Topping B100


Exactly my thoughts and I've used exactly the same word: denial.
The world will hold its breath. Chinese consumers no longer drive bicycles and wear Mao style uniforms.They want "luxurious" products and will not import Japanese "High End" products. They have their own but we're still driven by inertia of colonial mindset. Their market is huge and demand is even much larger. They are technologicaly capable and productive. Europe is deep into deindustralization.
 
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Things have definitely changed over time since I've started this hobby many years ago.
I've heard the benchmark amp through my home speakers and really liked what I heard.
But wow, I guess I am really old-fashioned ...
because I cringe every time I see that photo showing a SPARTAN-6 so close to output transistors and other "analog" parts on the same PCB!
🤣

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Topping could of stole our DIY tech. Renamed "transitional miller compenstation" to "T'ang Ku LA" .
Many DIY'ers broke the PPM barrier a dacade ago.
Damn , I have at least 4 designs that I would like Audioscience to test.

Would we hear any of this ? I doubt it. I have a PPM amp , but my PC amp (the one I am listening to now) is only .005% oh , no !
can't tell the difference below .01% - or more. Noise floor is more important , so is headroom. can't forget about the speakers.
OS
You have to admit that their marketing is brilliant.
Design for the lowest THD+N (confirmed by their trusty APx555) and send it to ASR.
No need to spend a dime on advertising.

There seems to be an assumption that the lab measurements (with a load resistor) will translate directly to the real world (with complex reactive loads).
 
Chinese are a good deal if you take the "hybrid" approach. Just take a cheap ($6 - below 1) kit , swap out to nichicon caps .... perfect.
No way to buy anywhere near this many components in the USA.
A whole red led digital clock kit for another ($6 - below 2) - damn !!
The LMxxx or the PIC CPU is most likely made in China anyways. I'm over it !!
OS
 

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The online drama surrounding Topping is a subject for social psychologists but it's disingenuous to dismiss the technical acumen that achieved these sub 1 watt results. It bests every ASR amplifier tested in the last 12 months, matched only by Topping's LA90 Discrete and approached by the Benchmark. I'm considering a pair expressly to have a sample of this performance capability as a reference.
 

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Many. One can then either give in and dampen own impulses ("it is not that bad", "the remote is made of solid aluminium, wow!", "my loudspeakers are difficult loads") or become angry and do everything to get rid of the thing. I do the latter 🙂

The "almost unrepairable" is meanwhile standard in many price ranges. Stuff is meant to be replaced every few years. I worked with power electronics and even these are replaced within 10 years where older devices were maintained even after 25 years. Try to replace a PCB for a new one and see that the replacement PCB is more expensive than a new device. New in box devices were even "cannibalized" just to repair stuff at customers. Devices were replaced completely when no spare boards were available anymore ... after 3 years.

This here is consumer audio stuff at relatively low cost, it is not meant to be modified/redesigned by clever diyaudio.com private engineers and cap/coil professors at all. It is meant to be bought by somewhat upmarket consumers and simply used and replaced after a few years. If developments go on like this the known audio brands wil be blown out of the water.

Instead of finding minute negative details and a preprogrammed negative mindset better come up with something better designed for the same price!
 
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