Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[_thelaughingman]

I have a saying that I tell people from my profession in the medical field, that I came up with which correlates across many fields.
"You cannot balance on a weight scale profit and quality, either you choose profit or quality. You'll have to sacrifice either depending on your end goal".

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Don't tell this pls a recall campaign like in the western because it isn't, by far not.

It's actually better. Customers get to receive a brand new L30 unit, completely free of charge, without even needing to send back the old one (at least in most cases). Topping are doing a great job with their replacement program. I wish all 'western' brands did even remotely the same!

@all : please, don't feed the troll. He's right, let's finish here.

 

[GGroch]

Even if they were doing so, which we don't know, it's not the same doing this "one by one" and only after the customer revert to them than doing this after a recall campaign in the western world......

The closest analog I see to the L30 issue was the Schiit Asgard problem as described here. If NwAvGuy's description and the commenters are correct, a design flaw allowed the Asgard to destroy some headphones. USA based Schiit initially vehemently denied the issue, but later admitted to their mistake and offered free retrofits to owners who requested it. Not a total recall.

This incident did tarnish Schiit's reputation, but from what I can tell they learned from the experience, both in terms of improved designs and also in how to best respond to customer complaints. I expect the same will be true for Topping.

 

[Vini darko]

It's always a risk buying a mk1 product. Doesn't matter wich industry or price. A products first foray into the wild often reveals flaws.

 

[NgtFlyer]

My sentiments are similar, not all failures can be accounted for when manufacturing a device. In this particular instance a QC process could have been implemented and tested prior to rolling the product out, but that's the downside to mass production and roll out of affordable gear.

Even then, there are some things you aren't going to catch in QC, issues are discovered when a device/product/piece of software get out into the wild.

 

[NgtFlyer]

The closest analog I see to the L30 issue was the Schiit Asgard problem as described here. If NwAvGuy's description and the commenters are correct, a design flaw allowed the Asgard to destroy some headphones. USA based Schiit initially vehemently denied the issue, but later admitted to their mistake and offered free retrofits to owners who requested it. Not a total recall.

This incident did tarnish Schiit's reputation, but from what I can tell they learned from the experience, both in terms of improved designs and also in how to best respond to customer complaints. I expect the same will be true for Topping.

The difference here is Topping did not deny the issue, they responded by researching, replicating and solving the problem. I agree a statement on their website is appropriate but otherwise, they, and @JohnYang1997 have done a good job here getting the information out and replacing the units. It sounds like the L30 is a good seller so that's a lot of units to replace and bear the cost.

Meanwhile, companies such as Apple: "You're using it wrong".. and people blindly praise them.

 

[v5cvbb]

I'm disappointed my little amp is sitting unused, but I'm quite impressed with Toppings handling of the matter. I feel for those that lost headphones, but it seems the rest of us are being taken care of nicely.

I was considering selling my replacement L30 when I get it, but my faith in Topping has increased and may well keep and use the amp.

 

[Sombreuil]

The difference here is Topping did not deny the issue, they responded by researching, replicating and solving the problem. I agree a statement on their website is appropriate but otherwise, they, and @JohnYang1997 have done a good job here getting the information out and replacing the units. It sounds like the L30 is a good seller so that's a lot of units to replace and bear the cost.

Meanwhile, companies such as Apple: "You're using it wrong".. and people blindly praise them.

As someone already mentioned it a couple of pages ago, they also knew there were problems (hence the 2012 batch) and didn't mention it. What if people didn't complain about their headphones being destroyed? Would they have reacted at all?
They did react the way they were supposed to, I won't deny that. That being said, they were dead silent even though they knew something was wrong with pretty much every unit available on the market.

 

[Pmelb]

I got my Topping L30 refunded and still have my old one. So no complaints with Topping or their re-seller from me.

Maybe the old units with issues that people still have could be used for spares or re-purposed for DIY projects (possibly a DIY tube amp could squeeze in with some tinkering... hmmmm will do some research).

 

[Robin L]

I've got a Topping L30 with a serial # starting 2006. I contacted Amazon, they say I would go through Topping for a replacement. What exactly is the contact info? The warranty card is confusing. I'm sure this info has already been posted, but I thank anyone in advance who can clear this up for me.

