[bifcake]

I have the L30 and it works really well. It's clear, neutral and it drives my 580s with aplomb. Whatever problems there were with the first batches, I haven't experienced them and I've had mine for almost a year.

 

[cel4145]

In

Interesting. I thought the fault had been fixed for serial numbers from 2011 down? It's what put me off before tbh. I've bought a set of akg k701 which I got cheap on Amazon warehouse as I've been wanting to try them for years... Turns out I love them. I've been using a Music Fidelity AMP which drives them easily but it's a bit too coloured. I was after something more neutral.

I've set £150 as budget.

I was tempted to get the iFi Audio Zen Can too

The problem has been fixed.

But there are some people on this form who seem to have a personal grudge against Topping

 

[Themilkman46290]

Trying to choose between the L30 and the Magni 3 heresy, in my area they both cost about 140-150 new and about 120 used so I will probably end up getting it new.

Have the problems with the L30 been fixed?
How is the sound between them?
I have some modded m565c and he4xx
Planning on getting a pair of hd600 and k701 in the next year or 2 and for now I plan on running it off my ibasso or zishan DAP but in the near future I will get a d10s, e30 or modi depending on wich has better sound and lower price locally

Any links about topping stating they have fixed it would be much appreciated, thanks in advance

According to the info I have found when I thought about getting some schiit gear a couple years ago, they also have some issues but seem to have addressed them but topping seems to measure a wee bit better

 

[hottyson]

But there are some people on this form who seem to have a personal grudge against Topping

I am one such person that has a personal grudge against Topping. Topping is garbage. They press fit their knobs onto the potentiometer thereby damaging many of them. That is why so many complain of play in the volume knobs. This is also why when they remove the knob they often have a broken amplifier. I keep repeating all of these stories yet for some reason people are still saying to trust Topping. What is wrong with people? Don't they read the forums and all of the poor design choices and poor quality built into Topping. Stay far away from Topping.

Trying to choose between the L30 and the Magni 3 heresy,

I currently own over fifty headphone amplifiers. The only two headphone amplifiers that have ever burned my headphones were the the Topping L30 and the Schiit Magni 3 Heresy. If you are truly interested in safety, why would you go with either one of these?

However, while Topping gave me nothing but lies and tried to cheat me out of money and waste my time, Schiit actually listened to me. Schiit refunded my money for my Schiit Magni Heresy. Schiit paid for shipping back the Heresy. Schiit offered to pay for my burnt headphones. So, now seven of my headphone amplifiers are Schiit, because it is a quality product my experience with them was golden. The only other brand that I own more headphone amplifiers of are Little Dot but that is because I slowly collected them for the last fifteen years. The seven Schiit headphone amplifiers were all purchased in the last two years.

So, go with the Schiit ieMagni model if you want safety. It has the built in protection that you desire. Or, go with the JDS Labs Atom. I own two of the Atoms and they are linear if that is your thing. (linear is not my thing) Or, if you have Beyerdynamic headphones, go with the Monoprice Liquid Spark. These three options that I suggest are all $100 amps just like the two that you were considering and would likely be much safer if you are wanting to avoid headphone fire.

 

[bifcake]

Trying to choose between the L30 and the Magni 3 heresy, in my area they both cost about 140-150 new and about 120 used so I will probably end up getting it new.

Have the problems with the L30 been fixed?
How is the sound between them?
I have some modded m565c and he4xx
Planning on getting a pair of hd600 and k701 in the next year or 2 and for now I plan on running it off my ibasso or zishan DAP but in the near future I will get a d10s, e30 or modi depending on wich has better sound and lower price locally

Any links about topping stating they have fixed it would be much appreciated, thanks in advance

According to the info I have found when I thought about getting some schiit gear a couple years ago, they also have some issues but seem to have addressed them but topping seems to measure a wee bit better

The problem with the L30 has been fixed. I haven't had any problems with the pot or the volume knob. I also didn't have a problem with Topping's support. I contacted them about the amp because its serial number was within the batch that had the problem. Even though I never had a problem, Topping told me to that they worked with the sellers, so that I could contact the seller and have the amp exchanged and/or fixed. I contacted the seller and he was aware of the issues and offered an exchange. So, I've never had any of the problems described by others.

I haven't heard Schiit Heresy, but I imagine that the Heresy and the L30 sound pretty much the same. If there are any differences, I think they would be minor.

