Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[Yuno]

Does it make sense to get this mainly as a preamp with volume control for my power amp?

No, there are passive components that can do that for cheaper. jds labs ol switcher for instance.

 

[Toku]

Does it make sense to get this mainly as a preamp with volume control for my power amp?

L30's PRE AMP mode can be connected to a power amplifier to adjust the volume.

 

[3125b]

Does it make sense to get this mainly as a preamp with volume control for my power amp?

Depends on your setup. What components do you use exactly?

 

[nck045]

My source is PC to Khadas TB Dac and to Hypex NC122MP. Right now I can control volume via software but would prefer a physical volume wheel for safety reasons

 

[tglodjo]

I've already ordered my L30 and am waiting for it, but hot damn that cobalt blue looks awesome. Is there an estimated time frame that the alternate colors will be available?

 

[3125b]

Hypex NC122MP

The rated input voltage seems to be below 2Vrms (depending on the load), so you should be good with the output of the DAC, and can therefor use a passive attenuator. There are many, the JDS is probably a solid choice, but even cheaper ones may be ok(?).

 

[NM156]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the new Topping L30 headphone amplifier. It is a companion to their E30 DAC. I don't have official pricing on it but see it on some sites for US $130.

This is a compact unit but with nicely thought out controls:

View attachment 77390

There was a plastic cover in the front which had very clear labels on it. But once I pulled it off, I realized the real labels are not as easy to read. So you may want to leave that plastic on it. Then again there is not much to remember here to need the labels. The left switch controls whether the output is the headphone or line out in the back. And there are three useful gain modes: -9, 0 and +9 dB. The first one is super useful for very sensitive IEMs and headphones allowing the volume control to operate in its most accurate range.

The back panel is as you expect but there is a change in how the unit is powered:
View attachment 77391

Yes, it is a rather heavy, 15 volt AC transformer rated at 1 amp. Not a switching power supply. So be careful to get the unit rated for your country. AC transformers have a design benefit in that you can create both positive and negative DC supplies from them which is needed for amplification. With a single voltage switching power supply, you have to create a negative supply using DC to DC switching converters that creates a weak link.

In use, the L30 got a bit warm but nothing to be concerned about.

Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual, I feed the amp a superbly high quality analog 1 kHz tone at 2 volts, set the volume/gain to output 2 volts ("unity gain") and see how much distortion and noise we get:

View attachment 77393

Wow, this is incredible. You can barely see a distortion spike at -150 dB, some of which is from the analyzer output. SINAD which is the some of noise and distortion, is now dominated by the noise of L30 and the analyzer itself, producing near limit of 121.4 dB. This lets the the L30 to reach the top of the ladder by a hair:


View attachment 77394

Quite an accomplishment!

Noise performance by itself is excellent:

View attachment 77395

The right side shows that even when we drastically reduce output to just 50 millivolts, we still have the full dynamic range of the CD, placing the L30 again at the top of the class:
View attachment 77396

Frequency response of course is exceptionally flat and wideband:
View attachment 77397

Multitone test resembling "music" proves how clean this amplifier is:

View attachment 77398

Most important test here is power so let's see what the L30 can do into 300 ohm (high) load:

View attachment 77399

Wow! There was a time when we thought the Drop THX AAA was the best we could do and here comes the L30, with so much lower noise and distortion. Note that this test for historical reasons does NOT use the lowest distortion mode of my analyzer. So actual distortion is limited by this test setup. The L30 is likely even better than what is seen.

Same beautiful dance is shown with opposite load of 33 ohm:

View attachment 77400

Channel balance was exceptionally good for an amplifier with analog controls:

View attachment 77401

If the other samples in the field are this good, this alone differentiates the L30 strongly from the competition for those of you with sensitive IEMs/headphones.

Headphone Amplifier Listening Tests
Measurements predicts that we have tons of absolutely clean power and that is what I heard. Even with my low impedance and very inefficient Ether CX headphone, I had no trouble getting clean sound to the limits of what I could tolerate. Ditto for HD-650 which produced exceptional detail and thundering bass which it can only deliver when pumped with authority.

Conclusions
The race toward perfection and beyond continues in headphone amplifiers at incredibly low prices. The L30 is the latest offering, firmly grabbing the top of the class and holding on to it. Its functionality is excellent and price is very reasonable.

