Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[F1308]

The output power measured is about 50% compared to Topping's spec. Am I missing something here?
View attachment 77403

How can it be?
They announced just a higher than 60dB SINAD...[Lower than 0.1%, they say.]
And the test shows 121.47dB... 0.0000845%.
Obviously they are truly humble...not only cheap.
Congratulations.

But on the basis of their specifications I myself would have refrained from buying it...
I see there is no one to be believed...those who announce the highest specifications that turn out not being achievable as per the tests, an those who pretend a sell announcing so bad performance no one will bother to buy.

A pity...

 

[JohnYang1997]

@JohnYang1997
Would the L30's pre-amp work as excellent as the head-amp? I have an E30 and it can work as a Digital Pre-Amp to my Power Amp. I read that the Volume control in the L30 is Analog. Would I get better sound/performance if I pair the L30 with E30, and use the L30 as a stereo analog Pre-Amp instead of E30 as digital pre-amp?

Yes. And performance is better. Sound wise that depends on the system. Like not or small differences.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Stable at 8ohm. But it will be thermal limited. And no I won't recommend connecting to speakers. There will be speaker amps with similar performance. Let's leave the little L30 alone.

Are you threatening to beat Hypex and Purifi? That will be something!

 

[JohnYang1997]

How can it be?
They announced just a higher than 60dB SINAD...[Lower than 0.1%, they say.]
And the test shows 121.47dB... 0.0000845%.
Obviously they are truly humble...not only cheap.
Congratulations.

That's not the full spec. I'm everything but humble.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Are you threatening to beat Hypex and Purifi? That will be something!

Not in power but in distortion and noise performance.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is this the best headphone amp regardless of cost? Does the Benchmark HPA4 offer anything that this doesn't?

Better channel separation. Relay based volume control.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Not in power but in distortion and noise performance.

Will the power be "serious", i.e. in the region of 100 W into 8 Ω and double that into 4 Ω?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Will the power be "serious", i.e. in the region of 100 W into 8 Ω and double that into 4 Ω?

There will be different models.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Better channel separation. Relay based volume control.

That's honest. Do you think you could beat the Benchmark all-round with a bigger budget? How much?

 

[JohnYang1997]

That's honest. Do you think you could beat the Benchmark all-round with a bigger budget? How much?

Soon.

 

[F1308]

I see there is no one to be believed...those who announce the highest specifications that turn out not being achievable as per the tests, an those who pretend a sell announcing so bad performance no one will bother to buy.

 

[pos]

Not in power but in distortion and noise performance.

Please include low gain options, and XLR inputs!

 

[JohnYang1997]

I see there is no one to be believed...those who announce the highest specifications that turn out not being achievable as per the tests, an those who pretend a sell announcing so bad performance no one will bother to buy.

These are the full spec.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Please include low gain options, and XLR inputs!

Yes.

 

[F1308]

These are the full spec.
View attachment 77411View attachment 77412

Thank you very much.
Now, it would be nice to fix the web ....

This site can’t provide a secure connection
topping-audio.com uses an unsupported protocol.


ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH

 

[Veri]

Thank you very much.
Now, it would be nice to fix the web ....

This site can’t provide a secure connection
topping-audio.com uses an unsupported protocol.


ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH

Topping website is this:
http://www.tpdz.net/

 

[F1308]

p

Topping website is this:
http://www.tpdz.net/

Thanks so much !!!!

 

[AudioSceptic]

Soon.

One more question, if that's OK. Was there a reason for using a switch to choose between HPA and Pre instead of the common method of doing this automatically when a headphone is plugged in (and removed)?

 

[Matias]

Is this attenuation tracking representative of all retail units? In other words, does the binning select only pots with high tracking performance such as this?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is this attenuation tracking representative of all retail units? In other words, does the binning select only pots with high tracking performance such as this?

Effective tracking is around -40dB. And it will apply to all units. Essentially in real world when you turn the pot a little bit you get louder than -40dB.