 

[AJCxZ0]

Modified Thieaudio Phantom (and BLON BL-30),
Monoprice Monolith cable for the Phantom,
Topping L30 with gain at -9 dB and volume at 12:00,
Jelly Tang 3' RCA Cable (a matching fabric wrapped double-Y cable for $8.99),
Topping E30 in dAC mode,
USB A to B male cable,
PC running Fedora sending 192 kHz 24 bit (for fun) with PipeWrire through EasyEffects using Calf Studios Bass Enhancer and Jmeier crossfeed plugins.

It sounds awesome and looks good, too. The red finish of the Toppings is a metallic crimson which doesn't show up well in most photos but you can see contrasted here with the plain red plastic of the PC case even under warm artificial light.
The headphone stands are ROCCAT Modulok which I picked up from NewEgg for $25.43 and the deep, angled, PU leather with super-soft velour pads are NULLKEAI Replacement Thicken Earpads For Monolith M1060 Headphones Earmuff Cover Cushion Cups, three pairs of which were delivered from China for $25.06.

 

[MetaLchesH]

Hello friends. I am currently using SMSL SP200. While it performs great for power-hungry headphones, the SP200 is unfortunately not very compatible with IEMs. I'm looking for an amp for IEMs that costs 150 Euros or less. Would you still recommend L30 in 2022?

 

[baskingshark]

Hello friends. I am currently using SMSL SP200. While it performs great for power-hungry headphones, the SP200 is unfortunately not very compatible with IEMs. I'm looking for an amp for IEMs that costs 150 Euros or less. Would you still recommend L30 in 2022?

The L30 measures very well, but measurements aren't everything of course.

It is quite analytical and sterile and cold, so it doesn't really colour the music much. It has 3 gain settings so it is quite suited for high sensitivity IEMs all the way to more power hungry transducers. Previous batches had an electostatic discharge issue that may blow up connected gear, but it seems to have been fixed with later iterations.

For 150 euros, I would recommend the Schiit Asgard 3 though. It also has gain settings and is a bit warmer than the L30, but it sounds more musical and less sterile.

 

[Josz27]

The L30 measures very well, but measurements aren't everything of course.

It is quite analytical and sterile and cold, so it doesn't really colour the music much. It has 3 gain settings so it is quite suited for high sensitivity IEMs all the way to more power hungry transducers. Previous batches had an electostatic discharge issue that may blow up connected gear, but it seems to have been fixed with later iterations.

For 150 euros, I would recommend the Schiit Asgard 3 though. It also has gain settings and is a bit warmer than the L30, but it sounds more musical and less sterile.

I agree with this, I have A3 and had l30 and I think A3 is a much better sounding amp.
Right now I have burson 3XP and I think A3 is a extremely good value

 

[MetaLchesH]

The L30 measures very well, but measurements aren't everything of course.

It is quite analytical and sterile and cold, so it doesn't really colour the music much. It has 3 gain settings so it is quite suited for high sensitivity IEMs all the way to more power hungry transducers. Previous batches had an electostatic discharge issue that may blow up connected gear, but it seems to have been fixed with later iterations.

For 150 euros, I would recommend the Schiit Asgard 3 though. It also has gain settings and is a bit warmer than the L30, but it sounds more musical and less sterile.

Thank you very much for your reply. I'm not as good with amps as you. I've only used JDS Atom before. I am currently using SP200. When buying an amp, I usually look at the measurements and get it. I prefer a flat/natural sound. I often listen to genres such as Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Technical/Brutal Death Metal, Deathcore, Metalcore. 70's/80's Rock etc.

The problem with the L30 seems to have been resolved in later productions. The store on Aliexpress promised to send me new stock.

Unfortunately it seems impossible for me to get Schiit Asgard 3. Because the totalitarian government in our country forbade us to import products over 150 Euros. The tax-free price of this amp is currently $250. We also pay 50% customs duty for products under 150 Euros.

In this case, I have to look at amps of 150 Euros and below.

If you have any suggestions other than Schiit Asgard 3, I'd be happy to hear.

 

[Edric Li]

Just got the L30 II. Hopefully this is right thread for it.

I haven't heard an amp that definitively improves upon the headphone output of the Hugo 2 with IEMs in a long time. L30 II did it. Bigger sound stage. More nuance in the bass and treble. Loving it.

The only complains I have is that
1. For some reason the minimum volume is not dead silence. I can hear the music.
2. At low gain, with the E500 (which is not really a sensitive IEM), on loud recordings, the minimum no-channel-imbalance volume is too loud for me.