Topping L50 Review (Headphone Amp)

[Veri]

It sounds like you're saying that the gain is the same regardless if single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR/TRS) inputs are used. Not what I expected.

That is just a wrong conclusion. If you feed it less voltage and the gain is the same, the maximum output is still lower with 2V in than with 4V in. Makes total sense if you put it that way, no?

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

That is just a wrong conclusion. If you feed it less voltage and the gain is the same, the maximum output is still lower with 2V in than with 4V in. Makes total sense if you put it that way, no?

Why would the gain be the same for single-ended and balanced inputs if they accept different signals with different max voltage? I don't know how this amp was designed, but I would expect the RCA inputs to be more sensitive so that max volume could be achieved with either. Perhaps that's not how Topping does things, but it seems like this would be easy enough to verify with the right equipment.

 

[Angel II]

Thanks to everyone, for the moment I was also evaluating the A30 Pro topping, it should have the same tone as the L50, but with more output power at 300 ohms.
SMSL HO200 is also part of my project, but I don't know the output power at 300 ohm.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

it should have the same tone as the L50, but with more output power at 300 ohms.

What 300Ω headphones are you driving that require more output than the L50 can deliver? If I turn things up on high gain with my HD650's, the L50 can blow my head clean off.

 

[Doodski]

What 300Ω headphones are you driving that require more output than the L50 can deliver? If I turn things up on high gain with my HD650's, the L50 can blow my head clean off.

Maybe we should refer @Angel II to the ASR tinnitus thread. Hearing damage is a real thing.

 

[Angel II]

What 300Ω headphones are you driving that require more output than the L50 can deliver? If I turn things up on high gain with my HD650's, the L50 can blow my head clean off.

I also listen with the HD650 and Violectric V200 (pre-gain +6 dB). I don't normally listen at high volumes and rarely exceed 40% of the knob travel. To be clear about the perceived volume, I am in a position to hear some external noises near me. From what you say, I will take L50 seriously. Thanks.

 

[RHO]

I also listen with the HD650 and Violectric V200 (pre-gain +6 dB). I don't normally listen at high volumes and rarely exceed 40% of the knob travel. To be clear about the perceived volume, I am in a position to hear some external noises near me. From what you say, I will take L50 seriously. Thanks.

If you do not play loud, why do you think you need more power?

 

[Angel II]

I referenced the V200 where I use a mid-high pre-gain setting, which is not just for boosting the volume. I went with this idaa, not knowing how current amps perform.

 

[Cals1970]

Hello I bought a Topping L50 because my Hifiman Edition XS was saturating the headphone output of my presonus 68c audio interface (150 mW/channel (56Ω load)) and I was getting noise at high frequencies at high volume. I managed to solve the noise problem and the bass frequencies are much better, but I am not very happy with the volume.

In the technical specifications it is written that it can put 3500mw of output into 16omhs and the XS has about 18ohms so I was expecting a deafening volume using only 20% of the volume knob, but with the windows volume at 100%, -5db of the equalizer and the interface output at 80% I have to put the L50 at 60% with gain on medium to get a good volume, is this correct? I don't usually listen to music at deafening volumes, but sometimes I like to listen with a little more volume.

 

[Bel Canto]

Hello I bought a Topping L50 because my Hifiman Edition XS was saturating the headphone output of my presonus 68c audio interface (150 mW/channel (56Ω load)) and I was getting noise at high frequencies at high volume. I managed to solve the noise problem and the bass frequencies are much better, but I am not very happy with the volume.

In the technical specifications it is written that it can put 3500mw of output into 16omhs and the XS has about 18ohms so I was expecting a deafening volume using only 20% of the volume knob, but with the windows volume at 100%, -5db of the equalizer and the interface output at 80% I have to put the L50 at 60% with gain on medium to get a good volume, is this correct? I don't usually listen to music at deafening volumes, but sometimes I like to listen with a little more volume.

That sounds about perfect, 12-2 o'clock on the volume dial is spot in. You can always use high gain if you want to cause hearing damage

 

[JeremyFife]

Enjoying a bit of headphones listening this afternoon with the L50.


