[enomiss]

Do we know if this is a common thing or if it was just bad luck for one or two people?

I just received my L30 yesterday and I’m not sure whether I should keep it or not.

All electronics have lemons. That’s the nature of producing thousands of something. So the question is whether this is actually a common phenomenon or whether it’s just a couple cases of bad luck that are getting a ton of attention.

Same thing I've been pointing out. If I look at all the hardware in my house that is working fine, for every piece of hardware there are horror stories on the internet. So far I think it's only 1 or 2 people.

 

[baskingshark]

It seems from the forum complaints, it appears to be possibly ESD causing the sudden death of the Topping L30 amps? Maybe grounding the metal casing can help prevent this? Do most of the cases of the amp dying happen in winter locations?

Hmm FWIW, I've been using it daily for 3 months now, few hours daily, haven't experienced this issue before. I've been using highly sensitive IEMs all the way to power hungry headphones on different gain settings too. But I stay in a humid country so less chance of static compared to winter areas?

The L30 does get warm with longer sessions though.

 

[hottyson]

It seems from the forum complaints, it appears to be possibly ESD causing the sudden death of the Topping L30 amps? Maybe grounding the metal casing can help prevent this?

This is a really good question. I also wonder if anyone knows if this or some other way that would help. Living in the Las Vegas desert, I most often get a small electronic static shock each time I reach for a knob on my headphone amplifiers. All of my electronics usually survive except for my Topping L30 of course. Is there a setup of some sort to reduce the shock to the audio equipment by running a wire to somewhere from each device to somewhere???

 

[baskingshark]

This is a really good question. I am also wonder if anyone knows if this or some other way that would help. Living in the Las Vegas desert, I most often get a small electronic static shock each time I reach for a knob on my headphone amplifiers. All of my electronics usually survive except for my Topping L30 of course. Is there a setup of some sort to reduce the shock to the audio equipment by running a wire to somewhere from each device to somewhere???

Theoretically, u can ground the device by running an earth wire elsewhere. Or use some antistatic techniques like touching a metal object (to discharge) before touching the Topping L30. Or I've seen some folks use moisturizers/humidifiers to increase humidity or they even use antistatic sprays and remove woollen carpets/clothing so as to minimize static.

But as consumers, we shouldn't be needing to do these stuff, there's no excuse for modern technology to not incorporate ESD prevention isn't it? I hope they investigate this issue and let us know.

 

[DuncanDirkDick]

I haven't seen anything that would point to ESD tbh. As far as I remember some one brought it up and everyone jumped on the train. But maybe I'm missing the one post that explains it all. Anyway I don't own the amp, just interested from an engineering perspective. @hottyson Did you incorporate any usb isolators, ifi defender, etc in your chain?

 

[hottyson]

I haven't seen anything that would point to ESD tbh. As far as I remember some one brought it up and everyone jumped on the train. But maybe I'm missing the one post that explains it all. Anyway I don't own the amp, just interested from an engineering perspective. @hottyson Did you incorporate any usb isolators, ifi defender, etc in your chain?

No usb isolators. I am running all of my DACs through optical S/PDIF inputs.

 

[cel4145]

I haven't seen anything that would point to ESD tbh. As far as I remember some one brought it up and everyone jumped on the train. But maybe I'm missing the one post that explains it all. Anyway I don't own the amp, just interested from an engineering perspective. @hottyson Did you incorporate any usb isolators, ifi defender, etc in your chain?

If it's not ESD, then that's potentially worse. It means the amps are randomly failing and then blowing up headphones. At least if it's with ESD, it's potentially controllable by the user by avoiding static shocks to the amp. Ground yourself to metal on your computer chassis immediately before touching the amp.

Anyway, the ESD has and is being discussed in the L30 review thread over at ASR. You can check it out over there if you want to learn more.

 

[M3NTAL]

"Let me do my anti-static dance before I turn on my music and dance" - Head-Fi 2021

 

[MazeFrame]

There are some pictures of blown apart voice coils and more interesting to me, the fried Op-Amp in the L30.
Looking at the pictures of the burnt Op-Amp (of whatever make and model it may be, the markings were sanded down), there was quite some power flowing through the poor chip. I don't have an L30 to realy check, so take the following with a grain of salt:
- There is no protection in the L30 to dissipate Overcurrent or Overvoltage. No fuse on the input, no NTCs, nothing.
- There is also no fuse after the two LDOs (LM317 and LM337) providing the power rails, so under fault conditions, you could see 1.5A (in bursts higher) flowing.
- Next to the LM337 is a circuit around an 5532, the PCB-label suggests a DC-detection. Question is if that directly controlls relays (similar to the AMB-Labs epsilon12) or just reports to the ST-branded uController (?) between gain switch and headphone jack.

