Topping L30 Headphone Amplifier Review

[Veri]

Nice setup. Which volume control is that?

View attachment 78988

It's a software volume control. In Europe it's sold under "Droking" brand iirc

 

[yavormoskov]

I was adding something

@JohnYang1997 May I ask you about cables? I've ordered some RCAs cables, but the postal service started a strike yesterday and I don't know when it will finish ... Anyway, I have a few meters of mic cables (two conductors and double shield) and somes RCA connectors . A few messages before some folks were talking about cables and what I could understood one conductor would receive the positive signal, the other return path and the shield should be soldered only at one end of the cable. I was thinking to solder just one conductor for signal and the shield mesh for return - like a coax cable or use both conductor for signal and shield as return. Maybe not use the shield at all. Could you tell which would be the best aproach in this situation?

I used to solder before but now I just buy them. I am getting lazy, I guess. Recently I bought RCA and speaker cables from https://www.futureshop.co.uk/ and was very impressed with their service. The shipping to USA was fast and not very expensive. They did not charge me any VAT or extra fees. Most of their cables can be ordered custom length and there is free burn-in service if you believe in this stuff. I don't so I ordered QED and Chord company cables and after 4 days the order was in front of my door.

 

[3125b]

there is free burn-in service if you believe in this stuff

I can imagine why it's free ...

 

[half_dog]

I'm just willing to make these cables because there is no RCA cable shorter than 2 meters in my home right now and I won't get any so soon because of this strike. =P
I would like to know the best approach to make a RCA cable with a twisted pair (I have a few meters here) while I don't get the new one. There is a lot of material talking about path direction (one-end-open shielding application), other tell to not to solder one conductor because of capacitance between conductors and stuff like that... I just don't want to screw up the cables neither the signal (ground loop or any other problem) =(

 

[half_dog]

@yavormoskov btw, thanks for your indication.

 

[yavormoskov]

I'm just willing to make these cables because there is no RCA cable shorter than 2 meters in my home right now and I won't get any so soon because of this strike. =P
I would like to know the best approach to make a RCA cable with a twisted pair (I have a few meters here) while I don't get the new one. There is a lot of material talking about path direction (one-end-open shielding application), other tell to not to solder one conductor because of capacitance between conductors and stuff like that... I just don't want to screw up the cables neither the signal (ground loop or any other problem) =(

If you need really short cables you should not worry that much about capacitance and I am not sure I can hear any difference between directional and non-directional cables so when I make cables I have closed end shielding on both ends. For example my new Chord Clearway are directional but I have made some non-directional Canare and Mogami cables before and they sound just fine. It is totally up to you. I don't know what kind of solder you have access to but I prefer Cardas or Kester. I hate lead-free solder. I know ...... it should be better for your health and the environment but the solders with lead never give me trouble, very easy to work with. And the best thing about soldering is that you can always fix it if you don't like the end result

 

[yavormoskov]

I don't know if any of you are fans of the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt game but I certainly am. There was a great concert dedicated to the game and the books, performed live in Kraków, Poland. It is in the middle of the night and I just finished watching it using the Topping L30 amplifier and Verum One planar headphones. The experience was unbelievable. Small amp and a very big, specious sound. Good job, JohnYang1997

 

[akura]

Can someone suggest short Rca to Rca cables to connect it to D50s?

The JDS Labs one mentioned look pretty nice, they hold their shape so you don't get them trying to lift the AMP/DAC you have on top off the bottom unit which is something that can happen with really short cables. Making some yourself is pretty easy and can be fun if you are interested in learning to solder a little. I did so using some Canare mic wire + Amphenol rca connectors which were recommended and easy for me to get a hold of.

 

[yavormoskov]

The JDS Labs one mentioned look pretty nice, they hold their shape so you don't get them trying to lift the AMP/DAC you have on top off the bottom unit which is something that can happen with really short cables. Making some yourself is pretty easy and can be fun if you are interested in learning to solder a little. I did so using some Canare mic wire + Amphenol rca connectors which were recommended and easy for me to get a hold of.

I second that about JDS cables. I have to add here the nice cables by Shiit Audio - PYST 6 inch RCA interconnects. They look fantastic and they are of decent quality and not expensive.

 

[odyo]

Here is DMS impressions:

Offtopic but this guy is a bit JDS shill imo.

 

[Veri]

Here is DMS impressions:

Wow yet another day in audiophile fantasy land
"low mid range feels a little recessed, bass is not as pronounced" riiiiiiiiight....

