Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[skyline385]

This might be a dumb question but I am thinking of getting the L30 II to act as a Headphone amp between my DAC and Speaker Amp so that I can switch between headphones and speakers easily. So my chain would be:

HP : SMSL SU-1 > L30 II (HP jack) > HD800S
SPEAKERS : SMSL SU-1 > L30 II (RCA out) > Fosi BT20A Pro > Polk Reserve R200

I understand it has a dedicated pre-amp function for this but just want to make sure that I am not double amping as I couldn't find much information about connecting passive speakers through a speaker amp to the L30 II.

 

[staticV3]

This might be a dumb question but I am thinking of getting the L30 II to act as a Headphone amp between my DAC and Speaker Amp so that I can switch between headphones and speakers easily. So my chain would be:

HP : SMSL SU-1 > L30 II (HP jack) > HD800S
SPEAKERS : SMSL SU-1 > L30 II (RCA out) > Fosi BT20A Pro > Polk Reserve R200

I understand it has a dedicated pre-amp function for this but just want to make sure that I am not double amping as I couldn't find much information about connecting passive speakers through a speaker amp to the L30 II.

That'll work just fine.

There's no problematic double amping going on because that's not actually a thing. Just an audiophile myth.

 

[Barncore]

This also might be a dumb question, but when it says "Frequency response: 20hz - 40khz", does that mean everything below 20hz is rolled off? What happens below 20hz?

I'm an audio engineer that's interested in the L30ii for my headphones, but i need to be able to hear if there's any sub rumble under 20hz. It's the one of the main reasons to use headphones, to reference the subs. Am i going to be able to hear 10hz at all and below with L30ii? Is it a slight roll off or a steep one? Or do they just write "20hz-40khz" cos that's what they tested and want to cover their butts?
Cheers!

 

[oleg87]

This also might be a dumb question, but when it says "Frequency response: 20hz - 40khz", does that mean everything below 20hz is rolled off? What happens below 20hz?

I'm an audio engineer that's interested in the L30ii for my headphones, but i need to be able to hear if there's any sub rumble under 20hz. It's the one of the main reasons to use headphones, to reference the subs. Am i going to be able to hear 10hz at all and below with L30ii? Is it a slight roll off or a steep one? Or do they just write "20hz-40khz" cos that's what they tested and want to cover their butts?
Cheers!

The frequency response is in the review. I assume DC protection will kick in at some point but its flat to 10hz.

 

[Music1969]

Am i going to be able to hear 10hz at all

You have 10Hz content? Even 15Hz?

What genre music

 

[staticV3]

This also might be a dumb question, but when it says "Frequency response: 20hz - 40khz", does that mean everything below 20hz is rolled off? What happens below 20hz?

You can safely dismiss "Frequency Response: x Hz - xHz" specs whenever you see them in consumer audio. They're completely meaningless.

Here's the L30II's frequency response:

 

[Barncore]

You have 10Hz content? Even 15Hz?

What genre music

It's not my content, i do mastering, i receive songs from bedroom producers with content down there, yes. They can't hear it with their monitors. Pretty much all music has content down at 10-20hz actually, it's just usually subtle and most speakers can't reproduce it, so the everyday listener doesn't think about it. At any rate, i need to be able to hear it so i can know if there's too much or not enough.

Seems the amp will produce infrasonic subs just fine, so that's good

 

[Miiksuli]

@Barncore My only complaint is that it cant handle sub frequencies at high gain. A good alternative is Schiit Magni Unity without the DAC. It's warmer sounding than L30 II but still not losing in details. https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/APx555 Test Suite_ Magni Unity.pdf

 

[Kaligogrrrrr]

It's not my content, i do mastering, i receive songs from bedroom producers with content down there, yes. They can't hear it with their monitors. Pretty much all music has content down at 10-20hz actually, it's just usually subtle and most speakers can't reproduce it, so the everyday listener doesn't think about it. At any rate, i need to be able to hear it so i can know if there's too much or not enough.

Seems the amp will produce infrasonic subs just fine, so that's good

I had a Paradigm Signature SUB1 many years back, and I think it was 'capable' of sub 20hz but .... I don't think I ever 'heard' it, despite PBK setup. I have to speculate the AMP is less of an issue than the speakers/headphones for such crazy low freq reproduction.

I think 'too much' sub 20hz would be something impressive for any home audio equip - not sure it's a worry.

 

[Barncore]

Just received my L30 II, sounds better than my previous amp. Very happy customer

My Hifiman Ananda Stealths obviously weren't getting enough juice with my old amp. The sound is noticeably better

 

[staticV3]

Just received my L30 II, sounds better than my previous amp. Very happy customer

My Hifiman Ananda Stealths obviously weren't getting enough juice with my old amp. The sound is noticeably better

The Ananda Stealth sips power at just 5mW required to reach 100dB SPL.

Lack of power is unlikely to be the reason for the change in sound.

