A30Pro + E30 II or L70 + E50

[RasTTaII]

Hi, you all. I've reading the forum a lot lately. But, now I'm gonna buy new equipment I realized I need to ask some things.

I was thinking to buy topping L70 and a budget DAC like E30 II, but this DAC doesn't have balanced outputs. So maybe it's a better combo A30Pro + E30 II. If I finally go with L70, the E50 will be a better match because it has balanced output (?)

Don't know. After all this, my question is what do I loss if I pair L70 with E30 II?

 

[Adaboy4z]

If you going to spend to money on the L70 just get the E70. Neither of the other Dacs are bad you would just have a good matching pair. I have the E70 stack and I like it so far. Its my end of the road as far as head phones go.

 

[RasTTaII]

Yep, I guess the E70 is better. The reason to go with other DACs is the budget. At first I was thinking about to get a combo for around 300$, but I'm gonna get a cans that are hard to drive (recommended 2w@45ohm per channel). I believe that the L30 II can have some problems to drive them, that's the reason to go with a more powerful amp.

Maybe I'm wrong and I don't need that much power.

 

[Adaboy4z]

Nothing wrong with having to much power for the future!

 

[MAB]

Yep, I guess the E70 is better. The reason to go with other DACs is the budget. At first I was thinking about to get a combo for around 300$, but I'm gonna get a cans that are hard to drive (recommended 2w@45ohm per channel). I believe that the L30 II can have some problems to drive them, that's the reason to go with a more powerful amp.

Maybe I'm wrong and I don't need that much power.

Most people will benefit from more power. More so with hard to drive loads and you appear headed in that direction. I have an A30 Pro and it is a beast. The L70 appears even more so. So yeah, get the power.
As far as 'pairing', it just doesn't matter. If you already have a competent DAC, don't even waste your money. You won't be able to hear the difference between RCA and XLR inputs. There are hundreds of DACs that will all sound the same with these headphone amps.

 

[RasTTaII]

Oh, thx, I thought that uses unbalanced input may cause a lower output power

 

[MAB]

Oh, thx, I thought that uses unbalanced input may cause a lower output power

Unless you have a weak RCA output on your DAC, no problem driving these to the amplifier's maximum with either the unbalanced RCA or the balanced inputs.

 

[JasonC331]

Just go ahead and pony up the cost for the duo stack E70/L70 and done.

 

[RasTTaII]

I'll post here what I finally get, but I hope not to fall in the rabbit hole one more time and get the E70 hahaha

 

[Dunring]

Don't know. After all this, my question is what do I loss if I pair L70 with E30 II?

I'm using a Topping A30Pro and D10b balanced DAC and it's a great combination. If you don't need the connectivity and features, just go with the D10b for a DAC, audibly it's just as good as anything out there. The L70 is amazing as long as you're going to use balanced headphones, but the A30Pro is so versatile with full power on all the plugs. I also have the D30Pro DAC right next to it, but after a week of switching I'll stick with the D10b since I just use the default filter on the D30Pro anyway. The A30Pro/D10b is just bare knuckles without the frills (bluetooth, optical, etc). I would get the L70 if you plan on getting the Hifiman He6se which I have. Equalizing with a preamp reduction (of -4db or more) on those would really benefit from the L70's Godzilla power on the balanced connector. They really only impress when you EQ them and the bass comes out to play.

 

[RasTTaII]

I'm using a Topping A30Pro and D10b balanced DAC and it's a great combination. If you don't need the connectivity and features, just go with the D10b for a DAC, audibly it's just as good as anything out there. The L70 is amazing as long as you're going to use balanced headphones, but the A30Pro is so versatile with full power on all the plugs. I also have the D30Pro DAC right next to it, but after a week of switching I'll stick with the D10b since I just use the default filter on the D30Pro anyway. The A30Pro/D10b is just bare knuckles without the frills (bluetooth, optical, etc). I would get the L70 if you plan on getting the Hifiman He6se which I have. Equalizing with a preamp reduction (of -4db or more) on those would really benefit from the L70's Godzilla power on the balanced connector. They really only impress when you EQ them and the bass comes out to play.

