[sendler2112]

New information from Aune today regarding USA Amazon stock:
"New stocks on December will be the latest version, as it shipped from China on November. We already changed that (volume control) from the end of October and Amazon out of stock for some days (which would have emptied the inventory of wonky volume versions). New stocks for 16pcs are the latest version ,thanks"
The new version was measured to show that rather than increasing volume every 4th step with an increase of 4db, and then a big jump of 7db between 55 an 56, the new units do indeed now only skip 1 step and then increase 2db every other step.

 

[Promee]

Just put in a product review for the A90D on Headphones.com, and I thought I would share my impressions here in case they help anyone who is looking at this amp. I know I agonized over it for quite some time because of mixed reviews online, some of which made it seem like it could be too clinical / emotionless. I don’t find that to be the case at all. I think it just shows the recording and source you are listening to for exactly what they are, but without extracting what makes them special. If the rest of the chain is to your liking, this amp will just give it the power it needs and get out of the way, but if the rest of your chain sounds a bit wonky to you, this amp isn’t going to fix it. See copied review of purchase below.

This amp has been delightful. I have been using it with the Topping E70 Velvet DAC, which I absolutely love with my speakers. I have been spending roughly equal time with the Focal Clear OG and LCD-X 2021 with it, though it also works well with my Sennheiser IE600 IEMs - I just tend to mostly use those on the go. The A90D is replacing a Topping L70, which had been a good amp, but it always felt like it was adding a slightly dry character to the sound and didn’t capture the magic of the E70 Velvet the way my speaker systems did. With the A90D I feel like I am getting what I expected from the E70 Velvet / L70 stack. It is precise, confident, and authoritative, but it absolutely brings through the emotion of the music without additional grain or harshness. It is an extremely revealing amp, but it will not pull the musicality out of a source. I have also tried it with my Denafrips Ares 12th / Iris 12th stack, and it is a wonderful match for that combo, as it will not take away the beautiful presence and tone of that equipment - it is just transparent to it.

I also hooked up the Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro MQA with it. It should be noted that I have always found this DAC a bit harsh, regardless of filter, dithering, jitter correction settings, but I thought I would see if the synergy with this amp would be more pleasing to me. Unfortunately, this was not the case. This amp just revealed with great precision all of the issues I have with that DAC, but it made switching back to the E70 Velvet and its AKM 4499EX so much sweeter. I assume that if one likes the sounds of the MA X-Sabre, this amp will be a good pairing. Just know that the A90D seems unlikely to compensate for a source you don’t like, but for a source you love, it will faithfully amplify it - soul and all

Overall very happy with this purchase - very highly recommended! Happy listening!

 

[fidgeraldo]

This amp has been delightful. I have been using it with the Topping E70 Velvet DAC

So do I

Cheers!

 

[lowrider007]

Does this amp have the option to have a fixed or variable lineout? (I've searched the thread)

 

[Promee]

Does this amp have the option to have a fixed or variable lineout? (I've searched the thread)

Just tried it out. Can confirm that the RCA-out is variable. It does not appear that there is an option in the instruction manual to set it as fixed, so if you use it in headphone amp and pre amp mode simultaneously, they will vary together. It does have a mode that will memorize the volume for each output state, so if you wanted to have a fixed volume for RCA out and are not using at the same time as headphones, you could set the volume to max there and when you switch to just the preamp output, it would jump to that volume automatically and back down to something reasonable when switching back to headphone amp mode. Hope this helps!

 

[BeardSplinter]

I have been searching online with little luck, but would someone please explain to me what the "volume curve" setting is used for on the A90D.

I originally deduced it would impact the volume increase per click of the dial but that does not seem to be the case.

 

[geoffalter11]

I have been searching online with little luck, but would someone please explain to me what the "volume curve" setting is used for on the A90D.

I originally deduced it would impact the volume increase per click of the dial but that does not seem to be the case.

