Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

[raif71]

A90/A30 = 3. If this is the price ratio I'm in.

I think you got your wish as A90 is around 500 and A30 is around 110. Of course if you mean A30Pro, that price is not known yet

 

[phoenixsong]

Looks great! Is there a multitone graph available?

 

[amirm]

Excellent review! Just noticed this. The watermark in the lower righthand corner of the video says “AudioSciecneReview.com.”

Oh no! Man I have a lot to do to get this video thing right....

 

[cursive]

Thanks for another great review Amir, and much respect to Topping. I didn't realize the videos would be coming so regularly, so that's been a very pleasant surprise as they've been an awesome treat to listen to after reading through the written review.

You're honestly a natural, and like many have said, you speak like you've been doing youtube reviews the whole time.

 

[jannek]

@amirm could you tell something about the feel of the volume pot?

 

[TwoLazy]

There are rumors of HE6 needing plenty of power, but I'm not sure anyone confirmed that scientifically.

Well, the HE6 has 83,5db sensitivity with 50 ohms impedance. So it definitely needs a lot of power.

 

[respice finem]

The next "endgame" product, nuff said. History rhymes, "made in China" is gradually becoming the new "made in Japan", which came after "made in Germany". If this thing will be priced anywhere near 500 Euros here in Germany, the upmarket HPA manufacturers here are in trouble. The remaining point for "made in Germany": service after warranty. I've got my almost 8 years old Lehmann audio "desktop system" HPA repaired and revised last year for under 100 Euros including transfer, and within a week. With Chinese manufacturers it would probably not be possible this easily, unless they establish (or have they? IDK) a EU service point.

 

[phoenixsong]

Thanks for another great review Amir, and much respect to Topping. I didn't realize the videos would be coming so regularly, so that's been a very pleasant surprise as they've been an awesome treat to listen to after reading through the written review.

You're honestly a natural, and like many have said, you speak like you've been doing youtube reviews the whole time.

Indeed, I do really appreciate the different spin to these reviews. From my experience presentations are usually simplified to only the key points while papers include all the meticulous research and methodology. Amirm does it different- neat measurements in the written reviews for a quick look/reference and in depth explanations in the videos

 

[restorer-john]

@amirm It is definitely the time to be testing the protection mechanisms integrated into these products (hopefully) to save attached (and expensive) headphones from accidents.

I suggest the following:

1) DC protection.
Inject an offset of x mV and wind up the volume. Monitor the output and call the level at which the amplifier triggers its onboard DC trip (or not).
2) Short circuit protection.
Wind up the level to full rated power and short the outputs. Describe the protection (or lack thereof) behaviour.
3) Overdrive/Overpower protection
Is there a level where the device enables protection based on clipping (running into the rails) or excess current consumption?

Traditional amplifiers have had these protection modes (and others) for many decades and now headphone amplifiers are getting serious in the power department, these parameters should be tested and/or commented upon.

 

[bequietjk]

Well my name starts with an 'A' and I think it's time for a new stack

 

[respice finem]

Sidenote: The YT review's audio seems perfect now.

 

[Veri]

The front panel jacks are xlr, 1/4” and what? Is it an 4.4mm?

Yep.

Would be interesting why to choose this over a L30. Integrated power supply? Look and feel? Balanced connections?
THD+N and SINAD are almost identical and considering power: is there any headphone so unsensitive to need that much?

John kinda made this amp so powerful to drive all Beyerdynamic 600Ω with ease, even with lots of EQ. Zeos would like it LOL

 

[Maki]

There are rumors of HE6 needing plenty of power, but I'm not sure anyone confirmed that scientifically.

Tyll measured the HE6 at about 90dB/V which means 18V to hit 115dB for peaks. 18V at 50 ohms is 6.5 watts. It's definitely the hardest to drive headphone I own, apart from electrostatics.

 

[cursive]

Tyll measured the HE6 at about 90dB/V which means 18V to hit 115dB for peaks. 18V at 50 ohms is 6.5 watts. It's definitely the hardest to drive headphone I own, apart from electrostatics.

I've always wanted to give them a listen, heard good things about the originals.

