New Topping L70 is just insane.

[Nordling]

Read the user manual, Model: TP70A. Solution: the colour of the device and the type of cable vary from package to package.

Thanks, found it!

 

[Nordling]

SE input resistance. Right?

Thanks! Corrected.

 

[Blockader]

Mmm... Cannot understand why Amir is testing these TAD speakers and not the L70.

because all these Topping, SMSL dacs, amps are absolutely transparent and there is no point of measuring them anymore. Whatever distortion these dacs, amps have that distortion profile is going to be completely dominated by the distortion of the transducers until 4th or 5th order.

If you have any doubts, please take a distortion hearing test and see if you can score -69db 3 times in arow with music:

Listening Test

www.klippel.de

If you haven't before, you'll realize how hard it is to hear even -60db distortion after taking the test. -It is worth to note that -20db distortion equals to 10 times less distortion.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Hey, take my comments with distance. Amir does what he wants and if I don't like what I read here, I just have to find another website.

We already have measurements from Wolf.

 

[A_T_O_M_I_C_Rooster]

Just received and set up an L70 coupled with an E70 DAC. This in turn is output to a pair of Dan Clark Audio Noire's and the connectivity is XLR cables/USB. The source is my computer running Qobuz/Roon. Does anybody want to share their settings for a similar setup on both the amplifier and the DAC? I am curious if I have everything setup correctly in the settings on both units. (I have already optimized source on windows 10).

Wanted to comment about the sound from my headphones. I was previously using an E30 II DAC and an L30 amp. The higher vocals...basically any of the higher frequencies were very shrill to my ears. Did not like, :-( . However, listening to this through the E70 DAC/L70 amp the sounds are not shrill at all anymore; I also took out the Noire's white tuning material.

Edit: I was getting some "pops" during audio playback. Reinstalled the E70 windows drivers and switched to WASAPI exclusive mode in Roon. Pops seem to be gone after maybe an hour of listening. Also, playing DSD material, I set Roon to convert from DSD to PCM. Hope this helps somebody who runs across this post.

 

[Nordling]

@A_T_O_M_I_C_Rooster By 'pops' do you mean like the sound a record player makes when there's a scratch on the LP? Or more like a soft irregularity in the sound, like it jumps a few milliseconds forward in time?

 

[juliangst]

because all these Topping, SMSL dacs, amps are absolutely transparent and there is no point of measuring them anymore

With DACs I agree but amp measurements are still very important to me.
You mostly just get the 16 Ohm power spec. This spec is pretty meaningless when you have headphones like the DCA Aeon that are 12 Ohm.
You can have two amps which both measure 3 Watts at 16 Ohm but one might have 2 Watts at 12 Ohms and the other one might have 4 Watts at 12 Ohms.

Knowing which amps are current restricted is extremly useful information imho

 

[juliangst]

In addition to that, it's also really interesting to see how high the pre amp output is. Most DACs have a 4V XLR out but some Headphone/Preamps might have 10V or more (Benchmark LA4, Topping A90D and also the L70).
This could be interesting for people who have a low gain amp like the Purifi in bypass mode or an AHB2 in low gain

 

[A_T_O_M_I_C_Rooster]

@A_T_O_M_I_C_Rooster By 'pops' do you mean like the sound a record player makes when there's a scratch on the LP? Or more like a soft irregularity in the sound, like it jumps a few milliseconds forward in time?

I would say like the sound a record player makes except the pops would occur very intermittently and it was mostly a single "pop" here and there. Sometimes it was subtle and sometimes more prominent. Needlessly to say, it seems to be gone now.

 

[renaudrenaud]

As you describe it, it seems a clock glitch.

 

[amirm]

Review just posted: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/topping-l70-headphone-amp-review.39767/

 

[amirm]

because all these Topping, SMSL dacs, amps are absolutely transparent and there is no point of measuring them anymore.

What? Headphones amps vary a ton as far as power output. Without measuring, you have no idea what you are getting. Run out of power and the amp distorts and heavily so. Have noise and your IEM listening will be anything but pleasant. These are the reasons why I also listen in addition to measuring them.

 

[amirm]

Mmm... Cannot understand why Amir is testing these TAD speakers and not the L70.

I had measured the TAD months back, before our move and such. But that is not the only reason the L70 is late. It was 90% my fault, 10% topping. I had the unit a while ago, powered it up in low gain and all was well. Put it in high gain and got this "r-" display and thought the unit was broken. So I asked Topping to send me another one (which arrived a few days ago), only to realize that the L70 is so powerful that if you set it to max volume with 4 volts in, it will go into protection. I had not seen this before and topping had not documented the "r-" display so I thought something was wrong. But there was not.

Anyway, per above, the review is out. I apologize for the delay.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I had measured the TAD months back, before our move and such. But that is not the only reason the L70 is late. It was 90% my fault, 10% topping. I had the unit a while ago, powered it up in low gain and all was well. Put it in high gain and got this "r-" display and thought the unit was broken. So I asked Topping to send me another one (which arrived a few days ago), only to realize that the L70 is so powerful that if you set it to max volume with 4 volts in, it will go into protection. I had not seen this before and topping had not documented the "r-" display so I thought something was wrong. But there was not.

Anyway, per above, the review is out. I apologize for the delay.

Amir, about the delay, I was just joking. Your work, your website had changed the Hi-fi in few years, so huge thanks to you Sir!

 

[nagster]

if anyone is wondering about the input impedance like I did, here's the Topping support response:
View attachment 247002

I thought the Topping support guy made a typo, but it didn't.

 

[aaddas]

TOPPING PRE90^^A30PRO^^L70
which one will be a good choice as preamplifier?

 

[Bleib]

TOPPING PRE90^^A30PRO^^L70
which one will be a good choice as preamplifier?

Well, you could also consider A70pro