[Pharmaboy]

The Liquid Gold X is an amp that is going to be more fussy about system synergies. Synergies with the headphone and synergies with the source components. The LGX is more transparent than the Carbon, and even more transparent than my Fire or Glass. Transparency in the sense of being able to better hear through the amp and into the source components and into the characteristics of the headphone. It's a more transparent lens into the recording and into the other components in the chain. The headphones can't hide. The DAC can't hide. The quality of the recording can't hide. And it does that transparency while presenting the involving and easy to listen to Cavalli style "liquid" sound.

I can listen to a minimally mic'ed chamber orchestra recording and hear all and more of the precise 3D imaging details and micro details that I hear with the Fire and Glass. The Fire and Glass have a deeper soundstage due to 2nd harmonics from the tubes. But the Gold X has a cleaner and more transparent sound. The Carbon sounds flat and lacking that level of imaging and layering in comparison. The Gold X manages to achieve solid state sonic holography. Sonic holography is something I generally associate with very good tube amps. The Liquid Gold X is my only solid state amp that gives me a very good flavor of that sonic holography. Tube amps still have the advantage of being able to do that sonic holography thing with a deeper soundstage because of the magic of even harmonics. The Liquid Gold X is my solid state amp that lets me explore and enjoy that style of 3D sonic holography in solid state form.

But the Liquid Gold X is also very fussy about headphone tuning. Its style of transparency doesn't let wonky headphone frequency response hide. The LGX is going to pair better with some headphones than others. As an example, the LCD-2 and LCD-3 tuning works very very well with the Fire/Crimson/Platinum and also the Glass. The tubes manage to fill in the midrange where the LCD-2/LCD-3 tuning takes a downward slope. With the Fire and Glass I barely notice that the LCD-2 tuning is a bit weird. The amp and headphone sound synergizes and just sounds right together. That is not the case with the Liquid Gold X. The LGX doesn't let the wonky tuning of the LCD-2/LCD-3 hide. With the LGX I notice when a vocal or violin is in the sucked-out frequency range of the LCD-2/LCD-3. And wow, that doesn't work so well. I love the LCD-2/LCD-3 turning paired with the Fire, Platinum, and Glass. I don't like it so much with the Gold X. So with the LGX I have to find a different headphone for synergy. Maybe something with a tuning more similar to the LCD-X or the new LCD-5? Or HiFiMan Arya? Or HEDD? Or? It's good with the HD650 tuning so I'm thinking that a planar magnetic with that style of midrange tuning will have better synergy. I haven't been able to demo and find that right headphone synergy due to the pandemic. It's something I need to demo in person to find. I can't rely on reviews. When the pandemic is over and I can demo comfortably in person I'll find headphones with that magical synergy with the LGX. Even if it means an LCD-5. The LGX is worth getting good headphones for.

I can EQ the LCD-2 and fix the midrange issue when playing through the LGX. But I don't like using EQ. My goal is to build a chain that doesn't need EQ to sound good to me. I find that digital EQ does more harm than good to the 3D imaging sonic holography that I like to listen for. Especially with minimally mic'ed style acoustic recordings. So I'm not going to pick a headphone that relies on EQ to get it to sound right. It has to sound good to me without EQ or it's not going to work for me.

Thanks for a terrific post. There's much quality observation & speculation here.

I can tell you that the Final D8000 really locks in with the LGX. That's intriguing because the D8K itself is a most revealing headphone--revealing and yet quite musical. Both my planars (Ori and D8K) sound great on the LGX. That may in part be due to the more linear impedance/by/frequency characteristics of planar drivers (or maybe something else besides). The Ori is a power hog, not very sensitive, while the D8K is pretty sensitive/efficient.

 

[door1002]

Hi, I just bought a pre-owned Liquid Carbon (V1 not massdrop) from Head-fi

The first day is fine, but when I turned it on last night I found my LC have some problems with the volume; btw I used 6.3 jack, the sound form left channel is super large
After couple mins, the sound from left channel became lower, but still when I turn the volume all the way down I can hear some sound from the left channel.

Anyone had this problem and replaced it themselves? Any recommendation for a replacement part?

