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Ok @Muvieguy this is what I got.... These are close to first impressions so you can take them as gospel or with a grain of salt! 
I am pretty much just reading off my notes and also recalling the thoughts that I wrote down. For the comparison between the Cavalli Liquid Gold and the Sim audio Moon 430HA, I used two Moon 260D Cd player's with built in DAC's, and the same songs on two different cd's. Essentially the only thing that differed between the two "rigs" were different RCA cords. The Liquid Gold were using Wireworld cords and since the 430HA was already connected to the 260D in our cabinet I didn't feel like moving it around to figure out what cords that set up was using (probably wireworld as well i would assume, and i hope you don't blame me on not digging around back there to find out ha).
The cd's and bands used for comparison (multiple cd's that I could find in the store) Dire Straights greatest hits, Yes greatest hits, small amount of Dave Brubeck. The biggest thing that I wish i could have made perfect for comparison sake was the volume level of both amps. I tried my best to make them the same volume, but without a gauge I can only say it was "close enough".
I was using a a Nordost Heimdall 2 cable on the Utopia. I was able to go balanced on the Liquid Gold or go single ended with the Nordost adapter. For the majority of listening I used single ended since the Moon 430HA can only be used that way.
Here we go,
-The volume dial of the Moon 430HA (430HA) is incredibly smooth. You literally can take it and roll it fast with one hand and it will blast. Something interesting that I am not used to with amp dials. The volume pot on the Liquid Gold (LG) was firmer. I also was only able to turn the volume pot up to 8 to 10 oclock on the LG either high gain or low. I had the volume to about 40-50 on the 430Ha during all my listening. this was louder then conventional listening for me but since I was in the store I had to turn both amps up. I did feel that I was capable of listening to the LG at lower volume and get more details out of the song then compared to the 430HA. I do love that I can see a volume number am listening at on the 430HA. this is something that I can appreciate since its common for me to crank up the volume when I am enjoying something.This lets me realize that I went overboard and need to come down some dB!
- "Sultans of swing"- The guitar starting at 3.28 sounds more "liquid" or wet sounding on the LG compared to the 430HA. This defenetly is the Cavalli Flavor that I know from the Carbon, Except its way more evident on the LG. I feel like its has slightly more body to the sound is the best way for me to describe it... If you only had the Moon 430HA then I doubt you you would know this character was "missing" if that makes any sense. In regards to the speed of the guitars I felt like they were comparable....
- "Starship trooper"- More sparkle on the LG when it came to cymbals. I felt like at least on this track that the whole sound spectrum seemed to be at equal sound levels aka balanced more then the 430HA. I felt like I wanted to bring the cymbals out more in the 430HA.
-Felt like the bass sound of lower frets of the guitar were tighter on the LG at 3:18 of Starship Trooper. As if it were a more natural weight to those strings. mind you this is borderline splitting hairs....
I only had the time to listen to Dave Brubeck on the LG and started talking to someone around that time and didn't get to switch back to the 430HA. The cymbals were really satisfying on "take 5" track!.
When going balanced on the LG I felt like it moved the cymbals up a little bit closer. The guitars that were in a distance in my right ear single ended seemed more audible to me going balanced. would like to do an A/B of just single ended versus balanced to try and confirm this thought...
I did use the Z1R on the 430HA and really enjoyed the pairing. I want to go back to it. I already like the pairing with the Liquid Gold but the 430HA might bring neutrality that would pair nicely with the Z1R, given its already liquid like sound....
To me I feel like the 430HA was just more neutral sounding and tried to stay true to the recording. The LG definitely has Cavalli sound and I am sorry that I cant put that into words well... I would need more time and definitely different tracks to hear the difference in sound staging and imaging will differ. I suspect that after I hear some of my test tracks I use on Tidal then the differences would be more apparent. I would also pair the amps with a different DAC section just to compare it with the 260D, even though I felt it did more then an adequate job giving me micro and macro detail. I forget what song (i believe it was a YES song) that i could hear the person's breathe before they sang into the mic. love that stuff...
