Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[raistlin65]

It's a buying argument to those that believe you need copious amounts of power to drive a headphone that in general won't be used beyond a few mW.

Yep. Been helping out at r/headphoneadvice for probably an hour a day average since the first pandemic lockdown. It's surprising how many people get talked into thinking for their first DAC/amp stack that they "need" the THX 789 or Asgard 3 for its power. And how often people choose the Heresy over the Atom for the power output difference. Well, that and the misled notion that the plastic case of the Atom is a "build quality issue." lol

Given that the Atom and Heresy both cost significantly less in the US market and have more power output at 2V, without a good 3V DAC option, the L30 is often going to lose out to those two competitors. Although I would imagine it will do better in the EU and Asia where the L30 becomes the better value proposition over those two other amps

 

[vhild§]

Although I would imagine it will do better in the EU and Asia where the L30 becomes the better value proposition over those two other amps

Not to mention that Schiit products are unavailable at the moment here in Europe.

 

[guildenstern]

I’ve had the L30 for a little more than a week, using it with the superb E30 DAC I’ve enjoyed for a couple months (both purchased from Apos Audio—a big round of applause for their exceptional customer service). Source is a Bluesound Node 2 streamer, coax out to the E30. Listening through Beyerdynamic DT252 headphones—they’re a single-eared headphone because I’m a single-eared listener (only one ear works), so, no comments from me on “imaging” or “soundstaging”!

I’ve come to like the L30, after playing with the gain settings. I started out with the gain switch at 0dB and volume control mostly at 10 to 11 o’clock. Sounded as good as or a little better than my Schiit Magni 3 (original, not Plus), with maybe a little more low-end definition and a little less high-end tizz. After a few days, I switched the gain to the -9dB setting—hmm, that’s interesting…and better, to my ears, um, ear. I gather the -9dB setting is mainly intended for sensitive IEMs (which I don’t own), but I prefer listening to my DT252s (80 ohms impedance) with the L30 set at -9dB gain, and with the volume dialed up to 1 to 2 o’clock. In my setup, the L30 at -9dB gain sounds really clean, very enjoyable.

Different sources and different headphones will no doubt produce different results. As it is, I’m enjoying the L30 and prefer it to the Magni 3. This might be new toy syndrome—I’ll be able to make a better-informed judgment in a couple weeks.

 

[frankh]

I received my L30 a few days ago and did an AB comparison volume matched by ear with my JDS Labs Atom set to low gain and L30 at 0dB gain setting. My comparison was done with the DX3 Pro (1st Gen) running in DAC mode and HifiMan Sundara headphone. After a few days of comparison, I've found that the Atom is slightly more powerful with a slightly wider soundstage. The L30 seems to add a little more decay on the upper lows or lower mids area which gives a little more body to that frequency range whereas the Atom has less decay and gives a tighter response in that region with nice low frequency extension.

As for the high frequencies, it's the direct opposite with the L30 producing shorter decay whereas the Atom produces a little more decay making it sound more airy in high frequency region. The Atom also reproduce instrument separation much more clearly though it's not night and day's difference, you can definitely tell the difference especially with the Sundara headphone. Fast percussive transients are reproduced equally well on both amps and mid frequency region is about on par with both amps too.

My conclusion after few days of listening is that both the L30 and Atom are very good headphone amps at super affordable price so I'm keeping both. I'll most likely use the L30 with brighter headphones and the Atom will be my preference when I want a more transparent sound. This is of course not a full review of the L30 but just my own personal experience with both the L30 and Atom....YMMV.

 

[jcarys]

Yes, this is a first post, with a newL30/E30 stack. I have a little under a week on both of them, so I'm still sampling a lot of music. For perspective, the most I've spent on computer-based audio before this was the Monoprice USB DAC, so this is quite an upgrade. I decided that considering the amount of time I'm spending at my home office I might as well upgrade away.

As far as I can tell, this combo puts me at the edge of human hearing, or at least my midlife hearing ability. I don't know that the E30 really added much, but at least I have no doubts about the 2V output any longer. The L30 is obviously a big increase in capabilities, and this is the first time that I feel like my HD6XX are properly sourced. I plan on spending this week doing some comparisons between the Oppo 205 and this duo.

And of course now I'm equipped to explore some slightly more exotic headphones. I'm looking at you Sundaras...or maybe DT990s. Thanks Amir and John for the forum contributions that made up my mind for me.

 

[vhild§]

^I think you can confidently concentrate on headphones from now on. That combo is hard to beat.

 

[NgtFlyer]

I just got my L30 today. Doing some listening. First impressions, with my new E30 DAC, very positive. Hard to describe the difference over the Magni 3+ but I feel the Topping does sound better. A bit more "open" if you will?
I am set at 0db and am using my ATH-M50x with Brainwavz pads for comfort. (The replacement pads do change the sonics a bit, in that my ears aren't squashed by the smaller ear pads
After listening for an hour or so, all I can say is @JohnYang1997 has created a masterpiece here. Bravo, and thank you!

 

[naviivan]

What's with the search for MOAR POWER?? I'm sure most folks will have no problems with the E30/L30 stack powering their cans.
I mean, how many Abyss or HE6 headphone owners are out there anyway? My guess is anyone that is buying a stack like this is running something mid priced, like the HD650 or 6XX, which this amp is perfect for.

i just want more power!!!!
shall i plug the headphones straight into the power point?

