• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Topping L70 Headphone Amp Review

Rate this headphone amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 4.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 29 9.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 272 85.8%

  • Total voters
    317

Badunn

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2022
Messages
25
Likes
46
Am I going to get a notable improvement if I connect my SMSL C200 to it balanced, and listen through the balanced headphone output? And this is not about volume or power.

My phones are open modded monoprice 1060C.

I am just so confused over the ‘balanced’ headphone output benefits. And I’m loving the new relationship I’m now having with headphones since the C200 purchase… and am trying to squeeze as much out of the headphones as possible.
 

Bleib

Major Contributor
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
1,253
Likes
2,252
Location
Sweden
Am I going to get a notable improvement if I connect my SMSL C200 to it balanced, and listen through the balanced headphone output? And this is not about volume or power.

My phones are open modded monoprice 1060C.

I am just so confused over the ‘balanced’ headphone output benefits. And I’m loving the new relationship I’m now having with headphones since the C200 purchase… and am trying to squeeze as much out of the headphones as possible.
Probably not, but it's on paper better. I've connected my C200 to Sabaj a20h with XLR and certainly doesn't hurt. I prefer the XLR / TSR cables anyway. Using two of these:

This way I can actually connect the SE cables to the SMSL A300 amp too.
 

Rja4000

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
May 31, 2019
Messages
2,682
Likes
4,220
Location
Liège, Belgium
93 dB is superb

Question to @amirm

(I posted the same question on the L30 II review)

How come this SNR measurement at 50mV doesn't match the plot of THD+N vs power (8.3µW at 300 Ohm) ?

We rather read 85dB (red cross) and 72dB for high gain (blue cross)

Topping L70 Balanced Headphone Amplifier Power into 300 ohm measurements annoted.png


And the High gain figure is confirmed in the THD+N vs Vrms plot.
(As is confirmed the absence of impact of the load impedance at that level)

Topping L70 Balanced Headphone Amplifier Balanced Power vs Load measurements annoted.png


So what explains those 8dB difference ?
Is the AP using a method for SNR which has 8dB lower noise floor than the one it uses for the THD+N plots ?

(And even more, up to 11dB, if we look at the difference for the L30 II)

Sorry if that was asked before.

NB: I measured one of my devices and I match almost exactly your (closest) corresponding 50mV SNR measurement, at 93dB SNR.
So I guess the SNR figure is the best approximation, and the THD+N vs Level is pessimistic. Not the opposite.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
24
Likes
39
Location
Germany
oh... another perfect, cheap, good looking headphone amp, yeey.

Please stop wasting time on those...
Yeah, i think by now we know that Topping and others know how to use their Audio Analyzers and make good products. (how long they last, i dont know)

The low end gems are what is interesting. I enjoyed reading about the Amazon HDMI extractor :)
The Behringer 2031a review is in the making like forever now too.
Or hell, even debunking overpriced snake oil stuff is more interesting then yet another DAC/amp with 0,5dB more SINAD or something..
 

DonR

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 25, 2022
Messages
2,970
Likes
5,614
Location
Vancouver(ish)
Quickly moving into the same place as DACs. Perfection can be had for less than $500.
 

phoenixdogfan

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
3,294
Likes
5,071
Location
Nashville
The hardest part of buying something from Topping is deciding which excellent performer you prefer. This unit for example looks very close to the A90D in its performance envelope, but the latter is almost twice as expensive. Still, I'm probably going to replace my THX AAA 789 next year, and I think I'm going to go for the A90D. The decision is strictly based on cosmetics. The silver A90D just seems like a piece of high tech art to me, and it's triggered my lust factor. But I'm certain in a double blind test at any conceivable volume level the L70 could drive any headphone I have or plan to acquire and would be indistinguishable from its more expensive sibling. But sometimes a splurge may be in order.
 

