[music_man]

There is nearly no mention of the Little Labs Monotor Headphone Amplifier here or anywhere.
It is Pro Audio gear.

This thing is transparent,resolving and fluent to a enormous fault.
It is truly the closest circuit topology to wire gain that can be achieved.
THX AAA is not even close.
There is only one carefully choosen active component per channel, A DC follower JfFET.
Jonathan Little builds each of these fully by hand in California, USA.
He is a Stanford educated Electronic Engineer.

The Monotor is designed for Pro Audio mastering with headphones.
It is designed to be of a transparency which allows a recording Engineer to concisely and precisely hear EXACTLY absolutely anything and everything that has been recorded. It neither accentuates nor suppresses anything whatsoever. You most likely have never heard anything this resolving.
It does so to huge fault. If you are listening to recordings that are any less than stellar you are highly likely to find this to be outright unlistenable..
If garbage goes into this amp you will hear just what type of garbage it actually is. If it is good you will hear exactly how good it is.
Every last amp has a sound. This is the closest thing to dead neutral and transparent that has ever been designed.
Very few "Audiophiles" would enjoy such a thing. This amp colors nothing. Period.
Most likely this being why there is not only no mention of it here nor has anyone here ever stated that they own one.

if true transparency is of interest to you this is it.
You are highly likely to find with this that you really are an "Audiophile".
Meaning that you really do in fact want colored,flavored and tailored sound.

Also with this amp the upstream equipment and Headphones become of great concern. You will hear it all.
I suggest with this to use the AKG K872 if you wish to put yourself into certain misery.
Do this and you will be hearing so clinical that you will not stand it.

Of interest is operating the switches and pot on this they do have self noise and are "scratchy" In use however they remain silent.
MR. Little obviously is aware of this. Apparently this is okay with him. So I Imagine that this anomaly has no bearing on sound when in use. At least not that I can discern either.

The Monotor is built like a tank as well. Very simple and robust external construction is employed.
The power supply is proprietary and also of extreme robust construction.

There are features here that would usually be of interest to recording engineers. Namely of which allow you every possible option to listen to each channel independently. This can be of use to an Audiophile if they are wishing to hear just how terrible the vast majority of commercial recordings are.

If you think a truly dissapering Headphone amplifier is of interest to you this is it. To the best of my knowledge this is being the only one that truly is so. I can almost guarantee that you are to find that you have been barking up the wrong tree. I would highly suggest to stop at that of THX AAA.
You have been warned.

M_M

 

[tunes]

Is it powerful enough to drive the Susvara ? Would be great if we all knew where to audition one. Can Jam NYC in February?

 

[chesebert]

There is nearly no mention of the Little Labs Monotor Headphone Amplifier here or anywhere.
It is Pro Audio gear.

This thing is transparent,resolving and fluent to a enormous fault.
It is truly the closest circuit topology to wire gain that can be achieved.
THX AAA is not even close.
There is only one carefully choosen active component per channel, A DC follower JfFET.
Jonathan Little builds each of these fully by hand in California, USA.
He is a Stanford educated Electronic Engineer.

The Monotor is designed for Pro Audio mastering with headphones.
It is designed to be of a transparency which allows a recording Engineer to concisely and precisely hear EXACTLY absolutely anything and everything that has been recorded. It neither accentuates nor suppresses anything whatsoever. You most likely have never heard anything this resolving.
It does so to huge fault. If you are listening to recordings that are any less than stellar you are highly likely to find this to be outright unlistenable..
If garbage goes into this amp you will hear just what type of garbage it actually is. If it is good you will hear exactly how good it is.
Every last amp has a sound. This is the closest thing to dead neutral and transparent that has ever been designed.
Very few "Audiophiles" would enjoy such a thing. This amp colors nothing. Period.
Most likely this being why there is not only no mention of it here nor has anyone here ever stated that they own one.

if true transparency is of interest to you this is it.
You are highly likely to find with this that you really are an "Audiophile".
Meaning that you really do in fact want colored,flavored and tailored sound.

