Are the Topping TP10 Mk3 (newer TA2024 amp) and the Topping TP20 (TA2020 amp) more in the "good to go" range or the "nice out of the box but better modded" range.
I can't tell what size the input caps are (waiting for answer from seller, but based on how my dac research is going, not sure how much to make of their answers).
Although i talk about them being new, i hope someone has one and can share how they sound out of the box and what (if anything) he/she has done to the amp since.
Thanks,
Daniel
I can't tell what size the input caps are (waiting for answer from seller, but based on how my dac research is going, not sure how much to make of their answers).
Although i talk about them being new, i hope someone has one and can share how they sound out of the box and what (if anything) he/she has done to the amp since.
Thanks,
Daniel
I bought two of the Topping TP-10 amplifiers, not the Mark II, for my daughters to use with their computers. To my ears which are , if not 'Golden' , fairly discerning, they sound very good. I can't tell a difference between the sound of the Topping and my Trends. I am sure that there tweaks that could offer marginal improvments, there always are. But I would not say that any improvements would be 'required'.
Did you open yours? they used to have 2 larger caps in it, now the new board looks rather bare, when i saw the TP20, i figured it may be the TA2020 just doesn't need more to sound good then i noticed the Mark3 of the TP10 is equally bare.
Since most Tripath mods relate to larger caps, i am now not sure what they did to think the new design is an improvement, i think they realize by now they cater to a picky crowd and should be careful not to change things just to be cheap.
Worst case i pick up one of them and find out, too bad i started reading about HLLY hissing on diyaudio, i almost picked up their TA2020 model...just when i thought my comparing/googling is over
Thanks,
Daniel
Since most Tripath mods relate to larger caps, i am now not sure what they did to think the new design is an improvement, i think they realize by now they cater to a picky crowd and should be careful not to change things just to be cheap.
Worst case i pick up one of them and find out, too bad i started reading about HLLY hissing on diyaudio, i almost picked up their TA2020 model...just when i thought my comparing/googling is over
Thanks,
Daniel
I did open them to put heatsinks on the 2024 chips. But it was a while ago . If I remember right (and I am not 100% sure I do) they had film input caps and input offset adjustment pots as well. At any rate I don't remember seeing anything that would have concerned me. That I would have remembered.
i bought one off that auction site and i am very impressed with it,
it was very cheap & extremely well made especially when you take into account the
price. i paid £60 inc shipping which took 5 days.
i've only had it a few days but , to my ears it sounds good, if a little bright.
bass is there, but doesn't go really really low. i need to let it run in a bit.
it is dead silent in operation, no hiss with or without source connected with vol
turned up.
there is only one thing i can complain about, and thats the eye wateringly bright
blue led, its like a torch! apart from that its a great little amp for the money.
it was very cheap & extremely well made especially when you take into account the
price. i paid £60 inc shipping which took 5 days.
i've only had it a few days but , to my ears it sounds good, if a little bright.
bass is there, but doesn't go really really low. i need to let it run in a bit.
it is dead silent in operation, no hiss with or without source connected with vol
turned up.
there is only one thing i can complain about, and thats the eye wateringly bright
blue led, its like a torch! apart from that its a great little amp for the money.
I have the TP10 Mk3 coming, shipped Sunday and it's already this side of the pont, hopefully i get to find out how well it works by this weekend.
I consider changing the blue led to an amber one, might look good to have the volume knob backlit amber instead of blue aside from killing the blue light that is used to keep truck drivers from falling asleep.
Considered the TP20 for a while but i think for my needs, TP10 will do, supposedly the Mk3 is revised based on user feedback and "better" than the Mk2, whatever "better" means here
Plus, if there is anything to be complained about, there is enough room and it has enough through hole parts that it could be easily "fixed".
I consider changing the blue led to an amber one, might look good to have the volume knob backlit amber instead of blue aside from killing the blue light that is used to keep truck drivers from falling asleep.
Considered the TP20 for a while but i think for my needs, TP10 will do, supposedly the Mk3 is revised based on user feedback and "better" than the Mk2, whatever "better" means here
Plus, if there is anything to be complained about, there is enough room and it has enough through hole parts that it could be easily "fixed".
A few different parts are used as can be seen on the images of the boards, Mk3 is supposed to be improved based on user feedback is what i got as answer. The cosmetics are the most apparent changes i think. Minor change in the capacitance of the input caps together with new brand is only thing i can be "sure of".
My amp got here after 3 days, too bad i can't reach post office before Friday
My amp got here after 3 days, too bad i can't reach post office before Friday
Only had a quick listen today, sounded very detailed, not bright like the DTA-1 i had before (a Dayton rebrand of the original SI t-amp it seems)
I got mine from indeed-hi-fi-lab, the shipping for the amp+adapter is actually EMS and made it to texas in 3 days. Total is just shy of $95.
So far the first impression was good, money well spent.
I now also understand why my friend's only comment was "Those speaker terminals look like those on my Trend TA-10.1, i hate them."
They are a little plainful to use, but i am not going to change wires often enough to make it a real issue, they do their job, they are just not sized for grown up fingers....
I'll update my impression of the TP10 Mk3 once i had some more time to hear it.
I got mine from indeed-hi-fi-lab, the shipping for the amp+adapter is actually EMS and made it to texas in 3 days. Total is just shy of $95.
So far the first impression was good, money well spent.
I now also understand why my friend's only comment was "Those speaker terminals look like those on my Trend TA-10.1, i hate them."
They are a little plainful to use, but i am not going to change wires often enough to make it a real issue, they do their job, they are just not sized for grown up fingers....
