[vanhiel]

Hey all,  I'm at the point where I need to get an amp and could use some suggestions.
 
My current system is: LCD-2.2 headphones, Focusrite Forte adc/dac, Rega RP6 w/ Exact 2 and Musical Surroundings Phenomena 2+.
 
Amps I've heard:
Burson - I've listened to a number of them but found the highs to be a bit crispy.
Schiit- Lyr was ok but a bit nasal, Mjolnir was pretty awesome.
Cavalli - Liquid Gold... This thing was the most amazing thing I've ever heard but I can't afford it!
 
Budget: I could go to about $1,500 to $1,700.00 ish USD, especially if it has speaker outs like the Ragnarok.
 
I've been thinking of the Mjorlir as I rather liked the sound, or the Ragnarok as if I liked the cheaper amp...  But then I saw the Cavalli Liquid Carbon and with how awesome the Liquid Gold sounds...
 
Oh, and I'm really only looking at SS amps.  I've heard very few tube amps I liked and they were all more than I want to spend! lol  And I do like having preamp outs, but they aren't required.
 
 
Thanks in advance!

 

[KG Jag]

You might want to join in some of the discussions in the sub-sections of the Equipment Forums.

 

[Armaegis]

Even before I finished reading your post, I was thinking the Carbon would be an option if you like the Cavalli.
 
But c'mon, if you can use speaker outs, then the Rag is an easy choice.
 
Off topic: How do you like the Focusrite Forte? I've got their Saffire6 and VRMbox. I also have an Echo Audio Echo2usb which is sort of in the same size/class as the Forte.

 

[Kozic]

LCD2.2 + Gustard H10 = Good times
All for under $400 USD unfortunately no rca out.
PS. Using the pair right now.

 

[vanhiel]

KG Jag - Good suggestion, I'll take a look at the sub forums.
 
Armaegis - I found a thread with impressions of the Liquid Carbon and Jude compared it very favorably to the Liquid Gold.  After reading that I'm sold, I'm going to go to the Cavalli site and put the pre order in as soon as I finish typing this.
 
I don't need speaker outs tough having a better speaker amp wouldn't be bad as I have a Peachtree Decco65 hooked up to my speakers.  And speakers for me are more for watching TV or more background listening.  So I'm not sure that losing the digital ins on the Peachtree for hooking up my HT stuff would be worth it.  If the Forte had digital ins or I used the speakers for when I want to sit down and listen to music the Rag would be the amp for sure.
 
But since headphones are my go to for when I want to sit down and really listen to music and the Liquid Gold was so amazing I'm going to say the Liquid Carbon is the way to go for me.
 
As far as the Forte goes, I love it!  Very clean and detailed, tight bass and having the inputs to record records from my TT and of course instruments as it's designed is great.  I think you get a lot more for the $ with a pro audio box than a hifi one.  I've yet to hear anything around the MSRP that compares and since it sells for a lot less than the MSRP I'm very pleased with the purchase.

 

[Armaegis]

When I was shopping around for a compact interface, the Forte was one of the ones I was considering, along with the Echo2 and the other usual suspects of the Babyface and MOTU Track16. I eventually settled on the Echo2 because I've had Echo gear in the past and really liked the sound (sadly they're mostly out of the audio business now and into avb bridging). I was also swayed by having all my inputs/outputs without the need for a breakout cable.

 

[vanhiel]

Yeah, the breakout cable is a bit of PITA.  So is the lack of digital i/o.  But I found a website that had recordings made with a whole bunch of interfaces and well I've always been partial to the more British flavor of sound.  And the HP output is actually really good even with the LCD-2 which is a major added bonus.
 
There are times I really wish I didn't have a breakout cable... Like when I was going to record off the console at a friends gig and didn't bring it.  Would have really loved to have integrated inputs then.  But I still love the sound so I haven't done any looking for anything else.  I think it's been discontinued by Focusrite though, I'm hoping to make a version 2... Which I might buy if that was the case.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
Budget: I could go to about $1,500 to $1,700.00 ish USD, especially if it has speaker outs like the Ragnarok.

 
You can also look up AudioGD's Precision1 and Precision2. Precision2 has a dual mono power supply design so that might be worth the extra cash for you.

 

[Armaegis]

  Yeah, the breakout cable is a bit of PITA.  So is the lack of digital i/o.  But I found a website that had recordings made with a whole bunch of interfaces and well I've always been partial to the more British flavor of sound.  And the HP output is actually really good even with the LCD-2 which is a major added bonus.
 
There are times I really wish I didn't have a breakout cable... Like when I was going to record off the console at a friends gig and didn't bring it.  Would have really loved to have integrated inputs then.  But I still love the sound so I haven't done any looking for anything else.  I think it's been discontinued by Focusrite though, I'm hoping to make a version 2... Which I might buy if that was the case.

 
Did you ever consider the MOTU Microbook? Only slightly bigger, no breakout cable, has digital out.

 

[vanhiel]

   
You can also look up AudioGD's Precision1 and Precision2. Precision2 has a dual mono power supply design so that might be worth the extra cash for you.

 
I did a search and only seem to turn up some I think Chinese websites?  No normal retailers or anything like that.
 

   
Did you ever consider the MOTU Microbook? Only slightly bigger, no breakout cable, has digital out.

 
I did look at it when I purchased the Forte.  But with the much lower price point I didn't expect the analog i/o to be as good.  And while digital would be nice, the analog i/o is what I mainly use.  I really feel that they used the $ saved by not including any extra features on making the i/o it does have sound as good as it could.  If I ever need digital i/o I'd likely just buy a cheap ~$100 box with only digital or something.

 

[Armaegis]

You can buy AGD stuff directly from them.

 

[cel4145]

I did a search and only seem to turn up some I think Chinese websites?  No normal retailers or anything like that.

You can buy AGD stuff directly from them.

+1

Audio-GD is a factory direct Internet vendor. That is the reason that they are a very good price/performance value. If they were sold by retailers, you'd have to pay a good bit more.

 

[KG Jag]

 

I did a search and only seem to turn up some I think Chinese websites?  No normal retailers or anything like that.

You can buy AGD stuff directly from them.

+1

Audio-GD is a factory direct Internet vendor. That is the reason that they are a very good price/performance value. If they were sold by retailers, you'd have to pay a good bit more.

 
According to friends in the business, the usual when goiing to retailers is to double (+/-) the price to the retail customer.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
I did a search and only seem to turn up some I think Chinese websites?  No normal retailers or anything like that.

 

That's one way that they make them affordable - dealers need to make their own profit on top of overhead costs maintaining brick and mortar locations, particularly if it's a store with a demo room instead of just a warehouse. Other companies use internet dealers but AudioGD just sells direct. The downside to that is that returns would mean shipping the unit back forth to China, as opposed to a dealer in other countries or regions.

 

The site has an English version and there are links there on how to make the payment - you basically email what you want, they send you an invoice and their PayPal account number, then you pay on PayPal's website. What they haven't caught up with is adding the damn "buy" button on their website, but otherwise it's new e-commerce with minimal costs to them that can be passed to customers. The NFB-15 DAC-HPamp-Preamp for example is only $249, and quite frankly the only thing that would really bother me about their lower product lines is how exposed the screwheads are that they kind of look like DIY kits (Schiit for example did a great chassis design from the Asgard onward that hides the screws a lot better).