I've missed that d10b, it seems really good for the price. I'll consider it for sure

 

[Veri]

Unless you have a weak RCA output on your DAC, no problem driving these to the amplifier's maximum with either the unbalanced RCA or the balanced inputs.

That's not really true though? Using a balanced DAC will indeed up the maximum power output due to the increased input voltage. Whether OP needs that additional power is another question though..

 

[Dunring]

That's not really true though? Using a balanced DAC will indeed up the maximum power output due to the increased input voltage. Whether OP needs that additional power is another question though..

Yes it's double (or more like Sabaj A20d or D90SE) the voltage, and that lets you stay out of high gain sometimes depending on the headphones and the amp. But there's some amplifiers like the Drop THX 789 that can handle only 2.1volts, or high gain mode causes internal clipping. You can back down the volume -7db to compensate, but kind of defeats the purpose. That amp is grounded at the plug, so I never had ground loop issues with it like others that benefit from XLR ground advantage). It's a good thing, but no guarantee you can avoid high gain mode. The best combination to do that would be the SMSL amplifiers, which have a big medium gain and usually no penalty over low gain (like the HO200, even the SP200 low gain is really powerful).

 

[MAB]

That's not really true though? Using a balanced DAC will indeed up the maximum power output due to the increased input voltage. Whether OP needs that additional power is another question though..

Hmm...
I've never had an issue driving my D30 Pro to clip balanced or unbalanced.
Wouldn't this only be the case if a DAC had a particularly low output voltage?

 

[Rja4000]

recommended 2w@45ohm per channel. I believe that the L30 II can have some problems to drive them

The max power output of the L30 II at 50 ohm is just above 2W. And it gives more at 32 ohm.

 

[Veri]

Hmm...
I've never had an issue driving my D30 Pro to clip balanced or unbalanced.
Wouldn't this only be the case if a DAC had a particularly low output voltage?

It's only a thing for extremely power hungry headphones, but note @amirm's output graphs are plotted with 4V balanced in whenever appliccable, not 2V RCA in. So no, if one needs huge power, balanced in balanced out is the way to go. And then there's me using SE in SE out and low gain and having more than enough power, so I'm not saying a lot of people will need it at all I just use my old Sennheiser HD580Precision most of the time though, not some crazy inefficient planar.

 

[RasTTaII]

That's not really true though? Using a balanced DAC will indeed up the maximum power output due to the increased input voltage. Whether OP needs that additional power is another question though..

Maybe that is easy to test, switching the amp input from RCA to XLR, without changing the volume level nor the gain, results in a louder volume. Is this true?

 

[Elitzur–Vaidman]

Maybe that is easy to test, switching the amp input from RCA to XLR, without changing the volume level nor the gain, results in a louder volume. Is this true?

All other things being equal, you'd get a 6dB increase in volume.

 

[RasTTaII]

Maybe that is easy to test, switching the amp input from RCA to XLR, without changing the volume level nor the gain, results in a louder volume. Is this true?

I found this in the topping's web, so it seems like there is no difference in output power due to input type. The only thing that matters for out power is the output type.

 

[Veri]

I found this in the topping's web, so it seems like there is no difference in output power due to input type. The only thing that matters for out power is the output type.

Maybe that is easy to test, switching the amp input from RCA to XLR, without changing the volume level nor the gain, results in a louder volume. Is this true?

No that's wrong, it is indeed perfectly easy to test, 4V input instead of 2V in will yield an obvious louder volume level just like @Elitzur–Vaidman says. The specs mention input sensitivity of ~1.9Vrms at gain=H. @amirm's measurements show slightly higher output with balanced input than specced especially at lower impedances, but you can clip the amp if you push it much higher than what's on the official specs. These would be unreasonably loud volumes/output levels, though..