[swmtnbiker]

I can understand some of those concerns. I've opened up the board - it looks actually pretty well put together -- if not one of the better looking boards I've seen. UI could have been a little better but overall I think the unit is pretty good for its price.

THX licensed the technology to them. I don't see how that's deceptive. It's like buying a Northface or Arcteryx "Gore-Tex" jacket but WL Gore didnt design the jacket.

Perhaps "deceptive" was the wrong word to use, but Monoprice is leaning heavily on that THX brand recognition to sell the product. I guess it's like the old "THX approved" DVDs we used to buy. At the end of the day, that THX "certification" didn't amount to a hill of beans. It was more of a marketing ploy in that scenario. A bit different here to be sure, but I still don't really like it.

 

[wadec22]

So everyone is returning it based on Amir's bad experience or your own bad experience?

I would not want to dissuade anyone from this amp. It's very attractive, feels hefty, has a very convenient display and the volume knob feels top notch. Even Amir's own quick confirmation stated it had a solid SINAD of 107db and put out a clean 1W of power into 33 ohms - good stuff. The headphone amp also has ZERO hiss with Denon AH-D7200 - which will shed light on any output impedance close to 1ohm (I could hear hiss on an O2 amp).

My only so-so feelings on it would be; clunky interface, menu and enter buttons feel really cheap (especially next to the great volume knob) and I found Dirac to be all gimmick.

I don't have a problem with THX's not being involved. IMO the headphone out is very good - and that is because they licensed a THX unit inside of there. I do wish THX was more involved due to their great service and feedback on both audio forums I follow.

Now, those cons are not enough to get rid of it. My reasons for getting rid of it are mostly from amir's review;

• I swap gear out a lot and his scathing review and experience will make resale awful. If I send it back, I'm out $10 that I was originally charged for shipping.
• Monoprice service has a rep for being awful. I did not know that until I read amir's review - then googled them. Their reseller rating on Google is a two start with thousands of upset users. I didn't want to chance a unit going faulty and having a company like that to rely on for service.
• I don't like that there is no XMOS driver to download. Sure I found a way to get everything to work.
• Lastly, I already have a THX 789. I had to chose between the two. If I chose the Monoprice, I would lose money on the 789.

 

[antdroid]

Mine has Beta firmware and i am returning it to Monoprice. I will lose US$77 for delivery costs to me plus whatever postage back to them. Overall loss is more than US$100 for their mistake in sending me a preproduction firmware unit.

What else can i do?

They should replace that for free. Have you asked them?

 

[Thenewbie76]

I would not want to dissuade anyone from this amp. It's very attractive, feels hefty, has a very convenient display and the volume knob feels top notch. Even Amir's own quick confirmation stated it had a solid SINAD of 107db and put out a clean 1W of power into 33 ohms - good stuff. The headphone amp also has ZERO hiss with Denon AH-D7200 - which will shed light on any output impedance close to 1ohm (I could hear hiss on an O2 amp).

My only so-so feelings on it would be; clunky interface, menu and enter buttons feel really cheap (especially next to the great volume knob) and I found Dirac to be all gimmick.

I don't have a problem with THX's not being involved. IMO the headphone out is very good - and that is because they licensed a THX unit inside of there. I do wish THX was more involved due to their great service and feedback on both audio forums I follow.

Now, those cons are not enough to get rid of it. My reasons for getting rid of it are mostly from amir's review;

• I swap gear out a lot and his scathing review and experience will make resale awful. If I send it back, I'm out $10 that I was originally charged for shipping.
• Monoprice service has a rep for being awful. I did not know that until I read amir's review - then googled them. Their reseller rating on Google is a two start with thousands of upset users. I didn't want to chance a unit going faulty and having a company like that to rely on for service.
• I don't like that there is no XMOS driver to download. Sure I found a way to get everything to work.
• Lastly, I already have a THX 789. I had to chose between the two. If I chose the Monoprice, I would lose money on the 789.

Good points. I hope it monolith gets their mind straight and releases a driver for it , somewhat improve the user interface. If they did that I will definitely be buying it .

 

[Packdemon]

Good points. I hope it monolith gets their mind straight and releases a driver for it , somewhat improve the user interface. If they did that I will definitely be buying it .

I wouldn't be against that I also wouldn't be against them adding a remote while they were at it. Maybe one that controls everything: volume, inputs, Dirac, EQ (+ or - dB for all your presets), and line out. Not nativagtion controls, like dedicated buttons. I would not be against it

 

[wadec22]

Good points. I hope it monolith gets their mind straight and releases a driver for it , somewhat improve the user interface. If they did that I will definitely be buying it .

