[lockjaw]

If you’re serious about unloading the topping stack, I would love to get it to give to a buddy of mine who is just getting into the hobby.

 

[TDinCali]

Sorry in between threads, I decided to post the amp for sale and it already sold. Geez…

 

[lockjaw]

heheh no worries ! ! !

 

[Thomasr]

Dude, you couldn’t hear a difference? If you’re happy with the Topping stack I’ll send you mine free of charge.

I'm also bad at hearing differences!

 

[lockjaw]

Yeah, that's almost the point of posting this.

Over the years I have climbed the ladder of cost, almost always happy with the results. This Topping amp/dac has totally messed that up.

I did big a big DAC shootout with my engineering audiophile buddies and the differences were so minimal. DAVE vs Benchmark DAC3 vs Topping.

With instantaneous AB we could barely pick out the DAVE with its slightly improved depth, but that was about it. Mostly, we heard this difference on speakers, almost no difference on headphones. The entire process was double blinded using an XLR switch box with everything behind a curtain. The rooms has Wilson WP6 speakers and a McIntosh SS amp with autoformers. (I know, the Mac was the weak link!!! Lots of Mac haters out there) I also tried it on the Benchmark AHB2. We liked the Mac better, go figure, less clinical sounding.

When we played a random DAC without instantaneous ABing, nobody could tell which DAC we were listening to. For me ,that's quite telling and very much real world.

I'm not saying very expensive gear isn't better than the new crop of cheap Chinese (Topping, Denafrips, Holo)

For me, more money to put into the transducer! At worst I can confidently say that Topping doesn't suck, that's for sure. I'm actually going to use the a90D/d90se as my daily driver for my Susvara.

I know this is controversial, but anyway, that was our experience on a given day. We all left feeling pretty good about it. Having said that, none of they guys are selling their expensive gear.......... yet.

Happy listening ! !

 

[lockjaw]

I will add, the room is my home theater, which is acoustically amazing, so we can't blame the room for differences
I'm really proud of how it turned out and just want to share a few pics with you guys, not trying to be pretentious.
(how pretentious can I be, I'm praising Topping gear!)

.

 

[ra990]

I will add, the room is my home theater, which is acoustically amazing, so we can't blame the room for differences
I'm really proud of how it turned out and just want to share a few pics with you guys, not trying to be pretentious.
(how pretentious can I be, I'm praising Topping gear!)


.

Awesome theater. Love the star sky ceiling! When are you inviting us for a movie?

 

[lockjaw]

C'mon over ! ! !
Burbon during the film and Cuban cigars to follow -~~ (outside of course)

s

 

[draytonklammer]

Dude, you couldn’t hear a difference? If you’re happy with the Topping stack I’ll send you mine free of charge.

Using ABX, I can't say that I really did.
Similar to when I tested myself with lossless versus good quality algorithm with high enough bitrate (I.e., the same master but 1411Kbps FLAC vs. 320Kbps OGG Vorbis.)
When it comes to low-end equipment (I'm talking cheap crap) or 128Kbps MP3 it's easy to pick out, though.

I've spent six figures on my audio ventures and have settled on the transducer being my best investment BY FAR every single time.
My current speakers:
Focal Scala Utopias
Revel Salon2
Genelec 8351b (have also owned 8361a)
Focal Trio11 Be

What do I drive them with?
Gear that's far less expensive...
Blue Jeans cables
Benchmark AHB2 mono OR Hypex DIY monoblocks.
Matrix Sabre MQA DAC OR Topping.

I'm not saying they should be driven by a $100 amplifier and DAC, but electronics have improved a lot over time.

I've owned Dave, I've owned WA33, etc...
Used to buy thousand dollar cables.

I've been to the non-millionaire top and decided to come back down.
Spending more money doesn't always net more gains.

I'm also not criticizing you or telling you that you aren't hearing more than me.
Everyone experiences audio and runs through this journey in their own respective ways and that's another reason to appreciate the hobby.
It's cool that there is no definitive "perfect setup" and that personal preference plays such a strong role in our feelings towards what we like.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Topping is an ok sounding amp, but way overpriced and overhyped than what it actually is due to ASR. If you really care about budget than Topping should be out of question as there are plenty/cheaper chinese based alternatives.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...6882e5e22!12000024236987491!rec!PL!1701947783

Simply google TPA6120A2 headphone amp from any chinese seller like aliexpress. they will all sound very alike differencing only in power output and whatever PSU is internally or externally based. no need to spend extra $$ just for brand in this case

 

[lockjaw]

Using ABX, I can't say that I really did.
Similar to when I tested myself with lossless versus good quality algorithm with high enough bitrate (I.e., the same master but 1411Kbps FLAC vs. 320Kbps OGG Vorbis.)
When it comes to low-end equipment (I'm talking cheap crap) or 128Kbps MP3 it's easy to pick out, though.

I've spent six figures on my audio ventures and have settled on the transducer being my best investment BY FAR every single time.
My current speakers:
Focal Scala Utopias
Revel Salon2
Genelec 8351b (have also owned 8361a)
Focal Trio11 Be

What do I drive them with?
Gear that's far less expensive...
Blue Jeans cables
Benchmark AHB2 mono OR Hypex DIY monoblocks.
Matrix Sabre MQA DAC OR Topping.

I'm not saying they should be driven by a $100 amplifier and DAC, but electronics have improved a lot over time.

I've owned Dave, I've owned WA33, etc...
Used to buy thousand dollar cables.

I've been to the non-millionaire top and decided to come back down.
Spending more money doesn't always net more gains.

I'm also not criticizing you or telling you that you aren't hearing more than me.
Everyone experiences audio and runs through this journey in their own respective ways and that's another reason to appreciate the hobby.
It's cool that there is no definitive "perfect setup" and that personal preference plays such a strong role in our feelings t

 

[chesebert]

Sorry in between threads, I decided to post the amp for sale and it already sold. Geez…

If you had told me the gear were for sale and not just for demoing only, I would have kept both pieces (not sure how you got the amp‘s pot to work again) and saved money on return shipping…

You need to use the right transport with Toping Dac.

 

[Billy Kueek]

To me, the A90 doesn’t cut it for the Sus. I just sold it. Even my iFi Pro iCAN Signature only makes the Sus loud. I just got the GodenWave/Hifiman Prelude head[hone a plied. Now, this is An amp by HFM for HFM Susvara!