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Topping B100 Brief Impressions

They’ve arrived! The quality seems to be another level with some components like the speaker binding posts being WAY nicer. Interesting to see the power supplies connect to the amplifier with aviation connectors, a change coming from all my experiences with amps from Douk and Fosi.

So I had an opportunity to play with gain settings on the B100s and then (re-)blend my subwoofer with them. I found that the Low setting on XLR input, which is +0dB, or unity gain, was not quite loud enough on some tracks when I use Passive mode on my preamp (Schiit Freya+) despite the balanced output of my streamer being rated 4Vrms. I switched it to the Medium setting, which is rated +10.4dB gain, and now I can get it loud enough even on my quietest tracks (examples include Carmen Fantasy (After Bizet) by All-Star Percussion Ensemble and Jazz at the Pawn Shop) on Passive mode. Again this is with medium sensitivity speakers (KEF LS50 Meta) plus SVS SB-3000 subwoofer.

Based on the listening time that I’ve been able to put in, as far as I can tell, the amplifier is as clean as Topping’s ratings indicate, even at higher (for me) volumes of ~70dB about 10 feet away and no hint of detectable distortion despite their Class-B topology. I am thoroughly satisfied with these, and plan to keep these in my chain over my Fosi amps (which I keep the pair of ZA3s as backups just in case anything should ever fail on these B100s). As far as overall tonality, I find these to sit in a happy middle ground between my pair of very smooth V3 Monos rolled with Sparkos SS3602s (which I gave my dad to drive his Magepan LES+) and extremely detailed and borderline analytical ZA3s rolled with Burson V7 Vivids that I just swapped out of for these.

-Ed

eddnog
lanx0003
817 posts
 

Congratulations! I’m glad to hear they run much cooler than the V3 monos. How do you find the sonic difference between the two or za3 in mono mode? Would love to hear your impressions!

eddnog OP
53 posts
 

I believe the best way to describe the B100 versus the Fosi amps is that if you haven’t listened to Topping’s amps yet, you’ll believe the Fosis are extremely transparent, which they are, but then once you listen to the B100s, you realize that there’s yet another level of transparency in existence. Additionally, the B100s are just tremendously revealing of what’s upstream. It is easier for me to discern between different DACs when switching DACs and also between preamps when switching preamps. The caveat of course is that the Fosi amps can push WAY more power than the B100s. With my LS50 Metas, the B100s are fine, and only if I decide to really push them to crazy loud (to me) volume levels, like peaks of almost 90dB from my listening position 10 feet away, do I manage to trigger the safety cutoff on them, but that being said, the safety cutoff is extremely conservative on these amps and will kick in WAY before clipping or distortion rears its head. I have found medium gain to be ideal with the LS50 Metas.

I wouldn’t recommend these for speakers needing more push. My dad has Magellan LRS+ and they sound great with the V3 Monos that I gave him. If he were to consider Topping amps, I’d say he would have to spring for the class-AB B200s instead of the Class-B B100s.

-Ed

lanx0003
817 posts
 

Just finished reading the ASR measurements—amazing stuff! It blows the Benchmark out of the water (within its power rating) and sets a new standard. Although there’s still some room for improvement compared to the B200, the price proposition is definitely comparable.

One thing I’ve been curious about—on the Fosi V3 / monos, I found the stereo imaging a bit unsatisfactory. With the B100’s 'magic,' did you notice a significant improvement in that area?

 

eddnog OP
53 posts
 

If I had to rank the effect each component in the chain had on stereo imaging, I’d rank speakers way first, then DAC, then preamp, and then power amps last. That being said, again, these B100s are more revealing of what’s upstream of them. If you have a well-imaging DAC or preamp, you’ll get more out of it with the B100s. If your DAC or preamp images poorly, you’ll definitely hear that through the B100. 
 

-Ed

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