I hope they do a few things with driver and firmware as well. given their lack of response or representation on a forum, you get some insight as to the difference between them and massdrop. feels like monoprice contracts the work and wants to hit a price - that's it. no involvement, no pride, no passion. massdrop has many of their own faults, but at least in a lot of their projects they are either leaving great design work to great designers or are intimately involved in what they want to see as an end game. their customer service also sucks but at least you get the feeling the majority of their projects have someone on their team that is passionate about it. really a bummer. like I said, this unit basically checked every box on my list - I just wasn't comfortable keeping it for a number of reasons mentioned above.

 

[swmtnbiker]

Yeah, I wouldn't count on Monoprice to do anything support-wise with this amp. I'd also be willing to bet that no new firmware will be released for it. v1.01 is their end-game. What you get is what you get. This is also one of the reasons I decided to send mine back.

 

[Baten]

Yeah, I wouldn't count on Monoprice to do anything support-wise with this amp. I'd also be willing to bet that no new firmware will be released for it. v1.01 is their end-game. What you get is what you get. This is also one of the reasons I decided to send mine back.

I wonder if anyone has sent them either audiosciencereview or this thread though. But yeah probably they don't care particularly.

Note that schiit too, has stealth revisions of firmware without alerting users or making them user-upgradeable. Unfortunately it's quite common.

 

[swmtnbiker]

True enough about Schiit, but they're a small American company that stands behind their products. Monoprice is a different beast entirely.

 

[Roen]

If you read the Q&A on the site, Andrew from THX clears it up that the amp is indeed balanced from start to finish.

Pretty sure the 789 has a balanced in, converts to SE internally and then converts back to balanced for balanced HP out. Not a true fully differential balanced amp for the entire chain.

Unless you're referring to the Monoprice? It could be dual-mono all the way through with the dual 788's so yeah, could be true balanced.

 

[Baten]

Pretty sure the 789 has a balanced in, converts to SE internally and then converts back to balanced for balanced HP out. Not a true fully differential balanced amp for the entire chain.

Unless you're referring to the Monoprice? It could be dual-mono all the way through with the dual 788's so yeah, could be true balanced.

Yea he meant the monoprice. But let's just say I'd much rather get the massdrop which goes BAL>SE>BAL and still performs amazingly, than the monoprice which seems to have bugs and zero support. But that one is supposedly 100% balanced all the way. I wouldn't take any changes on it though, maybe if we had a monoprice rep here at head-fi actually answering questions .....

 

[Roen]

Pretty sure the 789 has a balanced in, converts to SE internally and then converts back to balanced for balanced HP out. Not a true fully differential balanced amp for the entire chain.

Unless you're referring to the Monoprice?

Yea he meant the monoprice. But let's just say I'd much rather get the massdrop which goes BAL>SE>BAL and still performs amazingly, than the monoprice which seems to have bugs and zero support. But that one is supposedly 100% balanced all the way. I wouldn't take any changes on it though, maybe if we had a monoprice rep here at head-fi actually answering questions .....

I think true balanced vs bal->se->bal has such a marginal (and clearly inaudible) difference that it shouldn't be a make or break factor in anyone's purchasing decision. So many other factors to consider first.

 

[Baten]

I think true balanced vs bal->se->bal has such a marginal (and clearly inaudible) difference that it shouldn't be a make or break factor in anyone's purchasing decision. So many other factors to consider first.

100% agree. I have read zero complaints so far, so I suspect the THX engineers simply did not make any rookie mistakes in that SE and BAL actually have the exact same performance in this amp, except BAL has more power. No difference in noise or sound quality, just power that's it.

Other amp makers could learn from it

 

[antdroid]

Monoprice, when they released the M1060, had used mmcx connectors that failed often. They switched over to 2.5mm connectors a few months later and anyone was allowed to swap it out. I swapped mine out and it went pretty flawlessly. But as far as silent revisions go, I think this happens a lot and you just don’t know about it.

It’s a bit easier nowadays to get internet updates to firmware if the hardware allows it (like our receivers and Blu-ray players and other connected items) but this wasn’t the norm prior to connected devices.

I believe they do have a rep — @MonoPrice

 

[Baten]

It’s a bit easier nowadays to get internet updates to firmware if the hardware allows it (like our receivers and Blu-ray players and other connected items) but this wasn’t the norm prior to connected devices.

Yeah but only as long as they provide both a firmware flashing tool, as well as the updates without being afraid of people reverse-engineering them :/ I think that's what makes other companies hesitant at least. Proprietary DSP shenanigans.