IC/FS: LNIB/mint BLACK Monarchy NM24 Tube DAC / SS DAC / Tube Pre-Amp - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

el_matt0 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 08:53 PM

Hey guys, up for sale is my fantastic condition Monarchy Audio NM24 DAC. This is by far my favorite DAC that has gone through my collection, and to be honest I'm sad to see it go since I haven't seen very many of these sold on head-fi. I was struck by a bad load of bills lately and haven't been using my headphones a ton as of late, so this is a forced situation unfortunately. I purchased this about 3 months ago via Audiogon, I can give you the email of the original seller. He was a fellow from Toronto who purchased it from Excelstereo.com. He told me he had purchased it only a few months before (so probably around February or March if I had to guess) and he said that they would also honor the warranty since they know him very well locally. I believe Excelstereo is based out of Toronto, ON, Canada.

There haven't been a ton of reviews on this unit (find some at Monarchy Audio's homepage), but I prefer it to the sounds of both DACs I've previously tried, the DAC-1, as well as a Zhaolu. The tube sound is very subtle, but provides a nice warmth and musicality to the sound. It has 1 optical input, and 1 coaxial input. It has 1 set of RCA outputs from the tube DAC, and 1 set of solid state RCA outputs from the DAC. Those SS outputs can then be looped via RCA IC's to the pre-amp "input". The NM24 also has a fantastic tube pre-amp built in (1 set of RCA inputs, 1 set of RCA outputs). You can use RCA IC's to feed the SS DAC to the pre-amp input, when in this configuration you can use the unit to directly feed a speaker power-amp or even a pair of headphones directly through the amp from your CD-player (coaxial) or computer (optical) for example. There are a couple diagrams if you search up on the Monarchy Audio website, but its fairly striaghtforwards once you see it. In order to drive headphones directly from the pre-amp, you must use an RCA > 1/4 (female) converter cable. Since the pre-amp has an output impedence of I believe 300 ohms, it pairs up very very nicely with something like a sennheiser, almost bypassing the need for a separate amp altogether (sounds DARNED good, trust me!).

I have quite a bit of DIY experience over the years, and I fashioned a converter cable (RCA > 1/4 (female)) that I'll include for no extra charge. It is quite nicely made with high end components, gold plated neutrik 1/4, gold/rhodium RCA's, cryo treated mogami starquad, and all housed in black nylon multifilament (ie supernylon). It is about 2-3 feet in length.

I don't have any pictures of the unit on hand since my camera is acting up, but nor do I feel there is any huge need for them. The unit is BLACK in color, and is absolutely flawless, not a single cosmetic scratch or flaw that I can see. It is EXACTLY as seen from the photos on Monarchy Audio's homepage (see below for appearance). The tubes are all stock, and the unit is in fantastic cosmetic and operational condition. To be honest I doubt this unit is even beyond its ideal burn in time, it still sounds better and better to me each time I give it a listen! I personally have only put about 20 hours or so to be generous on it, and I doubt if the original owner used it much at all given by the condition it arrived in (flawless and packed perfectly still).

I paid $930USD + 25 in shipping. Will take a bit of a hit and am willing to sell for $900 SHIPPED (Canada / USA). I have all the original box/manuals/papers, etc. This is a steal considering the immaculate condition of the unit!! Prefer to keep in Canada, USA is ok too, if you are in the eastern states i might need you to pay a tiny bit more ontop due to the added shipping costs. No international at this point. Feel free to PM with questions or offers, I'm a nice guy and will reply quickly

. Someone take this great DAC off my hands and let me pay my bills! I'm hoping to keep this fantastic DAC within head-fi and not release it back to the aGon crowds again quite yet. Thanks for looking!

el_matt0 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 08:57 PM

oh just a headsup, I found the links on the monarchy page, heres a copy/pasted little blurb from them. Please note that the NM24 is the NEWER and BETTER version of the older M24, as it also incorporates the addition of the Solid State DAC unit.

Brand new version of NM24
$1,590.00

The reason for the Solid State DAC in addition to the tube DAC:

Many customers want tubes for the liquidity
Others want maximum accuracy (from the Solid State)
Others want deep bass(easier attainable from SS) and a subwoofer outlet
Yet others want a coupling transformer that couples the SS DAC back
into the Line Amp section for an instant A/B comparison.
Others want to have a SS reference when they insert different tubes.

A few words on the new Model NM24:

It's three units in one package:
a tube DAC
a solid state DAC
a tube Line Amp.

You may evaluate the sound of the Solid State DAC by
feeding its output (the Upper Analog out
terminals on the rear panel, see picture) back
into M24's Line In, either directly with
a good (short) RCA interconnect, or better still,
through a coupling transformer (more on this later)

Then you can instantly compare the difference of
the Solid State DAC and the Tube DAC by
pushing the button next to the volume control.
The Solid State version is designed to yield a slightly lower level.
It can of course be used with other Line Amps.