[NickT23]

Both systems are fully balanced. THX 789 is connected to D70 with Balanced cables, A90 is connected to D90 also with balanced cables. Both my HD800S and TH900 MK2 are using balanced cables. I would have to say, both amps are TOTALLY SILENT... Total blackness, cannot hear hiss or noise on both amps, with both XLR and RCA inputs. I know a couple of people complained about the A90 RCA input being noisy, not my experience at all. Back to my evaluation of both amps, they are both fantastic, I like them both. The 789 is the more airy sounding of the two, A90 has a touch of warmth to the sound, bass that hits a little harder and a more intimate sound stage... we are talking minuscule differences here. Again, I would admit I do not claim to have the best hearing in the world, but my conclusion is this... if you already have the 789, upgrading to the A90 is not worth it... unless you have a D90 and want to stack the A90 with it. Its more of a side grade IMHO, My 2 Cents.

Then if that is the case, what would you paired with the 789 ? So in another words, not worth to own both ?
At least the benefits of getting the A90 over the 789 is beauty. That Drop 789 is damn eye sore compare to the beautiful utilitarian Massdrop 789.

 

[Noobzilla]

I think not testing the A90 with balanced connection wont do it justice especially since it's a fully balanced amp which is one of its main advantage over the both drop 789 and monoprice 887

 

[wallaby1170]

I’m surprised some people are claiming the 789 has a wider soundstage than the A90. To me it’s the opposite, A90 has a wider soundstage. The A90 has more warmth (bass) the midrange sounds smoother while the 789 is slightly more analytical. When the music gets very busy the A90 sounds slightly compressed compared to the 789. I agree that the A90 is a side grade to the 789 definitely not an upgrade.

 

[NickT23]

I’m surprised some people are claiming the 789 has a wider soundstage than the A90. To me it’s the opposite, A90 has a wider soundstage. The A90 has more warmth (bass) the midrange sounds smoother while the 789 is slightly more analytical. When the music gets very busy the A90 sounds slightly compressed compared to the 789. I agree that the A90 is a side grade to the 789 definitely not an upgrade.

Maybe they use different sources and headphones ??? Or some EQ preset ? So best to get both ???
Why does the A90 has wider soundstage than THX 789 ?

 

[Flextreme]

In my experience the Topping A90 did first sounded congested in direct comparison to my SMSL SP200 listening to my balanced Arya's, especially at high gain.

In the beginning I even prefered mid gain on The A90, which sounded less congested than High. At first, the SP200 seems to have more Prat, better transient contrast, more energy in the upper regions. But now, after a couple of days that seemed to fundamentally change....

After a couple of days of "burn-in"???!!!, I flipped the gain switch back to High again, because I felt I was missing PRAT, almost always forcing me to increase volume. WOW: it really clicked for me today. Goosebumps everywhere.

No doubt the A90 has a warmer sound signature: as a result I do not need EQ for the Arya anymore. No need to boost (sub-)bass by 2db and no need to tame the 5K region anymore. I am not an THX 789 owner, but from what I understand has a more civilized sound profile than the SP200. I can imagine THX amp owners missing higher end frequencies or even find the bass slightly bloated with the A90. Especially when you do not need more bass or less highs with your current headphone.

But for me, the A90 is utterly perfect for my Arya's. I feel so blessed to experience this: it really feels like I reached audio nirvana. The SP200 sounds course and tiring to listen to in comparison: EQ was needed and even then it was a sometimes tiring to listen for a long time: Arya's can sound a little harsh with certain songs.

In comparison to the SP200, the a90 has so much more to offer: The clearly bigger soundstage and the truly 3D, superbly detailed, wide and deep, nicely layered and holographic presentation is mesmerizingly beautiful. It makes it so easy emotionally to connect to music. No need to close your eyes: you hear, feel and experience everything. At medium gain I felt I lost detail, speed and dynamics when I lowered volume. Now, on high gain (which subjectively sounded congested in the beginning) lowering volume does not reduce my ability to enjoy the music as much.

