[Allanmarcus]

Ah a used market man like myself lol! Would also like to see how reliable it is as the Liquid Platinum seemed to have lots of issues.

Meh. 5 year Monoprice warranty. Nothing like it in the industry.

 

[wormsdriver]

Would love to see if this amp is HD800-friendly like LP just for firsthand recommendation purposes (basically nothing solid state under $1k is a good match with them) but have another amp on order...

Personally the best ss amp under $1k for me would be a used v280

 

[ruinedx]

Personally the best ss amp under $1k for me would be a used v280

Hd800 is very different than other headphones

Which is why i'd like to hear how LGX does with it again just to have something solid state I can recommend new under $1k if it sounds good

 

[omegaorgun]

First Liquid Gold X Impressions

I admit it – I purchased my Liquid Gold X on the day it was released. Yes, I could have waited for a possible future discount, but I’ve used the delay since the product was first introduced to save up for the big day. Besides, I figure with all the teleworking and not much possibility of any travel in the near future it’s OK to treat myself to a little something.
The Liquid Gold X has the exact same dimensions as the Liquid Platinum. In fact, it looks like it uses the exact same cabinet and power supply too. It’s well made, the buttons feel good and the volume knob has a nice feel to it. Speaking of buttons, most of the buttons are just pushbuttons that tell the computer inside what to do – they don’t stay in the pushed-in position when pressed. That’s OK – there’s a relay that clicks when turning it on and changing inputs. The only ‘real’ button is the gain switch. Careful with that one – I changed gain in the middle of listening and was rewarded with an unpleasantly loud ‘click’ noise. Better to turn the volume down and disconnect the headphone before changing gain. It’s nice to have switchable gain – that’s a feature that I wish the Liquid Platinum had as well. The amp runs quite warm. It’s not quite painful to the touch, but it’s close.
Enough physical descriptions, how does it sound? The first thing that struck me was the bass. It’s deep and juicy. I used the Focal Elegia for my listening and some people claim that the Elegia is bass light. Listen to ‘No One’ by Alicia Keys through the Liquid Gold X and tell me if the Elegia is bass light. Didn’t think so. The midrange has the trademark Cavalli ‘liquid’ sound and is just beautiful. The treble is smooth and clean. I also noticed that the sound was very spacious. These are very initial impressions, but so far I really like what I’m hearing.
What about the built-in DAC? It connects to my Windows 10 laptop without any issues (Windows identifies it as a Cavalli DAC), and you don’t need to download any drivers. During brief casual listening it sounded rather similar to my Bifrost Multibit, but I need to spend more time with it to further opine on the sound.
I’ve only had the amp for a day so these are very initial impressions, but so far I’m very happy with the Liquid Gold X. When the original Liquid Gold was available it was a $4,000 amp so I feel fortunate to be able to get what’s essentially the same amp for ¼ of the cost.

I am interested but wonder can it best my Matrix Audio HPA-3B which is a very underrated amp, it's a basic class-A circuit design but all top shelf components and double the power of a 789 @ 300/600 Ohms.

Now if the Liquid Gold X can output that lush natural sound anything like the matrix and has a good DAC built in then that would be attractive. Hopefully it's not another Topping A90.

 

[newtophones07]

This amp with a 4499 inside, I would buy it @ $999. As it stands, I will wait till it hits $500-$600. I just don't get the price structure. I bet it sounds awesome though, I loved my Liquid Platinum. I just hated the gain structure and channel imbalance at low volume. Keep the reviews coming!!

 

[purk]

How about a power supply? Is this power of a walwart or switching PSU? Not a bad price at all but a good PSU can set a great sounding from good amp.

 

[ruinedx]

How about a power supply? Is this power of a walwart or switching PSU? Not a bad price at all but a good PSU can set a great sounding from good amp.

Its similar to the switching PSU LP uses from my understanding.

 

[purk]

Its similar to the switching PSU LP uses from my understanding.

Thanks. Then I doubt that you will get the same level of sound quality to the original Liquid Gold then. If I remember correctly, the original Lau was over $6000...then later down to $4500.

