[Shane D]

I've heard about the SE on the LCX not being very good. Is that due to lack of power? I do plan on using the balance output nonetheless. I actually sold the Aune X7S a while back and "downgraded" to the Fiio k3. I can't imagine the LCX having less power than the Fiio K3 using SE output. I also purchased the balance SDAC from Drop to pair with the 789 once it arrives.

Mr Cavalli has written that the SE out is noticeably inferior to the balanced out. Apparently it was designed as a balanced amp and they stuck on the SE option at the end because you have to for retail.

Shane D

 

[MacMan31]

LCX Maximum power: Balanced 2.8W RMS into 50 ohms, single-ended 0.7W RMS into 50 ohms
X7s Max output power: 250 mW at 300RZ; 1,000 mW at 300RZ XLR; 1,000 mW at 32 RZ; 1,700 mW at 32RZ XLR
K3 220mW(16Ω); 120mW(32Ω)

This is what I could find as far as se and balanced output for the three. As you can see the LCX has the best numbers of the three so technically it should be an improvement. I am selling my Aune X7s because I have the LCX as it is an improvement in my eyes/ears, if that matters any. I hear from a friend that the SDAC Bal is a very good pairing for the LCX and that also the LCX + SDAC integrated is a very good pairing.

I'm not comparing against the Aune X7S as I no longer own that one. I'm comparing the LCX to the 789. Is the 789 really worth the extra money?

 

[trellus]

The LCX does have a different kind of sound. Maybe tubey is the way to describe it? I find my Burson Fun-Classic smoother and cleaner.

My SMSL SU-8 puts out one Balanced and one SE out. Cool to compare my two amps instantly, but not great for instant balanced comparisons.

ASR rips the LCX for distortion. I bought one anyway and I do like the different sound. However I would always have to have a nice clear alternative, like the Burson.

Do you find that the SE on the 789 is a step down in quality, or just power? I like the thought of just having two amps, one SE and one balanced. Mr. Cavalli stated the SE on the LCX is not to be used as it will be inferior to the balanced out.

It would be cool to have a great balanced amp that is also a great SE amp. I do not listen loud and would never use 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or even one full watt of power.

I am far from an audiophile: I like the distortion of the LCX and use a Schiit Loki on my Burson. I am Far from a purist.

Shane D

I keep hearing that about the SE on the LCX, and it definitely doesn’t have the power that the balanced output does for sure, but it is still powerful enough to drive the T50RP even SE.

 

[Shane D]

I keep hearing that about the SE on the LCX, and it definitely doesn’t have the power that the balanced output does for sure, but it is still powerful enough to drive the T50RP even SE.

And sounds just as good as the balanced out?

Shane D

 

[trellus]

And sounds just as good as the balanced out?

Shane D

Haha, I wouldn't even attempt to answer that question without a proper A/B switching setup.

I recently was comparing a powerful but quirky Chinese amp, and I swore it sounded vastly different comparing the SE of it to the SE of my Project Polaris, but it turns out it was a case of not (1) volume matching closely enough and (2) the ephemeral nature of audio memory, because I once I compared using an A/B switcher, with each of the amps' headphone outputs going into the switcher and my headphones plugged into the single output of the switcher, and a toggle that could instantly go back and forth between them, it was easier to volume match and then compare the differences in sound.

It turns out there was very little difference in the sound -- there were differences but not nearly as drastic as I had imagined before.

But testing the balanced out and SE out of an amp would be a lot more challenging and would require a better XLR-capable switcher (I have my eyes on one on Amazon) that accepts two sets of balanced inputs and an RCA input and can output balanced or SE, and then ideally, two LCX's (which ironically I did have for a short time but no longer have) so that you could instantly compare the SE and balanced out with one pair of headphones -- toggling between one LCX outputting balanced out and one LCX outputting SE.

Otherwise, I would be very suspicious of anyone making claims about sound differences between SE and balanced of an amp except for the obvious power output, which we know on many balanced amps are different between balanced and SE due to the internal design, and which even audio memory as weak as it is can even detect readily out of the LCX, it's noticeably louder out of balanced with the same pair of headphones at the same volume setting on the LCX vs when I use a 4-pin XLR to SE adapter and plug them immediately into the SE output at that same volume.

