[coastal1]

I subequently isolated my quote to one specific statement about headphones and you responded to that specific HP question, so I'm confident you knew exactly what I was asking, though didnt answer my question.  I'm not interested in arguing with you, I just want to know why the manual says something that conflicts what others have supposedly been told by Cavalli
 
Do you work for Cavalli?
 
 
Quote:

@coastal: we are not in your head, we can't know that you are interested in two sentences when you do a full quote.
If you are just interested in one part, do a partial quote. This way it will be easier to provide assistance

@jozurr @coastal : you can burn in with or without.
If you do with headphones, prefer balanced as it will unleashed more power and be more effective than se.
If you do without, and this is to my understanding, you'll also get full power. Depending on how you burn in, this can be stressful, so unplugging the headphone might remove some stress (which is preferred).

 

Are you saying this quote does not refer to the connection between headphone and LC?

"“It is ok to burn in without headphones. It is better to burn-in with balanced headphones. It is worse to burn in with SE headphones.”

Seems like that is only about headphones, and not DAC

This part is but the majority of the message you quote is about the DAC amp interaction.

 

[vince741]

I'm not interested in arguing too, so it will be my last intervention on that matter.
I got what you meant when you specifically chose the two sentence quote. When you quoted the full message, I thought that you just misunderstood the point.
I hope this will clear things up.

And no, I do not work for cavalli.

 

[x RELIC x]

...................

Never mind, I think I get it now. The very right button is not for SE or Balanced headphones but RSA or Balanced inputs. 

XLR balanced or RCA /3.5mm SE inputs. :wink_face:

 

[defbear]

Seems to be unique to my unit. I just don't understand how it came back with the same problem. Almost like the forgot to do anything with it. And now it's worse.




Alex is offering me a refund, at my request.


I asked…and was told they would find out and get back to me, They never did.


Alex uses the same shop that builds the amps, to do the repairs in California. So, this is in no way a reflection on Alex (although I do believe I should have gotten offered an instant replacement, instead of suffering a 15 day wait period for the repair, after enduring the long wait from the initial August timeframe, and then getting an untested broken unit).

Perhaps this is old news now. A refund would be unsatisfactory to me if I really wanted the LC. A refund is the easiest way for you to walk away from the situation. Its also the easiest way for Alex to be done with you and your problem. I doubt that's the way Alex sees it but it's there. I will say this. After building 500 of these amps, it would be completely irresponsible not to have spares in the way of parts and a spare amp or two to quickly resolve nasty situations like this for his customers.

 

[doctorjazz]

I agree, he really should have spare Amps and parts available, things never go 100% smoothly, and you need to be prepared for the defects that are bound to pop up. Hopefully he did and will straighten out the problem...

 

[swspiers]

 

True.  I'm not expecting a huge difference.  But the balanced should be a hotter signal, once I verify that the attenuators are at 0 dB.  The specs in the manual don't list the balanced out voltage, but they do list the SE voltage out at 2vRMS. This should affect volume, if nothing else. I'm assuming balanced out is around 4 volts.

Besides...it's balanced!  I need to at least try it that way   

Looking forward to what you hear but I didn't hear any volume change between SE and balanced.

I posted this in the other thread:
 

Just confirmed that the DAC-19's SE 2.5V output to the Liquid Carbon's SE input is the exact same volume as the HA-1's 4.6V balanced XLR output to the Liquid Carbon's balanced input listening to the Liquid Carbon's balanced output to my ETHER C. What sorcery is this? The wonderful phase splitter?

Set your phase(rs) on stun!!

I did get reminded on helping about this hobby can be at times. Thankfully, I have a few years under my belt of troubleshooting issues in my audio system, even if I am relatively new to this headphone thing.
 
So, I did manage to find my Pyst  balanced cables. I don't have that many boxes left after moving, and I found them naturally while cleaning up a little bit. So I disconnected the single ended, and hooked up the XLR's. The volume drop was incredible. I actually had to sit there for a couple minutes and try to figure out how in the world I could have such a volume drop going to the balanced out my benchmark. And then I remembered, there are these jumpers inside the unit to attenuate the balanced outs. Broadcast gear is unnecessarily made to stand 4 volts RMS. So I pulled everything out, disconnecting the benchmark, unscrew the chassis and low and behold, the jumpers were set to attenuate by 20 dB.
 
All in all, not that bad.  But pursuing higher end stuff can get confusing. Especially when my 52-year-old body has to contort itself into the stand my gear currently is in. This was much easier back when I was 30!
 
There may be a slight volume difference, but it is negligible. What sorcery, indeed? 

 

[Jozurr]

Perhaps this is old news now. A refund would be unsatisfactory to me if I really wanted the LC. A refund is the easiest way for you to walk away from the situation. Its also the easiest way for Alex to be done with you and your problem. I doubt that's the way Alex sees it but it's there. I will say this. After building 500 of these amps, it would be completely irresponsible not to have spares in the way of parts and a spare amp or two to quickly resolve nasty situations like this for his customers.

Agreed. You'd hope you get a perfect working amp that youve paid for and have been waiting for and not the money back. I may have understood this refund if everyone was paying when the amps were ready to be sold and had not "invested" in a product to get the bargain/deal/limitededition/whateveryoucallit.

 

[immtbiker]

...I have listened quite a bit, mostly binge-watching "Man on the High Castle" on Amazon through the Roku stick in my Oppo...

 
"Hand of God" and "Bosch" are also excellent Amazon Prime shows with great soundtracks that really get wasted without headphones.
 
My favorite headphone shows are "Hannibal" and "Criminal Minds" which both blow me away with headphones. It is amazing how much effort they put into the soundtrack that is barely heard by the average viewer. Headphones aren't just for music. Binge watching is a great way to break in a Carbon or any other worthy audio component.

 

[coastal1]

Loving this amp so far, only 24 hours into burn-in and it sounds fantastic.
 
Right now using iPhone w/ CCK->iFi Micro RCA->LC, using HD 650s w/ balanced cable made by a headfier.  I've previously been using the Bottlehead Crack + Speedball with Tung Sol 5998 and Telefunken ECC82/12au7 tubes.  
 
Have not A/B'd it to the Crack but initial impression is that the LC is much better despite the popularity of the Crack/HD650 and my personal liking of that pairing.  I generally use a laptop>iFi Micro but doing the burn-in at my office so using iPhone for now (work computer doesnt let me install the iFi firmware).  On the Crack, playing FLAC on laptop w/ Jriver is noticeably better than using iPhone (Tidal lossless saved offline), so if that holds true for the LC I will be even more happy.  Using a $70 Pangea power cord for the LC, just use a thick monoprice cable for the Crack, but would be surprised if that noticeably affects the SQ.  If not, I may get rid of the Pangea cord as it's a little stiff/bulky for how small and light the LC is.
 
As has been mentioned, LC has an incredible black background.  Played a Grateful Dead Dick's Picks official release that is not a great quality recording and has some hiss, and that hiss was vastly diminished on the LC, didn't think that could happen.  Good recordings obviously sound that much better.
 
Amp is powerful.. I briefly tried HD650 using the balanced cable with a SE adapter and was surprised at how good that sounded.  Volume was obviously significantly lower at same setting, but moving up to 3x gain with volume just below 12:00 it became plenty loud and didn't notice nearly the drop in SQ I expected, though I didn't listen to SE long (got the balanced cable for a reason), was just curious.
 
Incredible clarity and transparency, though very musical, not at all sterile.  Instrument separation/imaging is great, heard nuances I've never heard before on recordings I've listened to a lot of times. As has been mentioned, soundstage is wonderfully deep.  Bass seems much more detailed and stronger than the Crack, without overpowering the HD650 mids.
 
Given that I'm only 24 hours into burn-in and playing files off iPhone, it's possible that the LC will end up sounding even better, but I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens as I'm thrilled with how great it sounds right now. 

 

[warrenpchi]

  Loving this amp so far, only 24 hours into burn-in and it sounds fantastic.
 
Right now using iPhone w/ CCK->iFi Micro RCA->LC, using HD 650s w/ balanced cable made by a headfier.  I've previously been using the Bottlehead Crack + Speedball with Tung Sol 5998 and Telefunken ECC82/12au7 tubes.  
 
Have not A/B'd it to the Crack but initial impression is that the LC is much better despite the popularity of the Crack/HD650 and my personal liking of that pairing.

 

  Wow, really?  That's unexpected for sure.
 
I haven't heard a Crack + Speedball + HD 650 rig in ages, but I remember it being pretty darned awesome... awesome to the point that I've been recommending that people just stay with that for their HD 650 over spending money on a new amp (including the Carbon).
 
Maybe I should build a Crack over the winter break and A/B for curiosity's sake.  These brutal 50˚ winters here in SoCal keep up all indoors for hours, and sometimes days, on end.

 

[Shini44]

  Loving this amp so far, only 24 hours into burn-in and it sounds fantastic.
 
Right now using iPhone w/ CCK->iFi Micro RCA->LC, using HD 650s w/ balanced cable made by a headfier.  I've previously been using the Bottlehead Crack + Speedball with Tung Sol 5998 and Telefunken ECC82/12au7 tubes.  

Have not A/B'd it to the Crack but initial impression is that the LC is much better despite the popularity of the Crack/HD650 and my personal liking of that pairing.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 I generally use a laptop>iFi Micro but doing the burn-in at my office so using iPhone for now (work computer doesnt let me install the iFi firmware).  On the Crack, playing FLAC on laptop w/ Jriver is noticeably better than using iPhone (Tidal lossless saved offline), so if that holds true for the LC I will be even more happy.  Using a $70 Pangea power cord for the LC, just use a thick monoprice cable for the Crack, but would be surprised if that noticeably affects the SQ.  If not, I may get rid of the Pangea cord as it's a little stiff/bulky for how small and light the LC is.
 
As has been mentioned, LC has an incredible black background.  Played a Grateful Dead Dick's Picks official release that is not a great quality recording and has some hiss, and that hiss was vastly diminished on the LC, didn't think that could happen.  Good recordings obviously sound that much better.
 
