[Poganin]

That's really unfortunate. Pretty costly failure

 

[koursaros]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

I will never listen relaxed again.
Is that a thing in general or should we blame chifi?

 

[Poganin]

I will never listen relaxed again.
Is that a thing in general or should we blame chifi?

Any piece of electronic equipment can develop a fault and break. This is not limited to Chinese products or headphone amplifiers.

 

[ra990]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

That's crazy! So sorry to hear that. Do you know how it happened, what caused it? Did you have any issues with the power in your house?

 

[koursaros]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

Could you please also let us know your serial number?
I really hope you manage to get a reimbursement for your headphones from topping. Hope its not too ideal.

 

[Chibs]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

I just got mine yesterday.. Not exactly reassuring to say the least. Is there anything I can do to avoid something like this happening? Should I leave my headphones unattached while not in use?
The amp does sound good

Chibs

 

[jonathan c]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

Was the A90 plugged into any surge protector or power conditioning device? Did you mix any balanced with unbalanced connections?

 

[LightBlue77]

it was plugged to a normal power splitter, not the cheapest one but not too expensive either. i thought of some power overcharge but in the same time i had the aune s8 dac and the laptop connected to the splitter and they're both fine. The building i live is rather new so i expect good power cables and equipment but you never know.
don't think i can get any refund from anyone even if it might still be in warranty period but i lost the messages from the guy who sold it to me, some 5-6 months ago, even more. i have to check the boxes, i think he sent me the invoice and warranty from our local dealer, actually country wide dealer, some 3-400 km away from me.
i'm not an electronic engineer but have some technical background and i think the unit itself just got toast. it smells awful from all connectors, power socket, single, balanced inputs and outputs. i was using balanced connection from aune into a90 and was listening via the 4.4mm balanced output. But this shouldn't matter, if they made it possible to mix signals, they should protect it. as mentioned in many places, the quality control seems to be close to none. Not sure how serial number helps here, but i'll make a picture.

 

[LightBlue77]

I have the invoice, it was issued in August so should be in warranty period. As for the serial number:

 

[zeromacro]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

This is some nightmare scenario for any head-fi'er

Sorry to hear that. Hope they at least replace the A90.

 

[koursaros]

I have the invoice, it was issued in August so should be in warranty period. As for the serial number:

Hm by googling a bit there were some issues with L30s and they issued a `silent?` recall for serial numbers older than 2012 from what I've read. Not sure how much of the architecture is the same though, won't say more cause I honestly don't know. The least they can do is replace the amp. Sorry for that situation..

 

[Chibs]

I have the invoice, it was issued in August so should be in warranty period. As for the serial number:

Man that fluffing sucks!

I'm going to get a UPS for all my audio gear just to be safe. Sounds like that wouldn't have made any difference in your case however. Let us know if you're able to get a replacement.

Chibs

 

[Lolito]

the glory chi-fi !!!!!!

 

[newtophones07]

Be aware today my A90 fried itself and it is useless now. The smell of burned circuits... even now after one hour i sense it.
But this is not all, it also broke the headphones i was listening, fostex th909 at one moment suddenly started to hear some buzzes, clicks and snaps, now the left driver is dead, right driver sounds bad too. even the 4.4mm jack was smelling also.
So be warned. i had it with topping, too bad, i was enjoying it. Hopefully the dac is ok,didn't tested it yet but it was still up and no smell.

I would message John Yang over at ASR, and you may at least get the amp replaced. Typically Topping pays for shipping both ways on device failures, im attempts to locate design issues. So you bought this amp used, have you asked the owner for any details? Have you tried to open it, to take pictures of the board, to locate the epicenter of the shorts? Better yet, try the replacement route before you break the seal of course. Sorry for your loss.

 

[LightBlue77]

It was used just a bit so almost new since it was bought in August 2020 and he sold it to me around September or so. I could open it, but I will try to get in touch with the local dealer, as I said, i found the invoice. Not the warranty paper itself which usually is required, it should have the matching serial number.
The most upsetting is the loss of headphones, maybe I could also replace the driver, both of them actually.