Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[NgtFlyer]

I just received tracking information from Hifi Collage. It's on the way

 

[nepnep]

I just received tracking information from Hifi Collage. It's on the way

were you prompted to destroy yours before shipping?

 

[hawk01]

hello folks, in line with the topping L30 issues above i have just backed out purchase of the unit presently avail online. i shall attach a message from topping regarding this which i have also sent to the online vendor. they advised me the new revised units shall be avail in 1-2wks.

 

[hawk01]

fortunately i researched amir’s advise on page1 regarding the issue. had i not dug deeper to discover topping’s advisory the online vendor would have just sold me the faulty unit on hand. although they may not be aware of it with a clean conscience, someone in the loop should have been doing their best to halt further sale of the defective units.

 

[NgtFlyer]

were you prompted to destroy yours before shipping?

No I was not. I was only asked for my address as I forgot to include it in my first message. They then responded that they got it and sent me the tracking number a few hours later. If I am not required to e-waste the old unit, I may keep it as a spares unit (volume pot, switches, ports, etc as they are high quality and I could use these thing eventually on other projects)
if e-waste is required, I'll recycle it.

 

[NONTAS]

No I was not. I was only asked for my address as I forgot to include it in my first message. They then responded that they got it and sent me the tracking number a few hours later. If I am not required to e-waste the old unit, I may keep it as a spares unit (volume pot, switches, ports, etc as they are high quality and I could use these thing eventually on other projects)
if e-waste is required, I'll recycle it.

When you received their message and then when you replied your 1st and 2nd messages? Yesterday (26th Jan) I received their message at 02:00 universal time and i replied at 09:21. Still nothing.

 

[johanjudai]

Just receive as well my L30 replacement, SN starts with 2012. I'm currently listening to it, so far so good !

 

[escalibur]

Please do so.

So is the 2012 'completely fixed' version or are we talking about even newer batch?

 

[JohnYang1997]

So is the 2012 'completely fixed' version or are we talking about even newer batch?

90% of 2012 and 100% of newer batch are completely fixed.

 

[escalibur]

90% of 2012 and 100% of newer batch are completely fixed.

Thanks! Is there any way to confirm that replaced unit is not the one of faulty 10%?

My L30 replacement unit will arrive today from @SHENZHENAUDIO . I really hope I'm not the one of 10% unlucky ones.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks! Is there any way to confirm that replaced unit is not the one of faulty 10%?

My L30 replacement unit will arrive today from @SHENZHENAUDIO . I really hope I'm not the one of 10% unlucky ones.

It has to be made clear that those 10% are not faulty.

 

[Veri]

I think John simply means there is a further addition in the last 90% as opposed to the 10%.
No headphones are going to die anymore, in any case.

 

[filipduarte]

I think John simply means there is a further addition in the last 90% as opposed to the 10%.
No headphones are going to die anymore, in any case.

Ok, but for anyone that live in low humidity regions, there's a way to know if they are one of the 10% that have a L30 without better ESD protection?

 

[Tim M]

Ok, but for anyone that live in low humidity regions, there's a way to know if they are one of the 10% that have a L30 without better ESD protection?

The test would be to check if there is very little resistance between the RCA shield and metal enclosure screw on the back of the amp.
When that is connected you are 'safe' from ESD.

So easy to test but requires a multimeter.

This is what needs automating...

 

[123456789]

If someone wants to ground case of the amp, use additional wire and connect it between the ground pin on the power socket and amplifier case.

In my experience, in every amplifier that uses two stage (two component) amplification (opamp as voltage drive and buffer as current drive) if preamp opamp dies, you might have good amount of DC on output.

Amplifier will always have some risk of damaging itself, or load (speaker/headphones) despite its protection. Even if on output someone puts big capacitor, there is risk of getting DC into load. (if capacitor is short circuited for some reason).

From time to time, it is good to check DC offset on the headphone output. In low gain and high gain. On low volume, and high volume. Should be less than +/-15mV DC.

 

[Craig7700]

Another thing I really didn't want to mention was the first case of burnt headphones that happened much much earlier. The user was cooperative in the beginning but went non cooperative afterwards. This is not to transfer the responsibility but an explanation why we weren't able to investigate that case.

THAT uncooperative person would have been me. Oct. 21, 2020

I offered to return the L30 unit. But, Topping wanted me to figure out the EAR99 export paperwork to ship the unit back to China at my upfront expense. Shipping was more than $250 with DHL. Topping said they would reimburse shipping, but not cover it upfront with their DHL shippers number. I simply do not have that much money to pay for shipping.

At the time, Topping said they would not replace my destroyed $80 headphones, nor the burned up speaker amp.

I have had (2) L30 amps die from ESD induced damage. A third L30 in my possession sits unused because I have no headphones. It will now be returned also. (date code 2009)

My E30 has been working well. Would love to get a L30 which is fully protected good quality sound.

 

[solderdude]

Thanks! Is there any way to confirm that replaced unit is not the one of faulty 10%?

Yes, but you will be needing a multimeter with resistance setting. Then check for continuity between the rear screw and the RCA ground.

Those not knowing what to measure can take it to someone that does and give them the above clues.
It takes 10 seconds to check this.

You can safely use any 2012 regardless. They are all 'fixed' in the sense that they won't blow up any headphones.

 

[ngs428]

Yes, but you will be needing a multimeter with resistance setting. Then check for continuity between the rear screw and the RCA ground.

Those not knowing what to measure can take it to someone that does and give them the above clues.
It takes 10 seconds to check this.

You can safely use any 2012 regardless. They are all 'fixed' in the sense that they won't blow up any headphones.

I assume the rca ground is the outer ring on the RCA plug? I checked that to the rear screw on my 2009 and yes, open connection..

 

[sladeology]

So my dealer provided this photo as an example for a destroyed L30 . I'll see what I can do.

 

[Frio]

Yup that's how it is supposed to look. Way better than some of those faulty units appearing on ebay damaging phones,wallets, ears and topping. There are already enough old units out there that don't get a replacement.