[chimney189]

And sharp edges!
And they heat up like little toasters.

I've barely noticed any heat from the Loki, especially when compared to the Cavalli Liquid Carbon.. :O

 

[ScubaMan2017]

I've barely noticed any heat from the Loki, especially when compared to the Cavalli Liquid Carbon.. :O

Heh. True. Some of us at Mr. Stoddard's channel were having the screaming meemies about warm devices. Apparently these components are designed to run MUCH hotter. Cooling fins, tiny squirrel fans are unnecessary.

 

[timb5881]

So I have been following this thread for while now, as of yet I have no Loki Mini. But much to my amusement My step daughter brought over a 90's era vintage Kenwood Eq with 7 bands for each channel. It is an active one, and I was wondering how much damage it would do to the signal to my Vali2. Not much as I would have thought. The last time I ever used an actual separate Eq device was back in the 70's when I had purchased a new Radio Shack passive eq. That one was horrible, in that it caused all kinds of phase shifts on my spears, Large Advents. So now I am even more curious as to much better the Loki would be.

 

[Tuneslover]

So I have been following this thread for while now, as of yet I have no Loki Mini. But much to my amusement My step daughter brought over a 90's era vintage Kenwood Eq with 7 bands for each channel. It is an active one, and I was wondering how much damage it would do to the signal to my Vali2. Not much as I would have thought. The last time I ever used an actual separate Eq device was back in the 70's when I had purchased a new Radio Shack passive eq. That one was horrible, in that it caused all kinds of phase shifts on my spears, Large Advents. So now I am even more curious as to much better the Loki would be.

I had 2 pairs of Large Advents (set up as the "double" advent" system, stacked & connected in parallel, with the top speakers upside down so that all 4 tweeters were in the middle) along with a Soundcraftsman Equalizer. The Soundcraftsman has been gone for many years but I ended up parting with all 4 Advents about 1 year ago. Great speakers and from a sound perspective they stood the test of time admirably.

 

[timb5881]

I had 2 pairs of Large Advents (set up as the "double" advent" system, stacked & connected in parallel, with the top speakers upside down so that all 4 tweeters were in the middle) along with a Soundcraftsman Equalizer. The Soundcraftsman has been gone for many years but I ended up parting with all 4 Advents about 1 year ago. Great speakers and from a sound perspective they stood the test of time admirably.

I miss my Advents a bit. Now I use mostly Infinity speakers of various vintages.

 

[Nostoi]

It doesn't.

The Mojo has no analogue input so you can't use it as a headphone amp.

It does have an analogue output but this is the headphone output and I don't know if it is suitable to use as a line out. You might be able to use Mojo as the source. You would need to add a headphone amp to the mix.

Update: works very well with Chord Mojo using headphone output in conjunction with Fostex HP-V1 as headphone amp and the Loki in-between. Connected via RCA to 3.5mm cables.

 

[Nostoi]

I will be connecting the Loki Mini to the Fostex HP-A4BL, which has a balanced output. As I understand it, connecting the Loki to the Fostex means bypassing the headphone amp within the Fostex. Does this mean that in order to benefit from the Fostex's balanced capabilities, one must use a headphone amp with a balanced output as part of the chain? Or is there another way around this using a non-balanced amp? Thanks.

 

[Slim1970]

I will be connecting the Loki Mini to the Fostex HP-A4BL, which has a balanced output. As I understand it, connecting the Loki to the Fostex means bypassing the headphone amp within the Fostex. Does this mean that in order to benefit from the Fostex's balanced capabilities, one must use a headphone amp with a balanced output as part of the chain? Or is there another way around this using a non-balanced amp? Thanks.

You wouldn't be bypassing the Fostex HP-A4BL at all. The Loki goes in between your DAC and amp. You'll still be able to fully enjoy the balanced output of your Fostex amp. The Loki only offers RCA connections so your setup wouldn't be fully balanced from front to back. This is the only downside of introducing the Loki into a balanced system.

 

[Nostoi]

You wouldn't be bypassing the Fostex HP-A4BL at all. The Loki goes in between your DAC and amp. You'll still be able to fully enjoy the balanced output of your Fostex amp. The Loki only offers RCA connections so your setup wouldn't be fully balanced from front to back. This is the only downside of introducing the Loki into a balanced system.

Does this mean there's no tenable way of setting up the Loki as part of a balanced system?

 

[Slim1970]

Does this mean there's no tenable way of setting up the Loki as part of a balanced system?

Not a fully balanced one. If you have balanced DAC you will have use the RCA connections out of it to the Loki. Then RCA output of the Loki to the RCA input of your amp. The only balanced output you'd enjoy is that of your amp.

 

[technobear]

Does this mean there's no tenable way of setting up the Loki as part of a balanced system?

The HP-A4BL is a DAC/amp. There is no separation between the DAC and the amp so you cannot connect Loki Mini.

The only way to use Loki Mini with this Fostex, is to use the RCA outputs and use an additional headphone amp. The additional amp could be a balanced one so long as it has single ended inputs. You might lose some of the benefit of the balanced circuitry in the Fostex but that depends on the internal design of the Fostex (which I don't know).

 

[Nostoi]

The HP-A4BL is a DAC/amp. There is no separation between the DAC and the amp so you cannot connect Loki Mini.

The only way to use Loki Mini with this Fostex, is to use the RCA outputs and use an additional headphone amp. The additional amp could be a balanced one so long as it has single ended inputs. You might lose some of the benefit of the balanced circuitry in the Fostex but that depends on the internal design of the Fostex (which I don't know).

Yes this is how I was intending to use the Fostex and the Loki - via RCA cables. I have a Fostex tube amp which I can connect to the Loki to complete the chain; the question was whether adding a balanced headphone amp (with RCA) would preserve the balanced capacities of the HP-A4BL. Of course, I can still use the balanced output of the HP-A4BL, but the idea was to EQ my balanced headphones (such as the LCD2C, which benefit strongly from some EQ tweaks).

 

[technobear]

the question was whether adding a balanced headphone amp (with RCA) would preserve the balanced capacities of the HP-A4BL.

No, it won't. You will be using the Fostex HP-4ABL as a single-ended DAC.

 

[gr8soundz]

Does this mean there's no tenable way of setting up the Loki as part of a balanced system?

This works for me:
Little Bear MC3 3-in-1 passive preamp, switcher / selector, and SE to balanced converter
https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Balanced-Converter-Audio-Selector/dp/B07D7P7366

I use it with my SE ladder DAC into the RCA input and use the 2 XLR balanced outputs with both of my balanced amps. It works very well and (being passive) adds no noise plus the switching feature allows me to use multiple amps and speakers without recabling each time.

 

[Nostoi]

This works for me:
Little Bear MC3 3-in-1 passive preamp, switcher / selector, and SE to balanced converter
https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Balanced-Converter-Audio-Selector/dp/B07D7P7366

I use it with my SE ladder DAC into the RCA input and use the 2 XLR balanced outputs with both of my balanced amps. It works very well and (being passive) adds no noise plus the switching feature allows me to use multiple amps and speakers without recabling each time.

Great, thanks; I'll look into it - certainly very affordable.