Robin L
Master Contributor
It's more like an 11:00 am to 1:00 pm difference.You forgot to expound upon the night and day difference in sound quality!
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Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review
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Jose Hidalgo
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Robin L
Master Contributor
Doesn't in this case. Some things got better, a little sharper. I got the Drop 6XX 'phones around the same time, different too, plenty focused and too "soft" at the same time, at least without eq. Eq helps, a lot, but the essential character of the Drop 6XX sound remains the same. Nothing really breaks through like the Kool-Aid man busting the forth wall, some things are going to be sonically messed up, one way or another no matter what. "Technical progress" usually winds up exposing some inherent flaw that's irreversible.That could mean a phase shift of 60°.
I've said it before, I'll say it again- - -It's Philip K. Dick's world, we only "Live" in it.
MechEngVic
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Yes well, I'd say the "improved stance" gives the music a more "upright" presentation. And as you can all see, this is a visible and measurable difference...You forgot to expound upon the night and day difference in sound quality!
MechEngVic
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This makes me think of what is said about people who lose a sense, and how their remaining senses grow sharper... I wonder how true this from the viewpoint of the human body being a machine with a finite power output. I know that for me, to really get into the music when I'm listening, the room has to be dark. It lets me both focus more and let go more, if you know what I mean. Can the ability of some more than others to "re-route" resources in the body to where they're needed, make the difference between the "golden" eared and the "I can hear it better through a graph than with my ear" eared? Sometimes I feel like I'm going deaf and other times I feel like I can hear what I think are subtle differences. Psychoacoustics?At night the sound is darker, you need to EQ it to compensate for the lack of brightness
And so I'm not completely derailing, the L30 is awesome!
solderdude
Grand Contributor
My experience too.
Theories I once heard and makes sense are that either this heightened auditory sense comes from humans having to rely on auditory senses rather than sight to survive in the wild at night or that later at night the body starts to relax and you start to hear better (tensor tympany relaxing).
You can hear a clock tick in the evening and not through the day. It would be fun to measure background noise late in the evening and during the day.
Quite sure someone may have done so already.
Another weird effect I sometimes experience right before I doze off using headphones is that with headphones there is a short moment I actually perceive 3D sound. This can 'wake me up' and its gone again. Normal 2D again.
I am told that in order to hear below the 0dBSPL in a dead room while entering out of a noisy room it takes some time to start hearing these very soft tones.
Hidalgo made a joke I am sure.
MechEngVic
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Fascinating!
I remember reading that the sense of smell is the the most immediate sense when we sleep (fire, smelly animal). I also read that the sense of hearing is convoluted (and regulated, apparently) by the planet's persistent influx of ambient sound. An anechoic chamber kills so much noise, the blood flowing in our veins is an overwhelming sound! Our ears need ambient sound to keep us from being driven mad by our own blood flow!
Your 3D experience is interesting! In the past, when I fell asleep with certain songs playing, I dreamt the song. Sounds like a similar phenomena. Instead of "bothering" you awake, for a brief moment, the music will engage with your subconscious. If we could somehow rangle that part of our brain, our perception could be the true reality.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
I suspect those that get vivid 3D experiences from headphones without special measures may well perceive it that way. It's a brain thing.
To get this back on topic... I don't think one amp could be better at this than another but rather suspect knowing what is playing creates a mindset.
As long as FR and phase are not affected in the audible range (like L30) it should be O.K.
Jose Hidalgo
Addicted to Fun and Learning
It was obviously a joke, but you mentioning it may mean that it wasn't so obvious to you
Come on, just kidding again. As for the 'heightened senses' theory, that is something that I strongly believe in too : when we shut down some of our senses, the others become more sensitive after a short while. We could assume that in normal time our brain is multitasking equally between all our senses, running them in 'normal sensitivity mode', and shutting down some senses frees some 'brain CPU power' that can automatically be used to run the remaining senses in 'high sensitivity mode'.
I think it's as easy as the famous 'divert all power to the [secondary thrusters / engines / shields / you name it]' movie line.
yavormoskov
Active Member
I returned my first L30 back to Amazon. First because the volume knob was too far from the face of the amp and second, because I could fry eggs on the amp. It was getting seriously hot to the touch. The second unit is fine. Barely warm even after hours and the volume is knob is almost flush with the amp. I guess I am just very unlucky these days. The same day I ordered Tripp Lite surge protector for my network equipment and it was making very loud buzzing sounds all the time, Amazon replaced it with a new unit and now zero problems
yavormoskov
Active Member
I watched the DMS review and I don't really understand why he did not like the L30. I met him once at RMAF and he looks like a very nice young man but his review made no sense. So, according to him L30 lacks in the lower frequencies. Personally I think the bass is fine. What is your opinion guys?
solderdude
Grand Contributor
So it seems those who do have an L30 that gets 'hot' should return it.
Hot is not normal, barely warm is.
Worth investigating what is causing this ?
yavormoskov
Active Member
I doubt it. Topping QC is usually very good but I guess is possible to have some units that do not perform as well as the majority. Every industry is like that I guess. I would not read too much into it.
yavormoskov
Active Member
Aside from measurements we are here to enjoy the glory of music. Recently I found a fantastic musician on You Tube who plays on the ancient Chinese instrument Erhu and is performing covers by himself or with a very talented female singer from France. Two of these songs really show the technical capability of Topping L30. Thanks, again JohnYang1997 for designing such great products and I hope you will enjoy the songs below, as much as I do.
I'm worried that my L30 will be hot enough to make omelet like your L30. Did you return the first L30 to Amazon and get a second L30? And do you mean that the second L30 will not get hot?I returned my first L30 back to Amazon. First because the volume knob was too far from the face of the amp and second, because I could fry eggs on the amp. It was getting seriously hot to the touch. The second unit is fine. Barely warm even after hours and the volume is knob is almost flush with the amp. I guess I am just very unlucky these days. The same day I ordered Tripp Lite surge protector for my network equipment and it was making very loud buzzing sounds all the time, Amazon replaced it with a new unit and now zero problems
For reference, I also bought the A50s, but it doesn't get very hot.
It depends on whether you can put your hand on it and hold on to it. If you can't, then there's something wrong. If it's just a bit overly hot but you can still hold on it then it's fine.
Or does it make your hand very uncomfortable after 2 seconds holding on it?
I only had a hot L30 when I stacked it in this order:
Apple TV
L30
D50 DAC
Power amp
I put aluminium isolation feet between above and below the L30 and heat was a lot less.
The L30 really heats up when the room temperature exceeds 28 degrees Celsius. It's not that I can't hold it in my hand, but it's the hottest semiconductor device I've ever experienced. I think it's well above 50 degrees Celsius.
Recently, the outside temperature has dropped and the temperature rise of L30 is less than 40 degrees. At this time, the A50s next to the L30 feels warm.
I see a picture of using E30 and L30 in layers, but it is not possible in my environment.
I basically don't turn off the power. It remains energized.
How sure were you it was over 50c?
In the area where I live, the temperature rises above 38 degrees Celsius in the summer. Therefore, the room temperature often reaches 30 degrees.
At that time the E30 gets really hot. I didn't measure it directly with a thermometer, but since I was involved in the design of professional broadcasting equipment for a long time at a Japanese company, I can imagine the temperature rise of the device with the feeling of my hand.
However, it is not possible to reproduce it now because the season is autumn and the temperature has dropped significantly.
However, I don't think that such a temperature rise will be a big problem for the internal parts. However, I am a little worried about the deterioration of the chemical capacitors.
I think Topping uses a capacitor with a temperature resistance of 105 degrees Celsius.
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