[ljnew]

I disagree that it has to be heard. We know the limits of human hearing and the components of sound quality. We are able to measure them and determine the quality compared to either other devices or the limits of human hearing.
Human hearing isn't a continuum.

Actually, the test they use for the limits of human hearing is an educational guess at best. In fact, no science is 100% accurate. There's usually some measurement of error and or the unknown.

Also, human ears are as unique as human fingerprints. It's rational to believe that everyone hears everything differently.

 

[PointyFox]

What's important are limit tests where we test what people can't hear. Then everyone doesn't hear it the same way, as in not at all.

 

[ljnew]

Anyone know of a topping a90d alternative in the same price range or cheaper?

 

[adeadcrab]

Sorry to hear about your defective unit. Could be the fault of the supplier.

To answer your question, no!

 

[alexeyi]

Anyone know of a topping a90d alternative in the same price range or cheaper?

Depends on what features do you need from A90D.
Maybe Singxer SA-1? You should take a look into it if you haven't.

 

[ljnew]

Any ideas on how to open amd the tools i need for a90d?

 

[alexeyi]

Any ideas on how to open amd the tools i need for a90d?

I don’t know if it is similar to the original A90, but for that you had to take out the volume pot. cover, then take out the two screws(for A90 they are hexscrew, so you need an Allen key) from the back margins, then you can pull the electronic board out from the back side.

It might be something similar in case of the discrete model. Hope it helps.

 

[Currawong]

If you're going to take it apart, you'll need to get longer ribbon cables for it. For some reason, Topping use very short ones that they must have installed using long tools and crazy dexterity.

The ones I got were:
uxcell Flexible Flat Cable 8 Pin 0.5mm Pitch 150mm FPC FFC Flexible Ribbon Cable for LCD TV Car Audio DVD Player Laptop 5pcs A Type
uxcell Flexible Flat Cable 12 Pin 0.5mm Pitch 150mm FPC FFC Flexible Ribbon Cable for LCD TV Car Audio DVD Player Laptop 5pcs A Type

 

[ljnew]

If you're going to take it apart, you'll need to get longer ribbon cables for it. For some reason, Topping use very short ones that they must have installed using long tools and crazy dexterity.

The ones I got were:
uxcell Flexible Flat Cable 8 Pin 0.5mm Pitch 150mm FPC FFC Flexible Ribbon Cable for LCD TV Car Audio DVD Player Laptop 5pcs A Type
uxcell Flexible Flat Cable 12 Pin 0.5mm Pitch 150mm FPC FFC Flexible Ribbon Cable for LCD TV Car Audio DVD Player Laptop 5pcs A Type

That's why mine wasn't working when I got it. The cables weren't connected. Bad qa imho.

 

[cgarciah92]

Hey, could anyone here help me out?

I bought an A90D a couple of months ago and I've started hearing crackling coming out of the balanced XLR output port today. I tried using a different set of headphones than my standard set connected to the XLR port and still heard crackling, then connected both sets of headphones to another amp fed from the same DAC and there were no issues, and went back to the single ended jack of my A90D and I didn't hear crackling when connected to the single-ended output all with the same setup with both headphones. It's now also showing a "-5" on the display when I have no outputs connected to it.

I initially thought it was just something to do with the balanced output port but now I don't know given the weird display. Is there any easy fix that anyone knows or something else that I might not be considering or is my unit most likely just becoming defective?

 

[adeadcrab]

Hey, could anyone here help me out?

I bought an A90D a couple of months ago and I've started hearing crackling coming out of the balanced XLR output port today. I tried using a different set of headphones than my standard set connected to the XLR port and still heard crackling, then connected both sets of headphones to another amp fed from the same DAC and there were no issues, and went back to the single ended jack of my A90D and I didn't hear crackling when connected to the single-ended output all with the same setup with both headphones. It's now also showing a "-5" on the display when I have no outputs connected to it.

I initially thought it was just something to do with the balanced output port but now I don't know given the weird display. Is there any easy fix that anyone knows or something else that I might not be considering or is my unit most likely just becoming defective?

Maybe try the latest firmware - Switch off the amp for 30 seconds and unplug everything, then plug just a USB-C cable into the firmware port. It will show up as a storage drive with a firmware version. If it's not the latest try updating it.

 

[alexeyi]

-5 on the latest firmware means that your device will not restart when unplugging the 6.3mm headphone. Instead of -5 on the display, before the update, the device was restarting itself during unbalanced connection headphone removal in some cases.

Also if you experience crackling noises you should send your unit to repair or replace, it is not the normal behavior.

There are some issues with A90D, which is also the reason why I returned my unit and head back to original A90.

 

[adeadcrab]

-5 on the latest firmware means that your device will not restart when unplugging the 6.3mm headphone. Instead of -5 on the display, before the update, the device was restarting itself during unbalanced connection headphone removal in some cases.

Also if you experience crackling noises you should send your unit to repair or replace, it is not the normal behavior.

There are some issues with A90D, which is also the reason why I returned my unit and head back to original A90.

it must have been a silent hardware fix because I bought the A90D in January and don't have this issue with the 6.5 mm connection

 

[N0sferatu]

DOA for me. It must sounds sublime for you to risk another pair of headphones.

It does sound good however I wasn't going to let a "fault" in one model ruin it forever. Things happen. I'm jamming it as we speak. I have my Arya replacement and the Focal all running through XLR now and it's great. I had Arya on 1/4" unbalanced with the new unit without issue. Just felt the extra power from XLR was awesome and the XLR cable for the Focal is the same connector on the Arya so I tried it, loved it, and bought a dedicated XLR cable from Periapt for them.

 

[kadinh]

a90d worth the price upgrade from the Jot2?