[Benny-x]

I have never liked his reviews or videos and I really never got it why anyone did. BUT, I am happy that the LAu-X is getting more publicity because a lot of people do watch his videos.

The more Monoprice sells, the better for all of us. Them and their doppelgango Drop+ are taking the audio scene by storm these past couple years and there's even been a few upmarket products come out of it

 

[Odin412]

The more Monoprice sells, the better for all of us. Them and their doppelgango Drop+ are taking the audio scene by storm these past couple years and there's even been a few upmarket products come out of it

I'm hoping for a Monoprice Liquid Tungsten X.

 

[newtophones07]

Price has dropped to $800 for cyber monday. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=38967

I don't remember the LP dropping that soon after release. Unfortunately they shot themselves in the foot by dropping the price of the LP by 50%. Now everyone's expecting the same on the LAu at some point.

Its back on sale for $800. Once it hits $699 I will jump in. I wish they had a tax free option like bh photo.

 

[A Jedi]

While Z’s reviews leave a lot to be desired, he’s done what no one else in the industry has been able to do - bring young people into hi/head-fi.

 

[geoffalter11]

While Z’s reviews leave a lot to be desired, he’s done what no one else in the industry has been able to do - bring young people into hi/head-fi.

He has a huge audience of people who go only by his opinion. That breeds responsibility to the designers and manufacturers to properly represent what they are creating. But, he can't even read a manual or research the products, so you get 20 plus minutes of watching him listen to music. Sorry, this is probably a bit too blunt and has nothing to do with the LaUx. A product that intrigues me and I would like to hear. I just got the Teac UD-505 and would love to know how the LaUx compares.

I almost bought the LaUx but ended up being too impatient and couldn't wait any longer.

 

[Rattle]

I don't want to watch tell me if used balanced output please.

 

[caliber8]

New member here.

I pulled the trigger on an LAuX to mainly drive my Focal Clear. It arrives tomorrow. I’ll be comparing it to an Eddie Current Black Widow, which I love the sound of but find noisy at low volume and rather clunky on a desktop. I’ll also be comparing the built-in DAC to the Bifrost 2. I’m still waiting on my balanced Hart cables to ship so I’ll be starting SE. I may or may not post first impressions based on SE just because I ultimately will not listen SE and because there have already been a few SE impressions posted here.

Gonna be a good day tomorrow!

 

[buffalomatt]

Thanks for posting and I'm sure there are lots of us who look forward to reading those impressions!

 

[Ham Sandwich]

I haven't tried any Focal headphones with the LAuX yet. I would expect the Clear will be a good pairing with the amp given the tonality of the amp and the soundstage/imaging characteristics of the amp. But proof is in listening.

A reminder that switching the gain button while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in will send a small DC transient to the headphones. Not ideal for a sensitive headphone like the Focals. So don't switch gain settings while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in. With the Focals you're going to want low gain (4x) anyways. No need to use high gain (6x) except to test how high gain sounds compared to low gain. I find the low gain on the amp to sound better.

The DAC is nothing special. It's an AKM DAC that sounds much like other AKM DACs like the Schiit Modi series and other similar AKM DACs. I suspect you'll find the Bifrost 2 to be a better DAC.

 

[Rob the Comic]

Okay fair enough... But where are all the breathless, ecstatic, and euphoric impressions that one normally sees in the first few weeks following the release of a component that is a real hit? not to mention a descendant of the legendary Lau to boot?I am not even expecting anything like the excitement that greeted the release of the CTH on Massdrop, or the Liquid Carbon iterations, here on head-fi and on Massdrop. Even a fraction of the modest total of 6 5-star reviews that appeared on Monoprice within the first month of the release of the LP would go a long way in showing to what extent the LGX has whipped up some enthusiasm right out of the proverbial gate... But zero enthusiastic reviews after nearly two months??? Let me put it this way :

If the LGX is really better, period, or just better "in some ways" than the Fire, Crimson, and the Glass, then even you have got to agree that the early adopters have a rather straaange way of demonstrating it... Don't you?

By the way, I was considering getting a Liquid Gold upon its release, several months before it came out. However, since it actually came out, the rather tepid response has given me a rather strong case of "cold feet," so if you have something to say that would change that I'd be glad to listen, but what you say must be really persuasive to make me want to move the needle at this point.

I’m not sure the lack of breathless reviews in comparison to earlier Cavalli amps is a sure indication of disappointment or apathy. I remember when the Heed Canamp was flavour of the month, especially in Europe with hundreds of glowing reviews. Yet you are hard put to find a dozen entries on it’s successor. The Heed Canalot, which I also own and can vouchsafe it is a much superior amp. I don’t know the whys or wherefore though - I’m a comic, not a sociologist.

Rob

 

[Rob the Comic]

I haven't tried any Focal headphones with the LAuX yet. I would expect the Clear will be a good pairing with the amp given the tonality of the amp and the soundstage/imaging characteristics of the amp. But proof is in listening.

A reminder that switching the gain button while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in will send a small DC transient to the headphones. Not ideal for a sensitive headphone like the Focals. So don't switch gain settings while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in. With the Focals you're going to want low gain (4x) anyways. No need to use high gain (6x) except to test how high gain sounds compared to low gain. I find the low gain on the amp to sound better.

