[Ra97oR]

how does the A90 peform w H2? i am going to presume it does not add any color to the H2..??



like you, i also have the qutest and was contemplating the A90 to pair with

not sure if A90 may suffice for something like the susvara in future though

It didn't take away the strength of the Hugo 2, it just improves it in all front through the headphone out.

I did move things around to get my new stack to fit. I do kinda miss using the remote to change volume while chilling.

Using the D90+A90 stack with my HD800S and really enjoying it.

 

[Focux]

It didn't take away the strength of the Hugo 2, it just improves it in all front through the headphone out.

I did move things around to get my new stack to fit. I do kinda miss using the remote to change volume while chilling.

Using the D90+A90 stack with my HD800S and really enjoying it.

that’s a pretty clean setup, where’s the Hugo 2 tho hahaha

 

[Minkypou]

Got my D90 delivered just before I went to work. Can't wait to spend some time with it later.

will be upgrading my dacmagic100 to a D90 and my thx 888 for A90 , im excited for that stack! on hd800s and a good tube preamp down the road . i really feel like my hd800s are missing something with the thx 888 . cant wait to try that A90 !

 

[Jon L]

However, compared to my favorite amp it slightly behind in texture and body, also it feels a little bit dry compared to my Icon Audio HP8 mk2 signature edition.
But that being said, it is just a personal thing here because I love tube amp and its lust colored sound

I love tubes, too, but the Icon is a 6SN7 tube amp using paper-in-oil capacitors that puts out 451mW at 32 ohm, whereas Topping A90 is solid state amp putting out 6400mW at 32 Ohms at 1/3 the price...simply not apples to oranges.

On the other hand, I doubt people will be able to hear much difference among the low-distortion solid state amplifiers in true blind testing.

 

[theBlackKey]

I love tubes, too, but the Icon is a 6SN7 tube amp using paper-in-oil capacitors that puts out 451mW at 32 ohm, whereas Topping A90 is solid state amp putting out 6400mW at 32 Ohms at 1/3 the price...simply not apples to oranges.

It is different topology of course, and the Icon put almost 1W to wide range of impedance and this is confirmed by Icon audio when I ask them. It is just a matter of taste though and I still really love A90 mate.

 

[hmscott]

Any suggestions for an adapter to use with an "extra sensitive" IEM and the A90?

I am on L Gain and can barely come off of the stop of the volume control and the KZ AS16 listening volume is already too loud. I'd like to get some more volume travel room - would an impedance matcher, attenuator, or something else fix this?

The KZ AS16's are very detailed, good bass and no distortion - they are new so they are still a bit bright - similar to the Tinhifi P1's were when fresh out of the box.

The Denu DK2001's have an interesting sound out of the box, clearly needing break-in too.

I prefer the AS16's right now... the Denu's are a little "painful" in their edges fresh out of the box. I was expecting that to be the other way around.

But, it's tough to enjoy the KZ AS16's on the A90 with no room to move on the volume control...

 

[jpanic4]

I think I’m caving and picking up a A90 and going to try to return my 789.. After that no more amps for me!

Trying to decide between the following combinations.

E30 + A90 (going the E30 route will help offset the cost of the upgrade to A90. Don’t think I need Bluetooth)

M200 + 789 (Current set up)

What do you guys think? Return the M200 + 789? Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
JP

 

[HarveyKrisz]

I’m not experiencing any noise from the RCA either. Given the technical specs I thought the A90 would sound almost identical to the THX 789. Based on a very limited amount of time comparing the A90 and the THX 789, the A90 appears to have a wider soundstage and a slightly warmer sound. At times the THX 789 sounds kind of plasticy if that makes any sense.

Is a A90 upgrade over the THX 789 for the Focal Clear? I was not very impressed with the Focal Clear Thx combiner's yes it sounded a bit plasticky lifeless.

 

[HarveyKrisz]

I did. That's the first thing I tried.



Users shouldn't have to go to great lengths to get something to work. It should work right out of the box on a typical desktop setup. If my $100 Schiit stack works perfectly fine, so should this. I also have zero problems with my Focal Arche.

Hows the Arche compare to the A90 in sound? Are you using with a Focal headphone? Im looking upgrade to a Arche or a D90 A90 stack.

 

[Ra97oR]

Any suggestions for an adapter to use with an "extra sensitive" IEM and the A90?

I am on L Gain and can barely come off of the stop of the volume control and the KZ AS16 listening volume is already too loud. I'd like to get some more volume travel room - would an impedance matcher, attenuator, or something else fix this?

The KZ AS16's are very detailed, good bass and no distortion - they are new so they are still a bit bright - similar to the Tinhifi P1's were when fresh out of the box.

The Denu DK2001's have an interesting sound out of the box, clearly needing break-in too.

I prefer the AS16's right now... the Denu's are a little "painful" in their edges fresh out of the box. I was expecting that to be the other way around.

But, it's tough to enjoy the KZ AS16's on the A90 with no room to move on the volume control...

