Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[staticV3]

@ngs428 here are the graphs:

Whether this is worth selling your L30 and getting the new one is up to you

 

[Acerun]

The DAC only version is just over a thousand, has balanced outputs, PEQ and other useful features. If I was using it professionally, I know which one I'd buy.

 

[Acerun]

I'm referring to adding the L30ii to an existing ADI-2 DAC FS instead of buying a whole new unit I guess was my point.

 

[Jimster480]

I'm referring to adding the L30ii to an existing ADI-2 DAC FS instead of buying a whole new unit I guess was my point.

You could definitely do that. This is basically what I did with my DX7

 

[ngs428]

@ngs428 here are the graphs:
View attachment 221086 View attachment 221090 View attachment 221088
Whether this is worth selling your L30 and getting the new one is up to you

So, I would be seeing more voltage and power at a given ohm rating. Both leading to perceived loudness. Guess it all goes back to the age old question, would I hear a difference? Since the L30 can drive the XS and 6XX to sufficient levels, what more Chan the L30 II do? Some smarter than me I am sure could tell me.

 

[Ashoka]

Device sent for review and available in the market are the same?

 

[staticV3]

Guess it all goes back to the age old question, would I hear a difference?

Imo and ime, no. More headroom does not increase sound quality, just the potential for sound quantity.
Others will argue that an overkill Amp will increase "slam", "control", "impact" and all that good stuff.
I don't believe them and don't think those claiming did proper level-matching, and so they're just talking about equal loudness contours in the end.

 

[staticV3]

Device sent for review and available in the market are the same?

Topping frequently send out prototypes and retail units to reviewers like Amir and WolfX-700 before the official release, so that reviews can go live simultaneously.

 

[ngs428]

Imo and ime, no. More headroom does not increase sound quality, just the potential for sound quantity.
Others will argue that an overkill Amp will increase "slam", "control", "impact" and all that good stuff.
I don't believe them and don't think those claiming did proper level-matching, and so they're just talking about equal loudness contours in the end.

I’m with you on this one. The “slam” people probably also think the cables make a difference.

 

[Jimster480]

So, I would be seeing more voltage and power at a given ohm rating. Both leading to perceived loudness. Guess it all goes back to the age old question, would I hear a difference? Since the L30 can drive the XS and 6XX to sufficient levels, what more Chan the L30 II do? Some smarter than me I am sure could tell me.

Nothing really. It would just be louder at the same volume position if it has more power. Otherwise at the same level of volume it should be exactly the same. However if you typically use very efficient headphones and have the volume level very low then it could improve overall Sound Stage and Dynamics by having better matched volume when you use the IEM negative gain mode. Since typically pots have poor Channel matching at very low volumes.

 

[Jimster480]

Imo and ime, no. More headroom does not increase sound quality, just the potential for sound quantity.
Others will argue that an overkill Amp will increase "slam", "control", "impact" and all that good stuff.
I don't believe them and don't think those claiming did proper level-matching, and so they're just talking about equal loudness contours in the end.

Well the thing is that the definition of Drive is different for different people. You may be able to plug a high-end headphone into a phone or MP3 player and you will still hear sound. However there will be a lack of Bases and sometimes the mid-range will also be compromised.
So then you could plug it into an app from the same source and the music will come to life. This is just because the original output you plugged your headphone into does not have enough power to seriously power the headphone. Since high frequencies require less energy they come through even through a weak amplifier.
However once you have an amplifier which is strong enough for your headphones; there are no real changes. Provided that any powerful amplifier you have also has a low output impedance which does not affect the frequency response of your headphones. Most amplifiers today have a close to zero output impedance meaning that even headphones with 10 ohm resistance would not face a problem. This is a contrast to many amplifiers from 5 years ago which had an output impedance of 5 or 10 or 20 or more.

 

[ThatM1key]

My experience with the Topping L30 was fine. I was one of the "day one" buyers and gotten the bad apple. HifiGo gladly replaced my L30 with a fixed one. As I used the L30 for longer, I started to dislike. The sound was very clean and the power was great but there was a glaring problem, channel imbalance. My unit suffered from channel imbalance at low volume levels, even when used as a preamp. When my Sansui 2000A's preamp went "mono", I used this a preamp and I dreaded those months, sure it sounded cleaner but that channel imbalance was just annoying.

 

[raif71]

I did commented on several posts in the L30 thread on the low power I experienced from the amp when paired with E30 DAC and other DACs that similarly put out 2V. When paired with the mojo that has max 3V, only then did the L30 became alive. I was using the track Beethoven 5th/7th by Carlos Klieber DSD format . I actually maxed the volume @high gain but it didn't hurt my ears paired with E30 and using Senn hd600. I'm really looking forward to the L30II to pair with the E30. My E30 is fine, paired it with the Zen Can and I find nothing wrong with it.

