Topping L30 xploding and taking headphones out

Discussion in 'All Points Bulletin / Be on the Look Out' started by M3NTAL, Dec 17, 2020.

  1. bboris77

    bboris77 Friend

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    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  2. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    John Wang seems like a fitting name after all.
     
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Why did John Yang say that the poster "didn't contact him personally or [Topping] our customer service" when the poster showed a correspondence from he received from Topping / SMSL (Shenzhen Audio) that essentially told him that he was SOL because a "half-month" (two weeks) passed by?

    Why does John Yang then sidestep the issue at-hand and insinuate that there could be the same problem with other manufacturers' products while not directly addressing the poster's dilemma or even showing one ounce of sympathy, e.g. "I'm sorry" but instead blames the poster "look at you ..."

    What is wrong with this person?
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  4. bboris77

    bboris77 Friend

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    I am also very sad to see the people with damaged headphones (and others) in that thread publicly pander to Topping for doing the absolute bare minimum. I think some of these individuals are secretly hoping that Topping will give them some kind of special treatment for publicly praising their response. I am biting my tongue so hard not to get involved in this on ASR only because I sympathize with people with damaged headphones. However, heaping undeserved praise on this company and its rep will definitely not help anything in the long run.

    I do have a question for anyone with legal background/experience - is it possible for a manufacturer of an amp to refuse covering the cost of the connected equipment (headphones) if they themselves admit to the fact that their amplifier had a manufacturing issue that led to a catastrophic failure of the connected equipment? How could they weasel their way out of this?
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    In the USA, it's a state law issue under product liability. A manufacturer can refuse. However people can sue for property damages (caused by defective product). It's probably not worth suing unless it's a Utopia headphone. And even then, how can one take Topping / SMSL to court?
     
  6. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    As I understand it, Shenzhen Audio is just and audio retailer, so they can’t deal with the destroyed headphones. They sell many audio brands besides Topping and SMSL, so they just process returns and exchanges. I think the guy needs to contact Topping directly about his headphones.
     
  7. bboris77

    bboris77 Friend

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    I guess that is one advantage of buying from companies that are based in North America. In Canada, Ontario, any lawsuit for damages under $35,000 can be brought to Small Claims Court. The associated fees are in hundreds rather than thousands of dollars. Still, it would only make sense for HD800S and up.
     
  8. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    I think the crazy part is everyone is defending topping in that thread and shutting down the few people with problems..
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Topping / SMSL sockpuppet accounts. It's a well known technique from Chinese vendors. Ask Amazon about it. You can tell by how they are written. They have a certain style.
     
  10. Brause

    Brause Friend

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    I just received my Topping L30, shipped around 20 Dec. It was produced in July as the serial number starts with 2007...the dealer is sending me a replacement...unless I can talk them into a Yulong Canary II.
     
  11. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    Most expess warranties contain language limiting liability for what are called "consequential damages" i.e. to other gear. The U.C.C. allows this. But in the presence of an actual warranty, the terms of the warranty would control, and usually negate implied warranties like of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. But one would have to read the actual terms of the express warranty to know for sure its terms.
     
  12. Tom R

    Tom R Acquaintance

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    This is what happens when children design audio products. They leave out stuff, like power supply, ESD, and output protection. They think that copying a manufacturer's app note design is good engineering. And then shit starts to break in the field. And then they blame the customer and claim it is a rare occurrence. And then they add band-aids and try to shotgun fixes because they don't understand that ESD is a thing you have to design for if you are selling stuff to people that don't live in the f'ing jungle. And then they deflect blame to others.
     
  13. nishan99

    nishan99 Friend

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    [​IMG]
     
  14. hottyson

    hottyson New

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    That was me. This is my first post here on superbestaudiofriends.org. I am going to give my background on this.

    2002-2009:
    Speakers and headphones. I was an avid gearhead from Headwize Head-fi. Some say that listening to the music should be the end goal. Not for me. The music has always been second place. I am all about the gear. I have a storage unit that I rent because my gear does not fit in my three car garage. However, a day blessed my family as the stork arrived one day with something much more precious than all of my audio gear combined. My daughter was born in 2009. On that day I pretty much stopped with audio gear forums.

    Fast forward to 2020:
    I sold my truck with 47k miles on it. With my daughter having completed elementary school and was now in middle school. I was ready to resume my passion for audio gear. My plan was to use $10,000 to purchase audio gear and get back in the audiophile saddle. I purchased every popular budget dac/amp stack, some middle and high end amps and increased my headphone collection to about 40 to 50 pairs.

    The AmpliFIRE of 2020:
    One day in about my third month of listening to this huge horde of gear that I had acquired. I was listening with Sony headphones and the preamp output of the Topping L30 headphone amplifier connected to Emotiva monitors. I reach for the volume on my Topping L30 to adjust the volume and zapp, BUZZZZZ...ZZZZZZ.... I power cycle the Topping L30 and actually unplug and reinsert my headphones back in (I know, what an idiot) and they start to snap, crackle, and pop.

