[Girlfrombrasil]

Anyone here use the Oppo Ha-2 with their liquid carbon?

 

[dip registered]

Hey, has anyone who's got the Liquid Carbon also ever tried / owned a Burson Soloist? What's the comparison if so?
 
Interested in both amps, but burson soloist has preamp outs and I wanted to see if the LC blew it out of the water or not.
 
Thanks!

 

[Koolpep]

  Hey, has anyone who's got the Liquid Carbon also ever tried / owned a Burson Soloist? What's the comparison if so?
 
Interested in both amps, but burson soloist has preamp outs and I wanted to see if the LC blew it out of the water or not.
 
Thanks!

You live in Urumqi? Amazing - was there some 15 years ago. Interesting memories from there.
 
I have the Burson Conductor  (Sabre version) 
bottom right

 
And also the Liquid Carbon - The Burson is very versatile and I love the plenty inputs and outputs, pre-amp etc. But purely the amp section - I would give the win to the LC. Can't tell you the specifics - but it "feels" nicer to me, more pleasant, more engaging, more my taste. Didn't do any critical listening trying to dissect what exactly the differences are.
 
But on the other hand - the differences are not night and day with most headphones. Still use the Burson mostly hat home with my HD650 and the LC in the office.
 
Cheers!

 

[ejong7]

  Hey, has anyone who's got the Liquid Carbon also ever tried / owned a Burson Soloist? What's the comparison if so?
 
Interested in both amps, but burson soloist has preamp outs and I wanted to see if the LC blew it out of the water or not.
 
Thanks!

I heard there was a V2 of the Soloist released some time ago but I've only heard the V1 that was released way back.The LC is definitely more transparent and engaging if I recall the Burson sound correctly. However, I do remember the Burson being powerful enough to drive the HE-6. The Carbon probably can do it, but it'll be a push.

 

[mscott58]

Agree with what's been posted. It's been a while since I had the Burson Conductor (full version, V1) but I prefer the amp portion of the LC over the Conductor's amp. However, the Burson is also a combo amp/DAC, so with the LC you'd need a separate DAC. Cheers 

 

[dip registered]

Thanks so much for your responses guys. i actually have an apogee duet which I'll use as the DAC feeding the LC, and the apogee will be my pre-amp for my studio monitors also. Definitely going to go with the LC! Thanks!

 

[dip registered]

You live in Urumqi? Amazing - was there some 15 years ago. Interesting memories from there.

I have the Burson Conductor  (Sabre version) 
bottom right



And also the Liquid Carbon - The Burson is very versatile and I love the plenty inputs and outputs, pre-amp etc. But purely the amp section - I would give the win to the LC. Can't tell you the specifics - but it "feels" nicer to me, more pleasant, more engaging, more my taste. Didn't do any critical listening trying to dissect what exactly the differences are.

But on the other hand - the differences are not night and day with most headphones. Still use the Burson mostly hat home with my HD650 and the LC in the office.

Cheers!

Yep I live in Urumqi. It's a crazy but amazing place!! About to move to LA in a few months, so preparing heavily for the change in lifestyle =)

I'm sure the Burson amps are great, but I'm hearing such great things about the LC which are making it seem to stand out above other amps in similar price ranges and above. It also just looks so damn good too! People are loving it with their audeze x/xc's and that's what I've got, just can't turn it down.

 

[jarnopp]

Thanks so much for your responses guys. i actually have an apogee duet which I'll use as the DAC feeding the LC, and the apogee will be my pre-amp for my studio monitors also. Definitely going to go with the LC! Thanks!

I had the Apogee One for a while, then upgraded to Mojo and have not looked back. Mojo is an amazing DAC and would also be able to serve as a preamp for your monitors. FWIW, I also don't see any issue with Mojo -> LC -> HE-6. Fantastic sound.

 

[dip registered]

I had the Apogee One for a while, then upgraded to Mojo and have not looked back. Mojo is an amazing DAC and would also be able to serve as a preamp for your monitors. FWIW, I also don't see any issue with Mojo -> LC -> HE-6. Fantastic sound.

I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a CM. Forgive me i I'm wrong though, but mojo doesn't have any preamp outs? Just the two headphone jacks on the front? Or are you suggesting just going from headphone jack is ok?
 
EDIT: In fact, would someone take a photo of how they use the DAC of the CMojo and into the LC? Is it just straight out of the headphone jacks? Wouldn't that be also using Mojo's amp section? Sorry, noob alert...

 

[x RELIC x]

I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a CM. Forgive me i I'm wrong though, but mojo doesn't have any preamp outs? Just the two headphone jacks on the front? Or are you suggesting just going from headphone jack is ok?