Also with this amp the upstream equipment and Headphones become of great concern. You will hear it all.
I suggest with this to use the AKG K872 if you wish to put yourself into certain misery.
Do this and you will be hearing so clinical that you will not stand it.

Of interest is operating the switches and pot on this they do have self noise and are "scratchy" In use however they remain silent.
MR. Little obviously is aware of this. Apparently this is okay with him. So I Imagine that this anomaly has no bearing on sound when in use. At least not that I can discern either.

The Monotor is built like a tank as well. Very simple and robust external construction is employed.
The power supply is proprietary and also of extreme robust construction.

There are features here that would usually be of interest to recording engineers. Namely of which allow you every possible option to listen to each channel independently. This can be of use to an Audiophile if they are wishing to hear just how terrible the vast majority of commercial recordings are.

If you think a truly dissapering Headphone amplifier is of interest to you this is it. To the best of my knowledge this is being the only one that truly is so. I can almost guarantee that you are to find that you have been barking up the wrong tree. I would highly suggest to stop at that of THX AAA.
You have been warned.

M_M

Did someone hack your account? If not, tell us how this magic amp compares with your Pass Labs and the headphone amp out of Dave.

 

[music_man]

It certainly should drive the Susvara. Jonathan Little had tested them with the LCD-X. They can drive the HD600 to voice coil failure without clipping.
This amp only does one thing. It amplifies electricity. I am not sure how many watts it can provide but it seems plenty powerful. Powerful enough that I would certainly recommend to always check the position of the Volume knob before putting on phones.

I should add that it only has XLR Balanced inputs and Single ended output. This is Pro Audio equipment. Balanced output is not of concern in the Pro Audio world.

Also, it has a tiny bit of self noise. It is not enough to influence any playing source. This may just be par for the course with it;s design. Having completely unbuffered output and no input stage. You are listening to only and completely one JFET on each channel. The JFET does have a bit of noise. They all do. These are the best for this application however. Quite frankly the best way to use this amp is with the Volume override engaged. Use the Volume attenuation on your DAC or Source if they have a true unbuffered Volume output. Most all real Pro Audio gear does.

Auditioning it may prove very difficult. I was told that it may have only been at one Can Jam ever thus far. In fact I was also told that it did not even show up at that Can Jam.
Very few Audiophiles have ever heard this amp. Very many Pro Audio Mastering Engineers have indeed. It sets the bar and is the De facto standard in that industry.
The Neve amp is not unfortunately. Which is odd given the rest of Neve;s equipment. To most manufacturers headphone amps are an after thought.
Which is precisely what had prompted the development of the Monotor. That, and the vast majority of Engineers do Not Master with Headphones.

I personally think the Monotor is incredibly accurate and resolving in it's own right. Like none other in fact. You hear what was recorded. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Although I had worked for over 50 years as an Audion Engineer. It is highly likely that most untrained ears would find this amp to be highly fatiguing. Even if they are to be self proclaimed Audiophiles. That being said I am also positive that to a select few this should prove to be just the sound they are looking for.
Therefore it is a shame that outside of NAMM there is really no way to audition it.

 

[seaice]

Any specifications, tests or measurements? So far, I have not found any technical details.

 

[music_man]

LOL Chesebert.

What has happened is I think I have now hit the Pinnacle with my current equipment.
The only thing now for me incidentally I suppose is to explore some "cheap" equipment. HaHa.

On the topic though I no longer own the Pass labs or Dave. I can most certainly recollect of them having much more of their own sound respectfully.
The Monotor is as transparent as an amp can get with current technology.

After the Digital Director with Select DAC into the WA234 almost anything is more neutral
You see what I am saying. LOL.

 

[music_man]

Seaice, Almost nothing. Pro's do not care about specs. they care about performance. that is why.

