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  #11  
Old 11-29-2020, 03:02 PM
PHC1 PHC1 is offline
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Speaking of AKM...


Devastating Fire Shuts Down Entire Production Line for AKM Until 2021
To our customers, readers in the community, and fellow audiophiles, we unfortunately have some bad news regarding the high-end Japanese chipmaker Asahi Kasei Microsystems, or as we all know them, “AKM.”

On October 20, a fire began at the AKM manufacturing facility in Japan and grew out of control, ultimately burning for 82 hours before it was extinguished on October 23. The fire was devastating and the entire semiconductor facility is now shut down and all AKM production has come to a halt. To simply say that this is bad news for the audiophile community would be putting it mildly. AKM is one of the most popular chips used in many high-end DACs and Amps, many of which Apos sells. This news is par for the course when it comes to calamitous events in 2020, but we are glad to hear that there were no reported fatalities from the approximate 400 employees who were working inside the AKM facility at the time the fire broke out.


AKM states that it will take them six months until production is online again for their chips, putting the restart date for manufacturing at the end of April 2021 (presuming that this estimate holds and is not further delayed). As a result of this production shortage, the prices for the existing global inventory of AKM chips is skyrocketing. We are expecting shortages of products that carry AKM chips as our vendors’ cost-of-production may be too high for them to make large quantities of product.
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  #12  
Old 11-29-2020, 03:51 PM
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Interesting that according to ASR website, the Topping D90 DAC has measured better than 220 other DACs.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...-review.10519/
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  #13  
Old 11-29-2020, 04:10 PM
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Default Topping brand

My experience with the DAC’s I own and have listened to over a long period of time is that there is zero correlation between ASR measurements and my perception of the DAC’s sonic performance. Zero. Nada. None.
__________________
Main System:
Amati Futura Mains
Amati Homage VOX Center,
Proac Response 1sc Rears,
Three MC2301's for L,C,R
MC 602 for the rears
C 1100, MX 151, MCD 1100, MR 80
Nottingham Dais with Wave Mechanic
Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

SurfacePro 3, RPi 4, ROON, WW Starlight Platinum USB, Schiit Yggdrasil, Benchmark DAC3 HGC

MX 151, OppO BDP-95, JVC RS-500 DILA projector, 106" diagonal Stewart Luxus Screenwall Deluxe with Studiotek 130 G3 material.

Lake House:
Ohm F, MC 275V, C2300, MR 77, Rega P3

OnDeck:
McIntosh MAC 4300v

Last edited by W9TR; 11-29-2020 at 04:16 PM.
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  #14  
Old 11-29-2020, 04:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9TR View Post
My experience with the DAC’s I own and have listened to over a long period of time is that there is zero correlation between ASR measurements and my perception of the DAC’s sonic performance. Zero. Nada. None.
Definitely not the sure way to buy a DAC based on measurements. But it is also interesting that many of the younger audiophiles do prefer a type of sound that is a bit different than what our age group may prefer.

Of course for the most part we listen to very different music genres as well. I really do not listen to synthesized bass and all kinds of sound effects that is so prevalent to the Deep House, Trance, Rap, etc...

We do have to keep in mind that every age group tends to have their preferred representatives.

How many on the following list are appealing to us?


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  #15  
Old 11-29-2020, 06:14 PM
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I haven't owned any Topping DACs, but I do own the A90 headphone amp and it's a great unit. I've owned many headphone amps in the past from cheap Schiit amps up to their Ragnarok, Bryston BHA-1, HeadAmp GS-X Mkii, and a few Cavalli Audio amps. There is nothing the others could do that the Topping can't. Coming from the two-chassis HeadAmp, the small form factor of the Topping is great. It runs dual-duty as my headphone amp and also a my pre-amp feeding my Esoteric power amp. I've used it to drive my Focal Utopia heaphones as well as the Abyss 1266 Phi TC and Diana Phi. It has no problem powering any of them. And it's dead quiet. I can plug in my custom IEMs and turn the volume up with no hum or buzz.

