I'm sure that clause is if it happens months or years into service and to protect from the idiots who drive a 16 ohm IEM the 9 watts or whatever this thing can pump out and wreck them.
My situation the amp failed in less than 24 hours and destroyed my headphone at the same time. I told them who I bought it through and a brief summary of events. They said they'd do their own investigation and would reimburse me what I was asking ($500) which is what it cost for Arya repair $475 + $30 shipping so I rounded it down. They said they would do that as it's within the cost of the A90D. After three days they responded back and said they would refund me and PayPal me the $500.
If I am looking for a totally transparent preamp...am I wrong in reading that this and the pre90 are basically the same thing just that this has an amazinng headphone amp and the ground switch on it and the pre90 has one more gain stage and no ground switch? Are they really that close to the same looking at it purely from the perspective of a preamp? Or am I missing something that would make me want to go for the pre90 and not the A90d? Because from my perspective the A90d is almost the better choice for a preamp.
If I am looking for a totally transparent preamp...am I wrong in reading that this and the pre90 are basically the same thing just that this has an amazinng headphone amp and the ground switch on it and the pre90 has one more gain stage and no ground switch? Are they really that close to the same looking at it purely from the perspective of a preamp? Or am I missing something that would make me want to go for the pre90 and not the A90d? Because from my perspective the A90d is almost the better choice for a preamp.
I'm sure that clause is if it happens months or years into service and to protect from the idiots who drive a 16 ohm IEM the 9 watts or whatever this thing can pump out and wreck them.
My situation the amp failed in less than 24 hours and destroyed my headphone at the same time. I told them who I bought it through and a brief summary of events. They said they'd do their own investigation and would reimburse me what I was asking ($500) which is what it cost for Arya repair $475 + $30 shipping so I rounded it down. They said they would do that as it's within the cost of the A90D. After three days they responded back and said they would refund me and PayPal me the $500.
You are more optimistic than me! Glad to hear they treated you well. Thanks for sharing your experience, I was more cautious about what I plugged into my A90 Discrete for the first few days as a result.
If I am looking for a totally transparent preamp...am I wrong in reading that this and the pre90 are basically the same thing just that this has an amazinng headphone amp and the ground switch on it and the pre90 has one more gain stage and no ground switch? Are they really that close to the same looking at it purely from the perspective of a preamp? Or am I missing something that would make me want to go for the pre90 and not the A90d? Because from my perspective the A90d is almost the better choice for a preamp.
I tried the a90d as a pre amp. Sounds clean. To my milo HP amp and also yamaha amp. But for some reason it made the soundstage more congested, a thicker sounding midrange. Even though it may seem similar to pre90 on paper. But i suspect there may be some differences.
I think the A90D will be a great pairing with a dac that has strong bass and mids with abit of body and warmth..
I tried the a90d as a pre amp. Sounds clean. To my milo HP amp and also yamaha amp. But for some reason it made the soundstage more congested, a thicker sounding midrange. Even though it may seem similar to pre90 on paper. But i suspect there may be some differences.
Thank you! I'd be running a warm tube phono-pre into it and and warm tube dac that it sounds might work perfectly. I appreciate the experience you're sharing.
Seems like the hype around this amp is real. This would be my first time playing with an amp that has so much power, using HPs that are very easy to drive and don't need even three quarters the power this thing can output, but if the sound quality is as good as people are saying it would be worth it.
With low gain, what would be a safe volume number range to avoid surpassing in order to not kill phones with, say, a max input of 1500mW?
I got mine recently and I am satisfied with the sound from thia little amp. I am mostly driving IEMs that doesnt need that much power tho, but this amp provides exceptional low noise with clean sounding. For my use case, do you guys think that single end with low gain will give the best sounding? I am currently using 4.4 mm output with low gain and I could tell that setting it at low gain resulted in better clarity than the same output and high gain. I couldnt test single end as I need to buy 6.5 to 2.5 mm converter to try. Will it worth spending money for the converter to use SE?
Seems like the hype around this amp is real. This would be my first time playing with an amp that has so much power, using HPs that are very easy to drive and don't need even three quarters the power this thing can output, but if the sound quality is as good as people are saying it would be worth it.
With low gain, what would be a safe volume number range to avoid surpassing in order to not kill phones with, say, a max input of 1500mW?
Just keep it within volume that won't blow your ear drums apart.
I'm on high gain with Focal Clear (55 ohm) via XLR. I'm usually 40-45%. Some softer tracks 50-55%. Shift it another 5-10% if I want to really jam loud. Anything beyond that is ear piercing. I think you're hearing limit will hit before you blow a driver.
Based on Topping spec it's 6700mW @ 32 ohm and 4000mW at 64 ohm. Figure 55 ohm probably 4500mW or so. Half power is stupid volume levels at high gain.
Just keep it within volume that won't blow your ear drums apart.
I'm on high gain with Focal Clear (55 ohm) via XLR. I'm usually 40-45%. Some softer tracks 50-55%. Shift it another 5-10% if I want to really jam loud. Anything beyond that is ear piercing. I think you're hearing limit will hit before you blow a driver.
Based on Topping spec it's 6700mW @ 32 ohm and 4000mW at 64 ohm. Figure 55 ohm probably 4500mW or so. Half power is stupid volume levels at high gain.
That's the same as my daily drivers. Will start with low gain and play it safe. I'm coming from years using a Sony TA-ZH1ES's amp--which was a mere 1200mW--that I'm replacing because I'm going to a 230V region and those things are region locked at the AC power block level. Appreciate Topping using universal PSUs for those of us that move across continents!
The A90D have 5 settable gain(1-99) steps for the gain settings if I understand Zeos video correctly so for easy to drive monitors 5 and transducers that need more power 4,3,2 and 1 being the most powerful. ?
Can't wait to try my Arya again once I get them back from Hifiman. Jam some planar on this. I'll have to get an XLR cable for those because as of now it's unbalanced.
I have the A90 and I bought the A90D to compare with Focal Clear xlr and dac/streamer Naim 272 rca. First of all, too bad for those who do not believe in running-in but out of box the two amps were dull and lifeless... After about ten hours the sound is ok, it’s obvious when I compared the 1st time the A90d with the A90, I thought if it was that sound I sent it back right away!
The A90D has the same tone as the A90 but is more transparent, the sounds stand out more, it is more detailed but not cold, not boring! For me it is the perfect balance between detail, transparency and warmth matter... The bass is firmer and descends lower and the high is finer and more varied (cymbals...) it’s subtle but very real. I like it a lot! The perfect couple with Focal Clear...
Very much hoping your experience ends up being replicable: "dull and lifeless" would be extremely polite to this amp (paired with a D90LE and ZMF Atriums) so far, four hours in. I'll run a burn-in track overnight (and also tell my brain to burn itself in, since I'm on the fence about solid state gear physically burning in, personally ) and see how it sounds tomorrow, but I have a growing suspicion this stack may leave my desk otherwise.
24ish hours update: be it brain or amp, or both, or neither and the cosmos simply aligned better today, this thing sounds incredible with nearly all genres. Not forgiving of bad mixes and masters, but on quality source material and through good headphones, this stack is hard to beat for the price. I have truly never heard these Atriums pushed harder, cleaner, or more (accurately) detailed-ly.
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) and see how it sounds tomorrow, but I have a growing suspicion this stack may leave my desk otherwise.