Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[BR52]

If it helps, think of the Dave as a £100 headphone amp lugging a £9,900 DAC around on its back

Keep some distance to the DAC because of the cocking capacitors but the massive housing will protect the enviroment

 

[BR52]

A SMPS would actually cause more issue and higher mains frequency noise in a all single ended device. Current external transformer solution is the best solution for single ended applications.

I see no reason for improvent for a single ended amp. Well done!

 

[Azathoth]

Congrats @JohnYang1997! Topping is just topping the charts once more! The old E30/L30 set was the first thing I ever bought from the discussions here, good to see the line up being updated! It really has served me well the past 2 years.

 

[BeerBear]

Shame about that channel imbalance, but very good otherwise.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Shame about that channel imbalance, but very good otherwise.

I'm pretty sure it's an outlier. We guarantee less than 0.5db deviation down to -40db attenuation. You can swap for a new one if you find yours outside the spec.

 

[Vini darko]

Good to see the gain settings have improved.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I think we need to be very careful about Topping from hereon in.

I've had my doubts for some time, but it's now clear they're using some sort of witchcraft.

 

[TK750]

Measured performance is rarely the issue with Topping and obviously this is unsurprisingly excellent. I think the real test will be build quality and reliability over time, hopefully this has moved closer to the impressive measurements! Great achievement either way even if there is little real world consequence/use of the improved performance.

 

[Swtoby]

This can only be an example of "engineering at its ultimate best" if it works reliably. John Yang's previous designs seemed to struggle with that. We'll see.

 

[goat76]

An excellent set of measurements in a low priced HP amplifier. A game changer (possibly a “game over” product) in the arena of similar products. Superb performance from Topping. To note how it is almost 1/100th of the price of DAVE. Thank you Amir!!

Well, maybe you will need hundreds of them?

 

[Katji]

I think we need to be very careful about Topping from hereon in.

I've had my doubts for some time, but it's now clear they're using some sort of witchcraft.

That'll make it more acceptable to audiophiles then.
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...e-on-stereophile-editorial-linked-here.36014/

 

[Madjalapeno]

So I could buy these, come up with a silly name, stick it in a case with sharp edges, lots of screws, and silly controls and sell them for $14k?

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

wow this is such a great product but because this is so good I actually wonder if this one is a cherry-picked sample? sorry not trying to be rude but it's just a truly excellent fit in this site's testing criteria.
other than that, thank you for the view Amir.

 

[Katji]

wow this is such a great product but because this is so good I actually wonder if this one is a cherry-picked sample? sorry not trying to be rude but it's just a truly excellent fit in this site's testing criteria.
other than that, thank you for the view Amir.

see post #25

 

[usern]

Is 0.6W @ 300 ohm with 2V input?

 

[Katji]

So I could buy these, come up with a silly name, stick it in a case with sharp edges, lots of screws, and silly controls and sell them for $14k?

Yes, if you send some to all the magazines and youtube reviewers. You can do the marketing story yourself with copy-paste.

 

[lc155]

Main difference between v1 and v2? Other than the v1's known infamous issues.

 

[Zim]

Need that relay volume control for perfect channel matching.

 

[staticV3]

Main difference between v1 and v2? Other than the v1's known infamous issues.

Higher gain.
L30 is -9.9/0/9.5dB
L30 II is -14/0/16.5dB

 

[ngs428]

Main difference between v1 and v2? Other than the v1's known infamous issues.

This table is from Topping: