TP RA3 Rackmount Amplifier Review

[renaudrenaud]

The IKEA "LACK" side stable? I have some of those stacked in storage. Never tried to rack-mount anything to them.

This is the perfect size.

 

[Grael]

Only available on Aliexpress right now, and if you had ordered the day it first showed up, it would still be in transit.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805601523994.html

Can't ship to France or Germany, but OK to Belgium

This product can't be shipped to your address

 

[morpheusX]

Can't ship to France or Germany, but OK to Belgium

I hope it will be available in the future from audiophonics.

 

[hyfynut]

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.
View attachment 296227
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:
View attachment 296228
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:
View attachment 296229
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:
View attachment 296230

View attachment 296231

Mind you, noise performance is excellent:
View attachment 296232
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:
View attachment 296233

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:
View attachment 296234

A concern with low cost class D amp ICs is load (speaker) dependency. Topping has worked hard to make that basically a non-issue:
View attachment 296235

Crosstalk is incredibly good, besting even our reference:

View attachment 296236

Let's measure power into 4 ohm:

View attachment 296237
View attachment 296238

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:
View attachment 296239

Varying the frequency we do see the class D chip amp create more distortion above 5 kHz or so:
View attachment 296240

There is a bit of a noise spike with power off:
View attachment 296241

There is some inconsequential spikes in one channel in the first short minutes as the amplifier warms up:
View attachment 296242

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):
View attachment 296243

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.

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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/

Is there a place to actually purchase this amplifier? The usual website does not show this model.

 

[simnick]

Is there a place to actually purchase this amplifier? The usual website does not show this model.

Please look 10 posts back, and most of the posts since then, talking about where to buy.

 

[nawfal07]

Is there a place to actually purchase this amplifier? The usual website does not show this model.

They don't have any dealers for the TP line, not even in China. You can only buy it direct from Topping which is via their AliExpress store.

 

[shpong]

269 usd on

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005787838746.html

 

[staticV3]

269 usd on

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005787838746.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.4c1b20adcWwfAC&algo_pvid=9dd22d13-5f1a-4f0f-a105-bb1b06ccc4a2&algo_exp_id=9dd22d13-5f1a-4f0f-a105-bb1b06ccc4a2-0&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21USD%21269.00%21269.0%21%21%21269.00%21%21%40211bc71916892397826261817d0745%2112000034366348116%21sea%21TH%211696932602&curPageLogUid=Z4BSyFbM5jyp

When sharing AliExpress links online, you can delete everything that comes after ".html" in the URL. The rest is just worthless (to us) tracking info.
So the link above becomes https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005787838746.html

Looks much neater, don't you think?

 

[renaudrenaud]

Also available in Taobao

 

[hyfynut]

Please look 10 posts back, and most of the posts since then, talking about where to buy.

Didn't see anything when scrolling after the review so I asked

 

[restorer-john]

The IKEA "LACK" side stable? I have some of those stacked in storage. Never tried to rack-mount anything to them.

And don't ever. Please.

ASR has finally stooped to the lowest levels of cheap and nastiness where crappy Topping 'rackmount' amps are being recommended to be screwed to an equally sh#tbag hollow-core piece of cardboard junk side table from IKEA.

When will this race to the bottom actually end? Thank god I'm not part of it.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

And don't ever. Please.

ASR has finally stooped to the lowest levels of cheap and nastiness where crappy Topping 'rackmount' amps are being recommended to be screwed to an equally sh#tbag hollow-core piece of cardboard junk side table from IKEA.

When will this race to the bottom actually end? Thank god I'm not part of it.

LOL! Don't worry, I wasn't planning to. I would take strong exception to the characterization of that amplifier as "crappy," however. When will "proper" high-end Class AB amplifiers ever routinely achieve that kind of performance? Not that it isn't possible, but who cares If they aren't (shudder) "declassé D" and are unaffordable to most?

 

[hyfynut]

And don't ever. Please.

ASR has finally stooped to the lowest levels of cheap and nastiness where crappy Topping 'rackmount' amps are being recommended to be screwed to an equally sh#tbag hollow-core piece of cardboard junk side table from IKEA.

When will this race to the bottom actually end? Thank god I'm not part of it.

Ya, Seriously crappy, I mean except for the real world power and extremely low distortion measurements. But other than that, really crappy. OK except when you compare it to the vast majority of really expensive A/B amps out there. Ok, I guess it's not really crappy.

 

[renaudrenaud]

And don't ever. Please.

ASR has finally stooped to the lowest levels of cheap and nastiness where crappy Topping 'rackmount' amps are being recommended to be screwed to an equally sh#tbag hollow-core piece of cardboard junk side table from IKEA.

When will this race to the bottom actually end? Thank god I'm not part of it.

Where do you put your 3D printers so?

 

[TNT]

LOL! Don't worry, I wasn't planning to. I would take strong exception to the characterization of that amplifier as "crappy," however. When will "proper" high-end Class AB amplifiers ever routinely achieve that kind of performance? Not that it isn't possible, but who cares If they aren't (shudder) "declassé D" and are unaffordable to most?

I think the aversion was directed towards IKEA ;-D

The only things this guy seem to want to restore is the olden days

//

 

[renaudrenaud]

I think the aversion was directed towards IKEA ;-D

The only things this guy seem to want to restore is the olden days

//

He knows a lot about HiFi and electronic. I like his way to synthesize.

Obviously we don't have the same use cases (I live in a shoeboxes with high efficiency speakers) but I really like to read his point of view.

 

[manudrz]

PA5 II ! https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/inte...fier-balanced-2x100w-4-ohm-black-p-18001.html , any review ?

 

[staticV3]

PA5 II !
any review ?

No, not yet.

 

[sckortyman]

The PA5 II Plus looks like it has nearly identical performance and a compact form factor for an extra $75. The PA5 has significantly less power for roughly the same price.

 

[JRG]

The PA5 II Plus looks like it has nearly identical performance and a compact form factor for an extra $75. The PA5 has significantly less power for roughly the same price.

View attachment 300617

There is a fundamental difference:
The PA5 does not have a remote control to be able to control the volume and select the input, while the RA3 has such a remote and a display indicating the level. In my opinion, this makes it much more useful as a proper integrated amp because you don't need to get up from the seat every time you want to adjust the volume.