Imo it’s not a big difference. It just sound slightly different. I wouldn’t say it sound cheap.
Fyi. It doesn’t have high or low gain. But the loudness wins over the topping. Even at max pc volume the knob on the topping need to be 9 or 10 o clock. Loudness
On the ayima it’s like 7 or 8 o’clock. Loudness. Loudness wise ayima wins.
Maybe ess dac? This is my first branded dac amp. The other ones are all no brand Chinese brand suca audio and ayima maybe not that famous.
Another I own is fiio k1 dongle. Samson run on the fiio k1 , bgvp dongle fine no sharpness. The ayima also no sharpness.
But for me if it’s dongle out of all my dongle and dac I think the bgvp t10s really bang for its bucks. It does has some flaws but compared to the ayima and fiio it sounds better. It sounded close to topping matter of fact and it’s super cheap just the connector have problems nowadays like lose. My testing show the fiio , bgvp and ayima work well with all headphone that I had. But sounds wise bgvp have that tiny bit cleaness , bass and more smooth. Fiio sounds ABIT wider only otherwise not much difference. The ayima added noise sounds fuller more emotion. Everything sounds ABIT distant slightly also has channel imbalance but a bit of fixing through software problems solve.
End of the day the topping sounds good but I do not know weather I can listen to it all day or not . With certain headphone I can like the one I mentioned. Samson definitely not I do not know why but it’s just piercing.
Samson pair well with the ayima and fiio and bgvp. Tone down treble and added bass. Where on topping treble just sharp.
Jt1 , hd58x sound not that good on them . But on bgvp sound not bad on topping where it shines , hd600 same scenario but the bgvp have it smooth full sound signature, the bass increase too but not by much just smooth. Hd 600 with topping imo make it more lively , stronger bass etc.
But than I got the 2 amp dac I do hear a difference. Especially if I swap between the 2 amp dac. Topping is just clean. Sounding . Fyi I am not an audiophile but I do have some headphone etc.
So I do not.know what is going on but like the bvgp t01s , topping both of these can support 32 bit 44.1khz sounded better than the ayima dac A3.
Ayima only can support up to 24 bit. Etc. so I can hear the difference it’s not like mind blowing. But definitely can hear a cleaner sound , smooth out the treble , bass on some headphone but than some headphone it emphasis the treble make it sharp and piercing.
I own kc75 and koss porta pro. I do not own the kph40 my country sell that at a ridiculous price. So yeah.
I say it’s balance headphone. But need to eq only sound balance. Stock sound more on bass and treble. You can hear it.
Stop it.