New Cavalli Audio Portable Amp officially in the works

So for those who missed the relevance of the above post 2 NEW CAVALLI AMPS ( feel a little mercerish with all the caps ) 
 

 
 
it is not merely a balanced version of the portable but a completely different topology , discrete and balanced front to back 
 
I am very excited about these 2 products, not only because they pushed Alex back to the drawing board to get these amps small ( and quiet ) but also because I think everyone is going to be floored by the price and crazy value 
 
..dB

Still say it should have been Liquid Silk. 

Hello gents. I have just landed in LA and have just seen the comments.
 
Please remember that there are two new amps here at CanJam. The first is the Liquid Carbon (the one that Don talks about above), which is a small desktop amp. The second is the Portable amp. It doesn't have a name yet because we'll be resurrecting the contest at some point.
 
Gents, I'm not sure it makes sense to put a battery into the Carbon. It is fairly small and light and easy to transport. Putting in a battery and associated circuitry would make it heavier and larger, especially because it draws a lot of current.
 
The Portable, OTOH, will have a battery. I just wasn't able to complete out that part of it in time for the show. So the portables at CanJam will run from a walwart for the time being. This amp truly will be portable as you would expect. And, it is, of course, much smaller than the Carbon.

I'm a local if your hosting a mini meet before the event let me know.

Welcome to Southern California, need to eat somewhere near Costa Mesa? My recommendations:

-G burger right up the 405 (any cheeseburger and you will be happy)
-nates korner ( breakfast burritos are amazing)
- el torro tacos (true Mexican tacos with American size portions, the neighborhood is in between so you need escort let me know)
-George Thai bistro next to south coast plaza (there drunken noodles are amazing if you want spicy)
- ninjas with appetite( awesome teriyaki asada burrito)
If you can drive go to fourth street Santa Ana tons of good food

runeight said:

Hello gents. I have just landed in LA and have just seen the comments.

Please remember that there are two new amps here at CanJam. The first is the Liquid Carbon (the one that Don talks about above), which is a small desktop amp. The second is the Portable amp. It doesn't have a name yet because we'll be resurrecting the contest at some point.

Gents, I'm not sure it makes sense to put a battery into the Carbon. It is fairly small and light and easy to transport. Putting in a battery and associated circuitry would make it heavier and larger, especially because it draws a lot of current.

The Portable, OTOH, will have a battery. I just wasn't able to complete out that part of it in time for the show. So the portables at CanJam will run from a walwart for the time being. This amp truly will be portable as you would expect. And, it is, of course, much smaller than the Carbon.

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Being an avid universal and custom iem user, I hope some that audition the portable amp at canjam can report back how it is with sensitive iems (like UERM, JH13, etc): any hiss, noise floor, volume pot usage on low gain, etc. Probably would be good to know the output voltage of the source used with it too. Anyway, thanks in advance to any impression posters.

runeight said:

  Hello gents. I have just landed in LA and have just seen the comments.
 
Please remember that there are two new amps here at CanJam. The first is the Liquid Carbon (the one that Don talks about above), which is a small desktop amp. The second is the Portable amp. It doesn't have a name yet because we'll be resurrecting the contest at some point.
 
Gents, I'm not sure it makes sense to put a battery into the Carbon. It is fairly small and light and easy to transport. Putting in a battery and associated circuitry would make it heavier and larger, especially because it draws a lot of current.
 
The Portable, OTOH, will have a battery. I just wasn't able to complete out that part of it in time for the show. So the portables at CanJam will run from a walwart for the time being. This amp truly will be portable as you would expect. And, it is, of course, much smaller than the Carbon.

Click to expand...

 
I wish you a very good show.  I will not be able to attend and will be following it from 5000 miles away in Europe.
 
to me a battery operated Carbon makes a lot of cense and differentiate it from the rest of the crowd of other small desktop amp and from...the Liquid Crimson.  But this is only my opinion....

shotgunshane said:

Being an avid universal and custom iem user, I hope some that audition the portable amp at canjam can report back how it is with sensitive iems (like UERM, JH13, etc): any hiss, noise floor, volume pot usage on low gain, etc. Probably would be good to know the output voltage of the source used with it too. Anyway, thanks in advance to any impression posters.

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Fellow uerm user here will let you know how it goes current stack rwimod + cypher lads piccolo & geek 450 + cypherlabs

audiofrk said:

Fellow uerm user here will let you know how it goes current stack rwimod + cypher lads piccolo & geek 450 + cypherlabs

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Awesome. I'm a picollo user as well.

runeight said:

  Hello gents. I have just landed in LA and have just seen the comments.
 
