[Stillhart]

Balanced will have more power. (Tim Allen Grunting sounds). Get you cans recalled to balanced. Tons of companies/people here will do that for you.

 
I know someone who would like to have a word with your Tim Allen...
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

[ksb643]

Unfortunately I had to back out.....

 

[290752]

Do you have to use balanced output and input to fully utilize the amplifier? Would the single ended do its justice? I ended up ordering one, but If the cost of balanced dac+ balanced headphone cables stack up too much I may have to back out of the order.

 

[Evshrug]

Do you have to use balanced output and input to fully utilize the amplifier? Would the single ended do its justice? I ended up ordering one, but If the cost of balanced dac+ balanced headphone cables stack up too much I may have to back out of the order.

Runeight (Alex Cavalli) said earlier that it's the amping path that matters, and that the LC can take a more typical input and separate it to balanced before putting it through the LC's amping circuits, so you can still fully utilize the balanced output. Alex says he still generally prefers balanced throughout the analogue audio chain, but basically you'll hear the sonic benefit of balanced amping without also getting a balanced DAC.

 

[Stillhart]

To add to Evs, I believe you'll want balanced headphone cables, but a balanced DAC isn't going to be as important.  As Evs said, the amp does a lot of work in giving you the benefits of balanced sound but you'll need balanced headphones/cable to take advantage of that.

 

[dBel84]

The intrinsic benefit of balanced throughout is the overall noise cancellation. Noise will be out of phase within positive and negative signal, this means they cancel each other out. This will not be the case for single ended input ( even though the amp will convert it into a balanced signal ) . The benefit you will still get is the fact that both the positive and negative signal is active - which equates to better driver control and more power.  The noise cancellation is not a huge issue considering the LC's low noise floor but the source should also have a low noise floor.  The amp will drive single ended headphones just fine ( it handled my LCD3 easily single ended ) ,  but it makes sense to run balanced if you have headphones with balanced cables.
 
For people not wanting to spend a lot of money on balanced cables, an easy way to make a set is to cut off the TRS jack - leave about 5cm of cable. Add a male 4 pin XLR to the headphone end and a female 4 pin xlr to the TRS end - now you have a cable and an adapter . Be sure to check that the stock cable has 4 cores or else this is not possible.
 
..dB

 

[runeight]

Hello gents. Here's a photo of the first pre-production unit. This is the last unit we hand build to finalize details before allowing production to fully start. Most of the wait now is due to lead time on components and enclosures.
 
This unit happens to be anodized, but the final unit may be powder coated (more durable finish). The body will be an extrusion instead of four separate pieces (which were convenient for the pre-prod qualification).
 
This one also has the indicator LEDs, showing the power on, the gain set to 3X (red), and input set to SE (red). 1X gain is white and balanced input is white..
 
The front panel is thicker than the protos and machined instead of punched out (so is the back). Also, the machinist who did the front messed up the recess for the vol knob. This is easy fix. We also will have a nicer knob on the production pieces.
 
I know it's a long wait, but this is pretty much what you'll be getting as the package.
 

 

[d1sturb3d]

How about back pics too

 

[audiofrk]

 
 
oh wait you already did. 

 

[runeight]

 
 
 
oh wait you already did. 

 
Yes, I guess I did. And I'm trying to shut up too, but failing................
 
I'll post a shot of the back later.

 

[KG Jag]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Evshrug]

Thanks for the update Alex!
In case you're not familiar with the "Take my money!" internet meme, he's not literally telling you to shut up (I like updates!!), just that he's sold on the product even without further info. There are a lot of meme's out there... but I'll spare telling you where to look till AFTER the LC comes out

Keep on rocking, baby!

 

[doctorjazz]

I know this has been gone over in the thread, but could someone please let me know what kind of balanced outputs those are (there are 2, along with a single ended output, if I'm correct). Hard to go through a 120 page thread (and, a 120 page thread on a unit that isn't even in production yet is pretty impressive!). Thanks

 

[LFC_SL]

A photo of the front panel was just posted so guess you missed it

 

[mscott58]

I know this has been gone over in the thread, but could someone please let me know what kind of balanced outputs those are (there are 2, along with a single ended output, if I'm correct). Hard to go through a 120 page thread (and, a 120 page thread on a unit that isn't even in production yet is pretty impressive!). Thanks

The 4-Pin XLR and RSA are both balanced.