View attachment 198797

iFi ZEN STREAM transport ($399)
AudioQuest Cinnamon USB cable ($89.95)
Khadas Tone2 Pro DAC ($249.90)
Straight Wire Virtuoso R2 interconnect ($880) - Ooops, overkill, but what I had on hand
Topping L50 headphone amp ($229)
E-MU Wood Series Teak headphones ($450)

Reference quality for $2,297.85

Apart from supply-chain issues, 2022 is a good time to be into this hobby.

(Not being entirely serious) ... sell your cables, you'll probably get 800! Then it's a reference system for $1,500 ... looks great btw

 

[Euphonic_employee]

..And here it is : naked , note , on the bottom a leaf of insulating plastic between the board and the chassis .
(my L30 died , op amp near power chips burnt , Sundara safe for a "Miracle" , buzzing sound after switching from hi gain to med gain ... the volume was set quite low while I was listening....

Blinking led " ïssue ", happened twice , seems L50 do not like been powered off from a switch before the transformer. (Safety mesure John Young? ) ...may be related to relay setting logic , bypass etc.

Shenzen audio offered to repair the unit but I will have to pay for the shipping ... at that point , the board was bulging on the bottom (opposite to the opa .. an smd cap burnt out too , the opa exploded burning in short ......

Repair what?...

To be clear shenzen offered a substitution to a batch of L30 known to be prone to the issue i've described , mine is older referred to that batch ... the lemon still smell , i mean really , 4 days off , air passed but the stink in my room is still slightly disturbing ... may be i've had to leave closed the device .

thanks for the PCB pinhole photograph. Is the disassembly straightforward? Are those 2mm hex in back what about the front? Is there any adhesive around the chassis preventing pcb removal?. This member needs to be able do principle component analysis before purchasing but could not find an image until now.

 

[wacomme]

I'm thinking about pairing the L50 with the SMSL D0100. Is this a good match? I was thinking the DO100 + A30Pro (or A90), but for about $100 less the L50 may satisfy my wants/needs. I'd connect my computer via USB to the DO100. Balanced cabling between the dac and amp. Then I'd connect my powered speakers via balanced cabling to the L50. I'd set the volume knob on the L50 to 100% and control HP and speakers either via the DO100 volume knob or the remote, switching between HP and speakers with the BAL and OFF switch on the L50. I presume pass through is shut off when the switch is on BAL, thus sound would come from either the HP or speakers, but not both. And with the DO100 having digital volume, I presume respective prior volume settings would be maintained switching between HP and speakers.

If my reasoning is incorrect, please let me know.

Michael

 

[RHO]

I'm thinking about pairing the L50 with the SMSL D0100. Is this a good match? I was thinking the DO100 + A30Pro (or A90), but for about $100 less the L50 may satisfy my wants/needs. I'd connect my computer via USB to the DO100. Balanced cabling between the dac and amp. Then I'd connect my powered speakers via balanced cabling to the L50. I'd set the volume knob on the L50 to 100% and control HP and speakers either via the DO100 volume knob or the remote, switching between HP and speakers with the BAL and OFF switch on the L50. I presume pass through is shut off when the switch is on BAL, thus sound would come from either the HP or speakers, but not both. And with the DO100 having digital volume, I presume respective prior volume settings would be maintained switching between HP and speakers.

If my reasoning is incorrect, please let me know.

Michael

I would use the volume control on the L50 to control the volume for your headphones en set the DAC to DAC mode for that application and switch the DAC to pre-amp mode when you use your speakers. The pass trough is automatically activated when you switch off the L50. I don't think you need to use the BAL switch. Balanced is passed trough to balanced and SE to SE.
(my interpretation of the manual)

 

[wacomme]

I would use the volume control on the L50 to control the volume for your headphones en set the DAC to DAC mode for that application and switch the DAC to pre-amp mode when you use your speakers. The pass trough is automatically activated when you switch off the L50. I don't think you need to use the BAL switch. Balanced is passed trough to balanced and SE to SE.
(my interpretation of the manual)

I don't think the L50 has a dac mode or preamp mode per se. A flip of a switch will take the L50 from running HP balanced via the DO100 (BAL) to pass through so that the preamp of the DO100 is running volume control for the powered speakers (OFF). Since the DO100 has digital volume whereas the L50 is analog, in either HP or speaker mode I would be able to control volume through the dac, not the amp.

