Unplugging the plug is annoying and it's difficult for many to find a place to put the plug. It's requested by a few people in the middle of development. A toggle is way more elegant and convenient.
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Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
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Variable gain / input sensitivity would be cool.
Clip-indicator would be cool (LED blinking, or changing color at clip)
Unit turns on directly if it gets power would be cool, so my whole system can be started with one powerswitch
Cool running unit at idle would be.... cool!
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and no on/off noise, whatsoeverVariable gain / input sensitivity would be cool.
Clip-indicator would be cool (LED blinking, or changing color at clip)
Unit turns on directly if it gets power would be cool, so my whole system can be started with one powerswitch
Cool running unit at idle would be.... cool!
So if I understand right with 2V input (for example connected to E30) the max power is shown as in the graphs. This seems to be barely any more powerful than the DX3Pro (and less powerful at 300ohm?) then. Aren't atom and heresy more powerful in that case?
Sgt. Ear Ache
Major Contributor
So my understanding wrt volume pot channel imbalance is that as long as you are upwards of 12 o'clock on the pot you are not going to have any imbalance issues? I'm very tempted by the L30. I already have a Heresy though and I know I won't actually hear a sound improvement. What I like though is 3 gain stages rather than 2, and nice visible switches on the front of the unit...as well as more power (although it sounds like maybe this isn't really the case). Plus, I already have an E30 on order. So I'll likely end up with an L30 as well at some point but think I'll wait till they are more readily available in Canada.
My plan would be to set the L30 at a volume level that gives me more headroom than I really need and is up in the "safe" range as far as channel imbalance is concerned (Ideally, this would be maxed out) and then use the E30 with it's handy remote (the main reason I bought it to replace my D10) for volume adjustment...which is why the 3 gain stages is nice on the L30. I find with the Heresy that a middle stage between lo and hi gain might be perfect.
My plan would be to set the L30 at a volume level that gives me more headroom than I really need and is up in the "safe" range as far as channel imbalance is concerned (Ideally, this would be maxed out) and then use the E30 with it's handy remote (the main reason I bought it to replace my D10) for volume adjustment...which is why the 3 gain stages is nice on the L30. I find with the Heresy that a middle stage between lo and hi gain might be perfect.
The E30 can’t do 3Vrms I don’t believe. So, one would need to find an unbalanced DAC that can do it to achieve full potential.
Just trying to find a way to justify my Heresy purchase (~2.4W into 33ohm), granted I don’t have any difficult to drive headphones that need that much power
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These need 3Vrms from an unbalanced DAC for max power (or 9Vrms if you want to use Mid gain), which the E30 can’t do I believe. However, even at max power it’s basically identical in power to the Heresy.
Sgt. Ear Ache
Major Contributor
The E30 can’t do 3Vrms I don’t believe. So, one would need to find an unbalanced DAC that can do it to achieve full potential.
Just trying to find a way to justify my Heresy purchase (~2.4W into 33ohm), granted I don’t have any difficult to drive headphones that need that much power
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These need 3Vrms from an unbalanced DAC for max power (or 9Vrms if you want to use Mid gain), which the E30 can’t do I believe. However, even at max power it’s basically identical in power to the Heresy.
Yep so I see...I actually edited my post above to reflect this. There doesn't really seem to be too much reason to add an L30 to my collection of stuff here although I do still like the 3 gain stages and the front of unit switches.
odyo
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I'm confused. What is the exact power output combined with E30 ? Is it 1W at 33 ohm like JDS Atom ?Those are dual channel ratings but with higher input voltage. Can we get a supplementary measurement?
o7_brother
Active Member
That would be what you see in these measurements. The E30+L30 combo will output 117 mW at 300 ohms compared to 270 mW of the Schiit Heresy+Modi or other similar DAC, according to Amir's measurements
Wow, well you don't need better than this in a headphone amp....ever! That's really a great job from Topping. Where do you see the market going though, because you don't really need better measurements than this do you? So are we gonna see in future products same performance for less money instead, or maybe new features, but how many features do you want on a headphone amplifier? Maybe aesthetics will become more important too, if this level of performance is now the new standard.
o7_brother
Active Member
I have to say, the requirement for higher DAC output to reach full power makes this less attractive than the Schiit Magni Heresy, since that thing can work off any standard DAC and reach full power.
The lower distortion of the L30 doesn't matter since both will be audibly-transparent with room to spare.
The lower distortion of the L30 doesn't matter since both will be audibly-transparent with room to spare.
How many you guys listen to headphones with high gain volume maxed?
And how no one talked about it when A90 came out?
o7_brother
Active Member
How many you guys listen to headphones with high gain volume maxed?
About as many as those who can distinguish between 119 and 121 SINAD lol
How many you guys listen to headphones with high gain volume maxed?
most rambling "audiophiles" I've seen listen at like 120db (judging from their power requirements and gear), they're most likely deaf or on the way
Sgt. Ear Ache
Major Contributor
How many you guys listen to headphones with high gain volume maxed?
well, I don't. However that really isn't the issue. For many of us who already have something like the Heresy, one of the few things we can look at as a reason to buy something else is "moar power!" lol. None of us are going to actually hear an audible improvement in sound with noise and distortion numbers and measurable transparency like what we have now available.
Those are not necessarily practical issues. Gain settings are. It would affect user experience if you have too much gain, unusable high gain setting.
Even in terms of performance, noise performance definitely matters for sensitive IEMs. This is one of the few amps that actually usable for sensitive IEMs. Low noise essentially made the high SINAD number.
In the end I'm not at all saying this amp is just better because it has better performance.
But at this rate of competition you need to have higher performance.
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