Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

[Jimbob54]

And not cherrypicked at all. Yeah, seems legit.

You are welcome to buy one on release and drop ship it to him, then on to you.

 

[Robbo99999]

Its been this way since the THX789. Arguably since the Atom. Its an impressive achievement but way more than is needed for 99% of uses and users. Still might not stop me buying one

That's right, I've got the JDS Labs Atom (bought on strength of the review here when I first came to this site), I'm not gonna be replacing it anytime soon, no way I need anything better, it's crystal as far as I'm concerned!

 

[JohnYang1997]

And not cherrypicked at all. Yeah, seems legit.

Well. You cannot cherrypick designs.

 

[Tks]

@amirm Good video again. I was wondering if you'd be down to add a little flair? A 10-30 second segment of the Subjective listening test (a first-reaction to the actual test you conduct trying to seek where an amp falls apart). I think people would like to see what you described in this video, talking about how you got scared with this one.

@JohnYang1997 Damn son, you really wanted to knock it out of the park for folks with this one. High power AND distortion this low? (I also have to commend the virtually extinct noise level. Not a single spike. It's crazy how much there is in this thing. Balanced and SE pre's as well? That freaking ~95dB 50mV (I super appreciate this, and know this is where it's real tough to get things right, especially with a small amp like this with the insane power it has, usually amps that come with this sort of power, don't come with also low-output level performance like this). Kept the nice flip switch from the A90, also somehow squeezed in a Pentacon along with a 4-pin XLR. And all this with powersupply within the device? Just beastly.

 

[Jimbob54]

@amirm Good video again. I was wondering if you'd be down to add a little flair? A 10-30 second segment of the Subjective listening test (a first-reaction to the actual test you conduct trying to seek where an amp falls apart). I think people would like to see what you described in this video, talking about how you got scared with this one.

@JohnYang1997 Damn son, you really wanted to knock it out of the park for folks with this one. High power AND distortion this low? (I also have to commend the virtually extinct noise level. Not a single spike. It's crazy how much there is in this thing. Balanced and SE pre's as well? That freaking ~95dB 50mV (I super appreciate this, and know this is where it's real tough to get things right, especially with a small amp like this with the insane power it has, usually amps that come with this sort of power, don't come with also low-output level performance like this). Kept the nice flip switch from the A90, also somehow squeezed in a Pentacon along with a 4-pin XLR. And all this with powersupply within the device? Just beastly.

Not pre amp on the balanced- pass thru.

 

[Count Arthur]

@amirm, I've really enjoyed the videos. As someone with no background in electronics, or engineering, I've understood the measurements in your reviews only in a very broad sense, in as much as "the lower this number is, the better", "the higher this number is, the better". etc.. The explanations in the videos of what you're measuring and what it means in audio terms has been really helpful.

 

[dmac6419]

And not cherrypicked at all. Yeah, seems legit.

How U know it was cherrypicked?

 

[daftcombo]

Avoid ground loop.

Ok, but I assume it is not a magical button. What is it doing inside?

 

[lizhuoyin]

@JohnYang1997
I am thinking about use it as a switch.
DAC to A30pro with both XLR and rca.
A30pro pro balance to power speakers.
A30pro to headphone.
If input switch is at rca, there will be no XLR / pro passthrough, isn't it? so I can use headphone only;
If input switch is at none, no headphone and there will be XLR to pro balance passthrough.
Am I right?
Thanks

 

[MKreroo]

Yikes we driving headphones with speaker power now

 

[Veri]

Ok, but I assume it is not a magical button. What is it doing inside?

You choose between grounding or floating/lifted ground... that's what that symbol means.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Ok, but I assume it is not a magical button. What is it doing inside?

LIFTing the ground?

 

[JohnYang1997]

@JohnYang1997
I am thinking about use it as a switch.
DAC to A30pro with both XLR and rca.
A30pro pro balance to power speakers.
A30pro to headphone.
If input switch is at rca, there will be no XLR / pro passthrough, isn't it? so I can use headphone only;
If input switch is at none, no headphone and there will be XLR to pro balance passthrough.
Am I right?
Thanks

Yes but you can also just toggle between OFF and BAL input.

 

[Veri]

Yes

RCA in RCA out is also simple passthrough right?

 

[JohnYang1997]

RCA in RCA out is also simple passthrough right?

Yes.

 

[ninetylol]

Im wondering, and maybe someone can enlighten me:

When viewing the distortion vs power charts the RME ADI-2 DAC V2 got almost the same distortion numbers than the A30pro. How come the SINAD is still on a different level?

Also the 33ohm cursor figures for low gain seem wrong? (i See it at about 19mW not 95mW)

 

[JohnYang1997]

Im wondering, and maybe someone can enlighten me:

When viewing the distortion vs power charts the RME ADI-2 DAC V2 got almost the same distortion numbers than the A30pro. How come the SINAD is still on a different level?

Also the 33ohm cursor figures for low gain seem wrong?

High performance mode was not enabled on THD+N vs Power graphs.
More measurements
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-topping-a30pro-headphoneamp（prototype）/

 

[lizhuoyin]

Yes but you can also just toggle between OFF and BAL input.

So OFF is to enable passthrough and BAL or RCA will disable passthrough?

 

[Jimbob54]

RCA in RCA out is also simple passthrough right?

Was going to ask the same. @amirm, think you need to clarify your review. Neither of the rear outputs are preamp. Both rca and bal are simple pass thru of the matching input. It's not a preamp.

 

[daftcombo]

LIFTing the ground?

What does that mean??!