The lack of any OCP is a problem in my eyes since the combined 9mF or capacitors in there will turn a small fault (like an Op-Amp damaged by ESD) into magic smoke. Just like a Fuse on a Graphicscard may not save the device itself, it may save connected gear liked headphones.

I am new here and don't know how the picture posting works yet

 

[baskingshark]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-amplifier-review.15226/page-124#post-630733

Seems like in the above post, John Yang the Topping rep/engineer has something to say about probable ESD in the Topping L30 sets that died.

 

[kilonewt]

I returned my L30 back to Amazon after reading all the posts at Audiosciencereview regarding the potential ESD issue. I have a metal feet on my desk to help it ground to earth, but I am not taking chances with that thing going up in smoke or damaging my headphones.

 

[rick88]

It's a shame the issue has shown up with the L30. Oh well, at least I was fortunate that I heard about it while I could still return mine for a refund. While mine didn't fail or ruin my headphones, I didn't like how loose the headphone jack was on it, and didn't feel confident in it's long-term reliability. On a side note, when I went to Amazon to start the process I noticed the price went up to $149.99.

I've had really bad luck with gear in the last couple months. I bought and returned an E30, then a Schiit Magni Heresy, and now the L30. At least my two Schiit Modi 3 DACs have been trouble free.

I am now considering trying an ifi Zen Can Launch Edition. I'm back to using my trusty and great sounding Fiio A5 portable amp. In all honesty to me it sounds as good as the L30 or Heresy, but I wanted a desktop amp as to try and preserve the battery on the A5.

 

[cel4145]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-amplifier-review.15226/page-124#post-630733

Seems like in the above post, John Yang the Topping rep/engineer has something to say about probable ESD in the Topping L30 sets that died.

In a previous post, it seems he's basing the probability on number of units he knows about, versus total number sold.

Given that ESD in the home increases dramatically in the dead of winter in many cold climates versus a couple of months ago, such data would seem to be an unreliable predictor of the probable risk for those in cold climates.

But sure. If someone lives in a humid, tropical climate all year round, then the risk is likely very, very low.

For those of us who live in places where ESD in the home goes from a rare occasion in the fall, to multiple times a day right now, you can imagine how Topping sales versus failure data could be off by a couple of orders of magnitude or more as a predictor.

 

[baskingshark]

In a previous post, it seems he's basing the probability on number of units he knows about, versus total number sold.

Given that ESD in the home increases dramatically in the dead of winter in many cold climates versus a couple of months ago, such data would seem to be an unreliable predictor of the probable risk for those in cold climates.

But sure. If someone lives in a humid, tropical climate all year round, then the risk is likely very, very low.

For those of us who live in places where ESD in the home goes from a rare occasion in the fall, to multiple times a day right now, you can imagine how Topping sales versus failure data could be off by a couple of orders of magnitude or more as a predictor.

Agree with you, I do hope Topping at least allows a refund preemptively before more users get affected. Or allow a 1:1 exchange for new L30s with built in protection. It's a big pity, the Topping L30 really sounds good, but those living in colder climates may have a ticking time bomb in their audio setup! More so if some folks have expensive gear! I really do hope Topping can at least provide good CS for everyone, it is about their future reputation too.

I live near the equator and hardly encounter ESD. FWIW, I will still be using the Topping L30 for now, but with lowend cheap IEMs/earbuds, and I'll try to see if I can ground my unit.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

I just received my L30 and set it up. I’ve only listened for short while so far but I’m not sure what I think.

Coming from no amp, this seems harsh to me. The sound may be a little fuller but it also seems shrill and tires out my ears.

I’ll have to listen a lot more before coming to any conclusions.

For reference, the two sources I’ve used are the Xonar DX card in my PC and the Apple dongle connected to my iPhone.

And I’ve only really tested with my A900 and a tiny bit with my M50. My 6XX should arrive next week.