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Topping L50 Review (Headphone Amp)

Synrgy87

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Gave it another while to see how much more it happened but sadly still occasionally getting the blinking LED mid sesson, so she's being retired, hopefully will find something else as otherwise while it is working it's great. ordered a HO100 to replace it, but that seems to have noise come through. Hmmmmm. Just a heads up if you're thinking of getting one of these it may be just my unit, but seems there other reports of the behavior in my case it's not related to devices being switched on / off or the order of operations it's happening mid use.
 

seyeR Funnnnn

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I'll see in a week what"s what , however , even if it happened (flashing) even if I did like U suggest , today all is working properly .
For now I'm pretty confident I'll keep the amp , still "opening up" the sound , it needs to play a lot (it's working , someone laughed at the term "burn in" ) different type of music , different volumes , different headphones ....
It's superior compared to L30 , or , I like more the sound signature , but still miss L30 (with an year and a half of life , seem L30 was more transparent , sound stage li'l compressed but more (slightly) trasparent .
How ever now i shitch on the external transformer before the unit , whait say 3-4 sec , and all is ok .
(please note , when the amp is warm i can switch on and off the way i prefer (the system) , no flashing light , never ) .

...a safety measure ALWAYS WAIT 10 SECOND , WHEN U SWITCH ON - OFF -ON audio gears (rectifier , transformer an electrolytic caps work with very HI currents and go HOT and HOTTER .... (plus digital equip needs some time to reset "logic") . ALL ARE WARNED .
a technician (i'm not an engineer) advice .
You still having issues? I just recently got my Topping E50/L50 stack and when I'm playing games and jamming out to music, all sound cuts out and my unexpected output light blinks. My fix is just unplug for 10 sec and plug it back in and everything works as normal, but it happens 1-2 times per week or two so it's more annoying than anything.

Anyone else having the same issue and if so, is there a firmware update for the fix yet? Haha.
 

Synrgy87

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You still having issues? I just recently got my Topping E50/L50 stack and when I'm playing games and jamming out to music, all sound cuts out and my unexpected output light blinks. My fix is just unplug for 10 sec and plug it back in and everything works as normal, but it happens 1-2 times per week or two so it's more annoying than anything.

Anyone else having the same issue and if so, is there a firmware update for the fix yet? Haha.
That's pretty much exactly what's been happening with mine, very annoying, manual says blinking LED means "unexpected output" guessing some kind of protection is being triggered, but why and by what I don't know.
 

JeremyFife

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Hi, this is turning into a 'Topping L50 Owner's' thread, but still very useful.

I have a question, as much to put my mind at rest as anything.
I'm enjoying my L50. Music sounds brilliant.
I use my L50 like a power amp: volume at max, gain at medium, input volume and EQ managed in my pre-amp.
Is there any real advantage for me in either getting a balanced cable for my Sennheiser HD560s 'phones or for upgrading to higher quality (more expensive) 'phones to go balanced?

I'm happy with this setup, but this is an itch I'd like to scratch!

TIA
 

Bel Canto

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Hi, this is turning into a 'Topping L50 Owner's' thread, but still very useful.

I have a question, as much to put my mind at rest as anything.
I'm enjoying my L50. Music sounds brilliant.
I use my L50 like a power amp: volume at max, gain at medium, input volume and EQ managed in my pre-amp.
Is there any real advantage for me in either getting a balanced cable for my Sennheiser HD560s 'phones or for upgrading to higher quality (more expensive) 'phones to go balanced?

I'm happy with this setup, but this is an itch I'd like to scratch!

TIA
The L50 is not a balanced amp, output via 6.3mm or 4.4mm XLR is the same so you wouldn't gain anything.
 

Synrgy87

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Hi, this is turning into a 'Topping L50 Owner's' thread, but still very useful.

I have a question, as much to put my mind at rest as anything.
I'm enjoying my L50. Music sounds brilliant.
I use my L50 like a power amp: volume at max, gain at medium, input volume and EQ managed in my pre-amp.
Is there any real advantage for me in either getting a balanced cable for my Sennheiser HD560s 'phones or for upgrading to higher quality (more expensive) 'phones to go balanced?

I'm happy with this setup, but this is an itch I'd like to scratch!

TIA

What preamp are you using with that setup?

