Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

[Waterunderthebridge]

I went for a30pro / d30 pro after all. Really wanted the l50/e50, it seems to have way better value, but id always feel like im leaving something on the table (even though that most likely is not the case).

 

[wacomme]

I went for a30pro / d30 pro after all. Really wanted the l50/e50, it seems to have way better value, but id always feel like im leaving something on the table (even though that most likely is not the case).

It was a hard decision for me too - between the L50 and the A30Pro. I'm hoping I don't have regrets down the road if or when I buy some hard to drive headphones. For now, I'm completely happy with my L50.

 

[Waterunderthebridge]

It was a hard decision for me too - between the L50 and the A30Pro. I'm hoping I don't have regrets down the road if or when I buy some hard to drive headphones. For now, I'm completely happy with my L50.

It took me a week just constantly reading to make a decision. I preferred the l50 combo because of smaller size, and it just looks better imo, but since i went for stupid expensive headphones i wanted to make sure they will be properly driven.

Enjoy your l50, im sure its freaking amazing so no reason for regrets

 

[Lupin]

No matter what input you select on A30pro, all headphone outputs work.

Difference between XLR in and RCA in is that with RCA you cannot go as loud as XLR on headphone outputs.

Given the sensitivity of the A30Pro XLR or SE input doesn't matter that much on the HP out

 

[Rayman30]

Thank you all for the replies, one last question - and im sorry - it might sound stupid, im competely noob. If I connect the dac with the amp with a balanced cable (so XLR in the case of the a30 / d30 combo), do the headphones also need to be connected with balanced? Basically what I'm asking is, if the input on the amplifier is balanced, does the output (headphone out) need to be connected with balance, or will it work with SE as well?

Makes no difference, the Amp will output nearly indentical power to all outputs.

 

[wacomme]

It took me a week just constantly reading to make a decision. I preferred the l50 combo because of smaller size, and it just looks better imo, but since i went for stupid expensive headphones i wanted to make sure they will be properly driven.

Enjoy your l50, im sure its freaking amazing so no reason for regrets

Likewise. I'm sure the A30 Pro is fantastic too.

 

[Waterunderthebridge]

Received the stack yesterday, the A30 gets REALLY warm. It's on the verge of it being too warm to even touch,

 

[Veri]

Received the stack yesterday, the A30 gets REALLY warm. It's on the verge of it being too warm to even touch,

So you're talking me it's the perfect accessory for a cozy winter ;P
But yeah the A30 Pro is mostly class A up until the end of its range.

 

[Waterunderthebridge]

So you're talking me it's the perfect accessory for a cozy winter ;P
But yeah the A30 Pro is mostly class A up until the end of its range.

That was my thought as well, it will be pretty dandy for the winter

But I already have a 3090 running at 500watts, so you know, I don't need an extra heater

 

[wacomme]

Other than the heat, how do you like the amp?

 

[Waterunderthebridge]

Other than the heat, how do you like the amp?

It's smaller and way heavier than I expected, actually looks and feels high quality. The knob and the screen on the d30 are very, very nice.

When it comes to sound, can't say there was a huge difference compared to the X G6 I had before. Obviously the clipping is completely gone and I think I hear more fine details in the high end, maybe a tad bit more controlled bass response. But that might be just my imagination so, lot's of salt

When it comes to volume im listening at mid gain around 50 up to 70%, windows volume and the dac maxed out. Anything above 70% or god forbid high gain I consider insanely loud - to the point of hearing loss knocking at my door

 

[Waterunderthebridge]

Hm, I also managed to make the a30 pro keep turning on and off.

Headphone test online, left-right check

Online headphone check, selective sound playback on different stereo channels

webcammictest.com

Go to the above webpage, press frequencies generator, get down to 5hz and the a30 will keep turning on and off constantly.

 

[abhishek]

It's smaller and way heavier than I expected, actually looks and feels high quality. The knob and the screen on the d30 are very, very nice.

When it comes to sound, can't say there was a huge difference compared to the X G6 I had before. Obviously the clipping is completely gone and I think I hear more fine details in the high end, maybe a tad bit more controlled bass response. But that might be just my imagination so, lot's of salt

When it comes to volume im listening at mid gain around 50 up to 70%, windows volume and the dac maxed out. Anything above 70% or god forbid high gain I consider insanely loud - to the point of hearing loss knocking at my door

When I brought arya ,i used fiio k3 dac amp combo which outputs 200 mW power, i can clearly hear clipped bass.
For movies and games my arya V2 requires high gain 3 oclock + volume on A30 pro for breathtaking bass dynamics and still arya can handle skull vibrating low bass without clipping, till now i haven't heard clipping on high bass content, only my ears say stop it's enough.
For music 11-12 o'clock is louder, even mid gain is enough but for some older tracks require High gain, so I always use High gain.

 

[Jonne Haven]

I actually own the A30 pro already! I didn't consider any other option for the same reason, I didn't want to have to change cables to my headphones to benefit from the added power in balanced mode from other amps. This one gives me all the power needed to play with EQ (I have to set the EQ for my hd650 to almost -10 dB in preamp to cover for all the tweaking) without having to go fully balanced.

I EQ with large pre-amp numbers as well and am curious, are you able to go unbalanced RCA into the A30 and not trip the protection mode at high volumes? Thanks in advance.

Blessings,
-J

 

[HDavidson]

Question. I have topping d10 balanced and if I take Topping A30Pro or Topping L50 and with a balanced connection will there be a pass-through output to the outputs RCA ?

 

[staticV3]

Question. I have topping d10 balanced and if I take Topping A30Pro or Topping L50 and with a balanced connection will there be a pass-through output to the outputs RCA ?

No. When turned off, the A30Pro will pass RCA in through to RCA out and XLR in to TRS out:

From the A30Pro's Product Page btw
Same deal with the L50. TRS in won't be passed through to RCA out.

 

[HDavidson]

Topping A90 Discrete or Topping A90 will do it? XLR to RCA ?

 

[Veri]

Topping A90 Discrete or Topping A90 will do it? XLR to RCA ?

Sure.

 

[GreensTheorem]

Stupid question:
Has there been a new revision at some point or do the silver and black version always have different knobs?

I just ordered a black one and immediately noticed that something is different...

See yourself:

 

[Jonne Haven]

Stupid question:
Has there been a new revision at some point or do the silver and black version always have different knobs?

I just ordered a black one and immediately noticed that something is different...

See yourself:
View attachment 219514

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