EDIT: In fact, would someone take a photo of how they use the DAC of the CMojo and into the LC? Is it just straight out of the headphone jacks? Wouldn't that be also using Mojo's amp section? Sorry, noob alert...

Because Rob Watts is using his WTA filter with the FPGA and his Pulse Array DAC the noise from the DAC is so clean he only needs one discrete opamp stage (the crucial I/V conversion) and that's it. The Mojo simply doesn't have a separate headphone amp in the way that other devices do, and it's very simple for the sake of transparency. Think of it more like a variable line-out using digital volume control rather than a headphone amp. The measurements of the headphone out are certainly much better than most DACs line out as well (especially at this price).

To allay any fears of using the headphone out of the Mojo you'd be interested to know that the Hugo, Hugo TT, DAVE, all basically share the same path from their line-out as the headphone out in those devices. If you'd like to know more you can read the third post of the Mojo Thread which has a mountain of information, including the explanation about the output stage in the Mojo.

You can use a regular 3.5mm interconnect from the Mojo to the Liquid Carbon. That's what I did when I had mine (sold my Liquid Carbon):

 

[mscott58]

Because Rob Watts is using his WTA filter with the FPGA and his Pulse Array DAC the noise from the DAC is so clean he only needs one discrete opamp stage (the crucial I/V conversion) and that's it. The Mojo simply doesn't have a separate headphone amp in the way that other devices do, and it's very simple for the sake of transparency. Think of it more like a variable line-out using digital volume control rather than a headphone amp. The measurements of the headphone out are certainly much better than most DACs line out as well (especially at this price).

To allay any fears of using the headphone out of the Mojo you'd be interested to know that the Hugo, Hugo TT, DAVE, all basically share the same path from their line-out as the headphone out in those devices. If you'd like to know more you can read the third post of the Mojo Thread which has a mountain of information, including the explanation about the output stage in the Mojo.

You can use a regular 3.5mm interconnect from the Mojo to the Liquid Carbon. That's what I did when I had mine (sold my Liquid Carbon):

Agree - The Mojo is an incredible DAC! Punches way, way above it's price-point in terms of accuracy and musicality. However, I personally feel it's only fully realized when it is connected to an external amp like the LC (or if you like more of a tube sound I personally prefer the ALO CDM - and soon the ALO CV5!). For portable use I connect my K10's straight to the Mojo, but on my desktop I plug it into the LC. I've also plugged the Mojo straight into the Cavalli Liquid Gold - that's right, a $600 portable SE DAC into a $4K balanced amp. Sounds amazing. Hard to go wrong with the Mojo as a DAC and the LC as an amp, especially for their price-points. Cheers 

 

[dip registered]

Many thanks guys! Great information about the Mojo. Can totally see it working with both the LC and monitor/speaker setup.
 
Sorry to derail a little from LC... Can't wait to get mine!

 

[Hansotek]

Agree - The Mojo is an incredible DAC! Punches way, way above it's price-point in terms of accuracy and musicality. However, I personally feel it's only fully realized when it is connected to an external amp like the LC (or if you like more of a tube sound I personally prefer the ALO CDM - and soon the ALO CV5!). For portable use I connect my K10's straight to the Mojo, but on my desktop I plug it into the LC. I've also plugged the Mojo straight into the Cavalli Liquid Gold - that's right, a $600 portable SE DAC into a $4K balanced amp. Sounds amazing. Hard to go wrong with the Mojo as a DAC and the LC as an amp, especially for their price-points. Cheers 

I can back that up. The mojo sounds surprisingly great as a DAC with both the LAu and the LW.

 

[dip registered]

Thanks so much all. Apologies for another question - The balanced output the LC can 'generate' from a non-balanced source... Does it sound as good as a balanced source? My guess would be that a valanced source is better, but I'm guessing if I A/B tested, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[mscott58]

  Thanks so much all. Apologies for another question - The balanced output the LC can 'generate' from a non-balanced source... Does it sound as good as a balanced source? My guess would be that a valanced source is better, but I'm guessing if I A/B tested, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The phase splitter that Alex uses is very, very good. I'd say the quality of the balanced output from a SE source is so very close to the quality of the balanced input. I even took a DAC with both balanced and SE outputs and did an A/B with the LC and LAu and (if you use equally good cables of course) could not have told which was which if someone blindfolded me. If you have power issues or a lot of signal interference the balanced input might help with that, but as we've debated on this thread a ton I'd recommend going with a better quality SE DAC than focusing just on balanced DACs if you're going to be using the LC/LAu/LW/etc. Cheers