Balanced cable main benefit would be the connector, while i was using my HD565's with the L50 I did use a balanced cable and XLR connector,also the 4.4, it was however just as good with the 6.3mm.

You could step up the headphone game but that's more personal preference if you're happy with the HD560s maybe look at some different sounding / types like some closed backs or something.
 
Last edited:

JeremyFife

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JeremyFife

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What preamp are you using with that setup?

Balanced cable main benefit would be the connector and maybe louder signal, while i was using my HD565's with the L50 I did use a balanced cable and XLR connector,also the 4.4, it was however just as good with the 6.3mm.

You could step up the headphone game but that's more personal preference if you're happy with the HD560s maybe look at some different sounding / types like some closed backs or something.
Thanks. I'm using my miniDSP Flex as pre-amp, balanced to the L50 and balanced pass-through to my amp.
I'm happy with the 560s (for now) so I'll just enjoy what I have:)
 

tiramisu

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The L50 has a 4pin XLR output and a 3.5mm stereo output.

Back on page 1 in the review, The 4-pin measured 3.881vrms while the 3.5mm stereo jack measured 1.983vrms.
To me, this suggests that it is not a bad idea to pick up a 4-pin to 3.5mm adapter in order to get more gain, "if you want it".

It isn't a balanced amp and if it was it would probably be noisier at this price point but I ordered an Ali-Express adapter simply to get more gain
from the AMP as I am currently inputting a signal from my Behringer UMC HD404 audio interface which has a sickenly underpowered
audio output (1.???vrms. this has been measured on the site but I can't be bothered to go look it up).

If I had a DAC that was pushing 4vrms out to the AMP I suspect I wouldn't have any desire to adapt the output.


index.php


index.php
 

Veri

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The L50 has a 4pin XLR output and a 3.5mm stereo output.

Back on page 1 in the review, The 4-pin measured 3.881vrms while the 3.5mm stereo jack measured 1.983vrms.
To me, this suggests that it is not a bad idea to pick up a 4-pin to 3.5mm adapter in order to get more gain, "if you want it".
That is impossible, a 4-pin to 2-pin adapter will lose half the voltage. There isn't enough pins on a standard 3.5mm adapter to give you the full output.
(Ebay/amazon sellers selling such a thing should be ashamed).
 

Jimster480

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That is impossible, a 4-pin to 2-pin adapter will lose half the voltage. There isn't enough pins on a standard 3.5mm adapter to give you the full output.
(Ebay/amazon sellers selling such a thing should be ashamed).
I imagine the output pins cannot be tied together. Otherwise they would probably be these type of adapters everywhere.
I imagine it would cause feedback of some kind.
 

Veri

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I imagine the output pins cannot be tied together. Otherwise they would probably be these type of adapters everywhere.
I imagine it would cause feedback of some kind.
No you can only some sort of buffer like neurochrome offers, or a transformer. To "tie" it all together.
 

raif71

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The L50 has a 4pin XLR output and a 3.5mm stereo output.

Back on page 1 in the review, The 4-pin measured 3.881vrms while the 3.5mm stereo jack measured 1.983vrms.
To me, this suggests that it is not a bad idea to pick up a 4-pin to 3.5mm adapter in order to get more gain, "if you want it".

It isn't a balanced amp and if it was it would probably be noisier at this price point but I ordered an Ali-Express adapter simply to get more gain
from the AMP as I am currently inputting a signal from my Behringer UMC HD404 audio interface which has a sickenly underpowered
audio output (1.???vrms. this has been measured on the site but I can't be bothered to go look it up).

If I had a DAC that was pushing 4vrms out to the AMP I suspect I wouldn't have any desire to adapt the output.


index.php


index.php
You mean the L50 has 6.35mm and not 3.5mm output, right?
 

drake5000

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Feb 16, 2021
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Can someone explain me how exactly input sensitivity works?
It says 2.7 Vrms for Hi Gain mode with BAL input, but the nominal BAL output for the DAC is 4 Vrms! Does it mean that I clip by default when using BAL OUT of the DAC with HI GAIN mode of L50?
Thanks in advance!
 

drake5000

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Is this really compatible with the L50? I don't want to buy the wrong cord and ruin the L50. A regular power cord extension after the brick would absolutely be compatible, but I don't want the power brick on my desk top.
Have you happened to get one of these?
Also I'm looking for the same DAC+AMP combo, please share your experience so far
 
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