The directionality of the images is equally accurate on both amplifiers, however, the images with the L30 are less chiseled and delineated. I'm building up a budget HiFi setup and I've spent a fair bit of effort trying to find the best budget integrated amps on the market right now. I was a complete noob one week ago and while this subreddit has been amazing, I'm still a bit lost in all the info. As far as I can tell, the main budget Chinese amps with competitive audiophile sound quality (for the price) are: Loxjie A30, Topping MX3, SMSL AD18, and SMSL SA300.

Your speakers are the voice or instrument, an amplifier is a relatively dumb device in that it only has one task which is to Amplify the input signal. Speakers are obviously going to make a huge difference because they are what is actually making the sound. All the settings will be saved if you put the Loxjie in Standby, and you can set the volume for the speakers and the headphones separately! I tried my Sennheiser HD600, which is a high impedance headphone, and I only needed around 35 to reach my maximum comfortable listening levels. With planar magnetic headphones like the Hifiman Ananda, on the other hand, I only needed to crank it up to 18. Internally, the L30 is based on Topping’s NFCA amplifier topology, and it promises diminishingly low THD numbers, with the THD+N on the L30, in particular, being measured at 0.00007%. The textures of the instruments are generally accurate, however, the timbre of percussion instruments tends to have a more dispersed quality.The disparity in power numbers between the 2 amplifiers may make any meaningful comparison unfair. However, when powering most of my headphones, both amplifiers can easily drive most of my headphones, including planar magnetic headphones like the Hifiman Ananda. There is also a marked improvement in the layering and depth of the presentation. The MQA file tends to have a more layered soundstage while the images formed are easier to isolate. The Loxjie A30 is an integrated 2.1 stereo amplifier and a headphone amp (100mW max) with a built-in DAC (an ESS "Sabre" ES9023) which delivers hi-res audio. The unit cannot be turned off completely, but it needs only 0.5W in standby. Not a big issue. As a speaker amplifier, the A30 plays substantially loud, with the 2 speakers that I tested, the A30 easily drove them to ear-splitting levels. Connected to my Wharfedale Diamond 9.4, the D30 only needed to be cranked up to 25 to reach my comfortable listening levels. With my Monitor Audio Monitor 100 speaker, I needed around 30 to reach my comfortable listening levels.

The A30 doesn’t create an artificially expansive soundstage, instead, it just maintains the natural sense of space and width of the soundstage. The imaging presentation is generally accurate allowing for images within the soundstage to be directionally accurate, creating a center image that’s crisp and well defined, while off-center images may not be as strikingly accurate.To ensure that the A30 will have enough power to run all these features, it comes bundled with an external 24V/2.1A switch mode power supply. This also saves some space both internally and at the rear of the device. I/O Testing the Loxjie A30 put a smile on my face and landed it happily on my recommended list. You are getting restaurant quality meal at fast food prices. Although the A30 is a fully capable integrated amplifier, the most striking feature of the A30 is the amplifier section for both speakers and headphones. With speakers, the A30 may be a bit warmer than most class-D amplifiers, but creates a truly engaging experience with more neutral speakers. Having a full-color IPS display on the front fascia of the device allows the D30 to display most of the pertinent information while the DAC is on. The default display shows the input, output, volume, file type, and sampling rate currently being decoded by the DAC.

Typical double-bladed sword, but i guess I find this little digital amp better. To be honest: I was really having a blast.Despite having an amplification stage the D30 is primarily marketed as a DAC. Inside, Loxjie has gone with the ESS 9068AS DAC implementation with a second-generation XMOS USB controller with a decoding capability of up to 32BIT/768kHz PCM, DSD 512, and MQA.