[kukkurovaca]

My portable version came in today. Used a HibyMusic R3 to feed the monolith and used my beloved Utopia and Etymotic ER3XR to listen with. Decided to compare them against a mojo and after listening to a few Amy Winehouse and Bob Marley tracks I've concluded I prefer the monolith. This is with the Dirac Sensaround (dsp?) enabled. Mojo has a warmer sound. Monolith's sound quality sounds cleaner, transparent and more tonally correct to my ears. Sensaround makes the soundstage a bit bigger. Listening to the monolith and er3xr combo gave me a wow moment. I've never heard the etys bass as good as this pairing before. Monolith has enough juice to drive the Utopia to dangerous listening levels. I had mines on average at around -15 dB. Monolith volume goes up to +16 dB. So far I'm very impressed.

Nice! Is the Dirac effect more like a crossfeed (frontal presentation) or more like surround sound all around you? Or something else?

 

[rodel808]

Nice! Is the Dirac effect more like a crossfeed (frontal presentation) or more like surround sound all around you? Or something else?

More like a subtle surround sound effect. Something like the DTS:X 3D Surround effect on LG phones. I liked it and kept it enabled. It shifts vocals from being in the center of your head more outwards though not totally outside.

 

[Packdemon]

My portable version came in today. Used a HibyMusic R3 to feed the monolith and used my beloved Utopia and Etymotic ER3XR to listen with. Decided to compare them against a mojo and after listening to a few Amy Winehouse and Bob Marley tracks I've concluded I prefer the monolith. This is with the Dirac Sensaround (dsp?) enabled. Mojo has a warmer sound. Monolith's sound quality sounds cleaner, transparent and more tonally correct to my ears. Sensaround makes the soundstage a bit bigger. Listening to the monolith and er3xr combo gave me a wow moment. I've never heard the etys bass as good as this pairing before. Monolith has enough juice to drive the Utopia to dangerous listening levels. I had mines on average at around -15 dB. Monolith volume goes up to +16 dB. So far I'm very impressed.

I'm glad to hear something good in such little time. Does the monolith THX portable run off of Android?

 

[rodel808]

I'm glad to hear something good in such little time. Does the monolith THX portable run off of Android?

Yes. I first paired it with my LG V35 with the following music apps: HibyMusic, USB Player Pro and Neutron.

 

[Marlowe]

I've been looking at the THX portable, but one thing that really turns me off is the absolute lack of almost any accessories compared to similar offerings, both cheaper and more expensive, from Fiio, iFi, or Topping. (I currently use a Fiio Q1 Mk II and have been considering a Fiio Q5 or iFi xDSD.) While there are some gaps (Fiio provides a lightning connector but no Android compatible OTG cable, iFi provides neither), the Monoprice provides nothing (except a charging cable): no connecting cables, no means to attach itself to a phone (velcro or rubber bands), no mini Toslink adapter (iFi provides one). This is sort of small potatoes I guess, but I find it very irritating.

 

[Packdemon]

I've been looking at the THX portable, but one thing that really turns me off is the absolute lack of almost any accessories compared to similar offerings, both cheaper and more expensive, from Fiio, iFi, or Topping. (I currently use a Fiio Q1 Mk II and have been considering a Fiio Q5 or iFi xDSD.) While there are some gaps (Fiio provides a lightning connector but no Android compatible OTG cable, iFi provides neither), the Monoprice provides nothing (except a charging cable): no connecting cables, no means to attach itself to a phone (velcro or rubber bands), no mini Toslink adapter (iFi provides one). This is sort of small potatoes I guess, but I find it very irritating.

To even compare the monoprice to the other brands, I'd factor in the price for the additional cables/adapters and accessories that the Monoprice is missing.

 

[aerospace33]

I would still be interested in comparing the sound quality of the portable even though it doesn't come with the accessories. It has a genuinely interesting amplification and dac/processing design that I don't see in any other portables.

 

[unmaker]

Finally it is up for sale:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24459

 

[gto88]

Ordered.
Will sell other DAC on hand to compensate this purchase though.

 

[gto88]

Just found out it has balanced in and no balanced out for external amp.
Not sure why it is designed as this, it is a big disappointment.
Will cancel it.

 

[unmaker]

Just found out it has balanced in and no balanced out for external amp.
Not sure why it is designed as this, it is a big disappointment.
Will cancel it.

I'm not a fan of the XLR inputs either but they can be modified to be outputs. From Andrew Mason:

"And with some warranty-voiding simple soldering, it should be pretty straightforward to modify the unit so the two XLR-3 "inputs" become balanced outputs wired internally to the XLR-4 headphone out and controlled by the volume dial. i.e. remove C67, C76, C79, C84 to disconnect XLR3's from the ADC. Then patch wire twisted pairs connecting the two XLR3's pins to XLR-4 pins as follows:

twisted pair 1
L+: XLR3 J2 pin 2 to XLR4 J10 pin 1
L-: XLR3 J2 pin 3 to XLR4 J10 pin 2

twisted pair 2
R+: XLR3 J4 pin 2 to XLR4 J10 pin 3
R-: XLR3 J4 pin 3 to XLR4 J10 pin 4

Each XLR-3 pin 1 is already tied to ground so you can leave that alone. This configuration is a bit better than using the XLR-4 balanced output since the cables will now have grounded shields, and the downstream device will now have shared ground with the 789 product."

 

[gto88]

Yea, I see that post.
But, that is not what I am going to do.
Just tried to cancel the order, and you know what, it has been
prepared for shipping in just a few minutes after order placed.
They told me I can refuse the package though.

 

[phthora]

Just found out it has balanced in and no balanced out for external amp.
Not sure why it is designed as this, it is a big disappointment.
Will cancel it.

Argh. That is annoying. I assumed that the DAC was the star of the show. Why give the option to use a different DAC with this unit, but not a different amp? Strikes me as an odd design choice.

 

[kukkurovaca]

This is one of the very first consumer THX amps, so I'm pretty sure the DAC is not intended to be the star of the show. The DAC would if anything be more of a feature to differentiate it from Massdrop's offering.

 

[i20bot]

Yeah, was looking forward to this dac/amp too but would have definitely liked the XLRs to be outs instead of ins.