 

[ruinedx]

Thanks. Then I doubt that you will get the same level of sound quality to the original Liquid Gold then. If I remember correctly, the original Lau was over $6000...then later down to $4500.

Yeh I mean Cavalli never promised that tho, he just said they were pretty close approximations of the sound signature.

 

[purk]

Yeh I mean Cavalli never promised that tho, he just said they were pretty close approximations of the sound signature.

A dual Sigma 11 PSU should bring this so much closer to the original LAu. I had the LAu on loan a few years and it did sound pretty darn good....and this is coming from someone who own mostly KG amps.

 

[Auxine]

Im intrigued to see what people who own/have owned a liquid gold say about this guy.

 

[purk]

Im intrigued to see what people who own/have owned a liquid gold say about this guy.

They probably be a little disappointed but their amps should still be considerably better due to better power supply design.

 

[XERO1]

First Liquid Gold X Impressions

I admit it – I purchased my Liquid Gold X on the day it was released. Yes, I could have waited for a possible future discount, but I’ve used the delay since the product was first introduced to save up for the big day. Besides, I figure with all the teleworking and not much possibility of any travel in the near future it’s OK to treat myself to a little something.
The Liquid Gold X has the exact same dimensions as the Liquid Platinum. In fact, it looks like it uses the exact same cabinet and power supply too. It’s well made, the buttons feel good and the volume knob has a nice feel to it. Speaking of buttons, most of the buttons are just pushbuttons that tell the computer inside what to do – they don’t stay in the pushed-in position when pressed. That’s OK – there’s a relay that clicks when turning it on and changing inputs. The only ‘real’ button is the gain switch. Careful with that one – I changed gain in the middle of listening and was rewarded with an unpleasantly loud ‘click’ noise. Better to turn the volume down and disconnect the headphone before changing gain. It’s nice to have switchable gain – that’s a feature that I wish the Liquid Platinum had as well. The amp runs quite warm. It’s not quite painful to the touch, but it’s close.
Enough physical descriptions, how does it sound? The first thing that struck me was the bass. It’s deep and juicy. I used the Focal Elegia for my listening and some people claim that the Elegia is bass light. Listen to ‘No One’ by Alicia Keys through the Liquid Gold X and tell me if the Elegia is bass light. Didn’t think so. The midrange has the trademark Cavalli ‘liquid’ sound and is just beautiful. The treble is smooth and clean. I also noticed that the sound was very spacious. These are very initial impressions, but so far I really like what I’m hearing.
What about the built-in DAC? It connects to my Windows 10 laptop without any issues (Windows identifies it as a Cavalli DAC), and you don’t need to download any drivers. During brief casual listening it sounded rather similar to my Bifrost Multibit, but I need to spend more time with it to further opine on the sound.
I’ve only had the amp for a day so these are very initial impressions, but so far I’m very happy with the Liquid Gold X. When the original Liquid Gold was available it was a $4,000 amp so I feel fortunate to be able to get what’s essentially the same amp for ¼ of the cost.

Could you please let us know how the SE out sounds in comparison to the XLR out.

The LCX is quite well known for having a pretty drastic SQ difference between its SE and XLR outs. I'm curious to know if the LGX has a similar difference or not.

Thanks

 

[seamon]

Personally the best ss amp under $1k for me would be a used v280

This reminds me of the time I switched from Liquid Carbon V2 to the Violectric V181. Inferior amps but imo same principle applies - Violectric is more neutral but it could never match the Cavalli midrange for me.

On topic, I think I might swing for a Liquid Gold X + LP DAC around Black Friday or so. I will probably be on the lookout for impressions, measurements and internal shots till then!

 

[wasupdog]

I bet it's similar to comparing the Liquid Crimson and LP. The LP is close but not quite since the Crimson has a better power supply and likely other bits and bobs. I've been looking at the cart inventory and it doesn't look like they've sold many. I'm sure it's due to outside factors but I remember the LP selling pretty well. When I get a listen to this amp there's no way I'm going remember how it stacks up to the original I heard a while back.