Thank you guys
Ryan

 

[jarnopp]

Hi, I just bought a pre-owned Liquid Carbon (V1 not massdrop) from Head-fi

The first day is fine, but when I turned it on last night I found my LC have some problems with the volume; the sound form left channel is super large
After couple mins, the sound from left channel became lower, but still when I turn the volume all the way down I can hear some sound from the left channel.

Anyone had this problem and replaced it themselves? Any recommendation for a replacement part?

Thank you guys
Ryan

There was a channel imbalance with some of the original units. I had mine repaired, when Cavalier was still operating. They replaced the entire board, because he said he couldn’t find anything wrong. But in later correspondence, he did indicate that they had found some issue. Not sure what that was specifically, so can’t provide you specific advice on which part(s) might need replacing.

Good luck, it’s a great sounding HP amp!

 

[eyoon]

Hi, I just bought a pre-owned Liquid Carbon (V1 not massdrop) from Head-fi

The first day is fine, but when I turned it on last night I found my LC have some problems with the volume; btw I used 6.3 jack, the sound form left channel is super large
After couple mins, the sound from left channel became lower, but still when I turn the volume all the way down I can hear some sound from the left channel.

Anyone had this problem and replaced it themselves? Any recommendation for a replacement part?

Thank you guys
Ryan

The Cavalli folks told me it was “normal” to hear sound when the volume is turned all the way down (even though I’ve never experienced this on any other amp).

It doesn’t always happen, but it’s not uncommon for there to be channel imbalance for the first 5 minutes or so after turning it on.

 

[door1002]

Thanks for advice,

My seller suggest me to try XLR output, and I also read one comment from the other seller mentioned that 6.3mm might damage LC circuit.

So I am just waiting for my XLR cable which is on the half way shipping now.

Thank you guys and reply, I will keep updated after I receive my parcel.

 

[heliosphann]

Thanks for advice,

My seller suggest me to try XLR output, and I also read one comment from the other seller mentioned that 6.3mm might damage LC circuit.

So I am just waiting for my XLR cable which is on the half way shipping now.

Thank you guys and reply, I will keep updated after I receive my parcel.

From what I remember even Cavalli recommended you use the XLR out for optimal performance. The 6.35mm out was only implemented for convenience.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Thanks for advice,

My seller suggest me to try XLR output, and I also read one comment from the other seller mentioned that 6.3mm might damage LC circuit.

So I am just waiting for my XLR cable which is on the half way shipping now.

Thank you guys and reply, I will keep updated after I receive my parcel.

I really hope you get this sorted out, because this amp's sound is good beyond any proportion to its size and price.

I've had many amps, easily a dozen or more (currently have 7), but the Liquid Carbon v2 keeps impressing me. It's not a TOTL amp and was never intended to be, but its sound is so well chosen. It complements every headphone I ever tried on it, and there have been many.*

I've been having fun recently comparing it to the Monoprice Liquid Gold X, which is bigger and even more powerful--but there are no losers in this comparison.

*I use it only with balanced cables/headphones. If I tried the 6.35 output it was momentarily years ago...

 

[door1002]

I really hope you get this sorted out, because this amp's sound is good beyond any proportion to its size and price.

I've had many amps, easily a dozen or more (currently have 7), but the Liquid Carbon v2 keeps impressing me. It's not a TOTL amp and was never intended to be, but its sound is so well chosen. It complements every headphone I ever tried on it, and there have been many.*

I've been having fun recently comparing it to the Monoprice Liquid Gold X, which is bigger and even more powerful--but there are no losers in this comparison.

*I use it only with balanced cables/headphones. If I tried the 6.35 output it was momentarily years ago...

