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- Users: MikeW
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
Yeah, I did the cap mod on mine, quite some time ago. Probably been a year or so. I thought it improved the dynamics, bass and clarity. Pretty much across the board. Night and day? eh perhaps not, but definitely noticeable. And a very cheap and easy mod. I enjoyed it before, and I enjoy it more...- MikeW
- Post #3,895
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Douk Audio U2 Pro DDC - Poorman DDC for an affordable & clean digital signal
Mine works fine with windows native drivers, detected as "HIFI DSD" bit perfect and waspi work great. I use it to feed ADI-2 DAC FS, to free up USB port for iphone. Works as expected, quality is excellent, about the same as USB input on this dac. ADI-2 has excellent inputs on all ports however...- MikeW
- Post #33
- Forum: Dedicated Source Components
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any experience with the Douk U2 - XMOS U208 based USB to SPDIF converter ?
I picked up the U2 PRO, for 56$ on amazon. Im quite impressed with it. I have an RME ADI-2 DAC FS, i recently switched to Apple Music, and wanted the ability to hook up my dac directly to iphone though USB, but also leave my PC attached, so this required me to use spdif input from PC. The...- MikeW
- Post #6
- Forum: Dedicated Source Components
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
I don't know how I feel about rolling countless, ridiculously expensive NOS tubes in this amp. I've tried a couple of sets of nos tubes, Amperex A Frame, and another pair of 120$ nos tubes(7308? amperex).. I prefer stock tubes honestly. Perhaps I have not tried enough tubes. I did notice...- MikeW
- Post #3,466
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Liquid Platinum Tube Rollers.
Of those 3 pair, I still preferred the stock tubes, pre-mod.- MikeW
- Post #1,122
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Liquid Platinum Tube Rollers.
recently cap modded my LP, been going though my tubes again, I only have the stock tubes, and Amperex A-Frame's, as well as JAN 7308, Amperex 1967's, honestly, I much prefer the stock tubes to these two varients, and those 7308's are 150$ a pair. I find the stock tubes to be very neutral, and...- MikeW
- Post #1,120
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
100 hours on the cap mod burn in, and im quite impressed. Things keep getting better and better. Caps really opened up around 80 hours, I love the new detail im hearing in strings, the high's and low's at the extreme's have really come into their own in the last 20 hours. I forget how aweful new...- MikeW
- Post #3,434
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
What headphones do you have? if they have removable cables you can usually buy balanced cables on ebay for cheap. You could use the single ended as a crutch, but the risk is you don't ever get a balanced phone, and that would be a waste.- MikeW
- Post #3,431
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
you need to use the XLR headphone output on the amp, full stop. input does not matter as much. To get "True" balanced you would need to be balanced end to end, as in Source, Amp, and Headphones. I would not sweat it too much if you skip on the balanced source, but the other two are important...- MikeW
- Post #3,428
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
The unbalanced source won't make a huge difference with this amp, but you definately need to use the balanced output for the best experience. It's not close, so yes, you need balanced headphone cables, furthermore, yes it won't be "True Balanced" without balanced input, but it makes little...- MikeW
- Post #3,424
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
you can actually input single ended into the amp, and still get balanced output. not sure it makes a huge difference, what does make a huge difference is balanced output, you don't want to use the SE output (headphone out) on this amp.- MikeW
- Post #3,422
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
Yeah, i gathered from some info I gleaned, that folks take the back of the unit off and use a long screwdriver to get between the socket and adapter and pry it up. That's why i'd considered a socket saver + adapter, is there any negative to this approach other then cost? the tube monger socket...- MikeW
- Post #3,415
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
I have an original LP with very stiff sockets, i can't imagine that tube adapter would ever come out once it's in, without taking the amp apart. I don't really like the idea of it being permanent- MikeW
- Post #3,413
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
So, I have some 12AU7 socket adapters that i've had sitting in a drawer for a year, never did try them. Is the consensus that it's safe to run 12AU7 in the LP? and also, do you guys "Stack" a socket saver first, and then put your adapter in the socket saver and then the tube? so that you can...- MikeW
- Post #3,410
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
48 hrs burn in done.. caps continue to open up and lose congestion. So I can say, these are a clear upgrade in many ways, and as usual with capacitor upgrades, they are a voicing component, and some may prefer one over the other. At first impressions these are more to my taste however. As I...- MikeW
- Post #3,409
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
after 24 hours of burn in, the caps are starting to open up a bit. New caps always have a congested/nasal type sound, so I never like to comment to soon. They still need more burn in time, but it's an improvement with regards to bass Punch (not bass quantity) and a bit less "haziness" which can...- MikeW
- Post #3,407
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
What do you mean it is not balanced? the RME Adi-2 DAC FS is, oh your talking about the headphone output? I only use it as a DAC, but the headamp is actually not terrible. I found it competitive with Jotunheim, honestly, especially with a little EQ. It's not a high end headphone output, but it's...- MikeW
- Post #3,401
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
Wow nice man, I use an RME ADI-2. I have used Schiit before, I enjoyed the pairing with Bifrost 1, for awhile. Im way to spoiled by the feature set of the adi now. I can't live without hardware level PEQ.- MikeW
- Post #3,390
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
I think most of these caps are power supply stuff, Im not familiar enough with the design of the LP to know if it uses a "Coupling Cap" or anything directly in the signal path. I kind of doubt it, because usually if that is the case, the designer can at least spring for Wima's,(a film cap, vs...- MikeW
- Post #3,388
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum - By Alex Cavalli
just finished the Cap mod up on mine.. 12$ in parts from mouser, got em overnight, they are close by. Pretty easy cap swap. Just fired it up an hour ago, no magic smoke. Ended up doing Elna Silmic 470UF x 3, 10UF x 2, and a Nichicon 100UF "UKZ" aka "Muse", for the front XLR cap, as recommended...- MikeW
- Post #3,381
- Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
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Love the sound signature of Airpod Pro - upgrade options?
I honestly was not expecting much of them, and it took awhile for the disbelief of how good they where to wear off. Im a service technician and work out of a loud cargo van everyday, they are amazing at blocking the noise.- MikeW
- Post #6
- Forum: Headphones (full-size)
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Love the sound signature of Airpod Pro - upgrade options?
Hey guys, I have a pretty nice desktop setup currently, ADI-2 Dac FS, Liquid Platinum and HD650, I also own Denon D2000. I picked up a pair of airpod pro a couple months ago, and the more I use them the more I appreciate them. I very much enjoy their sound signature and often wonder if there...- MikeW
- Thread
- Replies: 6
- Forum: Headphones (full-size)
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Qobuz lowers streaming prices
I got an email that says 14.99 now, anyone else seeing this? looks like first 100k sub's until january get this price -
Terrible customer service experience with Tidal - Im done
The lack of ASIO support was pushing me out the door anyways, but that customer service fiasco was insane. My DAC don't like Wasapi, so I need programs that support ASIO. Qobuz is no problem, and I can stream tidal though Audirvana, but i've not yet purchased that and don't know if Im going to...- MikeW
- Post #4
- Forum: Computer Audio
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Finally a solution for ASIO output from within Spotify
So what im hearing is basically Use Qubuz or Foobar if you want to bypass the mixer cause there aint no other way. I think one of the paid software media player solutions has a mechanism to pull spotify at least I did a little bit more experimenting for those that my find it useful Foobar...- MikeW
- Post #15
- Forum: Computer Audio