But I suspect other differences people hear are often (not always, I'll admit) attributable, in truth, to the ephemeral nature of audio memory and differences in power output, mixed in with expectation bias. I wonder how many people would be able to tell the difference in a double blind setup?

 

[Shane D]

Haha, I wouldn't even attempt to answer that question without a proper A/B switching setup.

I recently was comparing a powerful but quirky Chinese amp, and I swore it sounded vastly different comparing the SE of it to the SE of my Project Polaris, but it turns out it was a case of not (1) volume matching closely enough and (2) the ephemeral nature of audio memory, because I once I compared using an A/B switcher, with each of the amps' headphone outputs going into the switcher and my headphones plugged into the single output of the switcher, and a toggle that could instantly go back and forth between them, it was easier to volume match and then compare the differences in sound.

It turns out there was very little difference in the sound -- there were differences but not nearly as drastic as I had imagined before.

But testing the balanced out and SE out of an amp would be a lot more challenging and would require a better XLR-capable switcher (I have my eyes on one on Amazon) that accepts two sets of balanced inputs and an RCA input and can output balanced or SE, and then ideally, two LCX's (which ironically I did have for a short time but no longer have) so that you could instantly compare the SE and balanced out with one pair of headphones -- toggling between one LCX outputting balanced out and one LCX outputting SE.

Otherwise, I would be very suspicious of anyone making claims about sound differences between SE and balanced of an amp except for the obvious power output, which we know on many balanced amps are different between balanced and SE due to the internal design, and which even audio memory as weak as it is can even detect readily out of the LCX, it's noticeably louder out of balanced with the same pair of headphones at the same volume setting on the LCX vs when I use a 4-pin XLR to SE adapter and plug them immediately into the SE output at that same volume.

But I suspect other differences people hear are often (not always, I'll admit) attributable, in truth, to the ephemeral nature of audio memory and differences in power output, mixed in with expectation bias. I wonder how many people would be able to tell the difference in a double blind setup?

Do you have a balanced DAC? If so it likely also has the SE output.
With my setup the SMSL SU-8 puts SE and balanced out at the same time. Several of my headphones have SE AND XLR connectors. I would keep both types of connectors plugged in and just change the headphones back forth.
Volume matching in my case, is roughly 9:00 on the Burson and closer to 12:00 on the LCX with certain headphones. I would use a decible meter to volume match the outputs.

It would just take a few seconds to adjust the volume, change output and change connectors. The entire change over would take under 10 seconds to compare apples to apples.

If I had a 789 to compare, I would do a small playlist comparison, 789 vs LCX and then an SE vs Balanced comparisons within the 789.

But I am not willing to spend $650.00 (price in Canada) to do that comparo. I thought hard about it on the first 30 day run, but decided no. And pretty much everybody is deciding no on the second run. After 18 days, the counter has moved from 5.1K to 5.2K sold. Maybe they will have a late rush.

If I ever have the opportunity to pick up a used one in the $400.00 to $450.00 range I will definitely try one out.

Shane D

 

[trellus]

Do you have a balanced DAC? If so it likely also has the SE output.
With my setup the SMSL SU-8 puts SE and balanced out at the same time. Several of my headphones have SE AND XLR connectors. I would keep both types of connectors plugged in and just change the headphones back forth.
In my case, it is roughly 9:00 on the Burson and closer to 12:00 on the LCX with certain headphones. I would use a decible meter to volume match the outputs.

It would just take a few seconds to adjust the volume, change output and change connectors. The entire change over would take under 10 seconds to compare apples to apples.

If I had a 789 to compare, I would do a small playlist comparison, 789 vs LCX and then an SE vs Balanced comparisons within the 789.

But I am not willing to spend $650.00 (price in Canada) to do that comparo. I thought hard about it on the first 30 day run, but decided no. And pretty much everybody is deciding no on the second run. After 18 days, the counter has moved from 5.1K to 5.2K sold. Maybe they will have a late rush.

