Topping D30 & Portable Headphone Amplifier

[HeadphoneFan]

Hello Everyone! I hope you are doing well.

I'm new here, please let me know if I should put this question in the newbie forums instead.

Can the Topping D30 output audio to a portable headphone amplifier without overpowering/damaging said amplifier? I'm currently using an Xtrempro portable headphone amplifier, which seems near-identical to the Fiio A3 in terms of specs, components, and aesthetics. I'm considering getting a D30 around christmas but I'm not sure if it would work well with my amplifier (someone around here said that the Topping D30 could easily overload downstream equipment if one was not careful).

Any thoughts? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PS: I really appreciate the scientific research and rational discussion that happens here and am excited to be part of this community.

 

[derp1n]

Is it the XtremPro M1? The specs for that on XtremPro's website are less than useless (they only list weight and dimensions). If we assume it's as similar to the Fiio A3 as you say, the A3 specs say the input is suitable for 2.4 volts on low gain and 0.8 volts on high gain. The D30 outputs a fixed 2 volts (at maximum volume), so that would work fine with the low gain setting but would clip on the high gain setting unless you turned the volume of the DAC (or your OS/media player/etc.) down by about -8 dB FS to bring the output of the D30 down to just under 0.8 volts.

 

[HeadphoneFan]

Is it the XtremPro M1? The specs for that on XtremPro's website are less than useless (they only list weight and dimensions). If we assume it's as similar to the Fiio A3 as you say, the A3 specs say the input is suitable for 2.4 volts on low gain and 0.8 volts on high gain. The D30 outputs a fixed 2 volts (at maximum volume), so that would work fine with the low gain setting but would clip on the high gain setting unless you turned the volume of the DAC (or your OS/media player/etc.) down by about -8 dB FS to bring the output of the D30 down to just under 0.8 volts.

Thanks very much for the quick/detailed response!

Yes, it's the Xtrempro M1. According to the specs listed on amazon.com/.ca, it has 108db SNR and 0.004% THD+N @1Khz (same as A3), and uses OPA 1642 Preamp and AD8397 amp like the A3. Battery life is 12 hours as opposed to 16 for the A3 and it's significantly cheaper than the A3, those seem to be the main differences. It looks rather similar as well.

Xtrempro M1: https://www.google.ca/search?q=xtre...AUIDygC&biw=1280&bih=610#imgrc=STQWm8xcBe-XHM:

Fiio A3: https://www.google.ca/search?q=fiio...AUIDigB&biw=1280&bih=610#imgrc=6mF9hDuRh6cq0M:

I checked the Xtrempro website and amazon for input specs and couldn't find any but should be fine. High gain starts getting noisy after volume 2 but I get plenty of volume with my Phillips SHP9500s on low gain volume ~ 3 (when gaming and relying on the built-in dac of the wii or xbox 360). I assume the Sennheiser HD598 (50 Ohm 112db SPL sensitivity), Hifiman He 400i (32 Ohm 93db SPL sensitivity), and AKG K702 (64 Ohm ~ 93db SPL sensitivity) could all be driven to more than sufficient volume on low gain. I plan to upgrade from my Philips SHP9500s to one of the other headphones listed and then stick with said pair of headphones unless I get wealthy enough to justify purchasing an HD 800.

I didn't even know the D30 had volume control, that's interesting. I guess I should just keep it at max volume (assuming the M1 can indeed handle 2.4 volts on low gain) and then adjust volume with the M1? Or would that increase THD or noise?

I may upgrade from the Xtrempro to an Atom amp eventually, but I can't seem to hear any distortion or noise with the M1, and its portability allows me to have it close to me when I'm gaming/listening to music (enabling access to the M1 volume wheel, very convenient for gaming). If THD+N is as low (or almost as low) across the audible frequency range as it apparently is at 1Khz (0.004%), and SNR was accurately measured (listed at 108db), I'm guessing most people would be unable to hear/recognize the noise/distortion produced. Hence, I'm not sure if it's worth it to pay ~ $130 for an Atom.

 

[HeadphoneFan]

Thanks again! Just bought the D30 and hoping clipping won't be an issue. I may eventually upgrade amps anyway.

 

[nerone]

Good morning everyone, I would like to introduce myself. I'm new in this forum and, after a lot of reading, I finally bought the Topping D30 dac. Since I'm actually using it on a vintage system, I would like to ask you if I could boost its performance by powering it with a linear power supply set to 15v 5A. What do you think?

 

[Jimmy]

I replaced the included wall wart almost from day one, mostly because I don't like wall warts and it felt pretty cheap. However I don't recall any difference in sound quality after the change.

What I found is that SPDIF sounds to me slightly different than USB, a bit warmer, so you may experiment with different inputs.

 

[nerone]

I replaced the included wall wart almost from day one, mostly because I don't like wall warts and it felt pretty cheap. However I don't recall any difference in sound quality after the change.

Quello che ho trovato è che SPDIF suona leggermente diverso da USB, un po 'più caldo, quindi potresti sperimentare input diversi. [/ QUOTE]
Thanks, I'll do some tests