Review of the Topping A90
Writing a review of the Topping A90 turned out to be more difficult than it seemed. After going through the proven path of changing one headphone amp to another with the remaining components unchanged, it seemed that such a comparison did not fully reveal the capabilities of the A90. I had to listen to different headphones with the same DAC-Topping D90 (there will be a separate review of D90 soon), as well as other integrated devices (DACs with a built-in amplifier).
About the need to warm up. The first, and the second - after many days of listening - impressions were wrong. The brightness in high frequency and the blurring of the instruments ' localization completely disappeared only after two weeks of daily intensive use of the A90. And it happened all of a sudden.
In general, the Topping A90 is an excellent all-in-one amplifier that is suitable for a wide range of headphones. Is the Topping A90 the best possible amp for any headphones? Obviously, there are equal and possibly better combinations. The Topping A 90 provides an honest and uncompromising audio signal transmission, so that you can fully hear the features of the recording and headphones.
Certain combinations of components of the Hi-Fi path give the sound a magic, after which you do not want to analyze it, but just want to listen. The Topping A90 turned out to be one of the amplifiers with which that became possible.
The album
Feral Roots by Rival Sons is full of dynamic guitar riffs and seismic percussion, against which the vocals of Jay Buchanan can be lost. Transmitted by the Topping A90 and Fostex TH900, all instruments and sounds become very clearly distinguishable. The speed and weight of the drums in this combination is amazing. Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear DE and Grado PS 1000 have no less volume margin (9:30 on the volume control is almost unbearable) and maybe a little more defined bass, but in general, the A90 and TH900 are not inferior to the combination of Solo and PS 1000. Credit for the performance of blues - rock.
The vocals of Robert Ritchie (Kid Rock) on his rock - rap - metal album
Devil Without A Cause seem a little distant, but not at all blurred against the background of the harmonious melody of clearly separated instruments that other, less talented, than A90 amplifiers can add up to a cacophony. Solo makes the bottoms even more seismic, while having a fantastic speed. Laconic Night Blues Mini and Sennheiser HD 600 give the Bawitdaba track from this album overall power, but the guitar is slightly inferior to the A90 and Solo in clarity.
In the famous song Killing Me Softly With This Song (Roberta Flack, album
The Very Best Of...), A90 accurately conveys the entire atmosphere of the studio, the precise arrangement of the instruments, the singer and her backing vocals, the artifacts of recording in quiet passages. The overtones of the voices, the soft sounds of the brushes and the triangle are clearly discernible against the background of a mixture of energetic drums and soft keyboards. The width, depth, and even height of the stage are excellent. Solo is not inferior in any way, perhaps, slightly emphasizing the details of the drums and the afterglow in the highest octave. NBM highlights Roberta's voice and drums a little more clearly, but slightly smears all the other instruments. The whole album is listened to through the A90 with the same pleasure as through the other two amplifiers.
The album
Aerial of Kate Bush is recorded more quietly than the most of modern CDs (its rip was listened to, see technical details), which forces you to increase the volume of the A90 to 10 hours, but at a low gain (medium and high are also available). The recording King Of The Mountain via the A90 sounds technically flawless. In comparison, Valve NBM adds its magic through the transfer of electronic instruments’ overtones and the overall fluidity of the sound.
A good test of the Hi-Fi path speed is the track Hold In Baby from the album
The Silvertone Years by J. J. Cale. The A90 passes the guitar and drums with a proper tempo and adequately slurred J. J. lead guitar in the middle of the song. This is one of the few pieces of music where the speed of the Solo or, possibly, accompanying PS1000 beats the A90 along with the TH900.
Another interesting work in the audiophile sense is the song Remember by the band Free from the album
Fire And Water. Throughout the song, the periodic beat of the drum from left to right literally "punches the brain" in some combinations of headphones and amplifiers. The A90 makes this feel, but a fraction not to the same extent as the Solo and, especially, the NMB.
Topping the A90 and other headphones. The advantage of the A 90 is its versatility. The amplifier will work with both low- (TH900, PS 1000) and high-resistance (HD600) headphones of different sensitivity, dynamic (Sony MDR-Z1R) and planar (Hifiman HE560, Audeze LCD-XC). The Sony expands the stage, making the sound more balanced compared to Fostex. Audeze with a slightly more compact stage will provide an absolute tonal accuracy. It should be noted that the A 90 turned out to be the best of all available amplifiers for the HE560 (the sensitivity of which 90 dB is the lowest of all headphones in this review, see technical details). For most recordings, the volume at 10-12 hours and the middle gain is sufficient. And there is still high!
Topping A90 - the best of the best? A90 + D90? The Sony TA-ZH1ES with the pairing MDR-Z1R or Audeze’s LCD-X sound more soulful than the two Topping ones. The 1948 mono recording of The National Emblem (Stereophile magazine's CD1 test disc) is transmitted deeper through the Sony. High-quality modern stereo recordings are also heard a little more mature.
The Solo - PS 1000 and NBM - HD 600 pairs have their own attractive sides, but only in these combinations. Pair the amps with other headphones, and you will lose to A90. The PS1000's high-frequency peak can make listening to them tedious even with neutral partners. Solo makes up for this peak in an amazing way, leaving unsurpassed resolution, speed, perfectly articulated bass and providing soulfulness where it is present. However, the price of the Solo is twice the price of the A90. The Russian audience can pay attention to the surprisingly musical and at the same time powerful combination of the valve NBM ($300) and HD 600. The resolution of the Russian-German pair is only slightly inferior to the A90 with more expensive headphones, compensating for this with a well-adjusted tone, even frequency balance, excellent voice transmission and a huge power reserve (10 hours on the volume control is hard to bear). A great entry into the world of Hi-Fi on a limited budget!
Technical details
Main setup (listened options are given in parentheses):
Synology DS 216 II+ with Logitech Media Server as NAS wired to
Allo DigiOne Signature with piCorePlayer (Yamaha NP-S2000) - sources
Topping D90 (Chord 2 Qute, Benchmark DAC 1 USB) - DACs
Tapping A 90 (Benchmark DAC1 USB, Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear, Laconic Night Blues Mini, Sony TA-A1ES) - headphone amplifiers
Fostex TH900 (Hifiman HE 560, Sennheiser HD600, Grado PS1000, Sony MDR-1R, Audeze LCD-XC) - headphones
Noname Chinese cable (Chord of Clearway) - digital
Chord Anthem XLR (van den Hul the Second RCA) - interconnect
Wireworld Stratus 7, Noname Chinese cable - Power cables
The Russ Andrews x2 Block with Silencer – power filter
