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Topping L30 headamp owners - is your volume knob 'feel' a bit loose ?

MadMan

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Question for other L30 owners - while the volume pot feels smooth and a bit 'damped' in a good way when adjusting (like not gritty plastic-on-plastic) there is also a bit of 'looseness' around the adjustment point; meaning I can rotate or wiggle the knob a few millimeters each way without actually adjusting the volume, then when it hits the end of this 'loose zone' it adjusts the volume. Does anyone else have this imprecise center feel on their volume knob ?
 

JohnYang1997

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It's fully discussed in A90 thread and L30 thread. Yes. It's normal. It doesn't stop you from precisely adjusting the volume.
 
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MadMan

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It's fully discussed in A90 thread and L30 thread. Yes. It's normal. It doesn't stop you from precisely adjusting the volume.

It is not discussed unless it was a single post and I missed it. I've read the entire thread already as it grew, and did multiple searches for 'knob' 'volume' 'wobble' 'loose'. Perhaps there's a different search that would bring up the issue I described, I'm not sure if you understood the issue despite my description.

This is *not* about the volume knob being 'pulled out' away from the chassis (mine is maybe 1mm or less away from the chassis) ... this is about the volume knob having some 'dead area' when turned left or right. Ex: I turn the volume up (right)...upon turning it down (left) there is a millimeter or two at most of turning before it hits the 'down volume' portion of the potentiometer. Perhaps this is a design tradeoff for the smooth damping of the knob, I would like to hear from other owners.
 

JohnYang1997

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It is not discussed unless it was a single post and I missed it. I've read the entire thread already as it grew, and did multiple searches for 'knob' 'volume' 'wobble' 'loose'. Perhaps there's a different search that would bring up the issue I described, I'm not sure if you understood the issue despite my description.

This is *not* about the volume knob being 'pulled out' away from the chassis (mine is maybe 1mm or less away from the chassis) ... this is about the volume knob having some 'dead area' when turned left or right. Ex: I turn the volume up (right)...upon turning it down (left) there is a millimeter or two at most of turning before it hits the 'down volume' portion of the potentiometer. Perhaps this is a design tradeoff for the smooth damping of the knob, I would like to hear from other owners.
Yes. It's been discussed many times. I responded many times. This is called "wiggles" by others.
I didn't blame you for asking this. I just wanted you to know that this happens to others and is discussed. So no worry about it.
 
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MadMan

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Oh, I did find it in Wolf-X700's 'review' thread. (I consider those previews only, once Amir has tested a device I ignore them and it seems most others do as well.) I was referring to Amir's L30 thread.

So to be nerdy :) Is this a physical design tradeoff manufacturers can make ? The damping is certainly a nice feel, but if you wanted no 'wiggle' you could have the pot shaft create more friction with something ? That would make no 'wiggle', but also take away the smooth damped feel ? (It would not change the actual volume adjustment in the pot itself of course.)
 

JohnYang1997

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Oh, I did find it in Wolf-X700's 'review' thread. (I consider those previews only, once Amir has tested a device I ignore them and it seems most others do as well.) I was referring to Amir's L30 thread.

So to be nerdy :) Is this a physical design tradeoff manufacturers can make ? The damping is certainly a nice feel, but if you wanted no 'wiggle' you could have the pot shaft create more friction with something ? That would make no 'wiggle', but also take away the smooth damped feel ? (It would not change the actual volume adjustment in the pot itself of course.)
There's a bit of variation between units. It's gets looser if one apply more force(a lot) to it. It's the inside of the pot that's doing this. And we achieved basically perfect balance with this pot. We take it as is. It's not so bothersome in everyday use.
IF you feel extremely distracted by it you can just returned the unit and get a new one.
 

raif71

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My unit arrived today (plan to show some pictures in the main Amir's L30 thread). Just want to touch on the wiggle phenomena. Yes, it is there ie when the volume knob is stopped at any level, there will be some wiggle to the left and right that does not change the volume per say until more turning is applied. For me, not much of a concern but the shop where I got the unit, has A50 and that volume knob is just niceeee.
 

JohnYang1997

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My unit arrived today (plan to show some pictures in the main Amir's L30 thread). Just want to touch on the wiggle phenomena. Yes, it is there ie when the volume knob is stopped at any level, there will be some wiggle to the left and right that does not change the volume per say until more turning is applied. For me, not much of a concern but the shop where I got the unit, has A50 and that volume knob is just niceeee.
Different feeling, different preference. Smooth and damped vs tight and solid.
 

thin bLue

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arrived today
wiggle of this size of knob is just fine

seems mine has too tight gap between front panel and knob
that makes scratching feeling @ 7~9 o'clock is this fine? or can I fix it?

(with headphones it's fine
but my IEMs It works at 7:30~8:30 position)

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20201117_002558.jpg
 
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Veri

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I just tested my L30. No wiggle whatsoever.

#goldensample :p
 

Veri

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I'm

Jealous of you xD
Where did you buy from? If local (i.e. not from China/aliexpress) I would definitely ask if you can get another unit possibly.
If aliexpress/shenzhenaudio, ask if you can get some money back, with photo evidence. Just what I would do....
 

thin bLue

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Where did you buy from? If local (i.e. not from China/aliexpress) I would definitely ask if you can get another unit possibly.
If aliexpress/shenzhenaudio, ask if you can get some money back, with photo evidence. Just what I would do....

Thanks for advice!

I bought it form Amazon (@SHENZHENAUDIO )
They are kind and provide great services all the time


now I'm just waiting for @JohnYang1997 's answer.
 
D

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Mine had this “wiggling” issue. Coming from a nice smooth knob on my main headphone amp (Asgard 3), I couldn’t stand it. I ended up returning it for other reasons (turned out to not be too helpful for my intended use case) but I don’t know if I would have been able to live with it long term.
 
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