Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

[ninetylol]

By the way, is there any advantage in the A90 now except preamp function? I mean balanced power through single ended is actually a advantage for A30pro and also measurements are a bit better, right?

 

[Veri]

By the way, is there any advantage in the A90 now except preamp function? I mean balanced power through single ended is actually a advantage for A30pro and also measurements are a bit better, right?

Pre-amp outs and a smidger more power on balanced in+out. But yeah I see your point. Some people will still buy A90 if only because of "true balanced" though...

 

[bequietjk]

What are the differences of balanced implementation in the 789 vs A90 vs A30PRO?

 

[Vini darko]

What are the differences of balanced implementation in the 789 vs A90 vs A30PRO?

The only meaningful thing is the A90 keeps signal dual mono all the way though from input to output (with xlr in to xlr/pentecon out). The other two take dual mono and convert it to common ground. At least that's what I remember. May be incorrect though. At this level of preformance it barely matters anyway.

 

[Veri]

What are the differences of balanced implementation in the 789 vs A90 vs A30PRO?

789 and A90 have actual balanced outputs. A30 Pro is single ended out over all connectors. All three have stellar performance though.. and A30 Pro is ridiculously powerful and low noise so it's pretty much a nobrainer if you don't need a pre-amp. 789 has no pre-amp functionality either.. only A90.

 

[lizhuoyin]

789 and A90 have actual balanced outputs. A30 Pro is single ended out over all connectors. All three have stellar performance though.. and A30 Pro is ridiculously powerful and low noise so it's pretty much a nobrainer if you don't need a pre-amp. 789 has no pre-amp functionality either.. only A90.

A30 pro's pro outputs are pass thru. Hence they are balanced.

 

[Jimbob54]

A30 pro's pro outputs are pass thru. Hence they are balanced.

I think he meant the front 3 headphone outputs . But yes, the balanced rear outputs are, well, balanced.

 

[Jimster480]

Wow wow wow wow wow wow.... I wonder if they will make a silver one. This is literally better than my THX 789 and will likely be cheaper and smaller.... not sure that I want to replace my THX 789 but this could go along with the DX7 that I have (although the DX7 would hold it back hardcore haha).
This is just incredible to have so much performance in a smaller cheaper package. I still have my first gen DX7 and listen to it every day but its been so outdated in only a couple of years.

 

[Veri]

A30 pro's pro outputs are pass thru. Hence they are balanced.

Oh yeah the pass throughs just pass through. But the actual amp is definitely SE

Wow wow wow wow wow wow.... I wonder if they will make a silver one. This is literally better than my THX 789 and will likely be cheaper and smaller....

I think it'll likely cost just about the same really. So heavy competition performance wise.

 

[ninetylol]

Oh yeah the pass throughs just pass through. But the actual amp is definitely SE


I think it'll likely cost just about the same really. So heavy competition performance wise.

Thats why i said "A30 pro" was missnamed in the first place. Should just have been called A70.

Or they should price it at about 200, which they prolly wont

 

[Veri]

Thats why i said "A30 pro" was missnamed in the first place. Should just have been called A70.

Or they should price it at about 200, which they prolly wont

Don't think there's plans for an A70 but I can see an L50 happening improving on the L30. But the A30 Pro is really a smaller A90. Perhaps they could've named it A60 haha but it is to pair with D30 Pro of course, and to phase out old A30/D30 maybe.

 

[tqshreder]

Hi
I'm new to here and am wondering if i still get the benefit of a balanced with the A30 pro as i have nosey signal path past a bunch of inductors (wireless chargers for my phone and muse) and whenever my SE headphone cables are close to the inductors there is a very clear clicking sound induced.

 

[ninetylol]

Hi
I'm new to here and am wondering if i still get the benefit of a balanced with the A30 pro as i have nosey signal path past a bunch of inductors (wireless chargers for my phone and muse) and whenever my SE headphone cables are close to the inductors there is a very clear clicking sound induced.

Only input xlr is balanced. So if its a ground loop yes, if its something else nö.

