Topping L30 or JDS Atom

[eeeper]

Wondering if the 50$ difference is worth it. Have a HiMan 4xx and a MASSDROP X FOSTEX TR-X00 headphones plus a handful of IEM's. Source is a turntable(pro-ject debut carbon evo) with a phono preamp, a SACD player, Hidizs AP80/DH80s combo. Currently running through a 25 year old Sony receiver which isn't too clean sounding with the higher quality sources.

 

[Phos]

That's a tough question to answer because the topping costs slightly more but performs slightly better. It's unlikely to be an issue, but the L30 does have slightly better SNR in the 50 millivolt test. The L30 also had better channel matching over the volume range, but that could vary by sample.

 

[iucoen]

You need the -9dB gain on the L30 for IEMs. L30 is probably the best amp for IEMs currently. Schiit's new IEMagni could be good too, but not the Atom.

 

[half_dog]

For extreme cases, Atom is current limited for really heavy loads and L30 has a higher limite. This is better to drive low impedance and low sensitivity HPs.

 

[eeeper]

Thank you all for the input. Any thoughts one where to purchase a L30 with a good serial number? I was thinking amazon but not sure.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

All L30 that you can purchase currently are good. Problems are over since last january. That has already been said many times. Just purchase one and it will be OK. I should know, I have 4 L30 myself.

 

[THW]

+1 for the L30 as well, to my knowledge all official distributors should be carrying L30s with S/N 2012+

-9 dB setting is very good for IEMs.

 

[Veri]

Thank you all for the input. Any thoughts one where to purchase a L30 with a good serial number? I was thinking amazon but not sure.

All units currently sold are 2012+ you can only get a "bad" unit when you buy second hand / eBay etc.

 

[Darwin]

Thank you all for the input. Any thoughts one where to purchase a L30 with a good serial number? I was thinking amazon but not sure.

That you even have to ask that question tells me you should go for the Atom. Topping reminds me of Hifiman. Both have lots of reliability issues and next to no technical support.

 

[half_dog]

That you even have to ask that question tells me you should go for the Atom. Topping reminds me of Hifiman. Both have lots of reliability issues and next to no technical support.

JDS labs has an excellent after sale service and Topping as well. I think they have handled quite well the L30's issue. I got a new unit from them without any inconvenience...

 

[filipduarte]

I have an L30 and a 4XX, a great combo, but I really love my L30 with my HD650 equalized.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

You need the -9dB gain on the L30 for IEMs. L30 is probably the best amp for IEMs currently. Schiit's new IEMagni could be good too, but not the Atom.

Excuse me, why exactly do we need that minus gain for IEMs?
Me and many others can't detect noise or hissing when we pair our IEMs with Atom using low gain. Other than that the I can understand the rest of your comment.

 

[ReaderZ]

Excuse me, why exactly do we need that minus gain for IEMs?
Me and many others can't detect noise or hissing when we pair our IEMs with Atom using low gain. Other than that the I can understand the rest of your comment.

Volume pot getting into area of channel imbalance with unity gain.

 

[eeeper]

Thank you all for the input. Any thoughts one where to purchase a L30 with a good serial number? I was thinking amazon but not sure.

Update:

Life finally settled down and finally ordered the l30 off Amazon - received 2102 serial. 30 minutes in I'm loving it. My he4xx hits hard, now I need to run through my other headphones and IEM's. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Blaze_NY]

Update:

Life finally settled down and finally ordered the l30 off Amazon - received 2102 serial. 30 minutes in I'm loving it. My he4xx hits hard, now I need to run through my other headphones and IEM's. I'll let you know how it goes.

The l30 is an amazing little amp and the build quality is really nice. Enjoy

 

[eeeper]

Update:

Life finally settled down and finally ordered the l30 off Amazon - received 2102 serial. 30 minutes in I'm loving it. My he4xx hits hard, now I need to run through my other headphones and IEM's. I'll let you know how it goes.

Decided to pair this with my main rig, a d50s connected to a windows laptop. Plenty of power for my h4xx, akg371, massdrop fostex, and every iem I have with single ended connections (to lazy to swap my favorite iems back to unbalanced cables). I decided to keep it as my main and move my Archel2.5 pro to my turntable headphone amp. Win win any way you look at it Thank you all.

 

[BARDUKE]

I have a E30/L30 stack that I use for gaming with HD800s, PC38x, and multiple IEMs (mostly SA6) and I have zero complaints. Works perfectly for me. Would recommend.

 

[BARDUKE]

Forgot to mention, I have the L30 at about 75% volume, 0dB gain. The E30 is around -25dB when playing, 800S is about -10dB.

 

[reddono]

You need the -9dB gain on the L30 for IEMs. L30 is probably the best amp for IEMs currently. Schiit's new IEMagni could be good too, but not the Atom.

hi, you would prefer the L30 over the new iFi Zen Dac V2 for listen IEMs?