 

[GGroch]

I've got a Topping L30 with a serial # starting 2006. I contacted Amazon, they say I would go through Topping for a replacement. What exactly is the contact info? .......

Robin, I do not think Amazon sells the L30 directly. The best way to get the information you need is to contact the Amazon Merchant vendor who sold you the L30 through Amazon. In my case it was HiFi College, but there are other vendors. Message them using Amazon messaging.

 

[solderdude]

I've got a Topping L30 with a serial # starting 2006. I contacted Amazon, they say I would go through Topping for a replacement. What exactly is the contact info? The warranty card is confusing. I'm sure this info has already been posted, but I thank anyone in advance who can clear this up for me.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-amplifier-review.15226/page-150#post-636961

 

[Robin L]

Robin, the best way to get the information you need is to contact the Amazon Merchant vendor who sold you the L30 through Amazon. In my case it was HiFi College, but there are other vendors. Message them using Amazon messaging.

I did, they told me to contact Topping.

 

[solderdude]

They probably didn't want to deal with all the hassle having to send out replacements ?

 

[GGroch]

They probably didn't want to deal with all the hassle having to send out replacements ?

I believe Topping sends out replacements....the distributors were just doing the messaging/confirmation of item destruction.

Robin...who was your vendor? I think SHENZHEN AUDIO is the other main vendor. Given their response, contact JohnYang1997 on this forum I think. Link above in solderdude's previous message.

 

[ngs428]

Apos just shipped out my replacement L30 early this am. One step closer...

 

[Robin L]

I believe Topping sends out replacements....the distributors were just doing the messaging/confirmation of item destruction.

Robin...who was your vendor? I think SHENZHEN AUDIO is the other main vendor. Given their response, contact JohnYang1997 on this forum I think. Link above in solderdude's previous message.

My vendor was Hi Fi College. I ran into a big issue contacting Amazon. They were nice as pie, but as I wanted to arrange a replacement via the vendor that was working with Amazon, I wanted to contact them via the Amazon portal. That portal was not functioning. I did not want to return everything to Amazon for a credit card refund. I wanted to go through Hi Fi College. I'm going to hang fire for the moment, the Topping warranty is for a year. If I try later, things might clear up. I should note that it's very unlikely that I would experience ESD issues, the humidity around Olympia Washington is very low. However, Amazon really should get its act together. An hour and a half on the line with no resolution is not good business practice. I'm sure this isn't Claudette's fault, but it does seem like a long and pointless labyrinth to go through with no satisfaction.

One more thing. I know that the difference between the Schiit Magni 3 and the Topping L30 should be small, but I did notice the difference between the two when I replaced the Topping for the Schiit, the Magni 3 had noticeably more grunge in the upper partials, making masses strings have more "bite". In fact, the Topping unit has so little grunge I wonder if it's erasing sounds that I should be hearing. Contrawise, maybe I like a little distortion mixed in with music, being a child of the sixties and all that.

 

[solderdude]

Low humitdity = high chance of ESD.

 

[Robin L]

Low humitdity = high chance of ESD.

And vice versa. The lowest humidity in Lacey for the next ten days will be 60%. This region has the most rainy days [.25 inches, at least] in the continuous 48 states. 60 rainy days a year, on average. We had 3 inches of rain on one day earlier this month. So I shouldn't worry. Then again, I don't want to find out I was wrong the hard way.

 

[GGroch]

My vendor was Hi Fi College. I ran into a big issue contacting Amazon.......

My vendor is also HiFi College through Amazon. I originally contacted them through the email support address on their website (hificollege.net) which is: [email protected]. My email to them included my Amazon invoice # etc. They responded quickly that their Amazon specific customer support would contact me, and their support person did contact me through Amazon vendor messaging within 24 hours. I believe they are based in China so most responses took overnight.

So, you might try the email above providing them with your Amazon invoice info. Alternately, if you want to message me with your invoice # and email address I can send it to them through Amazon messaging as we already have an email stream going.

I know HiFi College has been monitoring this thread...so it is even possible they will contact you directly if they can determine your Amazon purchase from your ASR username.