I've got an old pair of 2-way Paradigm bookshelf speakers, which used to be my wife's home stereo (they're maybe 15 years old). I used to have them hooked up to a cheap Sonic Impact $40 box that has a Tripath "class T" amp inside (now available under a new name: Dayton DTA-1), but while the sound was good, the setup was prone to 60Hz hums and other assorted unpleasantries of cheap-ass electronics.

I switched to good headphones (Grado SR325is), got a swanky class-A USB headphone amplifier (CEntrance DACPort), and haven't used those speakers for a few years.

I decided, for fun, that it was time to resurrect the speakers again, so I poked through Amazon and found this Topping TP32 box. It's a two-channel Tripath "class D" amp, allegedly 15W/ch at 4 ohms and 10W/ch at 8 ohms (probably the same Tripath chip as the original Sonic Impact amp I was using), but with a built-in USB DAC, and what appear to be quality components (e.g., gold-plated banana plugs). It can drive two speakers and a pair of headphones (even at the same time). All for roughly $150 at Amazon, shipped direct from China.

I've got it hooked up now. It's officially good enough that I can differentiate the crappy sound from random BitTorrent things I've downloaded. Playing high quality lossless stuff from my collection, it's basically what the doctor ordered. Bass is strong but a bit boomy, leading me to wonder whether they've got their equalization wrong or whether these speakers are just a bit boomy themselves and have just never had enough power to push bass through them. Even at uncomfortably loud volumes, there's no audible sign of clipping. There's plenty of power.

It's not easy for me to do a controlled speaker+amp A/B comparison to really understand the source of the boominess, but I can do a controlled test of the headphone amp, switching back and forth between the CEntrance and Topping with my Grado headphones. I didn't try to do it blind, but I'd say they're close enough that I, and most others, would have a hard time differentiating. Both have low noise floors, strong bass, and exceptional treble detail. One thing that is easily differentiable is that the CEntrance has an analog volume knob and its a bit scratchy when you turn it. The Topping has digital volume buttons. No noise. Also, the CEntrance gets quite toasty when you use it (having a class A amp and all) while the Topping stays cool and quiet (class D amps being like that).

Summary: as a headphone DAC/amp, the Topping is fantastic. To drive bookshelf speakers, it's got plenty of power, but I'd need to do more experiments to sort out whether my problem is that these speakers just aren't so hot, or whether there's something up with the amp. I'm leaning toward the speakers being less than awesome. Of course, for most computer uses, it's completely irrelevant. If I want über quality, I'd use the headphones, or head downstairs to the big TV and big speakers.

Topping TP32: recommended for your desktop computer speaker needs.

Nice. Nobody has used that word here before.

tanstaafl.

Dragging up an old thread:

It's now almost exactly a year after I bought the TP32 and it's dead. Well, not entirely dead, but instead of playing music, you just get white noise. Might as well be dead.

Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that the vendor doesn't offer any meaningful warranty service (wouldn't that be a surprise), I want another box that slots into the same space on my desk: compact, USB DAC, modest amp to drive bookshelf speakers.

What are my choices? Topping continues to sell its wares through Amazon. Sony sells the very spendy UDA-1. I shouldn't have to spend $800 for this. The Teac AH01 is $400, which is more in the ballpark, but still more than the $130-ish for the Topping.

Am I missing something? There seem to be tons of vendors selling USB DAC / headphone amps, but hardly any selling a single box compact solution to my problem. What's up with that?

Considering those prices, you may want to consider a low end Onkyo receiver (less than 300 Euros here), output digitally to it via HDMI, and get great sound both on headsets and on speakers.

And also possibly connect more PCs to the same monitor.

I did that two years ago (TX-SR309), and I am very happy with this setup.

What are the music sources?
Are you using this simply as a high grade "computer speaker" connected directly to your PC?

For various reasons I have never thought of my computer as the ideal 'player' for music. I have almost always used some form of external 'thing' to play/stream the music. At one time this was primarily Squeezebox, but now there are some Apple Airport Express in the mix, even an Apple TV box.

I can control the external music device(s) from desktop apps or browser, and of course the actual music files can be streaming from my computer hard drive.

Although I now use an external network storage drive so it does not matter whether the computer is running, rebooting, taken out of the house, whatever, music always available everywhere in the house.

I have been looking at this sort of compact Class-D amplifier to drive a pair of outdoor speakers. Amp would be located indoors.

I was planning to drive it with either a Squeezebox or Airport Express, and I expect it would work well enough with one of the widely available (at many price points) USB DAC or USB 'Sound cards'.

I've thought about going the "receiver with USB DAC" route rather than "compact amp with USB DAC", which is what I'm now finding myself in need of replacing.

The issue with a receiver is size. I just don't want one of those monsters on my desk, when all it's doing is driving my computer speakers (a pair of 2-way Paradigm bookshelf speakers). That said, the receiver I've had my eye on for a while is the Marantz NR1604, which uses class-D amps and is far more compact than the usual receiver. It's also a bit pricier than something like the Teac, which is at the high end of what I'd be willing to spend. Although the Marantz doesn't have it, a number of other fancy receivers these days do include USB DAC support.

That said, the idea of using a receiver as a computer video switcher is pretty clever, and getting audio out of a computer via HDMI is a clever idea.

EDIT: Accessories4Less seems to be offering the Teac box for a solid $100 off list. Some modest digging through AVSforum indicates that they're not a fly-by-night operation, so I've decided to go for that.

The Teac has now arrived. Setup required installing a kernel extension / driver of some sort. (Without a driver, it would start playing, but would rapidly wander off into weird distortion, like it didn't know what clock rate to feed the data into the D/A.)

Overall, seems like a solid box. And it's got a U.S. warranty, versus needing to ship back to China...

At this point, it now firmly shows me that my 20+ year old bookshelf speakers (2-way Paradigms) aren't all that good any more (boomy, muddy, etc.) and need to be replaced. Sigh.

Speaker drivers (the parts that actually move) are mechanical devices which are subject to age and wear.

If the driver cone is supported by a foam or rubberized flex ring that will often stiffen or degrade with time. 'Great' speakers become less great with time. Some more than others, of course.

If there is an electronic crossover circuit inside the speaker, the capacitors can change with time, affecting the sound.

Internal wire connections can oxidize and/or contacts become less tight.

Following up on an old thread:

The price has dropped significantly on this Teac box. Back in February, Amazon wanted $400 and Accessories4Less wanted $300. Now Amazon is selling for $300 and Accessories4Less wants $259. I suspect it's reaching end-of-life and now might be a good time to buy.