 

[Inkey31]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping A30Pro balanced input and output headphone amplifier and pre-amp. It was kindly sent to me by the company. I am sorry but I don't have release date or pricing. I usually only get finished products from Topping so expect release date to be soon (post Chinese new year).

The A30Pro is the heftiest and most serious looking enclosure from Topping with its manly venting holes on top:
View attachment 112407

Some of the weight is due to inclusion of mains power supply in the case which I appreciated:

View attachment 112408

We see some other changes here. Pre-amp balanced out is quarter inch jacks due to smaller enclosure. And there is a ground lift which should help people who run into nasty ground loops.

In use the unit got a bit warm but nothing remotely serious. Sitting there by itself, it warms up to a bit above ambient temperature.

NOTE: there is no pre-amp functionality here. The rear connectors are pass through for convenience. Also, the output is only unbalanced and connectors are there for convenience, not more power.

Topping A30Pro Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard of unity gain (4 volts in, 4 volts out) using XLR in and unbalanced 1/4 headphone out:

View attachment 112409

Performance is superb as one expects going into a test of Topping product. SINAD with is the sum of noise+distortion relative to our 1 kHz tone is essentially as good as it gets:

View attachment 112410

Signal to noise ration both at unity gain and 50 mv are exceptional:
View attachment 112424


The latter is now class leading:
View attachment 112412

Think about it: you are getting the full dynamic range of 16 bit music when outputting just 50 millivolts! This is one quiet headphone amp considering that some of this noise is from my analyzer! You can comfortably use the A30Pro with any sensitive IEM or headphone with zero worry about background hiss or noise.

Frequency response is excellent of course:
View attachment 112413

Let's measure power relative to noise+distortion with unbalanced load of 300 ohm:
View attachment 112425

Oh wow! 0.73 watts using such a high impedance? This is wonderful as it means you don't need to use balanced connections to get enough power to drive high impedance and inefficient headphones. Low and medium gains have identical performance and incredibly low noise floor with no clipping. So if you hear distortion there, it is in your music.

Switching to the other extreme of 32 ohm, we see the same picture:
View attachment 112415

This is 5.5 watts times two! This little box is producing 11 watts of power!!! I don't think we have ever measured an amplifier this powerful forgetting about how low noise and distortion it is.

Switching to balanced mode, we don't get much more power as there is no need for more:
View attachment 112418

For 50 ohm, I thought I show Topping A90 as a reference:

View attachment 112417

Notice how the noise level is even lower although A90 pulls ahead with a bit more power before clipping.

Finally, channel matching is quite good although as noted, there will be unit to unit variations:
View attachment 112419

The low gain mode though (which is less than 0 dB) should help keep the volume control in its more accurate range if you do run into a sample with worse performance.

Topping A30Pro Listening Tests
I started with my usual Ether CX 25 ohm headphone with balanced connection. The A30Pro had no trouble driving this headphone with incredible power and authority with zero sign of strain or distortion.

Switching to Sennheiser HD650 showed amazing detail, dynamic range and superb bass handling. I am usually brave enough to turn the volume to max for a second or two to see if the amp distorts or not. Not here. By the time I got to 3:00 o'clock, and staying there for half a second, I knew I had to back down and in a hurry! Wow, did that get loud! Even I couldn't handle that much power. There is so much extra headroom here for any headphone you want to throw at this amplifier.

Conclusions
Just when we thought we had reached a plateau with performance of headphone amps, Topping pushes a bit more in the form of lower noise and much more power in unbalanced mode. A solid and nice looking enclosure completes the picture for one of the most ideal headphone amplifiers I have laid may hands on. The medium sized enclosure with built-in power supply is definitely worth the extra cost to get rid of the dongle of the lower end products in view.

It goes without saying that it is my absolute pleasure to recommend Topping A30Pro headphone amplifier.

Note: this is a new headphone amplifier and while I have not found any issues in in my testing, there can be problems. If you are risk averse, you may want to let others buy and use it before jumping in to purchase one. My focus in these reviews is engineering performance, not reliability.