 

[raif71]

Here is DMS impressions:

Offtopic but this guy is a bit JDS shill imo.

Interesting take...I'm going to absorb all kind of reviews. Yummy

 

[odyo]

Wow yet another day in audiophile fantasy land
"low mid range feels a little recessed, bass is not as pronounced" riiiiiiiiight....

Offtopic but i can honestly hear the difference between SBX AE5 soundcard and THX 789 amp (with E30). Haven't tried another external dac amp though.
AE5: More punchy and weighty bass, more offensive/shiny highs, intimate soundstage and less air between instruments.
THX 789: Gentle overall sound. More air around instruments, less weight but more transparency on bass. Overall slightly more field of view over music.

I really did extensive comparison over and over again. I'm quite confident after almost 1 month.

These products (L30, THX 789) have very good numbers at 1mW usage. This might be the reason why they sound gentle.
Both(AE5-789) audibly transparent on paper but they don't sound exact same. AE5 gets really hot inside the case and Ananda pulls lots of currents. Some kind of protection might kick in. Loudness wise they are very similiar, almost identical. THX 789 have 4x more power but db output is head to head.

 

[Veri]

These products (L30, THX 789) have very good numbers at 1mW usage. This might be the reason why they sound gentle.

I wouldn't bet on the L30/A90/THX/Atom/... amps having audible differences though, since they all perform similarly, around 90dB or better at low mW outputs. Maybe the SP200 can be perceived as more fatiguing due to its very high gain. But at these very high performance ranges.. they should be more similar if not identical than not.

 

[solderdude]

Ananda pulls lots of currents.

Let's assume you play very loud and reach 110dB SPL peak, about 95dB average (uncomfortable loud sustainable for about 1 song) = 0.3V peak and 50mV average.
= 12mA peak & 2mA average = 3.6mW peak, 0.1mW average.
That is 0.0036W peak and 0.0001W average.
So no high currents at all. The Ananda is very efficient and plays loud from a phone (1V)

The numbers above are assuming the listed 103dB is per mW.

This is where all the 'needs more power' myths come from.

 

[frankh]

Here is DMS impressions:

Offtopic but this guy is a bit JDS shill imo.

Lol....he's most likely describing the sound of the DAC or his headphone, not the L30 amp.

 

[odyo]

I wouldn't bet on the L30/A90/THX/Atom/... amps having audible differences though, since they all perform similarly, around 90dB or better at low mW outputs. Maybe the SP200 can be perceived as more fatiguing due to its very high gain. But at these very high performance ranges.. they should be more similar if not identical than not.

Yes i haven't used those. Only AE5 and THX.

Let's assume you play very loud and reach 110dB SPL peak, about 95dB average (really uncomfortable loud) = 0.3V peak and 50mV average.
= 12mA peak & 2mA average = 3.6mW peak, 0.1mW average.
So no high currents at all. The Ananda is very efficient and plays loud from a phone (1V)

The numbers above are assuming the listed 103dB is per mW.

This is where all the 'needs more power' myths come from.

Yes it's efficient and low impedance. My soundcard is hotter than my gpu though. I was uninstalling both and soundcard was burning my hand. THX 789 gets pretty hot too.

 

[solderdude]

That has more to do with the way it is built than the drawn power.

Let's assume the listed efficiency is merely 103dB/V instead of the usually dB/mW for hifiman, then the amp would need to deliver 2.2V peak and 0.4V average.
This would mean it would draw 90mA peak and 16mA average = 0.2W peak and 0.007W average.
Even that is very easy on any amp.
If it realy were this inefficient it would be spec'd at 87dB/mW and be equally inefficient as the HE-5.

So even in the very unlikely event the headphone is 103dB/V (would play equally loud as a HD650 on the same volume setting) it still isn't a lot of current.

Nah... the Ananda doesn't draw a lot of current and doesn't need a powerful amp.

 

[Veri]

Nah... the Ananda doesn't draw a lot of current and doesn't need a powerful amp.

Back when I had one, smartphone at max volume drove it to acceptable volume. Ananda is high-sensitive for a planar!

 

[koravei]

Hey guys, very interesting discussion here about L30! I am about to order one unit, but i still haven't cleaned up yet the real output power. Please can you throw some light about this. Which is the real output power @ 300 ohm, the test result for the pre-production unit - around 250mW (here) or 120mW from this post? Also if 120mW is the real number, why some people compare L30 with Atom & Magni, which are about twice as powerful?