Good luck getting an answer. Wish I could help, but I won't buy a Topping product. Just can't work for that corporation...

Even though Jeff Yang (spelling not sure if I have right) is a seriously talented individual.

 

[TommehHiFi]

I have been searching online with little luck, but would someone please explain to me what the "volume curve" setting is used for on the A90D.

I originally deduced it would impact the volume increase per click of the dial but that does not seem to be the case.

Yeah I'm still not sure what the actual point of it is when 1 works great for everything I've thrown at it. 1 is the loudest and 5 the softest. Good for IEMs I guess, like having multiple gain settings on top of the 2 gain settings. Some people swear low gain sounds better on some amplifiers so aim for the lowest gain that is still loud enough for you. Humanly audible differences I'm not so sure. If anything, I've always preferred higher gain on my SS amps but have never bothered to do a really good volume matched AB.
I keep the amp on the 1 setting for most things personally so I know you're gonna get enough volume for anything I plug into it and not have to fiddle all the time.

From what I've seen, the best use of the volume curve is scaring people new to the amp that it doesn't have enough power to drive their headphones when it's set on higher volume curve number settings out of the box.

 

[devilboy]

Anyone compared to Benchmark HPA 4? Preamp outs as well?

 

[ShangriLa]

I did some search and found out that A90 was released in May 2020, A90D was released in June 2022. Does that mean we can expect an A90D successor around summer time???

 

[ezduzit2500]

I have had the Topping A90D for a few weeks now, really enamoured with this piece of tech.

For reference I previously used a Gustard P26 preamp, with Burson V6 Vivid swappable opamps (over $1000 AUD price tag not including the opamps at $100 AUD each) and the THX 789 ($600 AUD price tag at height of 789 mania, arrived to me on December 2019).

This thing is a better preamp than the Gustard P26 and a *much* better amp than the 789.

Layered, open soundstage that envelops the head, balanced tonality from bass to highs, *dynamic* and punchy, all the microdetails I would want and was previously missing. The staging is a little closer to the head than the P26/789 but so much more detailed and dynamic. The P26 with Burson opamps is wide but flat and not engaging, missing some detail also.

Despite the smallish, around the head soundstage, using it as a preamp to my tube amp is *so much* better than the P26 to the OTL La Figaro 339!
Dynamic and punchy, sparkly treble and thick bass hits, Large, all around the head soundstage and I have so much room for volume on tap! No matter where the volume is on the A90D the sound is not affected - this is not the case with the P26 as the Burson opamps can be quite warm and roll off the treble. With the absolute control of volume I now have, I don't have to push the tubes on my OTL amp as hard, reducing tube distortion / clipping and achieving a cleaner and much more detailed tube sound than with my previous preamp configuration.

I am currently using the A90D as a preamp to the OTL amp, at 77/99 on Low gain.
Being a logarithmic volume control, as a headphone amp the usable range is 48 to maybe 75/99, ranging from my Meze Rai Penta IEMs on the low end (4.4 balanced cable) to the HD800S (single ended cable). HEDDphone is on the way, but so is a balanced cable, so driving that is no longer a concern for this content audiophile!

Considering I paid $789 AUD (lol) for the Topping A90D, and... $1800 for the kitted out P26 / 789 combo, I can endorse the Topping A90D as it beats both of these at their own games! May be the last Topping product I get, I'm not a fan of their DACs coming from the D50 (using a Soekris 1421 DAC for a few years now) .. but I really enjoy the A90D!




P.S - I also really like the 'discrete' design aesthetic of no levers / switches on the front, and the clean LED dots for volume level and input/output selection.. very clean looking unit in my hi-fi rack..

Try some Sparkos SS-3602s inside the P26. I have them inside my H20 and they're delightful, IMO.....

 

[Toddy]

I did some search and found out that A90 was released in May 2020, A90D was released in June 2022. Does that mean we can expect an A90D successor around summer time???

According to the CanJam NY thread, your estimation seems to be spot on.