[natto lover]

I'm not going to get into subjective differences of the two, but the only things I can comment on are the numbers that both product when measured. Whether one can audibly perceive the measured differences is another story, which I will not touch with a 10 foot pole.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...monoprice-portable-amp-and-dac-with-thx.5189/

not the product he is referencing

 

[Baten]

I'm not going to get into subjective differences of the two, but the only things I can comment on are the numbers that both product when measured. Whether one can audibly perceive the measured differences is another story, which I will not touch with a 10 foot pole.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...monoprice-portable-amp-and-dac-with-thx.5189/

this is not the product we are talking about, the dual AKM4493 dac+amp is the desktop monolith amplifier costing $479.99 excl tax....

also, the portable amp has 104dB SINAD. disregarding the usb noise for a moment, that is not bad really as far as I know, the really flawed products measure orders of magnitude worse

 

[Roen]

not the product he is referencing

this is not the product we are talking about, the dual AKM4493 dac+amp is the desktop monolith amplifier costing $479.99 excl tax....

also, the portable amp has 104dB SINAD. disregarding the usb noise for a moment, that is not bad really as far as I know, the really flawed products measure orders of magnitude worse

MY bad, I got them mixed up. I actually did not know about the desktop version, let me take a look.

 

[flyte3333]

Here is the gain 3 at about equal to my Audio-gd (set at 65 on low) so about 10 o'clock.....

​

So 2 o'clock is about 10 on gain two and three....

Thanks again! The photo has confused me though (I’m a little slow). Is the THX 789 in the loop at all?

It’s the THX 789 gain settings vs volume knob positions with AEON closed I was interested in.

Thanks again. And that’s a stellar collection of gear you have there!

 

[alphanumerix1]

I actually use the 789 mostly with my Focal Elex, but I did try it out with the Aeon finally this week during the holiday. Was also pre-occupied with the Focal Elegia's that I had for a week and sent off to the next user on Tuesday.

I think the Aeon sounds absolutely pristine with the 789. I've been listening to some Christoper Lawrence lately as it's pretty bass heavy and fun to play at louder than normal volume, so a good test for your query.

​

With my Aeon on the lowest gain setting, I was able to play at full volume with no distortion, but not quite at the limit of what I think is loud. It's pretty loud, but I show them on about 2pm in the second picture, and that is about where I think it sounds about ten percent more volume than the full on no gain and about as loud as I need to go. This amplifier still has more ooomf to give, but don't need to blow my ears out either.

​

The Audio-gd at lo gain I get about 65 on the volume knob to get the similar volume to the 2pm mid-gain on the AAA. The Aeon requires significantly more power than say the Focal or Sennheiser by about 40%. Especially the Elegia which is closed too, and very forward sounding but super efficient. I don't think you'll likely have to use the gain much as I usually am content to listen to the low gain settings on all my amps as they sound great at lower levels enough so that the music it's not ever not loud enough or too loud.

The amplifier is absolutely silent even with the volume all the way up. The Mr. Speakers are just excellent all around, and after listening to the Elegia's (also closed) I'm more than ever convinced that they are the better of the two by a significant margin and pairs great with this amplifier as it's very powerful, and wasn't as needed for the Focal. The AAA is very transparent, and it seems to have great bass and sub-bass performance over my other amplifiers with the exception of the NFB-1. I think the 789 is superb. Either way, there no perceivable difference to me between the gain stages of this amplifier, so if you need to play it louder, don't sweat it. It's just great.

Differences with nfb1 vs 789?

 

[areek]

I am getting this amp and will receive at the end of December. My DAC is an audio gd r2r11. I am planning to use rca to xlr interconnect with it so that I can run my headphones(lcd2) balanced. Will it work? Will there be any issues?

 

[Baten]

I am getting this amp and will receive at the end of December. My DAC is an audio gd r2r11. I am planning to use rca to xlr interconnect with it so that I can run my headphones(lcd2) balanced. Will it work? Will there be any issues?

You can't simply convert rca to xlr, that won't work.

Use RCA>RCA, the amp will convert it to balanced to the xlr output for your lcd2. It will not be "true" balanced in a way since your source is single-ended, but it will be converted and it will work just fine. I think most people in this thread are using single-ended/RCA input. it's not a problem!

Again, RCA>XLR interconnect, impossible. You can't simply use a cable to go balanced lol. DON'T do it.

 

[AndrewM888]

You can't simply convert rca to xlr, that won't work.

Use RCA>RCA, the amp will convert it to balanced to the xlr output for your lcd2. It will not be "true" balanced in a way since your source is single-ended, but it will be converted and it will work just fine. I think most people in this thread are using single-ended/RCA input. it's not a problem!

