In general, if an amp has “true balanced” (ie differential) circuitry, rather than just an xlr connector, the amp will perform better if you use the balanced connection.
It is not the case that balanced amps are always better than single-ended amps. You have to evaluate each unit regardless of balanced/SE and pick whatever amp you like best.
I was leaning toward the A90 for its purported synergy with the Aeon Noire, its low heat cabinet and the somewhat minor advantage of a front panel power switch, but after reading some buyer reviews on Amazon and on the official thread here, I’m having some doubts, echoing those of you who’ve suggested Schiit will provide better customer support. Some users claim a malfunctioning Topping amp fried their headphones, that sounds scary?! The Jotunheim supposedly doesn’t get really hot like the Asgard. Even if the unit is too small for my cat to sleep on, she will be drawn to laying her paws on it, shedding fur across the top grill vents (she also likes to chew strings and laces, and perhaps will go for a fabric-sheathed headphone cable dangling about… that’s another thing, I’m gonna need to get a longer cable as 3m or 10ft barely reaches to my bed where I like to listen). I also like that the Jot has a front pilot light where the Asgard doesn’t; it’s good to be able to glance over at my equipment when I’m in bed to see if I forgot to power down, w/o a pilot light I’d never be sure unless I get up and check the switch on back. Minor details like this seem important to me…
Not much use as far as guidance here but just a couple of snippets of info that may or may not be useful to you.
Topping did have issues with the L30 amplifier that caused damage to headphones. The units were recalled and replaced with updated units that (supposedly*) have protection built in that is superior to the protection from many other manufacturers. They also replaced the damaged headphones except for one person (as far as I know) who reported on this forum that he didn’t get compensated/replaced.
Schiit also had a same issue a long time ago and also covered damaged headphones.
The Asgard doesn’t have an indicator light on the front but does light up white inside which can be seen through the top vents. This is not very visible in a bright room but is certainly visible in a dark room.
While mentioning small things that matter, one of the main peeves with Schiit is that their power switches are on the back. This bothers some people more than others.
*I say supposedly as this is information shared by Topping and I am not an engineer who can confirm or deny. I haven’t seen any more reports of issues since the L30 recall.
I have quiet a large collection of amplifiers from many different brands. I have only had headphones burned up by two brands, Topping and Schiit. Both brands have questionable designs and engineering choices. One has poor customer service and the other has great customer service.
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My Topping headphone amplifier fried my headphones last year. Topping did not replace my headphones and they are a deceitful company with horrid customer service. It was a nightmare dealing with them. And, I hate dealing with deceitful people. They have very poor designs that are made poorly. They continue to make poor quality equipment. The only recommendation that I ever make for Topping is to someone that I don’t like.
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Schiit also has had some poor design choices. However, with their model changes they have addressed some of these poor design choices. They have refunded me for my bad amplifier and they offered to pay for any damages to my headphones. I have purchased eight Schiit amplifiers because I am well aware of their design flaws but the price point is just too good to pass up. I still own seven Schiit amplifiers, only because I returned the bad one to them.
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I can give you an example comparing Schiit to a brand that has exceptional design and engineering such as Headamp. Headamp engineered my Gilmore Lite Mk2 amplifier based of two decade old designs by Dr. Kevin Gilmore. The entire design is well thought out. There are two decades of information in other forums outlining each design selection and why one would implement them such as power rails, feedback, and gain stages compared to other designs. I really like the design principals that have been well though out and discussed and reviewed publicly before selected in it’s design. Never the less, my Gilmore Lite Mk2 at $800 does not sound as good as my $400 Schiit Jotunheim 2 with most of my headphones. Yes, the Jotunheim 2 gets too hot which may reduce it’s lifespan. And, yes, the Jotunheim high gain switch on low gain is implemented poorly and reduces the quality of sound too much so I leave it on high gain. And yes, they skimped on the power switch placement. But, the Schiit Jotunheim 2 is only $400 and outperforms amps costing much more!
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Ultimately, the Jotunheim has many more features and it sounds better. The value is outstanding. So, while it may compromise on design, it still performs at the end of the day and Schiit customer service is outstanding to deal with should any problems arise. I recommend Schiit wholeheartedly.
Thanks for that thorough and detailed critique, very helpful!
For what it’s worth, you won’t find much love for Topping or THX amps on this forum because of their tone. Many consider them dry, analytical, cold, edgy, fatiguing, and unpleasant. I still have my THX AAA 789 (in a box in a closet), and find it okay to desirable for some headphones. However, I don’t enjoy as much as half a dozen other amps that I keep out and ready to use. I’d have sold it already, but it’s worth keeping around for the current used street price of <$200.
