solderdude
Grand Contributor
It's a gain issue... not a power issue.
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Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
It's a gain issue... not a power issue.
D
Deleted member 27758
Guest
Can be true with utopia I’m just stating my experience that L30 is a no go with utopia headphone. High gain sounds bad/low gain&low volume is ok but I had to listen way below my listening volume and still it was behind P1u. P1U kept everything under control no matter how far I turned the volume knob. Smooth/more detailed/layered sound.
My friend uses HD800 headphone and I can confirm that it is a no go with L30, very harsh sound with no bass.
L30 did good with easy to drive warm headphones oppo pm3, em10 iem, ok’ish with hd650
What I can confirm as well is that L30 seems to be nowhere as powerful as specs says.
4x more juice than P1U...By volume knob I can state quite opposite that P1U is maybe 2x juicier than L30 not even considering the fact that high gain fails on L30 with demanding headphones. Now L30 is a decent mini budget amp, I’m just curious how these specs relates to real life scenarios...
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Deleted member 27758
Guest
Just stating the fact that L30 is nowhere near
2300mW x 32ohm power output, don’t jump into specs blindly
2300mW x 32ohm power output, don’t jump into specs blindly
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurement-of-topping-l30-headphone-amp/
What do I have to say. On one hand I want to help and inform new members. On the other hand I don't want to respond to these kind of so cliché misunderstanding on the basic things.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
granted... you will need to feed it 2.9V to reach it.
i found a test of my soundcard here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...rlett-2i2-audio-interface-gen-3-review.10187/
And if i'm right i have about 4 volt on outputs...
For me it's all about the L30 because i have about 40% more gain on my other tube amp who give normally 300mw at 300ohms...Maybe my L30 is not in good condition...don't know
And if i'm right i have about 4 volt on outputs...
For me it's all about the L30 because i have about 40% more gain on my other tube amp who give normally 300mw at 300ohms...Maybe my L30 is not in good condition...don't know
D
Deleted member 27758
Guest
L30 will not slam power hungry headphones, max power provided in specs is an overkill for this amp. We fed 1V-3V to L30 with similar results. The more I read through forums the more it seems that these are simply sponsored by different companies. SBAF praises schiit products, here it’s topping, head-fi a bit of everything. Smart marketing for sheeps, best thing is to do your own research and most importantly give it a listen if you have a chance
Oh here we go again.
Nah.
@veda95
I'm going to buy K712 Pro soon, from series manufactured in Slovakia with the same specs as K702 of yours - 200 mW power handling capacity, 62 Ohm. Will report back how they behave. So far I haven't had enough courage to pull L30 to its maximum limit with my 250 Ohm DT880 and DT990, since the power handling capacity for both of these is 100 mW. My D10s DAC has a half of the output voltage compared to your Scarlett 2i2 and both headphones are very loud at 0 dB gain preset with volume knob around 12 o'clock on L30.
Ok, so that's my units who have a problem, the k702 work pretty nice with the L30, at +9 gain and about 2 oclock volume (high listen level).
That is with the k340 (300ohms) that the unit can't do his job...+9 gain and full volume knob, pretty loud but not that loud...
DeLub
Active Member
How loud do yo listen? My e30 outputs 2v. If I put my l30 to max volume on the 0dB gain, my HD600 (also 300 ohm), is already too loud for a comfortable listening level.
I listen pretty loud on all music style, it can be tired after long time, i like to feel to be in the music... On 0 gain i just have a background music and can work or write in the sames time... I read that the k340 is hard to drive because it mix 2 différents sounding technologies... Don't remember exactly...
The fact that my other amp are more powerful with almost the same output specs let me think that i can't do anything with this one... And the sound itself is more pleasant on the tube amp, at the first second of listening.
The fact that my other amp are more powerful with almost the same output specs let me think that i can't do anything with this one... And the sound itself is more pleasant on the tube amp, at the first second of listening.
The E30 L30 combo can get my HE6se to very uncomfortable levels in high gain, I can max it out, but I don't really like it.
You guys need to see an audiologist, lol.
You guys need to see an audiologist, lol.
When I read people saying L30 is not powerfull enough...
Even with “only” 2V in, I can get my HD 600s to levels that are way too loud for me… even with a -12 dB pre-amp gain and softer music. Without that -12 dB pre-amp gain I can use medium gain for pretty much 99% of music.
your headphones must either be pathologically insensitive or you guys listen at some ungodly loud level.
Or… the HD 800s sound harsh to begin with? And you should instead be using EQ to correct its tonality?
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No DAC output 3Vrms via RAC to the best of my knowledge, which means it is impossible to output max power when paring L30 with the most majority of the DACs.
Why did you design a amp like this?
solderdude
Grand Contributor
There are DACs around with RCA signal levels above 3V.
Which DAC? I found it ridiculous that even the E30 DAC which should the officinal complement for L30 comes with a RCA signal level of 2V at 0 dB.
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