poxymoron

Senior Member
Joined
May 7, 2021
Messages
459
Likes
588
The hardest part of buying something from Topping is deciding which excellent performer you prefer. This unit for example looks very close to the A90D in its performance envelope, but the latter is almost twice as expensive. Still, I'm probably going to replace my THX AAA 789 next year, and I think I'm going to go for the A90D. The decision is strictly based on cosmetics. The silver A90D just seems like a piece of high tech art to me, and it's triggered my lust factor. But I'm certain in a double blind test at any conceivable volume level the L70 could drive any headphone I have or plan to acquire and would be indistinguishable from its more expensive sibling. But sometimes a splurge may be in order.
Agreed, and that's a valid reason to keep testing these. Now we can decide if we want the performance of the A90D for €700 or something almost as good for €400.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VQR

Badunn

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2022
Messages
25
Likes
46
Probably not, but it's on paper better. I've connected my C200 to Sabaj a20h with XLR and certainly doesn't hurt. I prefer the XLR / TSR cables anyway. Using two of these:

This way I can actually connect the SE cables to the SMSL A300 amp too.
I’m taking from your response then that sound quality with the sabaj compared to the smsl direct made minimal, if any, improvement.
 

Dennis_FL

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Messages
525
Likes
413
I'm not talking for TV's.I own a nice OLED tv myself.
I'm talking about this little screens showing the same thing all the time and I've seen and read enough to avoid them like hell.
Some of them got to solution of shutting off after a minute or two,to save what they can.

Edit:I noticed the segments too but I also noticed the small "xlr" reading which is like what would be in a OLED.
My camera has an 3" OLED screen and shows no sign of deterioration. My phone and DAC have an OLED screen and my laptop has an OLED touch screen.

The current generation of OLEDs have a 100,000 hour life.

I have a remote control with an earlier generation oled and it sucks
 

Sokel

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
5,840
Likes
5,775
My camera has an 3" OLED screen and shows no sign of deterioration. My phone and DAC have an OLED screen and my laptop has an OLED touch screen.

The current generation of OLEDs have a 100,000 hour life.

I have a remote control with an earlier generation oled and it sucks
And I hope they last ever more for you.

I also hope that last years OLED's is of the current generation (I stick to your words as I have no idea of their evolution,I got my TV in May,hope it's one of them).
Thing is that I look at the second hand market out of curiosity and I can sadly tell you that 14 and 16 months devices are dimmed/unreadable/etc.
And as I keep my stuff on at least 10 hours a day...

I really-really hope they fix it as I do like them (the black and white ones,like this DAC) when they are new.
 

boxcarbill

New Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2022
Messages
2
Likes
2
Question to @amirm

(I posted the same question on the L30 II review)

How come this SNR measurement at 50mV doesn't match the plot of THD+N vs power (8.3µW at 300 Ohm) ?

We rather read 85dB (red cross) and 72dB for high gain (blue cross)

View attachment 247965

And the High gain figure is confirmed in the THD+N vs Vrms plot.
(As is confirmed the absence of impact of the load impedance at that level)

View attachment 247964

So what explains those 8dB difference ?
Is the AP using a method for SNR which has 8dB lower noise floor than the one it uses for the THD+N plots ?

(And even more, up to 11dB, if we look at the difference for the L30 II)

Sorry if that was asked before.

NB: I measured one of my devices and I match almost exactly your (closest) corresponding 50mV SNR measurement, at 93dB SNR.
So I guess the SNR figure is the best approximation, and the THD+N vs Level is pessimistic. Not the opposite.

I'm pretty sure the SNR measurements are ~20kHz bandwidth, and the distortion plots are at 3-4x higher bandwidth. If the noise spectrum is flat, 4x bandwidth would be 6dB increase in noise which is close to the 8dB you observed. It would be nice if measurement conditions were included in the plots.
 

Labjr

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 14, 2018
Messages
1,051
Likes
949
I don't care for OLEDs either. There should be a user programmable setting to shut off the display after a few seconds.
 
Last edited:

Dennis_FL

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Messages
525
Likes
413
I don't care for OLEDs either. There's should be a user programmable setting to shut off the display after a few seconds.
Probably is. My DAC has that option
 
Top Bottom