Interesting tidbit from hifiman themselves
"With sensitivity of 83.5dB, the HE-6 must be paired with a headphone amplifier of comparable quality such as the HIFIMAN EF5 which delivers 2 watts per channel. The HE-6 is the reference choice of critical listeners around the world.

HE-6 requires a powerful headphone amplifier to drive it. Our EF6 headphone amplifier can serve 5 watt per channel at 50 Ohm."

Perhaps even they didn't realize how much power is truly needed, or rather how loud customers would want to listen.

 

[MZKM]

Oh no! Man I have a lot to do to get this video thing right....

You have the previous title about fancy audio cables also in the top right of the video.

 

[respice finem]

...or rather how loud customers would want to listen.

Good point, and a warning from a medical point of view: We have to be careful not to listen too loud for prolonged time with headphones, just set a moderate level and after 3 or so minutes it doesn't seem too quiet any more, by getting used to the missing "room cues", which causes the "too quiet" illusion. Especially IEMs and closed-back headphones are risky to your hearing if too loud (pressure chamber principle). We don't want these as our next IEMs, do we?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/in-depth/hearing-aids/art-20044116

 

[Maki]

I've always wanted to give them a listen, heard good things about the originals.

Interesting tidbit from hifiman themselves
"With sensitivity of 83.5dB, the HE-6 must be paired with a headphone amplifier of comparable quality such as the HIFIMAN EF5 which delivers 2 watts per channel. The HE-6 is the reference choice of critical listeners around the world.

HE-6 requires a powerful headphone amplifier to drive it. Our EF6 headphone amplifier can serve 5 watt per channel at 50 Ohm."

Perhaps even they didn't realize how much power is truly needed, or rather how loud customers would want to listen.

Personally I'm quite satisfied even out of the Topping A50s with its 1.5-2 watts at 2V input with my listening volumes. The whole speaker amp thing just seems like placebo mythology to me. No clipping = no problem. The A30pro here would do fine. I would consider selling my A90/D90 stack for it, but it seems like they moved or got rid of the PRE/HPA switch which I actually use a lot. So I'm sticking with the 90's for now.

 

[cursive]

Personally I'm quite satisfied even out of the Topping A50s with its 1.5-2 watts at 2V input with my listening volumes. The whole speaker amp thing just seems like placebo mythology to me. No clipping = no problem. The A30pro here would do fine. I would consider selling my A90/D90 stack for it, but it seems like they moved or got rid of the PRE/HPA switch which I actually use a lot. So I'm sticking with the 90's for now.

Yeah I think you're right. I hear a lot of people getting obsessed with headroom, or that having headroom somehow makes an amp sound better, even if you're not using the power? The HE-6 has definitely gained it's own mystique in that way.

I was surprised to see no PRE position on the switches, most of toppings offerings do have this. Personally I have several SMSL products with no specific preamp position though, and honestly it hasn't bothered me as much as I expected. Unplugging headphones is nearly the same amount of work as flipping a switch in my book, though perhaps not as convenient or seamless.

 

[jannek]

@JohnYang1997 stated that the A30pro has NO preamp functionality but only passthrough a while ago:

A30pro omits pre-amp functionality. Reason is that A30pro has balanced input, but doesn't have balanced output. It requires extra circuits to have balanced out preamp. I squeezed a pair of 6.35mm TRS balanced output on the back to have the balanced out.(but not extra preamp circuit) Some people also have requested that bypass function on some model. A30pro is the perfect place to do it.

So @amirm could you please check for that? Maybe this point in the otherwise really cool video is not correct.

 

[Doodski]

The next "endgame" product, nuff said. History rhymes, "made in China" is gradually becoming the new "made in Japan", which came after "made in Germany". If this thing will be priced anywhere near 500 Euros here in Germany, the upmarket HPA manufacturers here are in trouble. The remaining point for "made in Germany": service after warranty. I've got my almost 8 years old Lehmann audio "desktop system" HPA repaired and revised last year for under 100 Euros including transfer, and within a week. With Chinese manufacturers it would probably not be possible this easily, unless they establish (or have they? IDK) a EU service point.

The Lehmann units are all through hole construction I think and that makes servicing them much easier. Parts are readily available for through hole where surface mount components are difficult to identify and source.

EDIT: The entry level Lehmann amp is surface mount and all other models are through hole.