I want to buy an amp for my hd650 and iems. I can’t decide between a50s and l30 because from what I’ve read that single ended should sound the same on both and the only difference is balanced output in a50s. For me it’s hard to believe that it is the only difference. Where I live tube amps and schiit are not available that’s why I think topping is the best option for me. I will be using shanling m6 as dac.
HD650 performs better balanced. I suggest a50s.
But if you want to use the single-ended, L30 has higher power according to audiosciensereview.
People seem to be underwhelmed with a50s because it doesn’t have balanced input to be true balanced. A50s is gain limited which means it needs a high voltage dac to give high output power.
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Can you get a LakePeople G103-S (may be way out of budget)?
I don’t have any IEMs to test mine with, but should be clean enough.
I’ve seen people using hd650 single ended so I thought that they won’t benefit from balanced.
I can’t afford anything above a50s price point.
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If you watch Zeos’ 6xx review he says Sennheiser 6 series love balanced and tube. I agree with him.
The reason is because they need more soundstage and high power which balanced help them in both.
I’m not saying hd650 sounds terrible single-ended.
The a50s is a good piece of equipment.
I compared it to the metal case, balance optional, more power, smaller JDS Labs Atom.
If you need the extra power or think you may need it in the future…the a50s will do the trick.
Thanks, everyone for their opinions. I decided to buy a50s, because lakepeople g103-s is above my budget and jds labs atom isn’t available.
Headphones don’t benefit from balanced the transducers have 2 wires with a voltage differential, doesn’t make any difference whether one is ground or not.
Using balanced out of an amp can make a positive difference if the amp is actually balanced.
But a balanced amp isn’t fundamentally better than a single ended one.
I own the Topping A50S and I can tell you there is a noticeable difference using the pentagon jack on this Amp. It really shows when you plug in a 600ohm headphone like a HD600 or HD6XX(HD650), Check out DMS’s review of this amp as well. Love this amp I actually run the stack,
I’m not saying there’s some magic in balanced. Balanced architecture is basically two amps. That would mean more power but more output impedance. Benchmark (the company) talks about the disadvantages of balanced amps which are correct but more power usually justifies the side effects.
I guess crosstalk would improve, too but I’m not sure.