This is a review and detailed measurements of the TP (Topping) RA3 stereo balanced rackmount amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $229.
Yes, this is a new sub-brand from Topping. I quite like it. The large and highly visible volume level is as gorgeous to look at as it is responsive. A remote control is provided which is something you don't usually get. The remote (or front panel) allow you to select between RCA and XLR input:
For those of us who have a DAC and an analog source, this is all that we need.
Lots of nice touches are there such as independent memory for the volume setting for RCA vs XLR. Safe volume settings. Trigger support and ability to update firmware in the future. Love that despite low cost, the power supply is built in. You have a hard power switch which puts the unit in standby. Push the volume knob or the remote button and it powers on.
This line of products, at least for now, will be sold by Topping direct. Alas, it is not yet on the website so you may have to wait a bit to order it.
I don't know anything about the design but based on measurements below, it seems to be a highly optimized class D chip architecture.
TP RA3 Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard of 1 kHz tone into 4 ohm load at 5 watts:
Distortion is kept below threshold of audibility at around -116 dB. So noise is the only thing we need to worry about. There, when combined with distortion, nicely lands RA3 in our top 20 best amplifiers ever tested:
Mind you, noise performance is excellent:
Survey of available music indicates best case dynamic range of 18 bits and TP RA3 gives you that at just 5 watts! Allow it to go to its max power and it reaches 20 bits.
Multitone showcases the very low distortion in mid frequencies where our hearing is most sensitive:
But if you insist on pumping ear deafening high frequency tones into it in the form of 19 and 20 kHz tones, you naturally get more distortion:
A concern with low cost class D amp ICs is load (speaker) dependency. Topping has worked hard to make that basically a non-issue:
Crosstalk is incredibly good, besting even our reference:
Let's measure power into 4 ohm:
As noted, measurements completely match Topping spec of 130 watts at 1% THD+N. Not boundless power but very good for many. Naturally we lose good bit of power if you have a rare 8 ohm speaker:
Varying the frequency we do see the class D chip amp create more distortion above 5 kHz or so:
There is a bit of a noise spike with power off:
There is some inconsequential spikes in one channel in the first short minutes as the amplifier warms up:
Speaking of that, the amplifier didn't feel to be rising above room temperature in my testing -- on top anyway.
Finally, here is the efficiency vs output power (per channel -- both channels driven):
Idle power while on is about 9 watts.
The protection circuit is aggressive in the way it shuts the unit down when pushed hard so I did not try to run my reactive load tests.
Conclusions
It is remarkable to me how Topping is not only capable of producing new product one after the other, they do so while striving for state of the art in performance. This is so even though they are bound by the capabilities of the class D chip amplifier they are using. I really like the larger form factor as it not only allows better dissipation of heat and inclusion of AC power supply, but also makes the unit more substantial and "professional looking." If they made the rack ears optional, they would fit nicely in a home system as well.
Feature set is great for this class of product with inclusion of remote control, trigger support, nice and visible volume level, etc.
It is my pleasure to add TP RA3 to my recommended list. Incredible performance for so little money.
-----------
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/
Yes, this is a new sub-brand from Topping. I quite like it. The large and highly visible volume level is as gorgeous to look at as it is responsive. A remote control is provided which is something you don't usually get. The remote (or front panel) allow you to select between RCA and XLR input:
For those of us who have a DAC and an analog source, this is all that we need.
Lots of nice touches are there such as independent memory for the volume setting for RCA vs XLR. Safe volume settings. Trigger support and ability to update firmware in the future. Love that despite low cost, the power supply is built in. You have a hard power switch which puts the unit in standby. Push the volume knob or the remote button and it powers on.
This line of products, at least for now, will be sold by Topping direct. Alas, it is not yet on the website so you may have to wait a bit to order it.
I don't know anything about the design but based on measurements below, it seems to be a highly optimized class D chip architecture.
TP RA3 Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard of 1 kHz tone into 4 ohm load at 5 watts:
Distortion is kept below threshold of audibility at around -116 dB. So noise is the only thing we need to worry about. There, when combined with distortion, nicely lands RA3 in our top 20 best amplifiers ever tested:
Mind you, noise performance is excellent:
Survey of available music indicates best case dynamic range of 18 bits and TP RA3 gives you that at just 5 watts! Allow it to go to its max power and it reaches 20 bits.
Multitone showcases the very low distortion in mid frequencies where our hearing is most sensitive:
But if you insist on pumping ear deafening high frequency tones into it in the form of 19 and 20 kHz tones, you naturally get more distortion:
A concern with low cost class D amp ICs is load (speaker) dependency. Topping has worked hard to make that basically a non-issue:
Crosstalk is incredibly good, besting even our reference:
Let's measure power into 4 ohm:
As noted, measurements completely match Topping spec of 130 watts at 1% THD+N. Not boundless power but very good for many. Naturally we lose good bit of power if you have a rare 8 ohm speaker:
Varying the frequency we do see the class D chip amp create more distortion above 5 kHz or so:
There is a bit of a noise spike with power off:
There is some inconsequential spikes in one channel in the first short minutes as the amplifier warms up:
Speaking of that, the amplifier didn't feel to be rising above room temperature in my testing -- on top anyway.
Finally, here is the efficiency vs output power (per channel -- both channels driven):
Idle power while on is about 9 watts.
The protection circuit is aggressive in the way it shuts the unit down when pushed hard so I did not try to run my reactive load tests.
Conclusions
It is remarkable to me how Topping is not only capable of producing new product one after the other, they do so while striving for state of the art in performance. This is so even though they are bound by the capabilities of the class D chip amplifier they are using. I really like the larger form factor as it not only allows better dissipation of heat and inclusion of AC power supply, but also makes the unit more substantial and "professional looking." If they made the rack ears optional, they would fit nicely in a home system as well.
Feature set is great for this class of product with inclusion of remote control, trigger support, nice and visible volume level, etc.
It is my pleasure to add TP RA3 to my recommended list. Incredible performance for so little money.
-----------
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/
