Hello here is a little mini review on Cavalli Audio's Liquid Carbon and how it compares to its big brothers, the Liquid Crimson, Liquid Glass and Liquid Gold. Cavalli Audio's Liquid Carbon is a a very nice, balanced amp that introduces one to the Cavalli house sound. For this mini-review, I primarily used the following 3 headphones 1) MrSpeakers ETHER C, 2) Hifiman HE1000, and 3) Sennheiser HD 800. These headphones were used through the following rig: MacBook Pro>Tidal>Yggdrasil> Cavalli Liquid amps
The bass, on the LC, is very nice, with good slam and presence. For instance, in Frank Zappa's Republican, the bass on the guitars is deep, and this track sounds ominous. Furthermore the bass does not leak out into the mids. Likewise the mids are pretty sweet and detailed sounding. The instruments sound real and the vocals are slightly forward sounding. Babooska by Kate Bush sounds quite good through the LC. The sound-stage is nice, with good imaging and transparency. This amazing little amp is powerful and it could easily run any headphone in my collection. MrSpeakers ETHER C sounds good through the LC, with the volume at 9 a clock. The HIfiman HE 1000 sounded quite nice, with good bass and mids. The HD800 sounded pretty good, though the soundstage seemed slightly constrained. Overall the Liquid Carbon is a good sounding, balanced amp that can drive any headphone I have in my collection.
The Liquid Crimson a good sounding tube hybrid, non balanced amp. The bass is powerful, with a textured presence . Yet the bass is controlled and does not muddy up the very lush, yet revealing mids. Furthermore the mids, on the liquid Crimson, are detailed, transparent and revealing . Jazz, blues and rock all sound great trough the Crimson. Dave Bruebeck's Take five sounds so real, its like being in a jazz club. The ETHER C really sound good through the Crimson. For example, the bass has this slam to it, that gets my foot pumping. likewise the vocals sound ever so sweet to listen too. The soundstage on the Crimson is nice and wide as well as detailed. Because the soundstage is detailed, it has a nice three-dimensional quality to it.
Frank Zappa's Uncle Remus sounds great through the ETHER C. The ETHER C really likes to be driven by the Liquid Crimson. The bass, detailed, sweet mids all are complimented by the sonic qualities of the Crimson. Likewise the HE1000 really sounds good through the Crimson. The bass has nice slam and the mids are sweet, transparently detailed and revealing. Finally the legendary HD800 sounds very good through the Crimson, the bass is powerful, tight and textured. The mids are lush, with good resolving detail.
The Liquid Glass is great sounding hybrid, non balanced amp, that uses two tubes. The sound signature on this magical amp can be easily tweaked, by rolling an amazing assortments of tubes. I have heard of people spend
ing more on tubes, than the cost of the Liquid Glass. The bass is just great sounding on the Liquid Glass withs lots of good slam, detail and presence. And the bass is tightly controlled and does not muddy up the ever so sweet, lush, detailed transparent mids. The mids on the magical sounding Glass are so sweet and lush sounding. However the mids are revealingly detailed and transparent, yet the sound is ever musical sounding. Furthermore the soundstage is quite large, very detailed and three-dimensional, holographic sounding.
The ETHER C sounds magical on the Glass. The bass is tight with great slam. The mids are sweet and lush with great detail. The HE1000 sounds great on the liquid Glass. The bass has such good slam and presence. furthermore the mids are very sweet and detailed sounding. Finally The HD800 sounds bloody great, being driven by the liquid glass. The bass has good slam and presence to it . Likewise the mids are very sweet and detailed sounding.
The Liquid Gold is a fantastic sounding balanced amp. The bass is the best i have eve heard from a solid-state amp. To my ears the liquid gold almost sounds like a tube amp. The bass is so powerful, yet tightly controlled. The bass does not ever muddy or intrude upon the the sweet lush, extremely detailed and transparent mids. The mids are so so sweet and lush sounding, yet the mids are very detailed and transparent. Because the mids are exceedingly detailed and transparent, the sound stage is very large, and three-dimensionally holographic.
The ETHER C sounds magical being driven by the LAU. The bass is spot on perfect . The mids are detailed yet sweet and lush. I feel I never heard the ETHER C sound so good. The HE !000 also sounded devine through this amazing amp. The bass has such great slam and presence to it. likewise the mids are lush and ever so detailed sounding. Finally the HD800 never sounded so good, when driven by the mighty liquid Gold. The bass is tight and powerful which never intrudes upon the very musical, lush, natural, detailed sounding mids. A HD 800 driven by the Liquid LAU , gave me goose bumps, when I listened to the music.
I highly recommend the Cavalli Audio headphone amps. The Liquid Carbon is good, but its bigger brothers are better and really make the headphones sound fabalous.
