Yesterday I managed to do a fairly detailed comparison of the NAD and the Topping. Fortunately or unfortunately, nothing revolutionary or different from my observations based on memory were observed.
I tested both with the following tracks
Steely Dan - Aja, Deacon Blues
Dire Straits - Heavy Fuel, Fade to Black
Usher Demo CD - Track 9 (the chinese drums)
The Topping is more detailed and more dynamic. The high frequencies are more clearly separated, and there's a lot more air about the sound. The low frequency performance is in fact very similar. I did observe from memory that the Topping seemed to produce more musical bass, but on this comparison I couldn't really make out that distinction.
The sound of the Topping seemed to have smoothed out a bit, and it's sounding quite brilliant. The high frequencies are rich and detailed without being harsh in any way. The mid-range is lively and beautiful (is it a colouration? or is the NAD simply inferior? I don't know). The bass is deep, musical and authoritative.
I think I will just repeat what I said earlier, this is the steal of a century for Rs. 4000. If you have full-range speakers, or high sensitivity speakers or a small room, this amp will most likely match or exceed any budget amp in the sub Rs. 30,000 category.
Of course now I am looking at whether it is possible to bridge these babies and put together a dual-mono combo of these putting out double the effective power (14 clean watts per channel). We could also assemble a kickass multi-channel setup using these buggers.
Another thought was to put a tube pre, 4 toppings and an active crossover to make a dual mono bi-amped setup putting out 28 clean watts per channel, for the cost of a budget amplifier.
Okay, I am getting a bit carried away, and I don't know if any of the above is feasible, but hey.....this is a totally exciting little device and I am sure there are tons of possibilities, even if the ones I've listed are wrong/infeasible. Usually audiophile components at mass-market prices are the exclusive preserve of DIY-ers, but here's an instance where the DIY-challenged noobs can also get a slice of the action.
Note of Caution: One thing that flanker tells me about the tripath amps is to be super careful about shorting the amp at the speaker terminals, one contact and the amp will fry. These are apparently not as forgiving as other amps to short-circuiting.