Please remember that there are two new amps here at CanJam. The first is the Liquid Carbon (the one that Don talks about above), which is a small desktop amp. The second is the Portable amp. It doesn't have a name yet because we'll be resurrecting the contest at some point.
 
Gents, I'm not sure it makes sense to put a battery into the Carbon. It is fairly small and light and easy to transport. Putting in a battery and associated circuitry would make it heavier and larger, especially because it draws a lot of current.
 
The Portable, OTOH, will have a battery. I just wasn't able to complete out that part of it in time for the show. So the portables at CanJam will run from a walwart for the time being. This amp truly will be portable as you would expect. And, it is, of course, much smaller than the Carbon.

Click to expand...

@runeight I think that logic makes lots of sense.  I couldn't see bringing the Carbon any place that didn't have power already.  (Plus, adding a battery to it would probably increase its size dramatically, possibly pushing it out of the transportable range.   If I weregoign to bring it somewhere that there wasn't power, I'd want a truly "portable" amp...  and possibly a dac/amp to have less to carry.  

shotgunshane said:

Awesome. I'm a picollo user as well.

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 If you want the most accurate report you could always overnight me your tera for me to try it out with the new amp.

bmichels said:

  to me a battery operated Carbon makes a lot of cense and differentiate it from the rest of the crowd of other small desktop amp and from...the Liquid Crimson.  But this is only my opinion....

Click to expand...

 
There's something like this if 220V were supported
 
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=18810565709
 
 

runeight said:

.

The current device is purely an amp. ATM it runs from a small walwart. I have just about finished the battery solution, but this is not in the package that will be in LA. The amps that will be at CanJam are about 80mm x 50mm. Fairly small, though they will get bigger once the batteries go in the box.

The amps are single ended and totally discrete. Max power into 50R is about 350mW. The output impedance should be about 1/10 ohm at 1kHz excluding cables etc.

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I had the pleasure of listening to these today at CanJam with the incredible NobleK10. Let's just say that if they had the battery in them, I would have purchased on the spot. Given that the nice people at Cavalli would not take my money despite my pleading, I can confidently state that I will but this as soon as it becomes available for purchase. This little amp sounds absolutely incredible. I kept going back for more!
Of particular note were the soundstage and separation. No coloration was added but it take terrific weight and body and drove the K10s with ease.
Well done Cavalli team! Put a big honking battery in it for a nice long play time for me please

runeight said:

  Hello gents. I have just landed in LA and have just seen the comments.
 
Please remember that there are two new amps here at CanJam. The first is the Liquid Carbon (the one that Don talks about above), which is a small desktop amp. The second is the Portable amp. It doesn't have a name yet because we'll be resurrecting the contest at some point.
 
Gents, I'm not sure it makes sense to put a battery into the Carbon. It is fairly small and light and easy to transport. Putting in a battery and associated circuitry would make it heavier and larger, especially because it draws a lot of current.
 
The Portable, OTOH, will have a battery. I just wasn't able to complete out that part of it in time for the show. So the portables at CanJam will run from a walwart for the time being. This amp truly will be portable as you would expect. And, it is, of course, much smaller than the Carbon.

Click to expand...

 
Okay, and maybe this has already been addressed, but since there is a distinction between the desktop Carbon/Crimson model and the TBD portable amp, is the portable model also discrete amplication?

elwappo99 said:

   
I'm also glad to see Cavalli's in this price bracket. I've always been very impressed with your gear, and look forward to chatting with Alex every meet. Very nice guy.
 
 
I haven't seen any other information about this amp. Could you say a ballpark for release time?

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We are looking to open up preorders for these amps in a couple weeks on CavalliAudio.com. Then the manufacturing run will commence once the final designs are complete and up to CA caliber. The final amps will have more refined casework, as the units at CanJam were prototypes. The Carbon is just about finalized, and the portable is having the battery and charging circuitry finished. Since the portable is fully discrete, it requires more juice than OP amps. It is sounding fantastic, and we need to ensure there is plenty of runtime on tap. 
 
 

jacal01 said:

   
Okay, and maybe this has already been addressed, but since there is a distinction between the desktop Carbon/Crimson model and the TBD portable amp, is the portable model also discrete amplication?

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Yes, both the Carbon and the portable are fully discrete circuits. No op-amps in the gain stage - no compromise was made in the design of these amps - making for the robust Cavalli sound in a portable package. The ultra- low noise floor is great for IEMs, and the portable is pushing about 350mW into 50r, so plenty of power to drive most full-size cans as well. We had one gentleman astounded at how well it drove his LCD-X and other planars. 
 
Edit: Also note the output impedance is well under an Ohm for both amps, perfectly suitable for any IEM. 

No the name of the portable is the liquid silicone.