Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[Sak]

I have always read that internal PSUs are bad for the signal, due to transformers and such.

So Amir tries to give as much information and measurements as possible.
I do not know what effect on the signal can be talked about .. I had a lot of equipment with built-in power supplies, and never heard any pickups and other terrible things that reviewers write about in paid reviews.

Why go back to internal ?

There are quite a few disadvantages of such power supplies.
1 - The power supply of the L30 is special, with alternating current. It will be very difficult to find replacing.
2 - It is huge and heavy. If you take it on a business trip, you will understand it.
3 - it is transformer, and cannot be used with 120v～240v. This is very important for some people, including me.

I am not against external power supplies, such as laptop. It is lightweight, dont pull the power socket out due to weight, easy to replace and can be used with 120v～240v .

Sorry for my english.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I have always read that internal PSUs are bad for the signal, due to transformers and such.
High-end Hi-Fi equipment often have external PSUs.
I was happy to have an external PSU on the L30.
Why go back to internal ?

The L series will stay external transformer.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

What? No way that internal PSUs are bad by themselves such a blanket statement.

Is that so? https://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/the-advantages-of-an-external-power-supply/
The least that you could say is that it's, at the very least, DEBATABLE, and it's in no way a blanket statement.

The L series will stay external transformer.

I understand, but it doesn't answer my question : WHY go back to internal ? For what reasons ? Thank you.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is that so?

https://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/the-advantages-of-an-external-power-supply/


I understand, but it doesn't answer my question : WHY go back to internal ? For what reasons ? Thank you.

There's no "go back". It's a forward move to have internal supply. Most people appreciate a single IEC power cord to the device. It's simple, it's neat.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

There's no "go back". It's a forward move to have internal supply. Most people appreciate a single IEC power cord to the device. It's simple, it's neat.

1. I only meant "go back" in a chronological way.
2. OK, so it's only for usability reasons ("simple, neat") and not for technical reasons. Thank you.
3. If "most people appreciate a single IEC power cord", one could wonder why the L30 got an external PSU. What was the reason behind that choice ?

I'm just asking this out of curiosity, not to criticize. I'm still a Topping fan and very happy with my products.

 

[Lero]

1. I only meant "go back" in a chronological way.
2. OK, so it's only for usability reasons ("simple, neat") and not for technical reasons. Thank you.
3. If "most people appreciate a single IEC power cord", one could wonder why the L30 got an external PSU. What was the reason behind that choice ?

I'm just asking this out of curiosity, not to criticize. I'm still a Topping fan and very happy with my products.

3) less expansive to design and less expansive to implement an external "more common" external psu

 

[Jimbob54]

Is that so? https://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/the-advantages-of-an-external-power-supply/
The least that you could say is that it's, at the very least, DEBATABLE, and it's in no way a blanket statement.

I understand, but it doesn't answer my question : WHY go back to internal ? For what reasons ? Thank you.

You made the blanket statement. And BS Audio posts really aren't evidence of anything. Neither a well implemented internal PS nor external PS should be inherently bad. Different design choices.

 

[raistlin65]

Is that so? https://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/the-advantages-of-an-external-power-supply/
The least that you could say is that it's, at the very least, DEBATABLE, and it's in no way a blanket statement.

It is NOT debatable that Paul McGowan and PS Audio are unreliable sources of information about audio. So there is no logical reason to get mired in debating what they have to say.

 

[hottyson]

Sorry to confirm that L30 is vulnerable to static. It killed my earphones and is inoperable now. Thank God, my active speakers Neumann KH 120 managed to survive. Cut my losses. I do not need a L30 replacement. Sorry, next time RME or Okto only.

I also had my Topping L30 preamp output hooked up to active monitors. I was switching back and forth between Emotiva and JBL so I don't recall which it was hooked up to at the moment of sizzle. I wonder if having the preamp output hooked up has anything to do with failures?

 

[Jimbob54]

I also had my Topping L30 preamp output hooked up to active monitors. I was switching between Emotiva or JBL so I don't recall which it was hooked up to at the moment of sizzle . I wonder if having the preamp output hooked up has anything to do with it?

Nope. The L30 and static charges just don't get on.

 

[Sukie]

Nope. The L30 and static charges just don't get on.

I've been watching with interest, although very sorry to hear of headphone damage. Are there any other HPAs that struggle with static? (To the best of people's knowledge.)

 

[ninetylol]

Didnt read this thread in a long time, can someone give me an tldr about why all your headphones and speakers are suddenly blowing up?

Ps: I use my L30 daily with active speakers and headphones and didnt have a problem so far.

 

[_thelaughingman]

Didnt read this thread in a long time, can someone give me an tldr about why all your headphones and speakers are suddenly blowing up?

Static electricity discharge (ESD) can render the L30 useless in select few instances.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Didnt read this thread in a long time, can someone give me an tldr about why all your headphones and speakers are suddenly blowing up?

Ps: I use my L30 daily with active speakers and headphones and didnt have a problem so far.

2020 Human COVID, 2021 will be the year for the electronic COVID.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

It is NOT debatable that Paul McGowan and PS Audio are unreliable sources of information about audio. So there is no logical reason to get mired in debating what they have to say.

It was just the first link that I found on the subject. Granted that video is useless, but I don't have time to look for others.

Internal PSUs are known to potentially induce more EM interference. That has been known in computer-land for a long time. It shouldn't even be debatable.

I have personally worked on power amp projects with internal PSUs and huge 1KW toroidal transformers, and transformer distance to some key elements (within reasonable limits) was a key element to succes.

I'm not saying that external PSUs are mandatory. I'm saying that internal PSUs must be designed carefully and can potentially induce more EM interference if put at the wrong place. If you think otherwise, let's agree to disagree, I won't debate any further on this.

 

[Veri]

Didnt read this thread in a long time, can someone give me an tldr about why all your headphones and speakers are suddenly blowing up?
Ps: I use my L30 daily with active speakers and headphones and didnt have a problem so far.

Using mine around 8 hours a day and it's running super smooth. Granted, I don't have any weird (static) electrical problems whatsoever and baby all of my electronics to a pretty OCD degree haha.

 

[Robin L]

Where I live, the air is never dry enough for electrostatic discharge.

 

[raistlin65]

It was just the first link that I found on the subject. Granted that video is useless, but I don't have time to look for others.

So you shared a video with us that you knew to be "useless" as proof that we should debate this issue?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm never interested in having a discussion with someone who grabs the first thing they can find off the internet as evidence of something, even though they know it's a terrible source.

 

[Harmonie]

@Jose Hidalgo

So many Power amps with 2 or more chunky toroidal transformers.

Quite a few have an external dedicated power supply or some have an option of external power supply (way more esoteric).
The only thing is to implement and isolate them well.
I'm no technician and surely @JohnYang1997 could explain it much better.

But it's pure logic.


Let it go ...

 

[Vini darko]

Why can't it be an internal external power supply?
Smsl managed it with that dac (su8?)