Amp is powerful.. I briefly tried HD650 using the balanced cable with a SE adapter and was surprised at how good that sounded.  Volume was obviously significantly lower at same setting, but moving up to 3x gain with volume just below 12:00 it became plenty loud and didn't notice nearly the drop in SQ I expected, though I didn't listen to SE long (got the balanced cable for a reason), was just curious.
 
Incredible clarity and transparency, though very musical, not at all sterile.  Instrument separation/imaging is great, heard nuances I've never heard before on recordings I've listened to a lot of times. As has been mentioned, soundstage is wonderfully deep.  Bass seems much more detailed and stronger than the Crack, without overpowering the HD650 mids.
 
Given that I'm only 24 hours into burn-in and playing files off iPhone, it's possible that the LC will end up sounding even better, but I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens as I'm thrilled with how great it sounds right now. 

 

 
 
Hey man thanks for the really thoughtful detailed impressions <3 i am so looking forward to try my whole rig with this amp ^^
 

 

[grizzlybeast]

   

  Wow, really?  That's unexpected for sure.
 
I haven't heard a Crack + Speedball + HD 650 rig in ages, but I remember it being pretty darned awesome... awesome to the point that I've been recommending that people just stay with that for their HD 650 over spending money on a new amp (including the Carbon).
 
Maybe I should build a Crack over the winter break and A/B for curiosity's sake.  These brutal 50˚ winters here in SoCal keep up all indoors for hours, and sometimes days, on end.

yeah Im surprised at that too. But this is the second report of the likes. Someone sold off the most beautiful crack and speedball I have seen here yet after receiving their carbon. A bit shocking honestly. 
 
Reports elsewhere mention this as an amp that has great macrodynamics, smooth somewhat dark treble, and a black background. A lot of engagement factor. Mine will be here tomorrow. Those reports give me hopes. 

 

[Youth]

You guys sure aren't making the waiting easy 

 

[ying]

So this is my first impression of the LC.
 
My current set up is:
 
Teac UD 301 
 
Liquid Carbon
 
Senn HD800
 
Furutech XLR Cable (DIY)  Using FA-220 Balanced OCC cable and FP-601(G) XLR Plug (cost around $500 CAD for materials)
 
Generic Sony RCA cable from my PlayStation 1 
 
Under 80 hours of burn in. 
 
Did not do A/B testing yet with my Bottlehead Crack and Teac UD301 built in AMP
 
The first day I got the LC I was super excited to plug it in and listen to it. I wasn't expecting anything big because when I purchase the Bottlehead crack (haven't installed the Speedball yet) I didn't see a huge improvement in sound. The crack did tame down the highs on my HD 800 but I thought it was no where near how people described it. (this is my opinion, as we know everyone has their own when it comes to headphone gear etc..)  
 
I started up my LC and the first thing I felt was how the sound stage was wider I was so surprised as I thought that nothing could really improve the HD 800 sound stage. I also felt that everything in the music was a lot more detailed. I felt like I purchased a upgraded DAC. The details were very noticeable made everything sound a lot more real in life. Also I felt that my HD 800 highs were more acceptable, I never thought the HD800 trebles were piercing. It felt like increased in resolution but kept the highs at a very good level. (Keep in mind I was using my Generic Sony RCA cable) I didn't put it through balance mode. 
 
The next couple days I was able to build myself a balanced cable using all Furutech parts, using the FA-220 cables and the FP 601 plugs. I tried them with my new XLR interconnects and in balanced mode. All I can say is wow even bigger improvement in the soundstage and details. This is a lot more obvious when you listen to LIVE music. (I am not good with headfi terminology so it hard to describe everything I felt I heard) I am not sure if the improvement was from the balanced mode, but I think pretty sure it from my new XLR cables. (I have tired other furutech products and I believe that their stuff is quality meaning you can hear a difference with their cables) 
 
Just want to let you guys know about bit of background, I am not particularly good at hearing differences in music unless it is pretty obvious, for example if you ask me to find the difference between a 320 mp3 or flac I would have a difficult time etc.. Also for the bottlehead crack took me a while to see a small amount of difference but no where near how others report. So just for a heads up if I can hear these differences I would think it would be pretty obvious to others. (just an opinion) 
 
Anyways I am really enjoying the Liquid Carbon and can't wait until the 150 hour burn in is over. I feel like this is a great pairing with my Senn HD800. 
 

 

 

[Serenitty]

yeah Im surprised at that too. But this is the second report of the likes. Someone sold off the most beautiful crack and speedball I have seen here yet after receiving their carbon. A bit shocking honestly. 

Reports elsewhere mention this as an amp that has great macrodynamics, smooth somewhat dark treble, and a black background. A lot of engagement factor. Mine will be here tomorrow. Those reports give me hopes. 

One, thanks for the compliment on my former crack... It was a fun build.

Two, I was going from T1 with crack to T1 balanced on the LC. But I can certainly say I like the LC better.