Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[Jayzqa]

My unit has started to produce sound only from the right side when turned on. Switching off->on again fixes it but not feeling very confident that this thing will last. :/

Has anyone else had similar problems?

 

[Taschenrechner]

My unit has started to produce sound only from the right side when turned on. Switching off->on again fixes it but not feeling very confident that this thing will last. :/

Has anyone else had similar problems?

did you try plug in it into a different wall socket and no dac ?

 

[LavenderGooms]

Aight everyone, kind of a longshot here.

So I'm the proud owner of a new set of Audeze LCD-2C. Love everything about them, happy as a clam with the set. They're currently being powered by an Aune T1 Mk2 that I got some time ago. I'm feeling like I got some room to improve and I've got my eye either on the L30/E30II stack or the Asgard 3 with the new DAC chip in it. That is, of course, provided that the T1 isn't doing as well as I could reasonably expect out of the others.

My question here is that I'm not a measurement expert, so I'm wondering which of those would play nicer with the 2C? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jayzqa]

did you try plug in it into a different wall socket and no dac ?

Not tried different dac's but seems to be some kind of mechanical failure. Tried to toggle it to preout and back to headphone out and does it almost 50% of the time. I may have to RMA it.

 

[Jayzqa]

My unit has started to produce sound only from the right side when turned on. Switching off->on again fixes it but not feeling very confident that this thing will last. :/

Has anyone else had similar problems?

And solved: My actual headphone cable was broken.

 

[noSoundex]

This product is garbage, I'm sorry to say so. My Onkyo DX-710 with Burson OP-AMP amplifies better than this meme product.
Dull sound and channel imbalance at low volumes too.
The first test was with a Soundblaster AE9 + RCA Output to the device, it completely destroyed the sound. The whole music spectrum became so thin and boring, lifeless.
If you put it on medium and high gain at 85%-100% volume produce an hiss in the headphones with the AE9 but it is silent with the Onkyo.

The soundquality is garbage on both sources, i don't care if it measure good (and anyone shouldn't) if then it's this kind of garbage while reproducing music.

I'm ready to get attacked from the "measurements guys" but it is what it is. Major flaws and dull/garbage sound.
This is what i got from my unit.

It's incredible how an Onkyo DX-710 does it better, delusional. Never again topping.

 

[GPJ]

No need to get all defensive. We all want good audio period. Persoannlly I want the best of both worlds, something that sounds great and something that measures great and that is exactly what a transparent device is to me. Something sounds amiss with your setup / feedback. If you send unaltered source material through a transparent DAC and transparent amp, which the L30 II is, a nearly if not perfect presentation of the mastered audio should result.

I personally ditched PC sound cards when external DAC's finally went past their USB birthing issues. Passing bit perfect source material through USB to an external DAC and then to amp was a giant leap in performance and enjoyment. Have you ever considered an external DAC?

 

[noSoundex]

No need to get all defensive. We all want good audio period. Persoannlly I want the best of both worlds, something that sounds great and something that measures great and that is exactly what a transparent device is to me. Something sounds amiss with your setup / feedback. If you send unaltered source material through a transparent DAC and transparent amp, which the L30 II is, a nearly if not perfect presentation of the mastered audio should result.

I personally ditched PC sound cards when external DAC's finally went past their USB birthing issues. Passing bit perfect source material through USB to an external DAC and then to amp was a giant leap in performance and enjoyment. Have you ever considered an external DAC?

I just felt a little surprised given the fact that it is wellspoken almost everywhere. Probably a faulty unit but I'm done with topping (considering the hiss problem too).
Thanks for trying to help GPJ, I'll stick with what i have.

 

[Rja4000]

I just felt a little surprised given the fact that it is wellspoken almost everywhere. Probably a faulty unit

Probably.
I bought one and have been using it for hours now.
Mine sounds great and powerful.

 

[GPJ]

I just felt a little surprised given the fact that it is wellspoken almost everywhere. Probably a faulty unit but I'm done with topping (considering the hiss problem too).
Thanks for trying to help GPJ, I'll stick with what i have.

I don't have the SB-AE9 but found some info that mentions choosing Direct Mode to bypass all processing. I don't know if you are interested in messing with that or have already done so.

www.reddit.com/r/SoundBlasterOfficial/comments/mukzu9/rca_output_on_ae9/

 

[noSoundex]

I don't have the SB-AE9 but found some info that mentions choosing Direct Mode to bypass all processing. I don't know if you are interested in messing with that or have already done so.

www.reddit.com/r/SoundBlasterOfficial/comments/mukzu9/rca_output_on_ae9/

Always Direct Mode (no filters/multiple processing) and the sound quality is just superb with the OPA1612 (x2) / OPA1611 (x2) over the stock ones (+film caps bypass).
Just wanted to do the extramile to improve the situation further, instead, it annihilated the sound.
The main target was to lower the overall windows volume and boost it thru the amplifier to squeeze some more but nevermind.

