Topping L50 Review (Headphone Amp)

[welder]

For me it was while driving a set of Sennheisers (HD565) and also happened with DT990 250ohm, one other time nothing was playing went for a coffee came back and the LED was flashing with no sound output, almost always have it on medium gain volume normally no higher than 1/2 oclock position, should be more than capable of that.

Had a check on the 15V AC with a multimeter, seems to be working showing around 18.5v

Mine is giving 19.2V. On medium gain i can push 100% volume pot fot both Hifiman HE400 or Senns 650 with no issues.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Blinking led " ïssue ", happened twice , seems L50 do not like been powered off from a switch before the transformer. (Safety mesure John Young? ) ...may be related to relay setting logic , bypass etc.

I experienced the same thing for the first time today. A little disconcerting, especially when the blinking continued after switching the L50 off. I physically disconnected the power supply, and all was well after plugging things back in.

This is a bit of a bummer though…I've not had this problem with the Topping DX3 Pro+ that the new E50 + L50 stack replaced. I'll need to rework how I have things connected so that the L50's power brick stays powered on all of the time when I power everything else down.

Odd that there's nothing in the L50's manual about the meaning of a blinking power LED.

 

[JGeez]

You have to turn off the L50 itself before you power down your system. Otherwise, it will get the blinking light when you restart your system. I emailed the company about it and they said it has to do with volume control in the unit.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Enjoying a bit of headphones listening this afternoon with the L50.

iFi ZEN STREAM transport ($399)
AudioQuest Cinnamon USB cable ($89.95)
Khadas Tone2 Pro DAC ($249.90)
Straight Wire Virtuoso R2 interconnect ($880) - Ooops, overkill, but what I had on hand
Topping L50 headphone amp ($229)
E-MU Wood Series Teak headphones ($450)

Reference quality for $2,297.85

Apart from supply-chain issues, 2022 is a good time to be into this hobby.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

Can someone explain to me, how to read these values?
Which position of the volume control to prefer and which to avoid?

 

[RHO]

On the left side of the graph (Y-axis) you see the attenuation by the volume pot. The line starts at 0dB. Amir starts turning down the volume, as shown by the time shown in the bottom X-axis of the graph. He has to use time because he has no way of measuring the angle of rotation on the analog volume knob. The dotted line is the difference between the left and the right channel. The value is shown on the right side of the graph. The smaller the value, the better the channel matching. (you would idealy want it to stay on the 0dB line = no difference between L and R)
The cursor (crosshair) indicates where the dotted line reaches -1dB, indicating 1dB difference between L and R.
Where the cursor crossed the full line indicates also the amount of attenuation you have at that moment. You can read that on the left side of the graph. In this case it's ~ -54dB.
It's nice to see that the maximum difference between L and R is about 1.25dB at about 55dB attenuation and gets smaller again when you turn down the volume even more. It does shift direction. You see that when the dotted line crosses the 0dB line.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

If you're going for close to perfect channel matching, use the lowest of the three gain settings on the L50 that will deliver satisfying levels to your headphones, and you'll have nothing to worry about.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

I suspect that will not be enough for the LCD-5 + preamp to -9dB (EQ).

 

[Prism24]

Would this see much of a decrease of power output if using an unbalanced DAC input?

 

[Daltong]

Hi! @amirm a quick question - would the "medium" gain on L50 be able to handle approx 14-ohm load amicably (amicably as in "expect loudness limit" and as opposed to "expect distortion / clipping / something else unpleasant")

 

[amirm]

Hi! @amirm a quick question - would the "medium" gain on L50 be able to handle approx 14-ohm load amicably (amicably as in "expect loudness limit" and as opposed to "expect distortion / clipping / something else unpleasant")

The gain setting is independent of the load. It simply determines the volume range and level of loudness.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Enjoying a bit of headphones listening this afternoon with the L50.


View attachment 198797

iFi ZEN STREAM transport ($399)
AudioQuest Cinnamon USB cable ($89.95)
Khadas Tone2 Pro DAC ($249.90)
Straight Wire Virtuoso R2 interconnect ($880) - Ooops, overkill, but what I had on hand
Topping L50 headphone amp ($229)
E-MU Wood Series Teak headphones ($450)

Reference quality for $2,297.85

Apart from supply-chain issues, 2022 is a good time to be into this hobby.

You could have had the exact same reference quality for $969.95 less.

Did you actually spend more on cables than on your DAC, headphone amp, and headphones combined?

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

You could have had the exact same reference quality for $969.95 less.

Did you actually spend more on cables than on your DAC, headphone amp, and headphones combined?

Haha. The cables are from my pre-ASR days. My post was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

 

[SuicideSquid]

Haha. The cables are from my pre-ASR days. My post was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

This is a relief.

 

[Angel II]

Hello, I would like to buy the Topping L50 and temporarily combine it with my current dac schiit modi multibit. I understand that only with dacs with 4Vrms output level can I optimize L50 at maximum power, is that correct? The headphones I have and they require more pre gain are the HD650 and Avantone Planar.

 

[Veri]

Hello, I would like to buy the Topping L50 and temporarily combine it with my current dac schiit modi multibit.

You can try first with 2V input but yeah power output will be higher with balanced DAC.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

You can try first with 2V input but yeah power output will be higher with balanced DAC.

I would have thought that max power would still be possible with 2V via the RCA inputs on the L50. No?

 

[usern]

I would have thought that max power would still be possible with 2V via the RCA inputs on the L50. No?

If output power @4V goes higher then max gain @2V without clipping, then no. L50 would drive your headphones louder with balanced inputs then.

It is the case with my A30pro. With 2V inputs max gain max volume will be quieter with DT880 600 ohm than with 4V inputs max gain. Can't turn volume all the way up since headphone will start to distort.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

If output power @4V goes higher then max gain @2V without clipping, then no. L50 would drive your headphones louder with balanced inputs then.

It is the case with my A30pro. With 2V inputs max gain max volume will be quieter with DT880 600 ohm than with 4V inputs max gain. Can't turn volume all the way up since headphone will start to distort.

It sounds like you're saying that the gain is the same regardless if single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR/TRS) inputs are used. Not what I expected.

 

[RHO]

@amirm : It doesn't say what the input voltage was for this measurement and what the volume control was set at. (for the balanced input it was 4V and volume to max)