Hey guys I am here again to update

I got my 4-pin XLR cable and use it today, in the begin I turn the volume down to the minimum, my left channel still sounds like 12 o'clock, it is not just imbalanced, it is super loud

After 10 mins later, it is better for the imbalanced, but you still can tell there was different volume from left and right, so what I was doing to turn down the volume setting from my laptop (I always use 95% volume for laptop output) then turning up by LC knob, to make the effect of imbalance less

In the afternoon, the imbalance was much better, I can turn laptop volume back to 95%, knob was around 9 o'clock and only slightly different. In the minimum volume still hear something from left, but in an acceptable range,

I left LC power on and went out, when I came back after dinner, the left channel became loud again like 10 o'clock, I dont know why, so frustrated .
The way I do now is to turn LC to the maximum 100% then controlling the volume by laptop, really dont know what else i can do

by the way the right channel is always fully functional as turning the knob

If someone know what the problem is, please please give me a note, thanks
Ryan

 

[vitalogyx]

Hey guys I am here again to update

I got my 4-pin XLR cable and use it today, in the begin I turn the volume down to the minimum, my left channel still sounds like 12 o'clock, it is not just imbalanced, it is super loud

After 10 mins later, it is better for the imbalanced, but you still can tell there is different volume from left and right, so what I am doing is turn down the volume setting from my laptop (I always use 95% volume for laptop output) then turning up by LC knob, to make the effect of imbalance less

In the afternoon, the imbalance is much better, I can turn laptop volume back to 95%, knob is around 9 o'clock and only slightly different. In the minimum volume still hear something from left, but in an acceptable range,

I left LC power on and went out, when I came back after dinner, the left channel become loud again like 10 o'clock, I dont know why, so frustrated .
The only way I can do now is setting laptop like 40%, and turn LC knob to 2 o'clock, I think that's it, really dont what else i can do

If someone know what the problem is, please please give me a note, thanks
Ryan

Hi Ryan

I understand your frustration. I’m on the same boat as you are. I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the V1 and the V2. I have both.
From what I’m told, there is a phase splitter employed in circuitry that is splitting the unbalanced input to balanced signal before doing the amplification.

( funny thing is one unit works flawlessly with balanced input irrespective of what output you use and one works great with single ended input. - big reason I did not go further to try n fix the unit)

I was planning to troubleshoot with my scope meter, but gave up. Will give it a try n let you know before end of Jan.

Aj

 

[door1002]

Hi Ryan

I understand your frustration. I’m on the same boat as you are. I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the V1 and the V2. I have both.
From what I’m told, there is a phase splitter employed in circuitry that is splitting the unbalanced input to balanced signal before doing the amplification.

( funny thing is one unit works flawlessly with balanced input irrespective of what output you use and one works great with single ended input. - big reason I did not go further to try n fix the unit)

I was planning to troubleshoot with my scope meter, but gave up. Will give it a try n let you know before end of Jan.

Aj

Appreciate it ~~~ look forward to the troubelshoot

By the way, my device is laptop -> 3.5mm to dual RCA input -> LC -> 4pin XLR output

The reason I did not use XLR for input is I dont have any DAC, yet
And one thing I found is even I use RCA input, when I switch to XLR input which I didnt connect with anything then turning the volume up, I still can hear a slight music from left channel, just for your reference

Thanks again
Ryan

yeah.......... maybe I should try 3.5mm to dual XLR input

 

[hikaru12]

A souped up LP like that would be awesome. But would have to be designed by Alex. Monoprice can't do any modifications to the amp without Alex's approval and input.

I really like the LP but it's also not up to the sonic performance of the Fire and Crimson. It can do better. There is room for improvement. The Fire and Crimson have more transparency and more of that magic that gets the Cavalli "liquid" sound to work so well. Transparency in the sense of being able to better hear through the amp and better hear what the source and headphones are doing. And that magic in the Cavalli sound is something you just have to hear and experience to understand. I consider the LP to be about 90% of the Fire. But in audiophile terms that last 10% is a doozey. A big doozey that can get audiophiles to spend a thousand bucks. Definitely room for improvement with an improved LP.

Getting rid of the single-ended headphone output would also help in reviews. Some of the middling or not-so-good reviews of the LP have been because the reviewer used the single-ended headphone output. Even though the manual says not to use the single-ended for critical listening. The reviewers did anyways. It's like they never read the manual for the gear they review.

Do you notice a change in the LP when using full balanced (inputs and outputs) vs just the headphone output? Reason I ask is I could swear the LP sounded more detailed with the balanced inputs. Maybe that's perhaps due to the larger volume increase of full balanced or blacker background. I'd love to get my hands on a Crimson some day. It would be a good competitor to the Rogue RH-5 I keep reading about.