I'll update my impression of the TP10 Mk3 once i had some more time to hear it.
Topping amps
Hi there Guys,
The Topping MK III is now out, also with TA2020 IC!
I think these are nice looking and well sounding little amps, so i also sell them now.
ive got an ebay shop opened, and you can find it under Arjenhelder_electronic.
ive got the TA2020 model and the TA2024 model, i think there great. the only thing that is worth doing is adding a bigger buffer cap to the 12 volts line, that will improve the bass quite a bit.
i also have the caps needed for that, and ill add them free of charge.
Greetings,
Arjen Helder
Hi there Guys,
The Topping MK III is now out, also with TA2020 IC!
I think these are nice looking and well sounding little amps, so i also sell them now.
ive got an ebay shop opened, and you can find it under Arjenhelder_electronic.
ive got the TA2020 model and the TA2024 model, i think there great. the only thing that is worth doing is adding a bigger buffer cap to the 12 volts line, that will improve the bass quite a bit.
i also have the caps needed for that, and ill add them free of charge.
Greetings,
Arjen Helder
I now had some time listening to the Mk3 for a while and detail is great, if he sells Mk3 with larger caps included to improve bass, i would say go order from him, the bass is not as strong as i wish it was.
I purchased one of those amps in the hope that it is easy to solder on should i find something lacking, and i guess i will open it up and replace the buffer cap as he suggests, will have to look for appropriate sizes.
If the connectors accept banana plugs i don't know, i haven't handled any in forever, the posts are hollow though.
I don't regret buying this amp in the least, i had some fun listening to my stuff with it. My speakers were a little on the bright side before anyway and i will attenuate the tweeter some, the overall sound that way is a whole lot more to my liking.
Should i be able to get by an appropriate cap locally, i will post soon about how it sounds after replacement. If not it will be a while, after 13 years of online purchases i finally managed to hand over my info to a questionable site and have to wait before i get replacement cards.....(but that's unrelated to ebay sellers, just a frustrating situation non-theless.....there were a couple of parts i meant to pick up and work on in the next few days)
I purchased one of those amps in the hope that it is easy to solder on should i find something lacking, and i guess i will open it up and replace the buffer cap as he suggests, will have to look for appropriate sizes.
If the connectors accept banana plugs i don't know, i haven't handled any in forever, the posts are hollow though.
I don't regret buying this amp in the least, i had some fun listening to my stuff with it. My speakers were a little on the bright side before anyway and i will attenuate the tweeter some, the overall sound that way is a whole lot more to my liking.
Should i be able to get by an appropriate cap locally, i will post soon about how it sounds after replacement. If not it will be a while, after 13 years of online purchases i finally managed to hand over my info to a questionable site and have to wait before i get replacement cards.....(but that's unrelated to ebay sellers, just a frustrating situation non-theless.....there were a couple of parts i meant to pick up and work on in the next few days)
Topping TA2020
Ive modified one amp, and to my supprise it has only 2X 220uF caps inside, they look like they are nichion, but according to my measurements with my LCR meter, the ESR is too high and the Dissipation factor is also way too high. im quite sure they are fake.
Ive added to the power line 2X 6800uF and to the IC power input 2X 470uF very low ESR .
now the amp sounds very different! the low frequency response is much better!
Ive modified one amp, and to my supprise it has only 2X 220uF caps inside, they look like they are nichion, but according to my measurements with my LCR meter, the ESR is too high and the Dissipation factor is also way too high. im quite sure they are fake.
Ive added to the power line 2X 6800uF and to the IC power input 2X 470uF very low ESR .
now the amp sounds very different! the low frequency response is much better!
TA2020 Topping
No worries, afterall its not rocket science!
here the measurement of those 2 little yellow caps you can see in the photo.
you can see the ESR value is 494 mOhms, this is quite high, and these caps are simply to small to be high grade low ESR caps, those are usually allot bigger at that rating.
what ive done is simply add 2 big 6800uF caps over the power connector, and at the IC there are 2 additional caps, where the small ones where first, ive replaced those with 470uF caps.
the input caps interesting enough are electrolyts, 3.3uF it would be worthwhile to replace those with some 2.2 poly caps for better quality. i yet have to measure those electrolyts myself.
Greetings,
Arjen Helder
No worries, afterall its not rocket science!
here the measurement of those 2 little yellow caps you can see in the photo.
you can see the ESR value is 494 mOhms, this is quite high, and these caps are simply to small to be high grade low ESR caps, those are usually allot bigger at that rating.
what ive done is simply add 2 big 6800uF caps over the power connector, and at the IC there are 2 additional caps, where the small ones where first, ive replaced those with 470uF caps.
the input caps interesting enough are electrolyts, 3.3uF it would be worthwhile to replace those with some 2.2 poly caps for better quality. i yet have to measure those electrolyts myself.
Greetings,
Arjen Helder
Attachments
Hello,
I think, MK2 looks better than MK3. (but I don't know how mk3's sound)
MK2
MK3
I see two little caps on MK3 instead of 3.2uf 250v vishay bc input coupling caps on mk2.
I can't understand that. What do you think?
and
Can anyone compare topping tp10 mk2/3 and trends audio ta10.1?
I think, MK2 looks better than MK3. (but I don't know how mk3's sound)
MK2
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
MK3
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I see two little caps on MK3 instead of 3.2uf 250v vishay bc input coupling caps on mk2.
I can't understand that. What do you think?
and
Can anyone compare topping tp10 mk2/3 and trends audio ta10.1?
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