Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

[sarumbear]

That would fine if you didn't have to worry about it taking your headphones with it like the original did.

I haven’t read about that case. How did the HP effected?

 

[KEFCarver]

I am curious what is involved with this testing: " It survived my multiple overload tests."

 

[Angsty]

@JohnYang1997 is clearly establishing himself as one of the most important designers in audio. Few others are churning out innovations and improvements at this rapid a rate. Nelson Pass will need to look over his shoulder. Kudos!

 

[audiotron]

Awesome review as usual. How do you top this?

 

[Lifu]

Much lower gain for IEMs <- so sweet
My L30 <- cries
xD

I'm looking at the new L30 V2 for the same reason.
While the original L30 works perfectly fine with IEMs, I still need less volume sometimes and I'm often under 9 o'clock on the dial.

 

[Angsty]

I am curious what is involved with this testing: " It survived my multiple overload tests."

Even more curious about “Except in one rare case, I could not get the amp to produce anything but pure, clean distortion-free response with amazing detail.”

 

[AudioAaron]

That price during this economy is incredible.

 

[maverickronin]

I haven’t read about that case. How did the HP effected?

The first few batches of the original L30 could fail and burn out the voice coil of the attached headphone. IIIRC they were just dumping straight DC across the output. All the gory details are buried in the 260 page thread.

Several of Schiit's models have had similar a reputation for blowing up headphones over the years.

If it was just the unit failing to turn on one day, then I would agree with your original point. That's an acceptable risk to take when putting such power and performance in a budget package. When you have to be worry about about those failures destroying headphones which could reach 10-20x the cost of the amplifier it makes the question of reliability much more important.

 

[oceansize]

Well they keep getting better. A ten year old DAC is a dinosaur. Same with headphone amps.

A ten year old DAC is probably perfectly usable in 95+% of cases. Given that we're at the stage of chasing numbers for numbers sake (ie, totally inaudible improvements to the human ear), it makes sense to be looking more at features that increase usability and also things such as reliability.

 

[Somafunk]

Topping needs to produce a streamer (oled display please), dac, headphone amp, pre amp xlr outs (for my active speaker) roon ready/airplay/Bluetooth all in one with best in class measurements, I’d certainly be interested. As small as possible, nice remote control and a user gui that is the equal of my iPhone

Don’t want much do I?

 

[Human Bass]

@JohnYang1997 will the A50S get a similar update?

 

[pongpaktech]

Man I just received my L30 v1 today from Headphones.com. I guess I'll be returning it to get the L30 v2

 

[Acerun]

RME is upgrading the ADC/DAC pro model and adding output power. I suspect they'll be upgrading the DAC only model too. Not sure if 3.6 watts is total power or what?

"It offers a hearty 3.6 watts of power for headphones and a Pentacon socket for balanced headphones. "

RME shows ADI-2/4 PRO SE DAC at Superbooth 2022 - gearnews.com

RME ADI-2/4 PRO SE DAC and interface is already looking like it makes a sound and is bound to hit the market soon.

www.gearnews.com

Well let's see thousands of dollars versus $149?

 

[Labjr]

Well let's see thousands of dollars versus $149?

The DAC only version is just over a thousand, has balanced outputs, PEQ and other useful features. If I was using it professionally, I know which one I'd buy.

 

[Angsty]

A ten year old DAC is probably perfectly usable in 95+% of cases. Given that we're at the stage of chasing numbers for numbers sake (ie, totally inaudible improvements to the human ear), it makes sense to be looking more at features that increase usability and also things such as reliability.

I have a 20 year-old DAC that handles my 44.1k/16-bit streams just fine. I probably could not reliably tell the difference in a blind comparison to my much newer Topping and Schiit DACs. Yeah, chasing the numbers is fun but runs into limits of audibility and other components in the chain. I primarily use my Topping for its greater range of inputs versus pure sound quality.

 

[Beershaun]

Holy cannoli!! I just ordered one. My very first dedicated headphone amp. @Jimbob54 finally going to replace my crusty old dragonfly red with an e30+l30ii stack.

 

[amirm]

Even more curious about “Except in one rare case, I could not get the amp to produce anything but pure, clean distortion-free response with amazing detail.”

I hard a tiny static in one channel in one song but could not replicate it. That usually indicates clipping and that track had super deep bass. And I was at max volume.

 

[amirm]

I am curious what is involved with this testing: " It survived my multiple overload tests."

My power sweeps vs impedance push the amp well into clipping and keeps it there for good 2 to 4 seconds. The protection circuit must do its job or it gets damaged.

I do like to develop some kind of stress test fixture in the future to do some quick testing for reliability. But have not had time to do so.

 

[kombajn]

2x 149$ for complete state of the art dac/amp solution vs that piece of trash Chord DAVE for 14000$... that's not even funny

 

[Peternz]

And I just bought the L30 version 1, duh...

Never mind, the L30 is excellent in any version and my D70S L30 combo is miles ahead of stuff like DAVE.