TOPPING L30 II Amp: Closer Examination

At first glance, the TOPPING L30 II linear amplifier may look similar to the E30 II DAC we just saw. This is of course deliberate, with companies making matching stack units to encourage users to purchase and use them together. As with the TOPPING E30 II, the L30 II comes in the same four color options for the outer shell, with an anodized finish to the aluminium chassis. I again have the black version, making for a matching stack. The TOPPING L30 II is slightly larger than the E30 II, coming in at 10 x 13.5 x 3.2 cm, making it slightly wider in the back. It also weighs more at ~350 g, but not to where it makes any practical difference once set up. The Hi-Res Audio badge makes another showing here on the top, and remember to peel off the sticker on the front panel as with the E30 II, to reveal the headphone outputs and controls taking up the room of the display that was on the DAC. This is still a glossy glass surface, and the cover on the volume knob is acrylic with its own plastic sticker to peel off, both materials which can get dirty and scratch over time, unfortunately.

The TOPPING L30 II being an entry-class headphone amplifier first and foremost, it provides only a 1/4" (6.35 mm) output to drive your headphones. On the left is a tiny white power indicator LED followed by two physical switches, each with three positions. The first goes from off to selecting from among the inputs on the back. The second switch toggles between three gain modes (-14/0/+16.5 dB) as needed, which is great for driving sensitive IEMs and more demanding headphones alike. There is also the expected volume knob rounding things off, which is fairly large for the size of the amplifier itself, and has a smooth finish. I would have likedto see a knurled wheel with discrete clicks to better indicate the volume steps, given the target market here, although there is a white mark on a red trim going from minimum to maximum. This red trim is present on the black or red TOPPING L30 II as well, with the blue variant having a blue trim and the silver variant going with a silver ring.


Given the L30 II was designed to be used with the E30 II DAC, it's no surprise to see only a single-ended input in the form of the same RCA connectors on the back. These come marked clearly to help distinguish them from the RCA outputs to the right. These come in handy as a pass-through, for when you want to connect the L30 II to a set of powered speakers and use the E30 II/L30 II stack as a preamp. The L30 II needs to be in the off position for this, as turning it on turns off pass-through and the preamp feature. Interestingly, we do not see a Type-C port on the back as on the L50 before, so perhaps there are no plans for user-based firmware updating here. Rounding off the back is the 15 VAC input that takes power from the wall adapter. All four RCA connectors come with the same protective covers on the back to keep the unused ones clean.


As with the E30 II, we see four small hemispherical rubber pads on the bottom to raise the TOPPING L30 II. These do double duty by also providing some room for passive heat dissipation, when using the two as a stack one above the other. Disassembly is similar, in that there are hex head screws on the back, and once again the PCB is mostly stuck in place—this time owing to the volume wheel and other soldered connectors making it hard to take the entire PCB out for a closer examination. We do see blue-colored aluminium heatsinks over the NFCA (Nested Feedback Composite Amplifier) modules TOPPING is known for. This setup is based on the same linear amplifier design as in the higher-end TOPPING E50 and A30 Pro and makes for the extremely impressive THD+N and SNR numbers seen in the specs sheet on page one. I could go on about the claimed dynamic range, noise levels, and channel crosstalk, all of which are exciting for folks who want them, but the biggest part outside of output power we will get to on the next page, is the ultra-low output impedance of <0.1 Ω making this suitable for just about anything plugged into it.