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Topping A30 Pro or L70

Puzzle

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I see there is a discount on A30 pro ($350 to $250) on amazon and I am also very interested in the new L70 amplifier($350), from the review i don't see a large differences on their specs, and to drive my he560 and mdr-z7, will there be any difference or which one will be better? Thanks guys
 

usern

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A30pro has more output from 3-pin (what people call unbalanced) headphone connector. L70 has less from 3-pin, but more from balanced connectors. So if you don't have balanced cables for your headphones, then A30pro can play them louder (if they an take that much power without distorting). Tonally they should not be different as both are neutral amplifiers. L70 has more features like preamp and remote though.
 
OP
Puzzle

Puzzle

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for z7 and he560, they both have unbal and bal cables, but the bal cable for z7 is a 4.4mm and for he560 is a 4pin xlr. And science A30 pro and L70 both have 4 pin xlr and 4.4 ports, I guess there is no problem choosing any of them?
 

Leiker535

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for z7 and he560, they both have unbal and bal cables, but the bal cable for z7 is a 4.4mm and for he560 is a 4pin xlr. And science A30 pro and L70 both have 4 pin xlr and 4.4 ports, I guess there is no problem choosing any of them?
The a30 is a SE outputting design only, it has the samer power on all three outputs: they're only there for convenience. The L70, which is basically an a90 with a relay circuit to control volume, does have bal outputs which give the best perfomance. Realistically both should drive all of your headphones to ear deafeaning levels, so it's a choice between looks, convenience and features.

With the relay volume control and screen, the L70 can have its volume adjusted with a remote and has perfect channel balance, while the a30 can't. Another important thing to consider is that both the A30 Pro and the L70 are VERY powerful amplifiers at lower impedances, such as those of iems, but only the A30 Pro offers negative gain for "iemmatching". So, if your DAC has only fixed full output voltage, the A30 pro will have more leeway to play sensitive iems at quieter levels when use in low-gain of -14 dB. This may or may not be compensated with the L70 perfect channel balance (you can go very low on what would cause imbalance in a analog pot like the a30s).
 
OP
Puzzle

Puzzle

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Thanks a lot guys! I also have some iems, like n5005, mdr ex1000 and ue900, the n5005 has a bal cable and while it only has impedance around 18 ohms, my amp cannot drive it to very loud( I am using an very old lehmman linear), and since I mainly use headphones at home, I guess I would like to take out some extra cashes for trying the balanced design on L70 XD
 

Human Bass

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I found a seller in Ali doing the L70 for 296. He is no longer selling with a discount, I got lucky
 

Dunring

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I've had the A30Pro a couple of times, it sounds a lot like the A90 I currently have, but the soundstage is smaller (did a side by side one night and that stood out right away). It also runs warm in standby and the room temp went up 1-2 degrees even at idle. If it detects over 250 ohm it goes into class A mode when using it, but it never got hotter than idle even in high gain mode on the DT880 600ohm. Sound is great, same power on all connectors. As long as you have the temperature control to cool things down it's a really good amplifier. I only switched to the A90 because an upstairs office in a southern climate just couldn't keep it from getting to hot in here. I loved using it though, temp was the only issue. With a balanced DAC like the D10b you can drive anything, the Hifiman HE6SE I had at the time sounded fantastic with it. The DT880 600ohm was excellent too.
 

wacomme

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I'm looking at buying the L70. However, I'm seeing very few, if any, reviews on this amp. Am I missing something?
 
OP
Puzzle

Puzzle

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I'm looking at buying the L70. However, I'm seeing very few, if any, reviews on this amp. Am I missing something?
It is just released, l7Audiolab has measurement for it, but not a lot other reviews.
 
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