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T-Amps

Unlike DMP, Tripath is a fad that didn't fade.
Wait until you put it on a decent linear supply or battery . . .
 
I took the little Topping through to the main rig earlier and tried it into the Tannoys (15" Monitor Golds). It is surprisingly good! I understand exactly where folk who say these things sound like a tube amp are coming from - it has a lovely warm, clear and slightly mid-centric sound, very 'uncluttered' in the way tube amps tend to be. There is a nice sense of scale and heft too, you'd certainly never identify it as a budget amp, let alone a fifty quid one! It seemed perfectly happy at my usual listening level (about 75db) and didn't seem to be running out of steam at all. Whilst I didn't do a direct comparison character-wise it reminded me very much of my Leak Stereo 20 (minus the hiss, hum and other far more alarming noises, it really needs a service...), warm, open and a little rolled-off up top.

The comparison with my usual Rob-serviced Quad 34/306 was interesting, the Quad bringing back the top-end and both tightening and extending the bass a little, and yes, I'd choose it in this context, but I could very happily live with the Topping. It is that good! This slightly recessed top and warm bass character works absolutely beautifully with the Klipsch Heresys upstairs, in fact it's one of the best amps I've ever tried with them as they don't sound bright or forward at all. The next thing is to try it with the La Scalas. That one could be very interesting...
 
These amps are really very good and it is a shame that they are often overlooked simply because folks think they simply cannot be taken seriously because they are so cheap.
 
I admit to swapping out the blue LED in the Trends I owned for a nice subdued green one. Or was it the Bantam? Must be getting old.
 
Elephantears said:
Blue LED's and tiny T-Amps. What's going on in that Rochdale?!
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It's actually not that bad. The bright blue LED on the power block is easily fixed by simply turning it upside-down and the one on the amp itself is just a dull blue glow around the volume knob. Ok, it's not the colour I'd choose, but it's very subtly done, certainly not the aircraft landing light type of thing Musical Fidelity etc use.
 
I have a rather good experience with TA2020 as part of the SMSL little amp. The others (costing less than half of the price) already destroyed a pair of (fortunately crappy) speakers in front of my eyes. The SMSL ones seem to have rather decent built inside, even the $20 ones (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=161068755751), unless something changed in the last 6 months.

In one setup, I tried pairing them with Behringer 1C speakers (which are now rather overpriced, unfortunately) and got really something that's certainly better than most of the AV stuff one can find in an electronics store. Adding a small preamp in front of the TA2020 also helped noticeably.
 
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I can't find any suggestion of unreliability for the Topping TP20. I googled it with 'fault', 'problems', failure' etc before hooking it up to the (rather expensive, rare and collectable) Tannoys and can't find anyone stating they've lost speakers etc with them, even folk driving them hard into small inefficient speakers. It's hard to find anything other than positive comments. Apparently all the T-Amps are very easy to kill if you accidentally short them out, but that goes for a lot of amps. Is there any logical / technical reason they'd fail in a dangerous manner in normal use? There's no switch-on / off pop or thump either which I guess means there's not a lot of DC offset floating about. It's a very quiet little amp as it doesn't hiss or hum either.
 
Tony L said:
I can't find any suggestion of unreliability for the Topping TP20. I googled it with 'fault', 'problems', failure' etc before hooking it up to the (rather expensive, rare and collectable) Tannoys and can't find anyone stating they've lost speakers etc with them, even folk driving them hard into small inefficient speakers. It's hard to find anything other than positive comments. Apparently all the T-Amps are very easy to kill if you accidentally short them out, but that goes for a lot of amps. Is there any logical / technical reason they'd fail in a dangerous manner in normal use? There's no switch-on / off pop or thump either which I guess means there's not a lot of DC offset floating about. It's a very quiet little amp as it doesn't hiss or hum either.
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If you're referring to my comment, I meant Lepai & the others one can (could?) buy for something like $12 to $15, with body made from aluminum heatsink and with horrible insides. That was a few years ago, though, they might have improved the manufacturing process in the meantime.
 
The Topping TP20 II allegedly looks like this inside:

do0x0m.jpg


I've not popped the lid on mine to check it's the same, though I'd expect it to be. I'm not electronics literate, bit it looks neat enough to me and seems to have a fair amount of film caps etc. I've certainly seen far uglier things that cost many multiples of fifty quid!
 
dan m said:
How does the 2020 differ from the 2021B I bought this summer?
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Most significantly in the chip type: TA2020 vs TA2021. I got the impression when doing a little research that many seem to feel the T-Amp 'magic' is in the original TA2020 chip, so I decided to only shortlist amps using that chipset for my first one. Hopefully someone who has actually compared them will post some comments as I'm going entirely on a bit of web-trawling - I simply narrowed it down to TA2020 amps and then went for the TP20 MkII as it looked nicely made and I couldn't find a negative comment against it. The SMSL you picture looks beautifully made, it looks to have air-core inductors, which is real audiophool territory. I wonder what the two blue trim-pots in each amp are for? DC offset maybe?
 
DC offset indeed, the same as many tripath amps. When I had the Trends TA10.1 I upgraded to air cores and a few other bits and bobs too.
 
The quality of the output inductors is supposed to be important. I've had a TP20 mkII and Arjen 2020 plus briefly tried a couple of other 2020s. I also have Temple Audio Bantam Gold and Monos here at the moment. The 2020s all have one trait in common I find. There's a slightly tizzy quality to sibilance on recordings where sibilance is not well controlled. On "normal" sibilance it's not really an issue. The Arjen has a really fabulous sound but it's so open sounding that this tizziness is too excessive for me. The Arjen is bought unboxed btw, it's simply a populated pcb. The Temple Audio products are way smoother, especially when run from SLA battery, if there's any tizz there it's very marginal.
 
clivem2 said:
The quality of the output inductors is supposed to be important. I've had a TP20 mkII and Arjen 2020 plus briefly tried a couple of other 2020s. I also have Temple Audio Bantam Gold and Monos here at the moment. The 2020s all have one trait in common I find. There's a slightly tizzy quality to sibilance on recordings where sibilance is not well controlled. On "normal" sibilance it's not really an issue. The Arjen has a really fabulous sound but it's so open sounding that this tizziness is too excessive for me. The Arjen is bought unboxed btw, it's simply a populated pcb. The Temple Audio products are way smoother, especially when run from SLA battery, if there's any tizz there it's very marginal.
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Have you tried the KingRex T20? They pretty much wrote the book on implementing this chip before those Johnny Come Latelys came on the scene. They were also the first to match SLA power to it: sparkle, yes, but the tizz isn't inherent (or shouldn't be). Definitely a side-effect of the PSU to which they are super-sensitive. Fragile little critturs Tripaths are, but worth nurturing!
 
ItemAudio said:
Have you tried the KingRex T20? They pretty much wrote the book on implementing this chip before those Johnny Come Latelys came on the scene. They were also the first to match SLA power to it: sparkle, yes, but the tizz isn't inherent (or shouldn't be). Definitely a side-effect of the PSU to which they are super-sensitive. Fragile little critturs Tripaths are, but worth nurturing!
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I found the tizz was still there with SLA for the Topping and Arjen. I haven't tried the KingRex, it's on my list.
 
I have to admit I've not noticed any tizz here, though I am using very efficient loudspeakers and not listening loud, i.e. I doubt I've asked it for half a watt yet. I just stuck it back upstairs with the Heresys and that is such a great match. I don't think I've heard them sound better to be honest, so warm, smooth and full sounding, and those are words seldom used to describe Heresys!
 
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