The Onkyo with a simple Burson OP-AMP performs way better. More power, more balance and better separation.

 

[spigot]

This product is garbage, I'm sorry to say so. My Onkyo DX-710 with Burson OP-AMP amplifies better than this meme product.
Dull sound and channel imbalance at low volumes too.
The first test was with a Soundblaster AE9 + RCA Output to the device, it completely destroyed the sound. The whole music spectrum became so thin and boring, lifeless.
If you put it on medium and high gain at 85%-100% volume produce an hiss in the headphones with the AE9 but it is silent with the Onkyo.

The soundquality is garbage on both sources, i don't care if it measure good (and anyone shouldn't) if then it's this kind of garbage while reproducing music.

I'm ready to get attacked from the "measurements guys" but it is what it is. Major flaws and dull/garbage sound.
This is what i got from my unit.

It's incredible how an Onkyo DX-710 does it better, delusional. Never again topping.

The output impedance of the topping is low enough that it doesn't effect the frequency response of any headphones. For there to be no effect the headphone impedance has to be 8x greater than the output impedance of the headphone socket. If the Onkyo has a high enough output impedance it can alter the frequency response of some headphones - produce more bass etc. If that's the case then the Topping, and any other low impedance headphone amp, may sound comparatively thin. If your headphones are bass light maybe your old setup suits them better, or you just prefer that sound. It's explained here:
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02...text=THE SHORT VERSION: All you,16/8 = 2 ohms.

With respect to the hissing, I've had RCA from my motherboard and a Creative soundcard make noises. Must have been a shielding issue somewhere, ended up having to use USB audio out to a DAC to bypass it. If you prefer your current setup, all's good. Just trying to give a possible explanation for what might be happening.

 

[joneedger]

When you do a mobile call (not over telegram/whatsapp) and hold the phone right at the L30 ii you hear no interference?

then this must be a technically issue at the end of the phone.

 

[Surdzo]

Hi everyone. I’m newb in headphones. I’ve purchase Topping L30ii and connected to Marantz PM7000N just to use as a streamer for my Tidal library through recorder out RCA.
I’m using Neumann NDH20 headphones and they sound magnificent, never heard anything better in my life but that is not the point. The point is I’m wondering is it better to use M-gain on L30ii at 12h-13h or H-gain at 9h-10h there is no any noise at both gains so what would be better for headphones in that matter?
Excuse me, maybe is stupid question but as I said I’m complete an alphabet about this topic.
Thank you
Filip

 

[Veri]

Hi everyone. I’m newb in headphones. I’ve purchase Topping L30ii and connected to Marantz PM7000N just to use as a streamer for my Tidal library through recorder out RCA.
I’m using Neumann NDH20 headphones and they sound magnificent, never heard anything better in my life but that is not the point. The point is I’m wondering is it better to use M-gain on L30ii at 12h-13h or H-gain at 9h-10h there is no any noise at both gains so what would be better for headphones in that matter?
Excuse me, maybe is stupid question but as I said I’m complete an alphabet about this topic.
Thank you
Filip

Generally it's better to use lower gain as it suffices and switch higher gain once you need, well, more gain but since these amps are so low in noise it probably won't even matter what you end up doing!

 

[Surdzo]

Generally it's better to use lower gain as it suffices and switch higher gain once you need, well, more gain but since these amps are so low in noise it probably won't even matter what you end up doing!

Veri, thank you for your answer.
I would also like to know about correct plugging/unplugging the headphone from amplifier. Should I need first to turn off the amp then unplug the headphone or should I first have to unplug the headphone and then turn off the amp? Same question when start using the amp/headphone.
Tnx again.

 

[Veri]

Veri, thank you for your answer.
I would also like to know about correct plugging/unplugging the headphone from amplifier. Should I need first to turn off the amp then unplug the headphone or should I first have to unplug the headphone and then turn off the amp? Same question when start using the amp/headphone.
Tnx again.

It is an extra safety measure to have headphones unplugged when turning on or off. I wouldn't take any risks connecting an Utopia to a cheaper amp for example but a good design should not have any issues with this. You can never predict a disaster in advance though...

But tbh my HD600 are always plugged in, too. So far no issues... just a minor 'pop' when turning on but nothing nasty. And oh that's only when turning on the amp before the DAC. Makes more sense to turn the amp on last and shutting it down first!

 

[computer-audiophile]

Hi,

I am very satisfied with the combination of E30II and L30II with Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition. Probably my best headphone amp in 50 years.

 

[Surdzo]

It is an extra safety measure to have headphones unplugged when turning on or off. I wouldn't take any risks connecting an Utopia to a cheaper amp for example but a good design should not have any issues with this. You can never predict a disaster in advance though...

But tbh my HD600 are always plugged in, too. So far no issues... just a minor 'pop' when turning on but nothing nasty. And oh that's only when turning on the amp before the DAC. Makes more sense to turn the amp on last and shutting it down first!

Tnx Veri

 

[Rja4000]

I'm trying to match the 50mV result, but I can't replicate it.