The DAC is nothing special. It's an AKM DAC that sounds much like other AKM DACs like the Schiit Modi series and other similar AKM DACs. I suspect you'll find the Bifrost 2 to be a better DAC.

I’ve tried it with my Utopias, HD800’s, 650’s, 600’s and LCD3’s and they all sound excellent; in particular the modded 800’s are a great pairing, they really compliment each other.

Rob

 

[caliber8]

I haven't tried any Focal headphones with the LAuX yet. I would expect the Clear will be a good pairing with the amp given the tonality of the amp and the soundstage/imaging characteristics of the amp. But proof is in listening.

A reminder that switching the gain button while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in will send a small DC transient to the headphones. Not ideal for a sensitive headphone like the Focals. So don't switch gain settings while the amp is on and the headphones plugged in. With the Focals you're going to want low gain (4x) anyways. No need to use high gain (6x) except to test how high gain sounds compared to low gain. I find the low gain on the amp to sound better.

The DAC is nothing special. It's an AKM DAC that sounds much like other AKM DACs like the Schiit Modi series and other similar AKM DACs. I suspect you'll find the Bifrost 2 to be a better DAC.

Makes sense. The Clear are very sensitive so I'll have no need to try high gain. Hart still hasn't shipped my balanced cables yet so I'll be limited to testing SE until they do. The amp was supposed to deliver yesterday but got hung up. It's out for delivery today. I will definitely carefully compare the build-in DAC with the Bifrost (and hope that I can't hear a difference).

 

[caliber8]

I’ve tried it with my Utopias, HD800’s, 650’s, 600’s and LCD3’s and they all sound excellent; in particular the modded 800’s are a great pairing, they really compliment each other.

Rob

Rob, are you running with the internal DAC?

 

[caliber8]

I got the LAuX today. Here are my first impressions, which I have purposefully limited almost entirely to the DAC section because I'm running a SE headphone connection (Focal Clear) until my balanced Hart cables ship. I compared the internal DAC with the Bifrost 2 running balanced to the LAuX.

• The good news: The amplifier sounds rich, warm, and liquid. So far, I think the LAuX sounds terrific, but I will save a detailed review and my judgment until after I run it balanced to my headphones because that's how it was intended to be run.
• The "bad" news: The built-in DAC functions, but it severely hamstrings this all-in-one amp's performance; the built-in DAC simply doesn't stand up, especially when compared to the Bifrost 2, but even on its own merits. I listened to a lot of stringed instrument music to suss out the differences, which come down to two things:

1. The built-in DAC does not resolve the bite that bows produce when they are drawn across strings, particularly in fast violin and cello music, such as "Artemis" by Lindsey Sterling and "Gregson: 1.1 Prelude" by Peter Gregson. The tactile grit of the horsehair and rosin on the strings is an essential part of rendering close-miked bowed instruments in full, which the built-in DAC does not do. With the built-in DAC, the bite of the bow is virtually absent, and I was bothered by its absence right away before listening wth the Bifrost 2. The Bifrost 2, on the other hand, renders it more completely. (I can't say "completely" because I don't have a reference for what that sounds like, but it's quite complete to my ears.)
2. The second issue is a secondary effect of the first. On plucked stringed instruments, like the acoustic guitar in "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Kina Grannis, and struck stringed instruments, like the shamisen guitar in "Koto" by Clozee, the critical attack that occurs around 8k is filed off by the built-in DAC. (The good thing about this result that it's consistent with what I'm hearing on different stringed instruments, which makes me quite certain it's real; I'd bet money that I can hear the difference in a blind test, for example.) This has two consequences. The first is that plucked/struck stringed instruments are markedly less realistic-sounding than you'd expect because your brain knows the instruments are closed-miked due to the audibility of wooden-body resonances between 200-800hz. The second--and arguably more pernicious--effect is that the filing off of the 8k bite changes the mix of the music. As a recording engineer, your job is to literally paint a picture with sound by deciding where instruments should be placed in the mix by altering the frequency and volume balance between instruments. Because the internal DAC alters the frequency balance of instruments that rely on 8k attacks (like bowed, plucked, and struck strings), the DAC alters their position in the mix. It pushes them down and buries them in the mix, creating an obvious imbalance of instruments, like a picture taken with a front-facing flash that turns your subject's face white and forces the background to darken in a way that doesn't happen in the real world unless a flash is used. That effect really changed how much I enjoyed a lot of songs because I love stringed instruments. In well-recorded and -engineered recordings of stringed instruments, the engineers highlight those instruments' sonic beauty, but the built-in DAC truncates that work.

Can you tell that I used to do a lot of recording and mixing?

I want to caution those who are shopping for a LAuX not to write it off based on the above unless you are committed to getting an all-in-one. If you are, then I would look elsewhere (maybe a Burson Conductor 3XP). If you aren't, then wait for my follow up to the above, where I evaluate the amplifier on its own merits apart from the DAC. I bought the LAuX hoping that it would be a complete all-in-one, but I have concluded for myself that it can't be due to the weakness of the DAC section.

More to come.

 

[Rob the Comic]

Rob, are you running with the internal DAC?

No mate, she goes through the Yggdrasil
I have tried the internal DAC straight from my iMac and I have certainly heard a lot worst. Mind you, I cut a lot of slack as it’s fruitless to compare it to my Schitt or Luxman DACS.

Rob