Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[Lifu]

Gain switch at 0 or +9 dB?

At Low Gain (-9.9dB), Sundara will reach 105 dB SPL
This means you can easily listen to music at 90 dB which is very loud!

 

[gino1961]

... I've also noticed a slight channel imbalance with the right side being slightly quieter than the left ...

Hi ! bought one and now waiting to receive it next week. Now i am a little anxious for this issue. I wonder if anyone else has experienced a channel unbalance
This of the low quality pots looks to be a very common problem. Maybe using an external attenuator could be a solution

 

[mundee]

Hi folks, long time lurker here.. would DX7 Pro in dac mode be a good pairing with L30? I have an E30/L30 stack and am trying to use E30 solely as a pre amp in the living room for active speakers..

What i am keen to know is if by pairing it with L30, i can get a theoretically better performance because of the L30’s lower output impedance for my Andromedas? I plan to use this in an office desk setup

thanks

 

[Veri]

What i am keen to know is if by pairing it with L30, i can get a theoretically better performance because of the L30’s lower output impedance for my Andromedas? I plan to use this in an office desk setup

They L30 is superb for IEMs so yes, definitely an improvement as far as amps go. The 50mW measurement here is valuable to look at.

 

[bahamot]

Anyone who are waiting for the new color need to wait longer... Here's what Topping said on their FB page:

Owing to the AKM factory a sudden accident, we have to push the released date for 2 color of E30/L30. we express our gratitude for your understanding.

 

[highpurityusbcable]

Hi ! bought one and now waiting to receive it next week. Now i am a little anxious for this issue. I wonder if anyone else has experienced a channel unbalance
This of the low quality pots looks to be a very common problem. Maybe using an external attenuator could be a solution

I notice channel imbalance only with my most sensitive earphones and only when a volume pot is somewhere around ~0-3. I am not that picky to complain about it because I don't listen to music on such low volume position. Don't be anxious, everything else works very well so far.

 

[raif71]

I notice channel imbalance only with my most sensitive earphones and only when a volume pot is somewhere around ~0-3. I am not that picky to complain about it because I don't listen to music on such low volume position. Don't be anxious, everything else works very well so far.

You mean, 0-9 ?

 

[highpurityusbcable]

You mean, 0-9 ?

~0-5 at best. On low gain of course. Also too quiet to listen to anything.

 

[usern]

You mean, 0-9 ?

I think he's talking about 0-10 scale and you are talking about "clock" scale

 

[solderdude]

Then there was the 0 to 11 scale.

 

[raif71]

I think he's talking about 0-10 scale and you are talking about "clock" scale

gotcha

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Anyone who are waiting for the new color need to wait longer... Here's what Topping said on their FB page:

Thanks. It's funny because @JohnYang1997 just said 5 days ago that they were "waiting for assembly" and that "it will be pretty fast"...

 

[Veri]

Thanks. It's funny because @JohnYang1997 just said 5 days ago that they were "waiting for assembly" and that "it will be pretty fast"...

It's supposed to be a stack. Can't make a stack if the DAC can no longer be produced due to major problems @ AKM.
Maybe E30 will need to be remade with different parts :/ no one could have predicted that.

@JohnYang1997 maybe upcoming D30Pro can be reworked into E30 chassis? Or your 9038q board.. would be interesting.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

We all know that. Surely it's not Topping's fault. But it's their responsibility to give accurate info to their customers, and not the usual sales fuzzy talk. What's going to happen now ? Are we going to wait until Christmas ? Until next year ?

Honestly if I were Topping I would say this to my customers : "buy black/silver E30/L30 now, and for those of you who make a formal demand to us with a proof of purchase starting today, we will provide the blue/red metallic parts for free so you can replace them on your own, as a way of saying sorry for all the inconvenience". Now THAT would be something I could support.

 

[Veri]

The case is probably a pretty significant chunk of the BOM, not to mention most costumers not being savvy enough to DIY replace that. So no, not going to happen I'm afraid

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

The case is probably a pretty significant chunk of the BOM

Of course, but that is Topping's problem, not their customers'.

not being savvy enough to DIY replace that

We can all assume that very few people would make a formal demand, and that the few who would, would be savvy enough, at their own risk.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

BTW, if the E30/L30 teardown is as difficult as the D30, then it should be no problem at all. Maybe a matter of two screws.

 

[Sukie]

Thanks. It's funny because @JohnYang1997 just said 5 days ago that they were "waiting for assembly" and that "it will be pretty fast"...

We all know that. Surely it's not Topping's fault. But it's their responsibility to give accurate info to their customers, and not the usual sales fuzzy talk.

@JohnYang1997 has repeatedly said that he is not the manufacturer.

Honestly if I were Topping I would say this to my customers : "buy black/silver E30/L30 now, and for those of you who make a formal demand to us with a proof of purchase starting today, we will provide the blue/red metallic parts for free so you can replace them on your own, as a way of saying sorry for all the inconvenience". Now THAT would be something I could support.

Why on earth would they do this? The product release is delayed due to factors beyond their control. This hardly warrants sending out frees cases in the future.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Why? To keep some of their customers happy.
Once I went to a fast food. The burger took longer than the fries (for whatever reason - maybe a machine was broken, maybe it was beyond their control) so the fries were a bit cold. So they gave me two portions of fries: the old one and a new one. All that without me even asking anything. They weren't forced to. It's called a spontaneous gesture. It keeps customers happy. It's sales 101.

 

[raif71]

Stocks of black/silver E30 can be used by replacing them with red/blue casings with demand. At the very least, this could be done by Topping, right?