Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[Piere]

You only can get subjective answers me think From a technical viewpoint: The interfaces you mentioned have balanced outputs where both "plus" and "minus" outputs are hard driven by an op-amp. So connect the L30 only to the tip of the jack to your interface and leave the ring open. No need to short the op-amp of the minus output of your interface!

 

[Lambo1985]

You only can get subjective answers me think From a technical viewpoint: The interfaces you mentioned have balanced outputs where both "plus" and "minus" outputs are hard driven by an op-amp. So connect the L30 only to the tip of the jack to your interface and leave the ring open. No need to short the op-amp of the minus output of your interface!

I have RCA to unbalanced 1/4 adapters. So I would use RCA cables with the 1/4 adapters to connect to the interfaces. The signal just becomes unbalanced. It's not really an issue. The signal may not be as clean, but it's not significant enough to make an audible difference in practice. The reasons why I'd get an L50/L70, is if the sound is improved, first, then so I can use a balanced input connection, second.

 

[Eddie_Vanjovi]

To help avoiding disaster a bit:

View attachment 268740

Yup, I blew up my d30 this way...

 

[Miiksuli]

Hmm. Interesting I updated audio drivers and Windows OS drivers and now I can use all gains without problems. No clipping. With tube amp and estats. But my gain is now lower. High is now "medium". Maybe there was driver bug somewhere.

 

[Lambo1985]

I picked up an L50, just to be correct with my connections. The L30ii & L50 sound identical, but the L30ii as described before, has a little more power. Thanks.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Finally went on sale on Amazon.ca so my L30II is on the way.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

It’s heeeeeeeeeeere! Can’t wait to get it home and start lifting all the veils!

 

[Eddie_Vanjovi]

Finally went on sale on Amazon.ca so my L30II is on the way.

Ordered one to tie me over until I figure out which DAC+amp combo I want. Haha... Mine comes in today too.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Well I mean what can you say about this stuff? It's just stupendous right? Good lord, it really seems like we've achieved audio perfection...not that the new amp actually sounds any different than the Heresy I was using lol, that was perfect too! But this new one makes a nifty-looking stack with the E30, and damn it all sounds just amazing with tons of power and headroom for days. Wonderful stuff.

 

[LegionOfHell]

(1) What type of potentiometer does L30 II uses ? what brand is it ? is it good ?

(2) Some L30 units were failing back in the days, Does L30 II fail too ? or have they fixed this issue ?

 

[synesthesia]

Hi,

Is anyone using L30 II with E50? Just ordered an E50, but cannot decide if I should go for L50 or L30II? I don't really need a balanced interface which L50 has, and L30 II has a preamp function that I may combine with my existing setup when switching between headphones and the speakers.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Hi,

Is anyone using L30 II with E50? Just ordered an E50, but cannot decide if I should go for L50 or L30II? I don't really need a balanced interface which L50 has, and L30 II has a preamp function that I may combine with my existing setup when switching between headphones and the speakers.

Can't see any reason why the L30ii wouldn't be just fine with the E50...

 

[half_dog]

(1) What type of potentiometer does L30 II uses ? what brand is it ? is it good ?

(2) Some L30 units were failing back in the days, Does L30 II fail too ? or have they fixed this issue ?

1 - I'm not 100% sure but I've read somewhere it's a ALPS (4 channel) potentiometer- Alps is a well-known brand.
2 - In fact some units were problematic (it seemed related to ESD) but Topping released a revised version at the end of 2020 which mitigated that problem. Until now I have no knowledge of L30 II's failing because of this issue.

 

[Dunring]

I have an L30 II and using a Soundblaster X1 using 3.5mm to RCA cables and it's no different sounding than my E50 DAC using the XLR cables. The L30 II is literally as good as you can get for sound quality. I just like the X1 since it puts out 2.4v in DAC mode when connected to an amplifier (or it detects 150ohms or higher). I've had the L50 but not the L70 yet. I currently have the Topping A90 discrete, SMSL SP200, SP400, Sabaj A20h, and the L30 II is as good as it gets for sound quality.

 

[Lambo1985]

Hi,

Is anyone using L30 II with E50? Just ordered an E50, but cannot decide if I should go for L50 or L30II? I don't really need a balanced interface which L50 has, and L30 II has a preamp function that I may combine with my existing setup when switching between headphones and the speakers.

I have L30 II, L50, & E50. If you don't need balanced, L30 II is perfect with E50. You'd get more power if connected to L50 balanced, but again, if not needed, then you're good. I use the L50 in-between my pro audio interface and monitor controller. When off, the L50 passes through to the monitor controller (which feeds active speakers). I now have the E50/L30 II as my living room leisure set up. I also have Fiio K7 & DX3 Pro+ as DAC/AMP combo's in case I need them. I tried a variety of setups with all of these (including Liquid Spark, Atom+, and Zen Can amps), and the E50/L30 II (or L50) stack is the best sounding/most powerful out of all of them, imo.

 

[TNT]

Yup, I blew up my d30 this way...

Does it break if one feed it 5V DC? Odd, it should not happen really...

I just wondered if one could feed it 15 x 1,4 + 1=22V super high quality stabilised DC?

//

 

[JediMa]

So is this even even better than L50?

 

[solderdude]

So is this even even better than L50?

Not 'better' in any way, the L50 has just balanced in (TRS jack) alongside RCA in.

A feature the L50 has that may be interesting is that you can switch between balanced input and RCA input basically allowing you to use 2 different input sources.
The L30-II can also be used as a pre-amp (so RCA out through volume control)
The L50 can not do this and is only throughput (so input and output are only connected)

You'd get more power if connected to L50 balanced

It does NOT have balanced headphone outputs though so there is not more power available. The XLR output is just for convenience (so you can use 6.3 TRS jack and XLR4 headphone cables on it.

You can buy a TRS to XLR4 converter and use that with L30-II with the exact same output power

 

[solderdude]

I just wondered if one could feed it 15 x 1,4 + 1=22V super high quality stabilised DC?

No. It must have AC because that is needed to create +/- internal power supply voltages.

 

[TNT]

So do you know that it doesn't start with a rectifying bridge and then creation of the needed voltages because if it does - it should work - no?

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