I really had no clue that there would be actual interest in this!

I will check posts in the Afternoon!

 

[chesebert]

LOL Chesebert.

What has happened is I think I have now hit the Pinnacle with my current equipment.
The only thing now for me incidentally I suppose is to explore some "cheap" equipment. HaHa.

On the topic though I no longer own the Pass labs or Dave. I can most certainly recollect of them having much more of their own sound respectfully.
The Monotor is as transparent as an amp can get with current technology.

After the Digital Director with Select DAC into the WA234 almost anything is more neutral
You see what I am saying. LOL.

Let’s back up just a bit. I know you are excited about an amp that costs less than one of your interconnects. But before we start comparing the $500 amp to a $20k one, let’s see if it even bests the equally priced glite mk2 or an equivalent quality amp.

Measurements and manufacturer response - looks like a pass to me given the lack of ability to drive low imp loads.

 

[music_man]

OMG. I was worried about this. This thing is so resolving....
The Monotor has no measured self noise! I just unplugged everything and measured it with an Agilent swept waveform scope.
the 432 EVO Master has self noise! At least ours does! Holy smokes. Oh, plus my ears are still that good! My Wife cannot hear this.
Herein lies the problem with an amp such as this. If anything, and I do mean anything above or below this in the signal chain is anything less than perfect you are going to hear about it now! With The WA234 I did not notice that the Music Server had any noise whatsoever because of course the Woo has noise. Ha!
You just might be upgrading everything you have if you were to get this amp. Or at least wanting to.
AFAIK there are not supposed to be any upgrades from the stuff we finally have LOL.

 

[music_man]

Not sure. I am using my Buddies K872 right now with it. Why could it not drive them?

He does say he used the HD600 while designing it. Am I missing an impedance mismatch here? Sounds okay.


No, Chesebert it is sonically not even anywhere close to the Woo amps.

The Woo are very colored tube amps though.

This is very,very neutral.

I mentioned that I thought very few would have an interest.

I am honestly surprised how quickly the replies started.


I knew this would come up though.

So I also got a Gesheli before I was to comment on this and I have heard the Neve, Apogee and RME.

They are similar. However I do not feel that the Monotor borders on too neutral. It is there.


Not what I would prefer to listen to now retired and given complete choice.

I was wondering if it would interest anyone. Many Audiophiles say they want something this resolving and listen to otherwise in actuality.

Luckily as far as I am concerned my days of dealing with stuff like this are over.

Why then am I subjecting myself to such stuff I am not entirely sure.


So there, You can plainly see that my account has not been hacked

 

[music_man]

Well I have concluded That I had jumped the gun on this.
This is only my opinion of course. However upon further listening I have come to the following conclusion. The sound quality is up there with the GS-X SE. That should matter because this is $580.

I currently have the Headroom amp so I feel safe of such a statement. I am not sure about Dave no longer having one. To the best of my recollection the Dave does sound better. However it is more than just the Amp section at play there. Dave sounds good with the implementation of it"s DAC throt it's amp.

Still those are big shoes to fill. Especially at this things price point. Pro Audio gear has a different price schedule than HIFI. He in fact had mentioned he could rebrand this as HIFI and easily sell it for several times the $580. Which then explains how it is in the realm of the GS-X SE. There are other companies that have certainly engaged in such practice. People then complain but nonetheless purchase those items regardless.

This is solely my opinion but I would start thinking of this being a $1,740 value at least. If it is considered that way it does put it higher in people's minds. I for one am not into such Psychology. It works a lot though.

There are indeed much better amps. Much lesser as well
My statement of the Monitor being in the company of the GS-X SE should set precedence. Since the Headroom Amp sets a certain bar with most people. That is of course if anyone else is to feel the same way about the Monitor. YMMV.

 

[chesebert]

Justin must be thrilled to learn that his creation now belongs to Headroom.