 

[Jimster480]

My experience with the Topping L30 was fine. I was one of the "day one" buyers and gotten the bad apple. HifiGo gladly replaced my L30 with a fixed one. As I used the L30 for longer, I started to dislike. The sound was very clean and the power was great but there was a glaring problem, channel imbalance. My unit suffered from channel imbalance at low volume levels, even when used as a preamp. When my Sansui 2000A's preamp went "mono", I used this a preamp and I dreaded those months, sure it sounded cleaner but that channel imbalance was just annoying.

Channel and balance is just a thing with cheaper pots. I think that the l30 Mark II is basically just to fix those problems by introducing this negative game mode. This should allow you to turn the volume up much higher on sensitive headphones and out of the territory of massive Channel imbalance.

Something has to give at these lower prices.

 

[HDavidson]

Topping has several devices with a preamplifier in its range.

Question: why hasn't he released a full-fledged power amplifier (without volume control) until now?

 

[Jimster480]

Topping has several devices with a preamplifier in its range.

Question: why hasn't he released a full-fledged power amplifier (without volume control) until now?

My guess is that they are just testing the waters in this market. After all I imagine that this Market is much smaller while simultaneously being more saturated. For example of myself and all of my audiophile friends; I don't know a single person with a proper stereo system. We do have a guy in our telegram group who has a stereo system but we have never physically met him.
All of us have bluetooth speakers or other smart speakers just for convenience purposes. I think that dedicated listening rooms and home theater systems are too much of a luxury today and as such the market is small.
However you see topping has added ldac to most of its devices because bluetooth listening is very important for the modern user. Especially in a world where people increasingly only have phones.

 

[Acerun]

My guess is that they are just testing the waters in this market. After all I imagine that this Market is much smaller while simultaneously being more saturated. For example of myself and all of my audiophile friends; I don't know a single person with a proper stereo system. We do have a guy in our telegram group who has a stereo system but we have never physically met him.
All of us have bluetooth speakers or other smart speakers just for convenience purposes. I think that dedicated listening rooms and home theater systems are too much of a luxury today and as such the market is small.
However you see topping has added ldac to most of its devices because bluetooth listening is very important for the modern user. Especially in a world where people increasingly only have phones.

Huh... Not the world I live in whatsoever.

 

[Jimster480]

Huh... Not the world I live in whatsoever.

I'm speaking about the younger people in this scene. Many people younger than me (I'm almost 32) are not even into audio these days and only care about airpods. Most people listen to BT speakers all the time... so the idea of high end cabled audio is going away. However for the younger population; space is a real issue. Buying homes is near impossible for most young people and if they are able to afford a home, it is likely a small one. Luxury items like speaker systems, just won't be something you find in younger peoples homes.
There is no such "relaxing time" where you sit and listen to music. People relax by watching netflix or some other streaming service as they fall asleep before the next day. When they play music, they are usually working or on the go and as such BT speakers dominate the world today.
Is it the best setup at all? No. But not many things are great these days.

This is why I am saying that as a whole the market is smaller and the demographic is immensely smaller. There are probably 10:1 young audiophiles into headphones vs speakers. I mean hell of all the people I know; only 2 other people my age own homes. 1 other person owns a small apartment.

 

[oscar_dziki]

Definitely. You would actually get top tier performance for your money.
And later on if some $500 device came out even with slightly better performance it would not be audible because we have already reached past the audible threshold for most things. I have a feeling that in another year or so we are going to need some new measurements of differentiation. Since we are basically heading the limits of the analyzer already today. Who knows what will come out by the end of the year.

Yeah. I plan to buy dc stealth in 2-3 months. Plan was to spend ~$500 for amp/dac. And now with l30/e30 it's just $300. What times to be alive Last time I was watching other reviewers than Amir I heard Joshua Valour complaining that all these topping and smsl devices sound the same, so he will not review them Yes you idiot, transparent devices sound the same. That's the whole point what I'm saying is that people like him will always be able to create a snake oil market. We on the other hand should expect and be enthusiastic about sonic perfection getting cheaper and cheaper.

 

[Jimster480]

Yeah. I plan to buy dc stealth in 2-3 months. Plan was to spend ~$500 for amp/dac. And now with l30/e30 it's just $300. What times to be alive Last time I was watching other reviewers than Amir I heard Joshua Valour complaining that all these topping and smsl devices sound the same, so he will not review them Yes you idiot, transparent devices sound the same. That's the whole point what I'm saying is that people like him will always be able to create a snake oil market. We on the other hand should expect and be enthusiastic about sonic perfection getting cheaper and cheaper.

Definitely agree here. Sonic Perfection is cheaper than it has ever been before. However if you are going to buy the stealth I would personally buy a different setup other than the l30 and E30 just because of the lack of a screen which is annoying with high-res content. And the potential for channel Miss match with a cheaper potentiometer.
I just got a topping ex5 on eBay dirt cheap listed incorrectly as new to my misfortune. It is also missing a remote but apparently the remote from my old DX7 works just fine. I just think that having a unit like this is more beneficial because of the total feature set for only slightly more money.