To be honest, I do find both my Topping and THX amps to be useful. I use them a fair bit with IEMs and I keep the 789 on my review desk for specific things.
For pleasure listening, I much prefer the Asgard.
I liked that you said that the Mac Mini is “blessedly quiet”. Did you mean that from an acoustical signature standpoint or and electrical interference standpoint (or both)? I am still trying to decide just where to run both Roon Core and HQPLayer - to have that on an electrically quiet machine that I can then point to my Pi2AES endpoint. There is also the question as to whether the music library files should be on a device external to that machine (such as an external SSD, etc) just to get it away from the electrical noise of the computer piece of the setup. What would you advise?
Like many of the small form-factor computers, the Mini has a nearly inaudible fan that only comes on occasionally. Further, as far as I can tell, it’s electrically quiet. My mini is a late 2014 model. It could possibly be made even quieter by taking out the current drive and putting in an SSD. By comparison, I also have a 2012 Sager (Clevo) gaming laptop nearby. That has a noisy fan and what was a powerful graphics card for the time, and is both audibly and electrically noisy. Really only the TOSLINK out of that machine fully isolates.
I have not had any issues running my Bifrost2 as an endpoint directly out of the mini via a short USB cable. Some people might hear a difference if they could do an A/B with a different source, but I can’t.
Thank you. As of this morning I moved my music library to a NAS, so it is away from my “noise maker PC”. There are websites written by power users who define how to ‘strip down’ a Windows installation to the bare minimum processes. If I build a NUC I will follow those ideas and instructions. The AES HAT for my Pi4 will not be in until January, so I am on a USB line as well. As long as things don’t get out of hand it is fun to follow down the rabbit hole in pursuit of perfection (!) I am going to look at some Apple minis as well.
Good Listening!!
Look at the ROON ROCK section of their documentation. I’m sure that the ROON folks are being careful about what they support and audio quality. The idea of a dedicated appliance for the core is appealing, and an 8th, 9th or 10th generation Intel NUC is not very expensive, especially compared to their sleek Nuculeus hardware.
I have been looking at it. My reading thus far seems to imply that the embedded version of HQPlayer will run on it, and if so my questions are answered, because I wish to use my regular PC to remotely control the Core and HQPlayer running on an electrically quiet machine near my switch. I am sure that a full Windows load will run Roon and HQPlayer but there are noise issues there. I would bet that ROCK runs with little interference locally.
I run a convolution file for my HD800S that make them sound wonderful. That DSP processing is fairly heavy with the HQPlayer.
I thought about getting an old used NUC since I only need something with enough power to play music and run EQ software (HeSuVi) on Windows. Last week I ended up purchasing a used 2013 Macbook Air. I installed Windows via bootcamp. It is a nice tidy setup that I prefer over my original idea of a NUC because of the built in screen/keyboard/trackpad.
Great idea, and I like it. If I did a NUC I would end up connecting mouse, keyboard and find a monitor so I can navigate the way that I am used to. I really don’t like the idea of a ‘blind’ unit. Do you think that it is sonically/electromagnetic related interference - a quiet machine?
Are you required to use WiFi for your network connection on that machine? If so, has it been and issue?
I just got my Macbook Air set up. But so far it seems absolutely silent to me. I use WiFi as it has worked out to be much quieter than my powerline network. The powerline network adapter had been introducing all sorts of artifacts into my DACs so I am back to WiFi. That cleaned up all of the pollution into the AC that I had been experiencing.
If you use the NUC purely for Roon, you only need the keyboard and monitor for the few minutes it takes to do initial setup (loading the OS), then you can disconnect everything.
I just realized that I have an i7 Dell Precision laptop that I am not using for anything and it’s too heavy to lug around. I am stripping the OS down as we speak. @PaisleyUnderground You are right. It is only the initial setup that I need access. This laptop has a LAN port! I’ll see what audible difference there is after putting the core and HQPlayer on it and go from there. Thanks, guys, for the input.
Doc
I solved all my Roon Core issues with an Innuos Mini MK3.
Then it turned out that with InnuOS 2.0 and Innuos Sense app I didn’t need Roon anymore but that’s another story.
Memory from 1 TB up to 8 TB, CDs ripper built in, decent built in DAC at a reasonable price in comparison to a Roon Nuc given all the functions you get with the Innuos.
My 2 cents.
