Topping L70 Headphone Amp Review

[Zoide]

Is the L70 powerful enough to drive the Dan Clark E3?

Is there any reason to get the A70 Pro or D90 Discrete instead? (given their reliability problems)

Thanks

 

[Roland68]

Is the L70 powerful enough to drive the Dan Clark E3?

Is there any reason to get the A70 Pro or D90 Discrete instead? (given their reliability problems)

Thanks

You've asked that several times. The L70 has at least 4-5 times the power needed to drive the Dan Clark E3 beyond the pain threshold, with EQ.
The Dan Clark E3 is not one of those power-hungry headphones that need more than 2 watts with EQ, rather less.
The A90 Discrete has 1 watt less power than the L70.

Topping L70, A50s, A50III, L30 II, L50, Sabaj A20h, Singxer SA-1, SMSL HO200, Topping A30Pro and many more are enough for the Dan Clark E3 to make your ears bleed. Do you need more power?
It doesn't matter whether the amplifier is balanced or SE. A SE amplifier with 5 watts has 3 watts more power than a balanced amplifier with 2 watts. Or to be even clearer, 2 watts from a symmetrical power amplifier are just as loud as 2 watts from a single-ended power amplifier.

There are no differences in sound either. I have at least 5 HPAs with symmetrical power amplifiers and at least 5 HPAs with single-ended power amplifiers, and you would have no chance of distinguishing them blindly or finding out which one is SE or symmetrical. All in the range of €110 - €600, including an L70 and A20h.

But both of my work devices are from a German manufacturer, both 14 years old, new price around €1000, single-ended power amplifiers, very high-quality construction, proven, fully developed by the manufacturer and tested from start to finish.
Nothing else will come onto my table, except a newer device or perhaps an RME.
With such expensive headphones, I would really worry more about quality, quality control, long-term and stress tests in development, protective functions, etc. of the headphone amplifier than about unnecessary power or symmetrical power amplifiers.

 

[Chagall]

Is the L70 powerful enough to drive the Dan Clark E3?

Is there any reason to get the A70 Pro or D90 Discrete instead? (given their reliability problems)

Thanks

I drive E3 with L70 in low gain, even with a small EQ correction and -3dB preamp applied. Never go past -10dB, it gets pretty loud. Had no problems reliability wise.

Audiophonics.fr exchanged my early L30 which could have been affected with static discharge bug. No questions asked.

In addition to all the amps other have mentioned, you can also take a look at Schiit Midgard or Mjolnir 3 ($$$).

 

[resonnant]

Hi, may i ask a few questions?

I have been reading all the posts on this topic (lovely review, by the way) and so far after quite a few considerations, my plan is to buy the L70.
I work making music, my setup is nothing more than a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3gen and an AKG K240 MKII. The idea here is to get the L70, use the Scarlett as a DAC and get a HD650 as headphone. As all things point out, the L70 can drive the HD650 perfectly. The thing is i have plans to buy another headphones in the future (different impedance and sensitivity), so that's why the L70.

So, if I'm not bothering, my questions are:

• There is anything i should take care before buying the L70? Cables quality? TRS to XLR is really necessary or can i use TRS to TRS (since my Scarlett have only TRS output)?
• There is any problem leaving the L70 on all the time? I don't turn off most of my computer components, to be honest;
• This is a long shot, but since I'm quite new on this world of headphone amplifiers, there is an issue of using the AKG K240 MKII on this L70?
• I have read a lot of posts on the web about using Scarlett as a DAC and all of them turn out to be positive. Do you have any recrecommendations regarding this?
• And just out of curiosity, there is any headphone in mind that the L70 can't drive? This is not important, but this is something that i thought while typing this post.

Thanks in advance!

 

[staticV3]

There is anything i should take care before buying the L70? Cables quality? TRS to XLR is really necessary or can i use TRS to TRS (since my Scarlett have only TRS output)?

Cable quality is hardly a factor for short, line level connections.

The A70 takes both XLR and TRS, so TRS->TRS cables are A OK.

There is any problem leaving the L70 on all the time? I don't turn off most of my computer components, to be honest;

No problem.

This is a long shot, but since I'm quite new on this world of headphone amplifiers, there is an issue of using the AKG K240 MKII on this L70?

No issues.

I have read a lot of posts on the web about using Scarlett as a DAC and all of them turn out to be positive. Do you have any recrecommendations regarding this?

If it has the features you need, keep using the Scarlett.
A more expensive DAC won't increase sound quality.

And just out of curiosity, there is any headphone in mind that the L70 can't drive? This is not important, but this is something that i thought while typing this post.

All dynamic and planar magnetic headphones should be easily driven by the L70.

The only ones that won't work are electrostatic headphones and some 1Ω-ish AMT headphones.

 

[resonnant]

Cable quality is hardly a factor for short, line level connections.

The A70 takes both XLR and TRS, so TRS->TRS cables are A OK.


No problem.


No issues.


If it has the features you need, keep using the Scarlett.
A more expensive DAC won't increase sound quality.


All dynamic and planar magnetic headphones should be easily driven by the L70.