I can't recommend the Topping L30 strongly enough. It is superb engineering in small package and low cost. Get one and thank yourself that you live in this era and not a few years ago.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Here it is Sunday evening and I am "working" doing reviews. Least you all can do is pay me well by
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Could you please measure channel crosstalk versus frequency, 20Hz to 20kHz, L to R, R to L, with a load of about 300 Ohm (Sennheiser HD 800 S)?
Thank you.

 

[Jave]

Could you please measure channel crosstalk versus frequency, 20Hz to 20kHz, L to R, R to L, with a load of about 300 Ohm (Sennheiser HD 800 S)?
Thank you.

Maybe also THD+N vs frequency also? if we can be greedy

 

[frankh]

Thanks for the review Amirm. My L30 should be shipping by tomorrow and should arrive in about 10 days. Can't wait to compare it with my JDS Labs Atom.

 

[adolchristin]

@JohnYang1997 I know this probably isn't your realm of expertise but any idea if these are going to be available at Amazon in the US? I ordered a couple of E30s from there but looks like the L30s are still shipping out of china.

 

[JohnYang1997]

@JohnYang1997 I know this probably isn't your realm of expertise but any idea if these are going to be available at Amazon in the US? I ordered a couple of E30s from there but looks like the L30s are still shipping out of china.

yes

 

[adolchristin]

yes

Good news! Any idea on ETA? Also congratulations on your stellar design.

 

[GoMrPickles]

yes

Hi, looks (sounds?) like a great product. Thanks for your work!

Here's my question: I tend to listen at pretty low levels. I have a PC with USB out (Linux, volume at max) to a SMSL SU-8 V2 (volume at max, balanced interconnects) to a THX AAA 789. With this setup and most music, I rarely turn the volume knob past 9 o'clock. Sometimes it's closer to 8 o'clock.

Would the L30 sound (measure?) better, at those low levels? I'm driving Massdrop 6XXs. I'm sure I won't be able to hear a difference, but still I ask.

I had a friend build a balanced headphone cable to test the THX's balanced out; the result was *brain-crushingly* loud at any volume level above "off."

Would love to upgrade to the D90 but can't justify that cost atm.

 

[raistlin65]

Thanks for the review Amirm. My L30 should be shipping by tomorrow and should arrive in about 10 days. Can't wait to compare it with my JDS Labs Atom.

I can tell you right now as I have both.

Unless for some reason you have headphones that benefit from the different gain structure in some significant way, it's going to sound the same. The Atom is already at the level where it should be accurately reproducing audio within the range of human hearing.

 

[zuhandenheit]

Does the L30's mid-gain setting produce more power than the Atom's low gain setting?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Does the L30's mid-gain setting produce more power than the Atom's low gain setting?

Yes for low impedance load. And for high impedance if you can supply enough input voltage.

 

[frankh]

I can tell you right now as I have both.

Unless for some reason you have headphones that benefit from the different gain structure in some significant way, it's going to sound the same. The Atom is already at the level where it should be accurately reproducing audio within the range of human hearing.

Thanks for chiming in. I'm glad that's the case because I love the sound of the Atom except for the plastic casing. The most important thing is that the L30 doesn't sound worse...lol. I love the L30's build and purchased it after reading Amirm's review and I'm sure it will sound just as good if not better than the Atom.

 

[ThomasXia]

Nobody has talked about the -9dB gain setting so far, but that's the main reason I replaced my Atom with L30.
Though using big desktop amps to drive sensitive in-ear phones does sound somewhat clumsy, there still are some cases I need this kind of match just like noise isolating and protecting hair style from the pressure of headbeam lol...

A phone with16ohm impedance and 106db/mW sensitivity doesn't meet any channel balance or noise floor issue at all, while on THX789, Atom and SP200 the experience is just terrible.
Hand feeling of volume control is wonderful, I like it very much.

 

[Hai]

View attachment 77833
View attachment 77834
Nobody has talked about the -9dB gain setting so far, but that's the main reason I replaced my Atom with L30.
Though using big desktop amps to drive sensitive in-ear phones does sound somewhat clumsy, there still are some cases I need this kind of match just like noise isolating and protecting hair style from the pressure of headbeam lol...

A phone with16ohm impedance and 106db/mW sensitivity doesn't meet any channel balance or noise floor issue at all, while on THX789, Atom and SP200 the experience is just terrible.
Hand feeling of volume control is wonderful, I like it very much.

What iems are in the top image?

 

[ThomasXia]

What iems are in the top image?

FYI. You can search "亦乐-兰德 （D&A） DE1冰裂" on Taobao and find it. Nothing special but to give an example.