I just want to make sure this scenario works before buying the dac and amp. It seems like a simple flip of a switch on the L50 (BAL or OFF) will take me from HP to speakers with full volume control of each via the DO100 knob or remote. Can anyone confirm this will work? Also, will volume settings be remembered when switching back and forth between HP and speakers?

 

[RHO]

I don't think the L50 has a dac mode or preamp mode per se. A flip of a switch will take the L50 from running HP balanced via the DO100 (BAL) to pass through so that the preamp of the DO100 is running volume control for the powered speakers (OFF). Since the DO100 has digital volume whereas the L50 is analog, in either HP or speaker mode I would be able to control volume through the dac, not the amp.

I just want to make sure this scenario works before buying the dac and amp. It seems like a simple flip of a switch on the L50 (BAL or OFF) will take me from HP to speakers with full volume control of each via the DO100 knob or remote. Can anyone confirm this will work? Also, will volume settings be remembered when switching back and forth between HP and speakers?

I meant the DAC you put in front of the L50. (in your example the SMSL DO100) Put that DAC in pure DAC mode for listening to your headphones using the L50. And put it in pre-amp mode to listen to your speakers.

Your scenario will work. But I prefer to have the volume control as late in the chain as possible. But for convenience it would also work as you intend to. Switching off the L50 will mute the headphone out and pass the signal trough to your speakers via the balanced outputs.
If your speakers do not accept balanced signals you need to connect the SE out of the DAC also to the SE in on the L50 and from the SE out on the L50 to your speakers. The L50 does not convert balanced to SE on the outputs. In that case you need to switch off the L50 and switch to SE to get the signal from the DAC to the speakers.
The volume setting on the L50 is analog, so powering it off and on again has no influence on the volume.

 

[usern]

I just want to make sure this scenario works before buying the dac and amp. It seems like a simple flip of a switch on the L50 (BAL or OFF) will take me from HP to speakers with full volume control of each via the DO100 knob or remote. Can anyone confirm this will work?

Yes it should work. Only drawback is you lose fine tune capability of analog volume dial on L50. Maybe there's some implication of going full tilt with L50 like higher power consumption, but don't know.

 

[wacomme]

I meant the DAC you put in front of the L50. (in your example the SMSL DO100) Put that DAC in pure DAC mode for listening to your headphones using the L50. And put it in pre-amp mode to listen to your speakers.

Your scenario will work. But I prefer to have the volume control as late in the chain as possible. But for convenience it would also work as you intend to. Switching off the L50 will mute the headphone out and pass the signal trough to your speakers via the balanced outputs.
If your speakers do not accept balanced signals you need to connect the SE out of the DAC also to the SE in on the L50 and from the SE out on the L50 to your speakers. The L50 does not convert balanced to SE on the outputs. In that case you need to switch off the L50 and switch to SE to get the signal from the DAC to the speakers.
The volume setting on the L50 is analog, so powering it off and on again has no influence on the volume.

Wow! Thank you. The SE part is good to know. I currently have non-balanced speakers (Audioengine A2), but I'm in the process of re-purposing those speakers and buying some balanced desktop speakers (likely Mackie CR3-X). So, to clarify, while I have my SE speakers, I must connect the L50 and DO100 via RCA (SE), not balanced (XLR/TRS), with RCA passthrough to the speakers, and then use the SE/OFF switch to go from HP to speakers. Is this correct?

Now, with your scenario (DAC and preamp modes [if this is possible]), would I be able to connect the dac and amp balanced and my speakers SE (until I get new speakers with balanced inputs)?

 

[usern]

Now, with your scenario (DAC and preamp modes [if this is possible]), would I be able to connect the dac and amp balanced and my speakers SE (until I get new speakers with balanced inputs)?

You can connect balanced to L50 and RCA from DAC directly to speakers (RCA pass through on L50 is redundant) and switch output on DO100. But! Beware of possible interference or ground loop issues with RCA. If you are currently using RCA and hear none of this, then it's fine.

 

[wacomme]

Can the DO100 be put in dac mode or preamp mode? If so, how?