Again, RCA>XLR interconnect, impossible. You can't simply use a cable to go balanced lol. DON'T do it.

Not impossible. With 789 it is possible to use RCA>XLR cable with this situation so long as cable is built properly (XLR pin 1 and pin 3 connect to RCA plug by separate wires). However, the R2R11 has XLR output - why not just use XLR cables?

 

[Baten]

Not impossible. With 789 it is possible to use RCA>XLR cable with this situation so long as cable is built properly (XLR pin 1 and pin 3 connect to RCA plug by separate wires). However, the R2R11 has XLR output - why not just use XLR cables?

What's the benefit to doing this rather than using RCA? I've always been told this is a terrible idea, thanks for clarifying though.

 

[AndrewM888]

First principles approach is there will always be some common mode ground noise currents flowing in your audio cables shield, due to low freq magnetic fields, RF from SMPS and cell phones, and from direct injection by the various products' AC/DC power supplies.
And your audio cables all have non-zero ground impedance. So if this CM noise current flows in part of the cable that's used for signal (e.g. RCA's shield is also the signal negative wire) then it'll corrupt the signal as hum, machine noise, hiss, etc according to V=I*R where R is the RCA shield impedance.
But if this CM current is given a preferred pathway (e.g. separate shield wire in XLR cable) then it won't corrupt the audio. Similarly if given a lower impedance path (e.g. very short RCA, or more-copper in the RCA shield) then it'll corrupt less because the "R" term is smaller in V=I*R.
An RCA>XLR cable, if built properly, will provide a *mostly* separate pathway for CM noise current to flow. It's a half-way house.
Now the question is whether or not an amp can handle an unbalanced signal on its balanced input... if the amp is designed right as a "differential" input stage, then no problem (as is the case with most product).
Rule of thumb for users is
a) use 3-wire balanced cabling where possible (e.g. XLR)
b) if forced to use RCA, use the lowest impedance shield, and keep the length short

 

[Baten]

First principles approach is there will always be some common mode ground noise currents flowing in your audio cables shield, due to low freq magnetic fields, RF from SMPS and cell phones, and from direct injection by the various products' AC/DC power supplies.
And your audio cables all have non-zero ground impedance. So if this CM noise current flows in part of the cable that's used for signal (e.g. RCA's shield is also the signal negative wire) then it'll corrupt the signal as hum, machine noise, hiss, etc according to V=I*R where R is the RCA shield impedance.
But if this CM current is given a preferred pathway (e.g. separate shield wire in XLR cable) then it won't corrupt the audio. Similarly if given a lower impedance path (e.g. very short RCA, or more-copper in the RCA shield) then it'll corrupt less because the "R" term is smaller in V=I*R.
An RCA>XLR cable, if built properly, will provide a *mostly* separate pathway for CM noise current to flow. It's a half-way house.
Now the question is whether or not an amp can handle an unbalanced signal on its balanced input... if the amp is designed right as a "differential" input stage, then no problem (as is the case with most product).
Rule of thumb for users is
a) use 3-wire balanced cabling where possible (e.g. XLR)
b) if forced to use RCA, use the lowest impedance shield, and keep the length short

Very, very interesting. Thanks man.

 

[MacMan31]

I still have yet to pull the trigger on the THX 789. With my Aune X7S I'm on low gain and never feel the need to go past 12 o'clock on the volume dial with my 58X or 6XX. I'm only using the SE headphone jack at the moment but I do want to get a balanced cable at some point.

 

[humblesquad]

Does anyone else feel that this amp needs a long warm-up (8 to 9 hours) to shine? Without the warm-up it sounds dull, too much smooth, congested and far less dynamic. After that, mid and bass become powerful, lean, clear and realistic by a large margin. When I shut the power off and rest it overnight, it becomes dull again.

 

[oqvist]

Does anyone else feel that this amp needs a long warm-up (8 to 9 hours) to shine? Without the warm-up it sounds dull, too much smooth, congested and far less dynamic. After that, mid and bass become powerful, lean, clear and realistic by a large margin. When I shut the power off and rest it overnight, it becomes dull again.

Never nnoticed that tbh I seldom listen 10h straight though

 

[BrotherKathos]

Does anyone else feel that this amp needs a long warm-up (8 to 9 hours) to shine? Without the warm-up it sounds dull, too much smooth, congested and far less dynamic. After that, mid and bass become powerful, lean, clear and realistic by a large margin. When I shut the power off and rest it overnight, it becomes dull again.

I leave all my audio stuff on all the time unless it’s something like tubes that wear out ridiculous fast. All of my components seem to spund better after being on for a while. Could just be a placebo but ymmv