    ESD Schiit Magni Heresy
    As I have retold in many forums, I live in the desert of Las Vegas, NV. What I have not fully explained is that my primary listening room has carpet and that when I reach for metal audio components in this room I get a electrostatic shock most of the time. This electrostatic shock has not been a problem for the past 18 years and all of my electronics have never had issues with electrostatic shock for these 18 years. Except for this Topping L30 and a Schiit Magni Heresy.

    With about 30 headphones and 10 headphone amps in the rotation, you can imagine the amount of plug in and plug out I was doing with these poor little 1/4 inch jacks on these amplifiers. We are talking in the thousands per day as I was critically listening to nuances in the sound between all of these headphones and rechecking it with another round to refine my notes. Then I repeated this with the amplifiers with another round to refine my notes. Then, the same old story with my DACs. It is safe to say, the insert and removal cycle was WAY beyond what a normal listener would be doing.

    So, the most popular headphone on Amazon is the OneOdio Pro-50. I knew it was going to sound like doo-doo but had to buy it so that I could tell everyone not to buy it. I was right, it sounded horrible with zero resolution and overbearing mid-bass that caused more listening fatigue than the Beyerdynamic DT-770 250ohm. Anyways, I was plugging this headphone in and out of the many amplifiers spread across my desk, electrostatic shock and all. When I got to the Schiit Magni Heresy, it buzzed and blew out one side of the headphone. I cycled the power and plugged a working set of "cheap" headphones back in and the Schiit Magni Heresy seemed to be working just fine. Amazon got the returned broken headphones, and I got my money back for the headphones in this case.

    The OneOdio Pro-50 had a cable that was terminated with a 1/8 inch trs connector. The adapter was a gold plated 1/8 to 1/4 inch METAL adapter. My hand was grasping the metal adapter when inserting the connector into the Schiit Magni Heresy headphone amplifier headphone socket input. So, electrostatic discharge made the jump there. This is a major difference than the Topping L30 since I was simply adjusting the volume on the Topping, whereas I was holding a metal plug on the Schiit Magni Heresy. Aditiontionally, the Schiit Magni Heresy still operates whereas the Topping was no longer operational.

    Schiit said they would take a look at it. So good on them and their warranty policy. I was planning to send it back but I doubt it will be worth the money to ship it back to them. YES, you can bet your asset that I shall NEVER ever be plugging any of my headphones in and out of the Schiit Magni Heresy. There is a procedure that I have to follow when using it. I turn it off. I unplug my headphones. Plug in the next headphone. Turn the Magni Heresy back on. I don't trust this amplifier with my precious headphones. I did try to exchange it with Schiit for the Asgard but I bought it from the B-stock so they will not take it back. My biggest lesson from them is to never by their B-stock as you are not really saving $10 when it will cost you more in the end if you wish to upgrade or have to send it back if it has a problem. Shipping it back will cost more than the $10 you thought you saved by buying B-stock. Live and learn. Buy only new stock!!!

    So, how does this end? First of all, DO NOT BUY CHI-FI! I will be telling EVERYONE not to buy Topping. I do own seven Little Dot amplifiers and they are Chi-fi. So, I can't go cold turkey. But, I have had very little problems with Little Dot and have repaired the few problems that they had. So, I will continue to recommend Little Dots. I have three American made headphone amplifiers made by Ray Samuels Audio. They have been trouble free and the craftsmanship inside is IMPECCABLE! I am fairly confident that I will be leaving these amplifiers down through my family as heirlooms.

    Friends don't let friends Chi-fi!
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
  15. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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  16. OhmsClaw

    OhmsClaw New

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    A single 8 hour day is more than enough time to do measurements. Is it enough time to listen, measure and compose a quality review? No.

    I despise Crinacle but at least his measurements help paint a more complete picture of a product we may not have hands on experience with when blind buying.
     
  17. OhmsClaw

    OhmsClaw New

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    The D50S (also topping no issues might be the ticket) or a used THX 789? You can also finance the RME through Sweetwater (not an Ad! I was just in no position to outright purchase one and they were the only dealer I could strike a solid deal with to buy my end game DAC which also has a phenomenal integrated amp with their "special" IEM port)

    A 150USD replacement is a tough ask for desktop measurements Champs though! I started with the Heresy/Magni 3 stack all blacked out and a genuine Sennheiser 1/4 adapter though!

    Sorry to hear about your situation.
     
  18. bhk1004

    bhk1004 Acquaintance

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    gross recommendations...
     
  19. bboris77

    bboris77 Friend

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    The L30 thread on ASR just keeps on giving. Buyers have now started opening their "fixed" L30 devices to ensure that they have the ESD fix because Topping's communication has been confusing. Here are a couple of pics from different users that made me chuckle in light of Amir's criticism about Schiit's soldering quality:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  20. supertransformingdhruv

    supertransformingdhruv Almost "Made"

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    Is this supposed to be a picture of a board that exploded and was "fixed" or... is this what they look like fresh?
     

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