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Topping A30Pro Review (Balanced Headphone Amp)

VariousArtists

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Does the coil whine come from the A30 pro or the D30 pro (or both)? This might end being a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
Both - it's very common in power supply units, but these are the only PSUs sitting on my my desk so quite audible when the ambient noise is low.

I couldn't hear it with the headphones on though.
 

kkeretic

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I have 2x A50, 1x A50s, 2x D50s and 1x D70. The D70 PSU (internal) is dead silent, both of the D50s' are powered by 10$ worth cell phone chargers, also dead silent, but all three original PSUs of the A50s and A50 whine big deal when the devices are turned off. So I replaced them with some third party 15V AC-DC PSUs that are silent. I really don't like this whining noise issue with A30Pro, it would probably drive me crazy.
 

VariousArtists

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I have 2x A50, 1x A50s, 2x D50s and 1x D70. The D70 PSU (internal) is dead silent, both of the D50s' are powered by 10$ worth cell phone chargers, also dead silent, but all three original PSUs of the A50s and A50 whine big deal when the devices are turned off. So I replaced them with some third party 15V AC-DC PSUs that are silent. I really don't like this whining noise issue with A30Pro, it would probably drive me crazy.
FWIW, the whine in my D30Pro is a bit better than my A30Pro, and unlike the PSU in my PC, the whine is very high pitched ringing, like very mild tinnitus.

It is not really a problem for me personally as my PC is pretty much always on whenever I am at the desk, and its fans/PSU are much louder than the A30Pro. What I care more is that there should be little noise when I have my HP/IEM on, and for this the D30Pro+A30Pro combo is working flawlessly.
 

Fernando

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Nope. It is the only one with with straight pass-throughs on the back and NO pre functionality.

Is @amirm wrong in the product description?

It is strange an error of those characteristics, perhaps my English is not very good yet ...

Regards.
 

VariousArtists

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Recorded an example of the coil whine while my PC is off, you can hear it going away after switching the unit off at ~8 secs into the video.

A30Pro coil whine - YouTube

Also note that it's generated while the unit is in pass-through mode (Input is flipped to "Off"), i.e. when the amplification circuit should be off, so the whine is very probably coming from the PSU.

Disclaimer: this is not to deter prospective buyers of A30Pro, just to share info as a fellow user so people knows what might happen (and might not if you are lucky). The whine is there but barely audible as you can hear in the video. Overall it does not bother me and I am happy to recommend the combo if you can live with this minor annoyance (which is quite common in PSUs).
 

Mr:River

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Does anyone know how to make the E30 display a sample rate of 44 - 192kHz?
Here it only gets stuck at 0.0db it doesn't go out of that.:confused:

1617433477983.png
 

Veri

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Is @amirm wrong in the product description?

It is strange an error of those characteristics, perhaps my English is not very good yet ...

Regards.
Erm, yes, looks like it. He says "Pre-amp balanced out" while it is in fact a TRS passthrough with no amplification stage.

Does anyone know how to make the E30 display a sample rate of 44 - 192kHz?
Here it only gets stuck at 0.0db it doesn't go out of that.:confused:

View attachment 121724
"DAC mode" versus variable volume mode.
 

Makauu171

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Thanks! But the A30Pro only performs as a bypass from the D30Pro. If I switch the input source to RCA on the A30Pro, it will not have output singal on XLR?
The D30pro can output from the xlr and rca at the same time
 

Makauu171

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I already mentioned why i think thats a bad idea.
1. No way the amp Amir got was a release candidate, but a prototype.
2. Free marketing and hype by Amir for a product which is not ready yet.
3. Preorders are a evil thing and have no advantage at all for the customer
@amirm himself said that he never reviews prototypes of products
 

AudioStudies

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The notion that Amir reviewed a "prototype" that will be any different from production models is an unproven opinion, and contrary to what many others believe. The notion that reviewing products before release is a bad thing is unfounded, and could help to identify problems before release. Pre-orders may or may not be a good thing, so a blanket statement saying they are bad is just plain wrong. It is only "free marketing and hype" when the product tests and performs well -- and in that case what is wrong with spreading the word? There are way too many whiners in the world.
 

jdizzle

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Have been v busy for the past couple weeks so havent had a chance to really test out my A30 Pro. I actually think it sounds better than the drop thx 789 amp and its smaller, fits nicely with the d30 pro, and I love that it and the D30 Pro just use a basic 3 prong computer power cable.

There is basically 0 coil whine on my unit. Less than almost any coil whine I've heard on other devices although yes it is there. It's quieter than my LSR 305s for sure. And I generally have an air purifier and/or white noise machine on anyways.
 

rawrJ

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I know plenty of the usual reviewers (other than Amir) have had the a30 pro for a while and not a single one has commented on it. That kind of scares me and APOS keeps pushing back my shipping, so every day I think of just cancelling and ordering the SH-9.
 
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