The only ones that won't work are electrostatic headphones and some 1Ω-ish AMT headphones.

Thank you so much, @staticV3!

 

[all24bits]

Thank you so much, @staticV3!

A more expensive DAC probably will increase your sound quality but it depends on how much you can hear the difference and what type it is (delta-sigma, R2R, internal components used, etc). But if the Scarlett has the features you need and you're currently happy with how it sounds, there may be no need to change it out.

 

[Mr Swing King]

^Nonsense…maybe except for the last bit.
Looking for better sound quality via dacs is a fool’s errand.

 

[all24bits]

^Nonsense…maybe except for the last bit.
Looking for better sound quality via dacs is a fool’s errand.

What DAC do you use? Would you be willing to exchange it for a cheaper DAC?

 

[Mr Swing King]

What DAC do you use? Would you be willing to exchange it for a cheaper DAC?

I’ve had dacs by Bricasti, Weiss, Schiit, Atomos etc etc yet once levelmatched and hid from view they all sounded identical. At the moment I am running the dac in my Rotel cd player and it also sounds transparent like the above.
I would mind changing it out but only because I have some sentimental value attached to it, but I don’t kid myself. I could find the exact same sound quality in a cheaper package.

Edith: It’s an old school Rotel CD-1072. I tried upgrading it a little while ago blindtesting it up against it’s bigger brother DT-6000, a Pioneer PD-50AE and a Sony SCD-XA333ES plus a NAD I forget the name of, but like the above dac tests, they ended up sounding completely identical…and well like I said, I have a sentimental attachment to the Rotel.

 

[Bleib]

There are bad DACs but it's very easy to find a good one

 

[Stange]

I'm thinking of getting the L70.
Is the L70 worth it more than the A30pro?
L70 costs 279€ and the A30pro 249€.
I would use my Fiio K5 Pro as DAC for a while. Upgrading later to a better DAC.
My current headphone is the Sennheiser HD490 Pro.

 

[Chagall]

I'm thinking of getting the L70.
Is the L70 worth it more than the A30pro?
L70 costs 279€ and the A30pro 249€.
I would use my Fiio K5 Pro as DAC for a while. Upgrading later to a better DAC.
My current headphone is the Sennheiser HD490 Pro.

L70 has better volume control. IMO, that alone is worth the premium. Both will "sound" the same. A30 pro is convenient if you only have SE headphone cable.

 

[Jimster480]

My OLED TV is on year 5 and looks like day one.

I believe you are thinking of the first gen OLEDs (I have a remote with those and it is quite dimmed). And the display isn't OLED --- otherwise it wouldn't have seqments.

Yep, Modern OLED's last quite a long time. However if it is an OLED on a device that is on quite a bit, then the pixel starts to die. Just like on my D70S, where the little "." that stays on all the time is very dim compared to the rest of the display.
Otherwise though it is still fine.
My OLED TV in my main room is fine as well.

 

[Roland68]

I'm thinking of getting the L70.
Is the L70 worth it more than the A30pro?
L70 costs 279€ and the A30pro 249€.
I would use my Fiio K5 Pro as DAC for a while. Upgrading later to a better DAC.
My current headphone is the Sennheiser HD490 Pro.

Definitely L70.
In addition to the mentioned significantly better and absolutely channel-identical volume control, significantly higher performance over balanced, real preamplifier outputs balanced and SE, easy-to-read display and remote control.

 

[Nordling]

Might be mentioned earlier but the A30 Pro is not a preamp. The outputs on the back are pass through.

Source: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...view-balanced-headphone-amp.20366/post-672160

 

[ErkyPerky]

Cheers

What is this like as a preamp? I'm also considering using it only as a preamp to add to my dac and speakers

 

[EddNog]

What is this like as a preamp? I'm also considering using it only as a preamp to add to my dac and speakers

I use L70 as a preamp sitting between my D90 III Discrete and pair of B100s. It is an excellent preamp! Absolutely transparent sound, effectively perfect channel matching with the relay-based volume control, and the 12V trigger is extremely handy. Remote control works well, too—better than the new Bluetooth remote on the D90 III Discrete which usually takes a bunch of time to wake and resync once it goes into standby.

-Ed

 

[ErkyPerky]

I use L70 as a preamp sitting between my D90 III Discrete and pair of B100s. It is an excellent preamp! Absolutely transparent sound, effectively perfect channel matching with the relay-based volume control, and the 12V trigger is extremely handy. Remote control works well, too—better than the new Bluetooth remote on the D90 III Discrete which usually takes a bunch of time to wake and resync once it goes into standby.

-Ed

So basically, if I bought the b100 or pa7 plus with the a l70, i can put my e70 into dac mode giving full signal, and then control volume via l70 leaving pa7 plus in bypass mode to use as a power amplifier like b100.

 

[EddNog]

So basically, if I bought the b100 or pa7 plus with the a l70, i can put my e70 into dac mode giving full signal, and then control volume via l70 leaving pa7 plus in bypass mode to use as a power amplifier like b100.

Precisely.

-Ed