 

[Barncore]

The Ananda Stealth sips power at just 5mW required to reach 100dB SPL.

Lack of power is unlikely to be the reason for the change in sound.

Ananda Stealth v3 for what it's worth.

Well if it's not the lack of power, what else is it?
DAC was the same, headphones were the same, the only thing i changed was the amp.
I compared the new amp side by side with the old amp, volume-matched them as best i could. The sound through the new amp has more weight and energy in the bass, more solid, it vibrates my ears more, on the old amp it sounds a bit more "woofy" and flat. Overall the sound is more alive and dynamic, the transients are clearer and have more definition, the high-mids on the old amp sounded slightly more "grainy", new amp sounds more high-res and clean, like a veil is lifted off.

It's not exactly subtle either. It's instantly noticeable. I wouldn't say it's a night and day difference, but it's definitely clearly better. If it's not the change of amp, then what is it? The amp is going through the "Line out" output of my interface (instead of the HP output), could it be that instead? The DAC is probably different

 

[staticV3]

Well if it's not the lack of power, what else is it?

I don't know. There could be many reasons for the change in sound.

But jumping to conclusions is not the way.

 

[mc.god]

DAC was the same, headphones were the same, the only thing i changed was the amp.

The amp is going through the "Line out" output of my interface (instead of the HP output), could it be that instead? The DAC is probably different

Well, you didn't put it very clearly, first you say amp is the only change in the chain, then you add a bunch of other variable suggesting also a different dac in use.
As @staticV3 said, the amp change shouldn't change the sound quality, unless your old amp (you didn't specify the model) is seriously flawed and can't handle well the low 16 ohm load of the Ananda V3.

 

[Barncore]

Well, you didn't put it very clearly, first you say amp is the only change in the chain, then you add a bunch of other variable suggesting also a different dac in use.
As @staticV3 said, the amp change shouldn't change the sound quality, unless your old amp (you didn't specify the model) is seriously flawed and can't handle well the low 16 ohm load of the Ananda V3.

Sorry, my info is vague because the info that Antelope make publicly available about what's inside their interfaces is vague

You're right, I made a mistake thinking the amp was the only variable. It literally only occured to me as I was writing the post that the Line Outs might be using a different DAC, so I added it as an afterthought to see what people think. I hadn't thought about that before and frankly I have no idea. Antelope don't tell you much, I've been trying to get info from their support team for months and it's very minimal vague stuff. I do know that the impedance of the HP outputs is 120ohm though.

The model of interface is: Antelope Discrete 4 Synergy Core (non-"Pro" version)

My headphones were going through 1 (of the 4) HP outputs before, and now it's going through the Line Outs 1+2 which go into the L30ii

The more I think about it, the more I think it's probably a safe assumption that the Line Outs DAC is different from the HP outputs. But still only an assumption.

 

[mc.god]

Sorry, my info is vague because the info that Antelope make publicly available about what's inside their interfaces is vague

You're right, I made a mistake thinking the amp was the only variable. It literally only occured to me as I was writing the post that the Line Outs might be using a different DAC, so I added it as an afterthought to see what people think. I hadn't thought about that before and frankly I have no idea. Antelope don't tell you much, I've been trying to get info from their support team for months and it's very minimal vague stuff. I do know that the impedance of the HP outputs is 120ohm though.

The model of interface is: Antelope Discrete 4 Synergy Core (non-"Pro" version)

My headphones were going through 1 (of the 4) HP outputs before, and now it's going through the Line Outs 1+2 which go into the L30ii

The more I think about it, the more I think it's probably a safe assumption that the Line Outs DAC is different from the HP outputs. But still only an assumption.

It starts to make much more sense now.
Forget about different dac used for line and hp outs, it's highly unlikely and even in the case you wouldn't hear difference. My bet is that your interface is not really meant to drive very low impedance planar headphones but only old style professional high impedance dynamic headphones.
If hp output impedance is 120 ohm as you say it will generate an high voltage drop with low impedance headphones, but planar low impedance headphones need current more than voltage to be driven properly, and watching an Antelope picture I can see it uses a 18V-15W power supply, it means that the psu can deliver less than 1A current. I'm not good doing the math here, but it's possible that current starving is generating what you describe as lack of dynamics and flatness. It could be interesting to test a more beefy psu with the antelope, let's say 18V-4A (for instance, my Sabaj A10h has a 15V-4A psu.), but since you now have the excellent L30 II that is highly optimized even at low ohms loads I wouldn't bother.

 

[Ahmonge]

The model of interface is: Antelope Discrete 4 Synergy Core (non-"Pro" version)

My headphones were going through 1 (of the 4) HP outputs before, and now it's going through the Line Outs 1+2 which go into the L30ii

it would make sense for the interface manufacturer to publish the power data for different impedance values of the headphone amplifier(s) included in the product. Without this information, little can be known about its performance (or lack thereof).