Topping L70 Headphone Amp Review

[Earwax]

Finished Critical listening comparisons of the L70 vs A70 pro.

Keeping the L70 I found it to have more purity.

I just realized I forgot to mention I was only comparing the pre amp mode not the headphone amp mode.
In fact I didn't even listen to the headphone amp on the A70 pro.
The L70 has much audio purity in pre amp mode but 2 separate L70's I have listened to both have terrible audio and are no even close to the Purity if the little L30ii for a headphone amp mode.
600 HD sennheiser headphones, Topping D50iii dac, used 2 separate listening setups one cellphone with USB audio player pro playing flac files and also tried Tidal streaming.
Other method on desktop computer using D50iii dac and foobar2000 flac files and also Tidal streaming.

Both L70 units failed in audio purity in headphone amp mode having distortion, L30ii is amazing best I personally have ever heard seriously amazing purity.

I bought the L70 specifically for the pre amp mode, but after having the L30ii already I was expecting the same amazing audio purity in headphone amp mode as the L30ii.

The release date of the L30ii and L70 were both in 2022 and I was wrong to assume they would both be equal in design, something we can never do in any industry

I'm returning the one L70 that just arrived a couple days ago as it was going to be a dedicated headphone amplifier with a remote.
The L30ii has no remote but that is very minor complaint when you comparing the audio purity it has over the L70...

 

[Chagall]

I just realized I forgot to mention I was only comparing the pre amp mode not the headphone amp mode.
In fact I didn't even listen to the headphone amp on the A70 pro.
The L70 has much audio purity in pre amp mode but 2 separate L70's I have listened to both have terrible audio and are no even close to the Purity if the little L30ii for a headphone amp mode.
600 HD sennheiser headphones, Topping D50iii dac, used 2 separate listening setups one cellphone with USB audio player pro playing flac files and also tried Tidal streaming.
Other method on desktop computer using D50iii dac and foobar2000 flac files and also Tidal streaming.

Both L70 units failed in audio purity in headphone amp mode having distortion, L30ii is amazing best I personally have ever heard seriously amazing purity.

I bought the L70 specifically for the pre amp mode, but after having the L30ii already I was expecting the same amazing audio purity in headphone amp mode as the L30ii.

The release date of the L30ii and L70 were both in 2022 and I was wrong to assume they would both be equal in design, something we can never do in any industry

I'm returning the one L70 that just arrived a couple days ago as it was going to be a dedicated headphone amplifier with a remote.
The L30ii has no remote but that is very minor complaint when you comparing the audio purity it has over the L70...

So are you suggesting that you received two defective L70 units?

Because what you are describing "audible distortion and a loss of purity" from two separate L70s in headphone mode, while the L30ii is described as "seriously amazing" and "the purest you have ever heard", using HD600s is difficult to reconcile from a technical aspect unless a defect is involved.

That said, the likelihood that both L70 units would have the same audible flaw, while the L30ii performs flawlessly, is extremely low.

This reads far less like an equipment limitation and far more like a listener bias, expectation bias, or a level/gain mismatch, rather than actual audible distortion.

 

[Roland68]

I just realized I forgot to mention I was only comparing the pre amp mode not the headphone amp mode.
In fact I didn't even listen to the headphone amp on the A70 pro.
The L70 has much audio purity in pre amp mode but 2 separate L70's I have listened to both have terrible audio and are no even close to the Purity if the little L30ii for a headphone amp mode.
600 HD sennheiser headphones, Topping D50iii dac, used 2 separate listening setups one cellphone with USB audio player pro playing flac files and also tried Tidal streaming.
Other method on desktop computer using D50iii dac and foobar2000 flac files and also Tidal streaming.

Both L70 units failed in audio purity in headphone amp mode having distortion, L30ii is amazing best I personally have ever heard seriously amazing purity.

I bought the L70 specifically for the pre amp mode, but after having the L30ii already I was expecting the same amazing audio purity in headphone amp mode as the L30ii.

The release date of the L30ii and L70 were both in 2022 and I was wrong to assume they would both be equal in design, something we can never do in any industry

I'm returning the one L70 that just arrived a couple days ago as it was going to be a dedicated headphone amplifier with a remote.
The L30ii has no remote but that is very minor complaint when you comparing the audio purity it has over the L70...

So are you suggesting that you received two defective L70 units?

Because what you are describing "audible distortion and a loss of purity" from two separate L70s in headphone mode, while the L30ii is described as "seriously amazing" and "the purest you have ever heard", using HD600s is difficult to reconcile from a technical aspect unless a defect is involved.

That said, the likelihood that both L70 units would have the same audible flaw, while the L30ii performs flawlessly, is extremely low.

This reads far less like an equipment limitation and far more like a listener bias, expectation bias, or a level/gain mismatch, rather than actual audible distortion.

I absolutely cannot understand that.
I've been using the L70 for over two years without any problems, even with various power-hungry headphones like the HE6 and SE/V2, and also as a preamp. Besides that, I also own the L30 II, several Violectric HPAs and preamps, a SingXer, and a couple of other devices.
I've also had other L70s here from friends.
None of them had even the slightest hint of distortion or any other problems.
Such distortion issues would have been noticed in Amir's test.

So either you really did win the lottery and got two defective L70s with the same fault, or the problem lies elsewhere in your signal chain.

 

[Earwax]

It is a possibility I won the defect lottery it can happen. I have contacted Topping about this situation.

It is very obvious when I compared them to the L30ii...

Even my Yamaha C40 that is not been refurbished yet and appears to be all original has no distortion and more powerful headphone output than the L70. That said the C40 does appear to have issues with audio purity as separation of the frequencies, sound stage is not on the same high ground as the L70 for headphone's.

C40 could probably use a rebuild kit, then it would be a far comparison.

 

[d00mhammers]

View attachment 349723
Picture of my L70 board, no components on the bottom.
- The two large 33uF/450V capacitors belong to the two small 15V switching power supplies.
- The 6 x 470uF/25V capacitors are part of the power supply.
- The 4 pieces of black 1000uF/16V capacitors are part of the supply of the HP Amp.
- The 2 black 1000uF/16V capacitors supply the balanced input OPAmp.
- 2 pieces of green MUSE capacitors take over the DC filtering of the SE input.
- Only 3 OPAmps on the board in total.
All information without guarantee.

What kind of screwdriver did you use to unlock front panel and what are the specs of the FFC cable? mine is damaged and volume botton stop working so im trying to replace it. I also cannot find a screwdriver to reach the front panel