My conclusions are highly subjective (especially burn in is controversial), but I really, really, really recommend Arya owners to try the A90 or A90 owners to give Arya a chance. I do think it is important to allow both the A90 and the Arya to exercise their muscles (burn-in) for at least a couple of days before you pass final judgement.

Also, I really recommend the Soundnews review: his analysis is in my humble opinion spot-on.

 

[Gene4797]

In my experience the Topping A90 did first sounded congested in direct comparison to my SMSL SP200 listening to my balanced Arya's, especially at high gain.

In the beginning I even prefered mid gain on The A90, which sounded less congested than High. At first, the SP200 seems to have more Prat, better transient contrast, more energy in the upper regions. But now, after a couple of days that seemed to fundamentally change....

After a couple of days of "burn-in"???!!!, I flipped the gain switch back to High again, because I felt I was missing PRAT, almost always forcing me to increase volume. WOW: it really clicked for me today. Goosebumps everywhere.

No doubt the A90 has a warmer sound signature: as a result I do not need EQ for the Arya anymore. No need to boost (sub-)bass by 2db and no need to tame the 5K region anymore. I am not an THX 789 owner, but from what I understand has a more civilized sound profile than the SP200. I can imagine THX amp owners missing higher end frequencies or even find the bass slightly bloated with the A90. Especially when you do not need more bass or less highs with your current headphone.

But for me, the A90 is utterly perfect for my Arya's. I feel so blessed to experience this: it really feels like I reached audio nirvana. The SP200 sounds course and tiring to listen to in comparison: EQ was needed and even then it was a sometimes tiring to listen for a long time: Arya's can sound a little harsh with certain songs.

In comparison to the SP200, the a90 has so much more to offer: The clearly bigger soundstage and the truly 3D, superbly detailed, wide and deep, nicely layered and holographic presentation is mesmerizingly beautiful. It makes it so easy emotionally to connect to music. No need to close your eyes: you hear, feel and experience everything. At medium gain I felt I lost detail, speed and dynamics when I lowered volume. Now, on high gain (which subjectively sounded congested in the beginning) lowering volume does not reduce my ability to enjoy the music as much.

My conclusions are highly subjective (especially burn in is controversial), but I really, really, really recommend Arya owners to try the A90 or A90 owners to give Arya a chance. I do think it is important to allow both the A90 and the Arya to exercise their muscles (burn-in) for at least a couple of days before you pass final judgement.

Also, I really recommend the Soundnews review: his analysis is in my humble opinion spot-on.

Man, this amp making music so motion, I couldn’t get motions from thx amps, they sound just analytical,I’m with you on same page

 

[Baten]

I have owned the 789, SP200 and A90 and honestly they are all quite close. SP200 has least enjoyable knob but crazy loud volume. 789 and A90 are more similar than dissimilar.

But A90 wins imo with its internal power supply, XLR and RCA pre amp and lovely feature set. I sure love mine

 

[djn04]

In my experience the Topping A90 did first sounded congested in direct comparison to my SMSL SP200 listening to my balanced Arya's, especially at high gain.

In the beginning I even prefered mid gain on The A90, which sounded less congested than High. At first, the SP200 seems to have more Prat, better transient contrast, more energy in the upper regions. But now, after a couple of days that seemed to fundamentally change....

After a couple of days of "burn-in"???!!!, I flipped the gain switch back to High again, because I felt I was missing PRAT, almost always forcing me to increase volume. WOW: it really clicked for me today. Goosebumps everywhere.

No doubt the A90 has a warmer sound signature: as a result I do not need EQ for the Arya anymore. No need to boost (sub-)bass by 2db and no need to tame the 5K region anymore. I am not an THX 789 owner, but from what I understand has a more civilized sound profile than the SP200. I can imagine THX amp owners missing higher end frequencies or even find the bass slightly bloated with the A90. Especially when you do not need more bass or less highs with your current headphone.

