He does seem to be a bit of a Topping fan boy he was all over the A50S too.
didnāt see that video⦠him and DMS kinda gushed like crazy on this amp. Taking their thoughts with a heavy grain of salt lately more so than usual. I might order this just to check it out later because apos has a amazing policy
Hi all. I currently have a Schiit Magnius (bal in/out) driving Arya that Iām not 100% satisfied with from a power and sound quality standpoint. Would I be served well by moving to Monoprice thx 887 or a90? Those are the two in my price range that Iām considering. My DAC is smsl su-9 being fed Tidal MQA that I hear as neutral/slightly warm-ish, so not as concerned with being over the top analytical. Thoughts between the two, sound and power wise?
Hi, i just bought an Topping A90, and noticed that the three toggle switches in front feel a little flimsy sideways. Can anyone here confirm that this is normal?
Yeah mine are that way as well. Never noticed that but yeah itās super sketch. Never had a problem out of mine though.
Thanks for your reply Makes it easier to live with, if all units are intended to be like thisā¦
I donāt have this amp so grain of salt caveats and all ⦠but
I think with Topping such things are āacceptedā rather than truly intended. That is parts quality and build tolerances are not going to be as good as some of the more pricey companiesā products. They design for function (and many here would argue how well they do⦠) and for those of us who canāt afford to pay for the best of builds and parts. They do an extraordinary job of reaching measurement goals.
Yes i agree it is not the most expencive equipment to get. But i must say buildquality on the two Topping products i have. Is generally very nice. And i have been in some local Hifi Dealers here in Norway. And checked out hifiequipment up to 10-15k dollars. And even those has some flaws. All in all i am so far impressed of this amp. Have just bought it, and have only listened to it for about 6 hours.
My experience so far is lots of power, low noise and decent buildquality
Absolutely āgood enoughā for my standards too ā I have the D70 DAC and love it. But a slightly wiggly toggle would be ok with me too. Would never find that on something made by Benchmark, for example.
I am not criticizing Topping ā only saying their price points require an acceptance of some compromise.
Hi. I just want to share an experience with you all
I have recently bought an Topping A90, and have struggled a little with noise through my USB with an D10s dac.
So i finally connected my Interface that is a SSL 2+, with balanced connections to my A90.
And really liked what i discovered. The noise was all gone, with music on pause, and volume at max on high gain. With sensitive iems connected on balanced output. No noise at all
Also a little bonus as i see it, this inteface has a little bit warmer sound to it. And this proves that the A90 just puts through what it reveives from the source. Even the sound on pre-amp setting from A90 to my Adam Audio T7V, is more controlled with this setup
How does the A90 compare to the Rebel Amp?
Does anyone using the smsl su-9 with a90? I dont wanna spent more than $500 on a dac for now and it seem that su-9 is perfect for the job
Iāve been very happy with my SU-9 with several other speaker and headphone amps. My A90 is coming in on Thursday and will report back once I get some listening time in with that combo.
Just came across this review today - he talks about the differences between the Rebel and the A90 as well as comparing it to the Asgard:
Rebel Audio Rebel Amp Review | The $500 Benchmark - YouTube
Okay, so the headphone amp portion of the A90 sounds fantastic, but Iām having issues with the preamp portion.
My configuration is USB from my PC, to an SMSL SU-9 DAC, then XLR to the A90. I have then tried both RCA and XLR to an SMSL DA-8S speaker amp driving Jamo s803ās.
When using RCA, I get loud static from the right speaker when the A90 is set to off or HPA mode. When I set the A90 to Preamp mode, I just get audio from the right speaker and it has a very high noise floor.
When I switch the connection between the A90 and DA-8S to XLR, I no longer have the loud static when the A90 is set to off or HPA mode. Instead, I have a very high, audible noise floor and mono audio.
If I try connecting the DA-8S directly to the SU-9 with either the RCA or XLR connection, using the exact same cables (taking the A90 completely out of the equation), I get perfect, stereo sound and an inaudible noise floor.
For the XLR cables, Iām using 6" Worldās Best Cables that utilize Canare wire and Amphenol XLR connectors. For the RCA cables, Iām using 6" Schiit Pyst RCA cables.
Is there anything else anyone can suggest to troubleshoot the issue or do I need to start the RMA process with Apos?
Thank you so much!!!
Update: Apos is starting an RMA on my A90 and sending me a new one due to the issues with the preamp stage.
Just wanted to provide a quick update. Received a replacement A90 this morning, hooked it up exactly as I had the other one, and had zero issues. Switched back over to the Adam T5Vās and also had zero issues.
Additionally, while I didnāt think there was anything wrong with the headphone amp functionality, I didnāt think it really outperformed my Monolith THX 887. Upon listening to a set of headphones on the replacement A90 and it was immediately clear that there was something wrong with the headphone amp portion of the original A90 in addition to the issues with the preamp portion. This new A90 actually kind of shocked me at how good it made my Aeolus sound compared to the THX 887 as I really wasnāt expecting much difference.
Anyway, just wanted to follow up with my experience with the replacement A90.
Thank yāall again for the help!
After only a year my 789 is already getting bad volume pot scratch. I was thinking of upgrading my 789 to the Topping A90. I think the black color version will pair nicely with my RME adi-2dac all hooked up balanced.