to include Pre90 would be the remote and the stepped attenuator that has perfect channel balance at low volumes. Yes, if you chain Pre90 and A90, you would usually keep A90 at full volume and 0 dB gain.
I measured my A90's channel balance a while ago, and it stayed ±0.5 dB reliably up to about 44 dB attenuation with the pot alone, without switching to low gain. The worst case was 0.3 dB difference. This should be enough, if you add digital volume control as needed.

 

[amd7190]

Can one of the inputs on this preamp be configured for HT Bypass?

 

[Matias]

Hello,
my setup is A90+d50s, i have connected neumann kh120 speakers, sennheiser hd650 headphones and a phono pre amp.
now i saw the pre90 is available.
does it makes sense to buy the pre90 with my setup? what would be the benefits? how can i connect the pre90 in my system, because the pre90 and a90 have boath volume control. should the a90 be on full volume and regulate the volume with the pre90?
thank you

No, you are good. If you want to upgrade maybe the D70s or the D90.

 

[rickler]

Very happy with this purchase! My setup is:

Roon+d90 (XLR) / Yamaha RX-A1080 (RCA) -> pre90 -> dual VTV purifi monoblocks (XLR) -> Kharma Ceramique 2.3

I have the D90 setup in DAC mode (+0dB) which enables the pre90 to control the volume when listening to streamed two channel. The receiver can only operate in preamp mode, so I save a +0dB input setting on the pre90 for the RCA input from the receiver, and permit the receiver to control the volume when using the PS5, or watching TV / movies. It works very well.

 

[ririt]

Very happy with this purchase! My setup is:

Roon+d90 (XLR) / Yamaha RX-A1080 (RCA) -> pre90 -> dual VTV purifi monoblocks (XLR) -> Kharma Ceramique 2.3

I have the D90 setup in DAC mode (+0dB) which enables the pre90 to control the volume when listening to streamed two channel. The receiver can only operate in preamp mode, so I save a +0dB input setting on the pre90 for the RCA input from the receiver, and permit the receiver to control the volume when using the PS5, or watching TV / movies. It works very well.

Your setup seems to be a nice HT bypass solution! How do you find the use of the remote control? It seems several people complained about its poor usability in a living room environment.

 

[Feyire]

Pre90 can improve system SNR by over 20dB in certain systems.

@JohnYang1997 , care to elaborate with some example configurations/scenarios?

What about pairing it with a DAC that has close to equal or greater performance (e.g. Okto Dac8 Stereo)? Would I be correct in saying that the SNR of the Pre90 exceeds that of the Dac8 Stereo, therefore the analog volume control in the Pre90 would be more transparent than that of the Dac8 Stereo's ESS 9028Pro chip's internal digital volume control could achieve, even with the Dac8 Stereo's incredibly low noise floor?

If you are nit-picking, the popping sound when switching sample rates will get attenuated by the pre90. If you care about that you can get one.

That will be music to some people's ears, pun intended . I really hate that popping/crackle noise.

Out of curiosity, could the pre-amp also help attenuate the scenario where people hear hiss from the tweeter (e.g. when putting your ear directly up to the tweeter) with no music playing?