Fellows, help me understand whether it's Topping A70's failing, or my own misunderstanding. I'm discussing the issue with them but they are adamant it's "for my own protection".
The issue is that even though this amp can on paper output
12.6 watts per channel into 16 ohms and 17 watts into 32 ohms (much more than recommended by RAAL), I'm having issues playing at the top end of the loudness range. On 32 ohms when I put on a dynamic bassy track, like Parcels – Lightenup and go past about -10db on the amp screen, I start having audio dropouts that get worse when I start approaching -5db and the audio is completely gone by 0.0db (maximum level) on the amp. At the same time this amp starts to throw a cryptic "HP DC abnormal" message momentarily. On 16 ohms the problem starts to appear even earlier.
So Topping says "
the A70 Pro is designed for different user scenarios, a protection mechanism has been set up to avoid that some users may damage the headphones unconsciously", but after reading
@KaiSc post that mentioned a "
problematic load at the low end" the transformer presents to the amp, I'm not sure that protection is necessary, meaning I'm highly unlikely to destroy the drivers regardless of what the A70 "feels".
If that is true, I need to argue that somehow to Topping in technical terms to make them agree to release a firmware update with an option that disables or appropriately adjusts their protection mechanism.
What's going on there? Who's right and who's wrong?