But for me, the A90 is utterly perfect for my Arya's. I feel so blessed to experience this: it really feels like I reached audio nirvana. The SP200 sounds course and tiring to listen to in comparison: EQ was needed and even then it was a sometimes tiring to listen for a long time: Arya's can sound a little harsh with certain songs.

In comparison to the SP200, the a90 has so much more to offer: The clearly bigger soundstage and the truly 3D, superbly detailed, wide and deep, nicely layered and holographic presentation is mesmerizingly beautiful. It makes it so easy emotionally to connect to music. No need to close your eyes: you hear, feel and experience everything. At medium gain I felt I lost detail, speed and dynamics when I lowered volume. Now, on high gain (which subjectively sounded congested in the beginning) lowering volume does not reduce my ability to enjoy the music as much.

My conclusions are highly subjective (especially burn in is controversial), but I really, really, really recommend Arya owners to try the A90 or A90 owners to give Arya a chance. I do think it is important to allow both the A90 and the Arya to exercise their muscles (burn-in) for at least a couple of days before you pass final judgement.

Also, I really recommend the Soundnews review: his analysis is in my humble opinion spot-on.

I have a D90/A90 stack and recently added the Aryas to the mix. Sounds great to me. Are you using the stock Arya cable? I'm waiting for a balanced cable I recently ordered.

 

[wallaby1170]

Maybe they use different sources and headphones ??? Or some EQ preset ? So best to get both ???
Why does the A90 has wider soundstage than THX 789 ?

I used the Topping D90 MQA DAC as the source for both the A90 and the 789 interchanging Balanced and RCA cables between both amps. The headphones I primarily listen to are the Focal Clears and the Sennheiser HD 660S. I don't use EQ presets. When listening with headphones I think the A90 has a wider soundstage than the THX 789 because instruments assigned to the left channel and to the right channel respectively sound wider, further apart. The first time I listened to the A90 with Sennheiser HD 660S the soundstage sounded almost as wide as the HD 800S.

 

[NickT23]

I used the Topping D90 MQA DAC as the source for both the A90 and the 789 interchanging Balanced and RCA cables between both amps. The headphones I primarily listen to are the Focal Clears and the Sennheiser HD 660S. I don't use EQ presets. When listening with headphones I think the A90 has a wider soundstage than the THX 789 because instruments assigned to the left channel and to the right channel respectively sound wider, further apart. The first time I listened to the A90 with Sennheiser HD 660S the soundstage sounded almost as wide as the HD 800S.

What as wide as HD800 that says a lot. Some impression here stating the 789 is wider than the A90. Are there any difference between the A90 and 789 using Balance and RCA cables ? You use optical or coaxial or usb ? Do you tried any low end headphone such as M40x or something ? Something less high end

 

[kdphan]

If anyone is looking for an A90 in black finish, let me know. I've barely used mine and will be going back in the box.

 

[wallaby1170]

What as wide as HD800 that says a lot. Some impression here stating the 789 is wider than the A90. Are there any difference between the A90 and 789 using Balance and RCA cables ? You use optical or coaxial or usb ? Do you tried any low end headphone such as M40x or something ? Something less high end

Balance and RCA cables sound the same on both A90 and 789 except the volume output is louder when using the Balance cables. For the input I use usb. I have the Sony MDR-7506 headphones. I guess they would be considered low end. The MDR 7506 sound pretty good with the A90. I'm surprised how much bass they put out on low gain.

 

[NickT23]

If anyone is looking for an A90 in black finish, let me know. I've barely used mine and will be going back in the box.

Why you dont like it ?

 

[Gene4797]

with its internal power supply, XLR and RCA pre amp and lovely feature set. I sure love mine

 

[kdphan]

Why you dont like it ?

I like it
I've maxed out my listening space around the house, so the 4th amp has to go.