Schiit Valhalla 3 vs Topping A90

Short answer

More power: the Topping A90, with 2.00 W into 32 Ω; the Schiit Valhalla 3 has 750 mW. The Topping A90 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the Schiit Valhalla 3 cannot (Symphonium Titan).
Quieter with sensitive IEMs: the Topping A90. 102 headphones stay below audible hiss on it but not on the Schiit Valhalla 3 (64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 64 Audio U12t, 99 more).
Output impedance: 535 headphones are left alone by the Topping A90 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Schiit Valhalla 3 (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 532 more).
Price: the same, $499.

Both are desktop amplifiers, both at $499.

The Topping A90 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Schiit Valhalla 3 on 566.

Specification	Schiit Valhalla 3	Topping A90
Power into 32Ω	750 mW	2.0 W
Power into 150Ω	286 mW	427 mW
Power into 300Ω	250 mW	213 mW
Power into 600Ω	125 mW	107 mW
Output impedance	25 Ω	0.1 Ω
Output noise	6.32 µV	0.2 µV
Price	$499	$499
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	566	567

Specification

Schiit Valhalla 3

Topping A90

Power into 32Ω

750 mW

2.0 W

Power into 150Ω

286 mW

427 mW

Power into 300Ω

250 mW

213 mW

Power into 600Ω

125 mW

107 mW

Output impedance

25 Ω

0.1 Ω

Output noise

6.32 µV

0.2 µV

Price

$499

Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567

566

567

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

Balanced	Schiit Valhalla 3	Topping A90
Socket	no separate rating	XLR4 + 4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	—	4.0 W derived
Power into 300Ω	—	1.0 W
Output impedance	—	0.1 Ω
Output noise	—	0.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	—	567

Only the Topping A90 has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here. The Schiit Valhalla 3 may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

Where each power figure comes from

Load	Schiit Valhalla 3	Topping A90
32 Ω	Published	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Published	Derived
600 Ω	Derived	Derived

Both makers publish a power rating. Schiit Valhalla 3 publishes at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω; Topping A90 at 32 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 300 Ω only the Schiit Valhalla 3 figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the Topping A90 but not on the Schiit Valhalla 3 — Symphonium Titan.

535 headphones are left alone by the Topping A90 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Schiit Valhalla 3 (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 532 more).

102 headphones stay below the audible-hiss threshold on the Topping A90 but cross it on the Schiit Valhalla 3 (64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 64 Audio U12t, 99 more).

566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the HiFiMAN HE400se: Topping A90 has +23 dB of headroom there against +19 dB. 4 dB is about 2.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

Hiss below about 20 dB SPL is inaudible in a quiet room.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	Schiit Valhalla 3 headroom	Topping A90 headroom	Schiit Valhalla 3 hiss	Topping A90 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+37 dB damping	+42 dB	30 dB	0 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+17 dB damping	+22 dB	10 dB	-20 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+27 dB damping	+31 dB	9 dB	-21 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+26 dB	+26 dB	4 dB	-26 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+19 dB damping	+23 dB	3 dB	-27 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+20 dB	+19 dB	-3 dB	-33 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+16 dB	+15 dB	-7 dB	-37 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	+10 dB damping	+13 dB	-9 dB	-39 dB

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

These two cost the same, $499, so price settles nothing. Out of the 567 models here, the Topping A90 drives one model to 100 dB, leaves 535 alone under the one-eighth rule and keeps 102 below the audible-hiss threshold — and on the other side there is no such advantage at all.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.