EDIT: Video review is also up now:

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Can someone explain the difference between discrete AMPs and this style topology? Why do people claim discrete amps are better if this topology measures far better?

 

[tqshreder]

Only input xlr is balanced. So if its a ground loop yes, if its something else nö.

thank you for the reply. let me clarify the issue is my headphone cable is near inductors that induce audible noise. I am hoping a balanced cable will cancel out the noise. is that the case? If so dose it matter whether the amp is "truly balanced" or not.

 

[Tortie]

Has Topping announced a release date for the A30pro and/or D10pro?

 

[Tortie]

Can someone explain the difference between discrete AMPs and this style topology? Why do people claim discrete amps are better if this topology measures far better?

I purchased an Asgard 3 two weeks ago and it has a discrete topology. The Asgard sounds weak and boring. So don't believe the subjectivist hype about discrete amps. SBAF and HF push Schiit and other brands that use discrete. I think it's used as a marketing ploy meant to convey audiophile puritanism.

Discrete topologies are archaic decades old and primitive "technology". Using such designs in 2021 is completely stupid. It's like lighting your house with candles and kerosene laterns. It's like watching the Super Bowl on a fuzzy 1980s tube television. That's how outdated that type of engineering is.

I also had Schiit's Magni 3 and it was nothing special. Didn't like it and sold it off. I'm avoiding all discrete amps from here on out. These old-school "discrete" enthusiasts are like Luddites with a little sprinkle of religious zealotry thrown in.

 

[Veri]

I purchased an Asgard 3 two weeks ago and it has a discrete topology. The Asgard sounds weak and boring. So don't believe the subjectivist hype about discrete amps.

At the same time, neither Magni 3+ nor Asgard 3 perform objectively bad enough to cause such terrible sound though. The objectivist approach would not predict the issues you're describing either, so I can't really explain exactly what is causing your issues.
Amir could not hear anything different in the Asgard 3 review, be that "bad" or "good" different. So your experience is an anomaly, to be fair.

 

[Tortie]

At the same time, neither Magni 3+ nor Asgard 3 perform objectively bad enough to cause such terrible sound though. The objectivist approach would not predict the issues you're describing either, so I can't really explain exactly what is causing your issues.
Amir could not hear anything different in the Asgard 3 review, be that "bad" or "good" different. So your experience is an anomaly, to be fair.

Perhaps my unit is defective but perhaps the defect rate is higher with discrete amps because of the added complexity of discrete components increases the odds of something going awry.

It's simply dumb to plaster a PCB with a multitude of tiny discrete parts when you can buy an IC off the shelf that obliterates any discrete circuit while avoiding the pitfalls of variability. Schiit has had reputation for not binning parts. Example being the volume pots on the first run of Magni 3 amps where a large proportion were scratchy. My own Magni was one of them. What if they don't bin other parts like the resistors or whatnot? I'm not expert or anything but I know businesses are all about boosting the bottom line and cost cutting and sometimes they cut corners.

I disagree with the entire premise of these discrete amps. They're simply trading on nostalgia and mystic. These amps always come up short in measurements compared to IC based amps. The recently tested Lux Labs amp did very well, a rare exception, but judged on a benefit-cost basis it still falls behind IC options which deliver better performance for a lower price.

Admittedly I now have a sour view on the industry. There doesn't seem to be any stellar companies in this space. Not sure if it's even worth my time to buy anything ever again. Maybe I should go back to making up my own music in my head and humming it while tapping on the desk. I'll stick with my LG phone for now as both a source and an amp. Finding a capable desktop amp has proved a fruitless endeavor.

 

[ninetylol]

Has Topping announced a release date for the A30pro and/or D10pro?

Nope.

IMHO @amirm shouldnt review stuff with no explicit release date in the future. Hes providing free marketing and since they also didnt set a price either it seems Topping is still deciding how much they can milk the customer with the hype Amir sparked.