spritzer Posted March 2, 2018 Report Posted March 2, 2018 Needless to say, I invested in one of these works of art and well... it didn't disappoint. External build quality is way beyond the Cavalli Mk1 unit I had but inside...yeah.... So if anybody thinks this is good for 300$ they need their head checked. Every expense was spared here, just look at the high quality sockets used. I mean, who hasn't heard of the legendary "Hooya" sockets let alone "ZWEE". I mean quality stuff... Circuit looks to be identical to the LC minus the internal switcher. All the same issue as well plus the super cheap volume control... 2 1 1 1
skullguise Posted March 2, 2018 Report Posted March 2, 2018 Ha! And I thought there may have been a chance it would actually be BETTER built then the original.....silly me...... 1
lunaticbastard Posted March 2, 2018 Report Posted March 2, 2018 any chance you'll get this one? since the ads reading sounds very entertaining https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-thx-aaa-789-linear-amplifier?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ccu_Massdrop_x_THX_AAA_789_Linear_Amplifier&referer=4YGZFA&mode=guest_open&iterableCampaignId=251971&iterableTemplateId=359684
kevin gilmore Posted March 2, 2018 Report Posted March 2, 2018 well at least it has a dc protection circuit which the original did not have, and its sure going to need it, absolutely no heatsinking of any kind. OH look, a rail splitter that's necessary because of the ultra cheap single output switching brick. At least its actually built better than the original at less than half the cost. i'll bet that plugging in both unbalanced and balanced headphones is going to cause it to blow up. just like the original
spritzer Posted March 3, 2018 Author Report Posted March 3, 2018 1 hour ago, lunaticbastard said: any chance you'll get this one? since the ads reading sounds very entertaining https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-thx-aaa-789-linear-amplifier?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ccu_Massdrop_x_THX_AAA_789_Linear_Amplifier&referer=4YGZFA&mode=guest_open&iterableCampaignId=251971&iterableTemplateId=359684 No, I only got the CTH amp as well which should be here soon. 1 hour ago, kevin gilmore said: well at least it has a dc protection circuit which the original did not have, and its sure going to need it, absolutely no heatsinking of any kind. OH look, a rail splitter that's necessary because of the ultra cheap single output switching brick. At least its actually built better than the original at less than half the cost. i'll bet that plugging in both unbalanced and balanced headphones is going to cause it to blow up. just like the original The lack of heat sinking will be a problem here, why they didn't use the nice chassis as some form of sinking is just beyond me. It's a nice sturdy aluminum shell so it could take some watts easily. I will probably blow this one up in the name of science... Notice the pissant 2010 0.47R resistors for the output devices... yeah they won't last long. 1
Sherwood Posted March 3, 2018 Report Posted March 3, 2018 Please consider me as subscribed to your newsletter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1
wink Posted March 3, 2018 Report Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) They should have called the Liquid Carbon X the Liquid CARBON14 and supplied some hazmat suits.......... Edited March 3, 2018 by wink
spritzer Posted March 3, 2018 Author Report Posted March 3, 2018 I've actually plugged it in now and it appears to work but I'll try it out later on. I'm expecting great things, I mean it has to be at least as spectacularly bad as the Cavalli version. Just read the manual and check out the last page under servicing, apparently this thing has a tube which I must somehow have missed... 1
TheSloth Posted March 3, 2018 Report Posted March 3, 2018 17 hours ago, lunaticbastard said: any chance you'll get this one? since the ads reading sounds very entertaining https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-thx-aaa-789-linear-amplifier?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ccu_Massdrop_x_THX_AAA_789_Linear_Amplifier&referer=4YGZFA&mode=guest_open&iterableCampaignId=251971&iterableTemplateId=359684 Do we know anything about the tech in this? They claim state-of-the-art performance, yet I'm surprised to see a single supply DC power input. Yet their measurements look great and don't show any signs of that sort of compromises. Sorry for the kinda OT question.
SeaWolf Posted March 3, 2018 Report Posted March 3, 2018 Wait, could the inference be that an audio company is lying about tech and performance.. ALERT THE AUDIO PRESS!! 2
kevin gilmore Posted March 5, 2018 Report Posted March 5, 2018 I wonder if amb knows that alex is using his protection circuit?
spritzer Posted March 5, 2018 Author Report Posted March 5, 2018 I very much doubt that AMB would be too happy about that.
Kattefjaes Posted March 5, 2018 Report Posted March 5, 2018 (edited) Soo, does it still blow up if you use both headphone sockets at once or not? On tenterhooks here Edited March 5, 2018 by Kattefjaes
Pars Posted March 5, 2018 Report Posted March 5, 2018 Didn't Amb and Alex kinda work together at one time? Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III?
lunaticbastard Posted March 5, 2018 Report Posted March 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Pars said: Didn't Amb and Alex kinda work together at one time? Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III? yes, according to this one https://www.amb.org/audio/ck2/
spritzer Posted March 5, 2018 Author Report Posted March 5, 2018 2 hours ago, Kattefjaes said: Soo, does it still blow up if you use both headphone sockets at once or not? On tenterhooks here Hehe, I've barely even listened to it but I'll get around to it. 1
kevin gilmore Posted March 6, 2018 Report Posted March 6, 2018 massdrop and schiit seem to be trying to out cheap each other. clearly this thing is much better built than the original for less than half the price. whether the protection circuit will prevent it from blowing up if you insert unbalanced and balanced headphones is currently unknown. but cost cutting is evident everywhere. external switcher removes the need for line power inside the chassis (joutenheim) and the AC rated power switch. But rail splitter causes all sorts of issues. Virtually no heatsinking so the amp runs pretty much class B. etc the CTH is the same thing. More rail splitter because its single ended.
spritzer Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Posted March 6, 2018 I'll do a thorough testing of the protection circuit.... I'll get the CTH tonight so time for some proper fun.
purk Posted March 6, 2018 Report Posted March 6, 2018 How about a comparison against the Square Wave or Dynalo?
spritzer Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Posted March 6, 2018 They are both far better... as this is a really shitty amp. I think this one might actually be worse than the original LC if that is even possible. I had to go out tonight so I missed the delivery of the CTH so that will have to wait until tomorrow. 1
kevin gilmore Posted March 7, 2018 Report Posted March 7, 2018 If the new LCX sounds worse than the original, its probably because of the rail splitter, otherwise the circuitry and parts are identical. I have never seen a rail splitter test well. The original squarewaves all burned up due to heat and other stupidity, but otherwise sounded really nice, still the only headphone amp I know of that is both current feedback and all of the voltage gain in the output stage. The re-done version is still a sweet but low powered amp. dynalo and supersymmetry dynalo still out perform everything else in their power class and as far as I know, no one has ever been able to burn one up. 1
kevin gilmore Posted May 7, 2018 Report Posted May 7, 2018 (edited) so birgir sent me 2 pieces of cavalli to test all at 20khz into 50 ohms top is output, bottom is input first up is the CTH which does in fact invert phase, check out the feedback spike next is the lcx, much slower slew rates (mosfets, no surprise there) and the ringy dingy Edited May 7, 2018 by kevin gilmore 3
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