If I ever have the opportunity to pick up a used one in the $400.00 to $450.00 range I will definitely try one out.

Shane D

Yes, I have the exact same DAC as you, the SMSL SU-8. I do take advantage of the dual outputs, I have the RCA's feed my Project Polaris and the balanced out to the Loxjie P20 (previously the LCX, but I currently have a LCX on my other workstation coming balanced from a Yulong D100).

But... that 10 seconds is a very long time for audio memory -- seriously -- at least for me, and my very recent (last week or so) experience showed me that. There is nothing that compares to a proper switch where you can toggle immediately.

With my A/B switcher, I am able to discern real differences to my ears between amps, and most of them the time they are quite subtle, sometimes very hard to discern, but for other amp comparisons, more easily discernible, but at least for the amps I've tested so far, they are never as much as I believed when I was just swapping back and forth, plugging in and out and back in.

For example, I definitely found that the HiFiMAN EF100 has a slight but definitely perceivable stronger low end than the Chinese amp at least with the HE-560, and that was undeniable, not imagined, because I could literally hear it by hitting a toggle.

But I recognize it may be different for others, sure, but for me, audio memory is extremely unreliable, even 10 seconds is way too long.

 

[Shane D]

Yes, I have the exact same DAC as you, the SMSL SU-8. I do take advantage of the dual outputs, I have the RCA's feed my Project Polaris and the balanced out to the Loxjie P20 (previously the LCX, but I currently have a LCX on my other workstation coming balanced from a Yulong D100).

But... that 10 seconds is a very long time for audio memory -- seriously -- at least for me, and my very recent (last week or so) experience showed me that. There is nothing that compares to a proper switch where you can toggle immediately.

With my A/B switcher, I am able to discern real differences to my ears between amps, and most of them the time they are quite subtle, sometimes very hard to discern, but for other amp comparisons, more easily discernible, but at least for the amps I've tested so far, they are never as much as I believed when I was just swapping back and forth, plugging in and out and back in.

For example, I definitely found that the HiFiMAN EF100 has a slight but definitely perceivable stronger low end than the Chinese amp at least with the HE-560, and that was undeniable, not imagined, because I could literally hear it by hitting a toggle.

But I recognize it may be different for others, sure, but for me, audio memory is extremely unreliable, even 10 seconds is way too long.

Fair enough, but I would still like to try it.

Shane D

 

[Shane D]

I know that many of my recent comments have been off topic, so let me start with: I love this amp and it sounds great with HD58X's.

Following my earlier comments, if I was going to buy a THX amp arriving in November, I would get the Monolith Cavalli THX AAA 887. Measures slightly better the 789, will have better availability AND has a five year warranty.

Shane D

 

[Shane D]

Following the Cavalli brand, I bought a Liquid Spark yesterday.
I couldn't resist their open box specials.

Shane D

 

[dbsylvia]

Following the Cavalli brand, I bought a Liquid Spark yesterday.
I couldn't resist their open box specials.

Shane D

So an update on my LCX repair issue. I received word that it had shipped. After about 2 weeks of not seeing it and asking for tracking information a couple of times. I get a response back that my LCX was shipped to the wrong customer and that they are working on getting it shipped to me.

 

[Shane D]

So an update on my LCX repair issue. I received word that it had shipped. After about 2 weeks of not seeing it and asking for tracking information a couple of times. I get a response back that my LCX was shipped to the wrong customer and that they are working on getting it shipped to me.

Wow! I hope you Really love this amp when all is said and done. And I also hope it gives you YEARS of trouble free use.

Shane D

 

[dbsylvia]

Wow! I hope you Really love this amp when all is said and done. And I also hope it gives you YEARS of trouble free use.

Shane D

They just advised that the LCX has been found and is being shipped back to me. I should receive it Monday.

I hope all this trouble is over and I can enjoy my LCX.

 

[Th3Drizzl3]

hoping for the best for you this time. sucks you have had to deal with this for so long now.

 

[dbsylvia]

hoping for the best for you this time. sucks you have had to deal with this for so long now.

Thank you.