I hope any of this helps you Muvieguy... I will try to get more accustomed to both amps so then I can better help you and people in the future. If anyone has any questions for me or the store you can always pm me or visit our site
-Craig
I am pretty much just reading off my notes and also recalling the thoughts that I wrote down. For the comparison between the Cavalli Liquid Gold and the Sim audio Moon 430HA, I used two Moon 260D Cd player's with built in DAC's, and the same songs on two different cd's. Essentially the only thing that differed between the two "rigs" were different RCA cords. The Liquid Gold were using Wireworld cords and since the 430HA was already connected to the 260D in our cabinet I didn't feel like moving it around to figure out what cords that set up was using (probably wireworld as well i would assume, and i hope you don't blame me on not digging around back there to find out ha).The cd's and bands used for comparison (multiple cd's that I could find in the store) Dire Straights greatest hits, Yes greatest hits, small amount of Dave Brubeck. The biggest thing that I wish i could have made perfect for comparison sake was the volume level of both amps. I tried my best to make them the same volume, but without a gauge I can only say it was "close enough".
I was using a a Nordost Heimdall 2 cable on the Utopia. I was able to go balanced on the Liquid Gold or go single ended with the Nordost adapter. For the majority of listening I used single ended since the Moon 430HA can only be used that way.
Here we go,
-The volume dial of the Moon 430HA (430HA) is incredibly smooth. You literally can take it and roll it fast with one hand and it will blast. Something interesting that I am not used to with amp dials. The volume pot on the Liquid Gold (LG) was firmer. I also was only able to turn the volume pot up to 8 to 10 oclock on the LG either high gain or low. I had the volume to about 40-50 on the 430Ha during all my listening. this was louder then conventional listening for me but since I was in the store I had to turn both amps up. I did feel that I was capable of listening to the LG at lower volume and get more details out of the song then compared to the 430HA. I do love that I can see a volume number am listening at on the 430HA. this is something that I can appreciate since its common for me to crank up the volume when I am enjoying something.This lets me realize that I went overboard and need to come down some dB!
- "Sultans of swing"- The guitar starting at 3.28 sounds more "liquid" or wet sounding on the LG compared to the 430HA. This defenetly is the Cavalli Flavor that I know from the Carbon, Except its way more evident on the LG. I feel like its has slightly more body to the sound is the best way for me to describe it... If you only had the Moon 430HA then I doubt you you would know this character was "missing" if that makes any sense. In regards to the speed of the guitars I felt like they were comparable....
- "Starship trooper"- More sparkle on the LG when it came to cymbals. I felt like at least on this track that the whole sound spectrum seemed to be at equal sound levels aka balanced more then the 430HA. I felt like I wanted to bring the cymbals out more in the 430HA.
-Felt like the bass sound of lower frets of the guitar were tighter on the LG at 3:18 of Starship Trooper. As if it were a more natural weight to those strings. mind you this is borderline splitting hairs....
I only had the time to listen to Dave Brubeck on the LG and started talking to someone around that time and didn't get to switch back to the 430HA. The cymbals were really satisfying on "take 5" track!.
When going balanced on the LG I felt like it moved the cymbals up a little bit closer. The guitars that were in a distance in my right ear single ended seemed more audible to me going balanced. would like to do an A/B of just single ended versus balanced to try and confirm this thought...
I did use the Z1R on the 430HA and really enjoyed the pairing. I want to go back to it. I already like the pairing with the Liquid Gold but the 430HA might bring neutrality that would pair nicely with the Z1R, given its already liquid like sound....
To me I feel like the 430HA was just more neutral sounding and tried to stay true to the recording. The LG definitely has Cavalli sound and I am sorry that I cant put that into words well... I would need more time and definitely different tracks to hear the difference in sound staging and imaging will differ. I suspect that after I hear some of my test tracks I use on Tidal then the differences would be more apparent. I would also pair the amps with a different DAC section just to compare it with the 260D, even though I felt it did more then an adequate job giving me micro and macro detail. I forget what song (i believe it was a YES song) that i could hear the person's breathe before they sang into the mic. love that stuff...
I hope any of this helps you Muvieguy... I will try to get more accustomed to both amps so then I can better help you and people in the future. If anyone has any questions for me or the store you can always pm me or visit our site
-Craig