Drop the DAC output level if you can?

 

[KPzypher]

Hows the Arche compare to the A90 in sound? Are you using with a Focal headphone? Im looking upgrade to a Arche or a D90 A90 stack.

I'm using my Arche exclusively with Focal Stellia, which pairs rather nicely. On the other hand, with Stellia, I did not get enough volume play/control even on low gain setting on XLR HP out on the A90. I did not test 1/4" SE out.

Arche is smooth non-offensive and very quiet even with low impedance cans. Hybrid/Voltage mode makes it flexible to use with HPs of various impedance, and Focal preset is a nice touch. Pure class A topology makes it quite warm though during operation.

A90/D90 can be tad bright with HPs with HF emphasis, but you might like that. I had some issues with interference/noise on RCA interconnect, but XLR works flawlessly. And the pre amp section I think is mediocre.

What headphones do you plan on using with this combo? If it's mostly higher impedance cans, I would use the A/D 90 stack.
And If you want the latest chipset or if you're a Tidal user, I also recommend the A90/D90 stack.

If you'll be mainly using Focal HPs, I recommend the Arche.

Overall, since Arche is an all-in-one unit, A90/D90 stack may fair better in the long run. Arche uses dated AKM4490 - not that it matters one bit as implementation is more important - in dual mono.

I think sound difference between well-made solid state amps/DACs will be minimal .
I recommend focusing on the setup you want and the features you need.

 

[KPzypher]

Drop the DAC output level if you can?

It's fixed output in a DAC mode.

With that being said, why use sensitive IEMs with a powerful amp???
You're not gaining anything.

I use sensitive IEMs to test noise sometimes but don't understand using IEMs with desktop HP amps.

 

[Racheski]

Switched from RCA to XLR inputs for the A90, and now dead silence on High Gain past 3 o'clock. Finally all is well in the world...oh wait.

 

[hmscott]

Drop the DAC output level if you can?

It's possible, if I switch to Pre mode on the D90 MQA instead of DAC mode, and modulate the drive of the D90 with it's volume control, that's a good idea!

Both the AS16 and DK2001 are loud with barely any volume set at L Gain, so that is worth a try. Plus I might get more sensitive IEM's so that would help them too.

I'll need to see how that affects my current power hungry headphones and IEM's, but until I get DT880 / DT990 600 ohm headphones that are supposed to take 50%-75% power on H Gain I probably don't need to worry about it now.

I also just received the RCA cables to connect the D90 / A90, I'll see how the volume is on RCA connected mode too, perhaps that is an option?

Thanks for reminding me about the D90 MQA Pre mode, which I haven't tried that as a solution yet!

It's fixed output in a DAC mode.

With that being said, why use sensitive IEMs with a powerful amp???
You're not gaining anything.

I use sensitive IEMs to test noise sometimes but don't understand using IEMs with desktop HP amps.

The range of the A90 should be enough for me to use all of my headphones / IEM's, all I need to do is to find out how to configure the D90 / A90 to support their full range.

The A90 has 3 positions for Gain - L/M/H, and I think that was intended to support a full range of IEM's / headphones out there.

Both the AS16 and DK2001 sound amazing on the A90, it's only that I have such a small volume control range to enjoy them right now.

Update: A couple of updates. Indeed the DK2001 / AS16 have more volume range with the RCA only connection between the D90 => A90 in L Gain - sounds great and it was nice to be able to have more adjustment for the volume.

Unfortunately my A90 also exhibit's the "noise" with an RCA wired connection. In H Gain - even with Zero Volume - in M Gain from 50% onward - in L Gain the noise is there compared to an XLR only connection, so I can't use the RCA connection as a solution.

I'm back on XLR only - I had to physically remove the RCA cable between the D90 => A90 to stop the "noise" - and the D90 is now in PRE mode with the D90 volume set to -12.0dB.

I now I have enough range on the volume control on the A90 for the DK2001 / AS16 - and XLR only sounds better - a darker background in silent areas in L Gain than with RCA in L Gain.

I'll check the power hungry headphones later and see if I need to increase the output from the D90 to the A90 via the D90 Pre.

 

[the machine]

I wanted to share another impression I have with this amp. I'm currently doing some work and was running AT M50x onboard, I decided to grab the stack out of the media room and set it up for tonight while working. The detail that popped on these was shocking. M50's are an odd headphone that I think people either love or hate. I liked them from every source I used before. Now I think some of the 'boomy bass' is tamed, but still provides a good V shaped signature, if that's your cup of tea.

I'm using the stock coiled cable, adapters on the straight cable did not seat properly and gave a muffled sound. I'm noticing with the volume all the way down, I can still hear the sound. I don't believe I noticed that previously. Sound is audible on all three gains with volume at minimum. Running full DAC mode on D90 MQA. Thought this was odd. Also, mid gain, 9 o'clock is comfortable with the M50, 10 is loud, 10:30 nearly too loud, 11 is unbearable for me. This thing has so much power it's really mind boggling, not that M50x is hard to power obv.