 

[ShoKz]

I don´ understand... I ordered L30+E30 and people here who already got L30 are praising the hell out of the unit while in the other hand DMS on youtube shared some negative inicial feedback.. and i´m like, what???

 

[JohnYang1997]

i just want more power!!!!
shall i plug the headphones straight into the power point?

 

[Jimbob54]

I don´ understand... I ordered L30+E30 and people here who already got L30 are praising the hell out of the unit while in the other hand DMS on youtube shared some negative inicial feedback.. and i´m like, what???

And why does either my opinion, DMS or anyone else matter. Post no 1 in this thread tells you pretty much anything you want to know. Either buy (with scope to return easily) and try it, or don't. No point trying to reconcile subjective opinions on how a device sounds. Opinion on form and function, fair enough.

 

[ShoKz]

And why does either my opinion, DMS or anyone else matter. Post no 1 in this thread tells you pretty much anything you want to know. Either buy (with scope to return easily) and try it, or don't. No point trying to reconcile subjective opinions on how a device sounds. Opinion on form and function, fair enough.

I know that. And because i´m a guy who belive in science my first hifi dac+amp will be L30+E30. My surprise was on is inicial review.. we all ear things different and DMS is no exception...

 

[AndyLu]

I know that. And because i´m a guy who belive in science my first hifi dac+amp will be L30+E30. My surprise was on is inicial review.. we all ear things different and DMS is no exception...

The point with DMS is that he is only subjective without objective measurements to back it up. No clue how he listens, how his opinion is formed or paid for etc. etc. Maybe he has a huge bias towards a certain brand or maybe he is not objective at all and simply advertising. I don't want to accuse DMS of anything, but there are lots of things uncertain about his opinion.

Also read the comments below his video (you will understand what I mean).

What do you rather have.. Objective measurements + opinions on a forum, or only a subjective impression from a guy you don't know and have no clue about (only that he makes YouTube movies and talks a lot).
In the end we make our buying decision ourselves based on information and reviews we can gather. I know that in my buying decisions DMS is somewhere on the bottom of my list (probably not on my list at all ),

Edit:
I watched the youtube video of DMS again. He start's with 'This is a very cheap headphone amplifier that starts around $130,-'. After that he seems biased the whole time because of the price point. I get the impression that he judges it in a way that: Because it is very cheap it can not possibly sound as good as others. Hence, his opinions seems already carved in stone before he even got it out of the box.
'Reviews' like this are worthless to me. By the way, this was not even a review but a first impression.

 

[waterproofbeanie]

Does noise occur even if the input RCA cable is disconnected?

It does. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with the power supply, because while turning the unit off overnight didn't help, unplugging the power supply from the wall socket for a couple of days did. Hoping it doesn't reappear.

 

[Jave]

There are some sales now at AliExpress so I ordered the pair E30+L30 for 240$

 

[raif71]

The point with DMS is that he is only subjective without objective measurements to back it up. No clue how he listens, how his opinion is formed or paid for etc. etc. Maybe he has a huge bias towards a certain brand or maybe he is not objective at all and simply advertising. I don't want to accuse DMS of anything, but there are lots of things uncertain about his opinion.

Also read the comments below his video (you will understand what I mean).

What do you rather have.. Objective measurements + opinions on a forum, or only a subjective impression from a guy you don't know and have no clue about (only that he makes YouTube movies and talks a lot).
In the end we make our buying decision ourselves based on information and reviews we can gather. I know that in my buying decisions DMS is somewhere on the bottom of my list (probably not on my list at all ),

Edit:
I watched the youtube video of DMS again. He start's with 'This is a very cheap headphone amplifier that starts around $130,-'. After that he seems biased the whole time because of the price point. I get the impression that he judges it in a way that: Because it is very cheap it can not possibly sound as good as others. Hence, his opinions seems already carved in stone before he even got it out of the box.
'Reviews' like this are worthless to me. By the way, this was not even a review but a first impression.

Yup just 1st impressions. That's all. Imho, his 1st impression is not biased and he spoke his mind. Nothing flaky and I look forward to his full review if he does it.

 

[Veri]

Yup just 1st impressions. That's all. Imho, his 1st impression is not biased and he spoke his mind.

Sigh. Since all he does is say whatever comes to mind without explaining much of his listening set-up you're really just listening to subjectively ramblings which are bound to be biased some way. "1st impression is not biased" really makes no sense

 

[Eetu]

Yup just 1st impressions. That's all. Imho, his 1st impression is not biased and he spoke his mind. Nothing flaky and I look forward to his full review if he does it.

There is no such thing as 'not biased' though.. Or do you know the reviewer's attitude towards Topping and JDS, his mood on the day it was filmed, how he felt about the low price, casing etcetc. All of that had an impact on what he heard. So not without (at least unconscious) bias.

 

[AndyLu]

Yup just 1st impressions. That's all. Imho, his 1st impression is not biased and he spoke his mind. Nothing flaky and I look forward to his full review if he does it.

'1st impression' is per definition always biased, because it is personal. Personal = biased.
'Speaking someone's mind' is also per definition always biased, because it is an opinion. Opinion = biased.

In general, there is nothing more personal or biased than someones hearing and opinion. That is what you always get out of any review only based on listening: a subjective (= biased) opinion.

 

[raif71]

Sigh. Since all he does is say whatever comes to mind without explaining much of his listening set-up you're really just listening to subjectively ramblings which are bound to be biased some way. "1st impression is not biased" really makes no sense

Cool. Thank you veri much for your thoughts