I was urged to start this thread when I asked if it existed. I will be following it closely. It strikes me that, according to specs, Topping A90 should be able to drive more or less any headphone with great success. I am therefore very interested in hearing what actual users have to say.
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It sounded great to me (a90/d90 stack). However, it didnât feel like it was worth the money unless you absolutely needed the power.
Now I am more interested in the a30/d30 pro stack which is basically half the money with a chip I liked even better in other devices. And it has nearly the same power.
My 2 cents. I will say all topping stuff has been reliable. While most other stuff had problems for me on the QC side of things.
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Topping has been the most unreliable amplifiers for me. I own about 40 amplifiers right now including some of the reliable brands such as Schiit, HeadAmp, Ray Samuels Audio, SMSL, Darkvoice, Little Dot, JDS Labs, Monolith, etcâŚ
Both toppings that I have listened to in the past year have problems. NONE of my other amplifiers have any problems. The Topping also destroyed my headphones when it died. Topping was awful to deal with. The other companies have been wonderful to communicate with. Topping is garbage in my book. I would recommend all other brands over Topping.
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Iâve had zero problems with my A90 and I have no complaints about it. Maybe I just got lucky with a good unit, or maybe my time is coming, but so far itâs been golden and drives everything I throw at it without breaking a sweat.
Also, I think a lot of the people who complain about the A90 being âanalyticalâ or âundynamicâ are pairing it with the wrong DAC. I feel like Bifrost 2 > A90 is a good combination, allowing the Bifrostâs sound to come through without putting any spin on it whatsoever. But I could see how feeding a sharper sounding delta-sigma dac, such as the D90, into the A90 could be a different experience. Itâs all about synergy - no piece of equipment is good OR bad in isolation, itâs all about where it lives in your chain.
Just my 2 cents. 
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My experience was basically the opposite. I had xduoo, smsl, some thx even an ifi and a few others. And they all dropped sound, played static or would shutdown randomly. I had 3 topping products and none of them did any of that. But basically all of them were chi-fi.
I will say that my he6se died while connected to the a90. But, I do think it was a faulty headphone there.
I went portable and have zero desktop amps now. And I am much happier.
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I had an expensive DAC ordered directly from China 15 years ago that only lasted three months.
One of my Little Dot Chi-fi amplifiers used a cheap IEC320 C14 combo male socket/power switch that I had to repair.
The Chi-fi SMSL THX uses a cheap 1/4 inch socket for the headphone output.
Basically only cheap and unreliable parts were used on my Chi-fi products.
The knobs on many of the Topping amplifiers (and I believe the A90 is one of them) cannot be removed. So, if you want to work on it or get it repaired, forget it. Disposable. Once you take off the knob the pot is loose from the board and so another repair is needed just for removing the knob. What a horrible design flaw.
On ALL of my other amplifiers you can remove the knobs as many times as you want without damaging them.
Iâm pretty sure the pot on my A90 died - the right channel no longer produces sound except for when I bump the pot at which point it produces horrible screechy noises. Has anyone else encountered this issue?
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Wow, I was considering getting the A90, but reading this thread it really doesnât give me the confidence to go ahead. I currently have RME ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, and I use its balanced out mode to drive my HEDDphone, I was considering getting the A90, so was wondering if that is going to be a noticeable upgrade from the ADI-2 Proâs Balanced out.
Also, whatâs up with headphones dying with Topping amplifiers? I frequently read about people having their HPs getting damaged because of Topping amps. Are they that bad?
Also read on reddit that if you donât switch off the amp with its switch, and keep turning the power on/off from directly from the wall outlet, it damages the power supply in a few months.
Lastly, if anyone knows of a better alternative to A90 in the same price range, let me know. I was also looking at Aune S7 Pro, as someone I know said thatâs a better option.
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I personally felt the a90 was overpriced for what it is. If you like the type of sound it makes, then itâs about as good as it gets.
Topping had some problems with one particular product and didnât seem to handle it well. But, if you look, many manufacturers have had issues. What separates them is how their support usually handles it.
Alternatives depends on what you are driving and what you like about the a90.
So what makes you want the a90?
I think you are shopping for a side-grade. Analytical amps that focus on measurements all use the same design criteria and typically achieve similar measurement performance. These items went beyond the limits of human perception long ago, so they nibble at the edges of a single approach rather than deliver major âupgrades.â
Regarding Topping amps, the first version of the $150 L30 destroyed headphones. It was replaced with a newer model last year.
[Congrats @SenyorC, as you have the first L30 issue link on DuckDuckGo!]
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Not sure that is a good thing but at least the info is out there I guess.
One thing that I should add to that post (that wasnât the case at the time of writing it) is the fact that Topping says they did replace the damaged headphones to all those that reached out to them, although there is one member on this forum who says he did not get compensated.
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I just had my A90 crap itself. The amp was playing on low volume using my Audeze LCD-XC headphones through the balanced output. The headphones were laying on the carpet, and I accidentally bumped the headphones with my foot. All of a sudden I started hearing loud popping sounds come out of the headphones. I scrambled to turn down the volume on the amp, but that didnât do anything to stop the popping sounds, so I shut the amp off. I know this sounds absurd and I have no idea if the two things are connected to each other, but thatâs honestly what happened. Maybe it was related to some sort of static electricity discharge? It is winter (and therefore pretty darn dry in my house), and I was walking around the house in slippers.
Iâve tried a few different experiments like switching out the DAC feeding the A90 (I still get a popping sound) and trying the headphones on a different amp chain (the popping sound disappears). I contacted Topping customer service this morning, but I am not expecting to hear anything back based on stories Iâve been reading online from others.
This is the first major audio purchase thatâs died on me, so thatâs a bit disappointing. I was crapping my pants because I thought I ruined the headphones, but so far they seem to be okay.
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Oh man! So sorry to hear about your ordeal. Fingers crossed that your Audeze donât develop problems from the Topping amp failure. I know how awful that feeling can be.