All this at a fraction of the cost of my previous headphone amps.
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Headphone rig: Gustard X16, Topping A90, Hifiman HE6se, Audeze LCD2
2-Channel setup: Okto Research DAC8 Stereo, Bryston 4Bł, Philharmonic Audio BMR Towers, Dual PSA S152 subs
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  #16  
Old 11-29-2020, 06:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DVass13 View Post
I haven't owned any Topping DACs, but I do own the A90 headphone amp and it's a great unit. I've owned many headphone amps in the past from cheap Schiit amps up to their Ragnarok, Bryston BHA-1, HeadAmp GS-X Mkii, and a few Cavalli Audio amps. There is nothing the others could do that the Topping can't. Coming from the two-chassis HeadAmp, the small form factor of the Topping is great. It runs dual-duty as my headphone amp and also a my pre-amp feeding my Esoteric power amp. I've used it to drive my Focal Utopia heaphones as well as the Abyss 1266 Phi TC and Diana Phi. It has no problem powering any of them. And it's dead quiet. I can plug in my custom IEMs and turn the volume up with no hum or buzz.

All this at a fraction of the cost of my previous headphone amps.
Thanks for sharing your findings Dan. Sounds like a solid value headphone amp.
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  #17  
Old 11-30-2020, 04:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DVass13 View Post
I haven't owned any Topping DACs, but I do own the A90 headphone amp and it's a great unit. I've owned many headphone amps in the past from cheap Schiit amps up to their Ragnarok, Bryston BHA-1, HeadAmp GS-X Mkii, and a few Cavalli Audio amps. There is nothing the others could do that the Topping can't. Coming from the two-chassis HeadAmp, the small form factor of the Topping is great. It runs dual-duty as my headphone amp and also a my pre-amp feeding my Esoteric power amp. I've used it to drive my Focal Utopia heaphones as well as the Abyss 1266 Phi TC and Diana Phi. It has no problem powering any of them. And it's dead quiet. I can plug in my custom IEMs and turn the volume up with no hum or buzz.

All this at a fraction of the cost of my previous headphone amps.


Might have to get one of these as my headphone amp died last night!
__________________
Main System:
Amati Futura Mains
Amati Homage VOX Center,
Proac Response 1sc Rears,
Three MC2301's for L,C,R
MC 602 for the rears
C 1100, MX 151, MCD 1100, MR 80
Nottingham Dais with Wave Mechanic
Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

SurfacePro 3, RPi 4, ROON, WW Starlight Platinum USB, Schiit Yggdrasil, Benchmark DAC3 HGC

MX 151, OppO BDP-95, JVC RS-500 DILA projector, 106" diagonal Stewart Luxus Screenwall Deluxe with Studiotek 130 G3 material.

Lake House:
Ohm F, MC 275V, C2300, MR 77, Rega P3

OnDeck:
McIntosh MAC 4300v
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  #18  
Old 11-30-2020, 04:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9TR View Post
Might have to get one of these as my headphone amp died last night!
Oh no!

Look into the German RME ADI dac/amp combo as well.

https://www.themasterswitch.com/best-dacs
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  #19  
Old 11-30-2020, 06:29 PM
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That looks like a great option.
__________________
Main System:
Amati Futura Mains
Amati Homage VOX Center,
Proac Response 1sc Rears,
Three MC2301's for L,C,R
MC 602 for the rears
C 1100, MX 151, MCD 1100, MR 80
Nottingham Dais with Wave Mechanic
Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

SurfacePro 3, RPi 4, ROON, WW Starlight Platinum USB, Schiit Yggdrasil, Benchmark DAC3 HGC

MX 151, OppO BDP-95, JVC RS-500 DILA projector, 106" diagonal Stewart Luxus Screenwall Deluxe with Studiotek 130 G3 material.

Lake House:
Ohm F, MC 275V, C2300, MR 77, Rega P3

OnDeck:
McIntosh MAC 4300v
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  #20  
Old 11-30-2020, 06:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9TR View Post
That looks like a great option.
Germans typically don’t mess around.

The two German made headphone amps I owned were stupendously good. Violectric V281 and SPL Phonitor. I regret selling them.
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