Monoprice Monolith Liquid Gold (X)
Mar 12, 2020 at 6:07 PM Post #106 of 694
I don't have one here to compare, but I'm pretty familiar with the sound. As @Slim1970 said above, they are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to tonality.

The THX789 is what I would call "clean, crispy and solid-state-ey without being annoying... with an emphasis on neutrality and articulation" in contrast, the Liquid Gold X is "smooth, tubey and musical with an emphasis on detail, imaging, transparency and realism."

In a comparison analogous to headphones, the THX-789 would be more of a Utopia/HD800/HD600/K702/SR-009 headphone, whereas the Liquid Gold more of a Abyss/LCD-4/Atticus/SR-007. Obviously, the net effect is lower with amplification, but I think you get where I'm going.
Thank you very much for your response. The problem is I’ve never heard ALEX Cavalli’s original amps but my experience with Massdrop Liquid Carbon X was terrible. It didn’t sound right with any of my headphones (HE-560, E-MU Teak, & HD 800S). Even my HD 800S feels like a closed back headphone with little to no instrument separation! To my ear, it has so much high bass that bleeds to the mids and does’t even give room to mid bass and sub bass to shine. So practically, no articulations. That’s why I’m on a hunt for a new amp. I was almost certain that I’d get THX AAA 789 this time but found out about Gold X which made me pause :).
It seems that Crimson, Gold, and Glass created a cult in the audiophile world so I’m also curious to see what was the buzz about but as I said, Liquid Carbon X left a lot to be desired.
Any more feedback would be highly appreciated
 
Mar 12, 2020 at 6:59 PM Post #107 of 694
Thank you very much for your response. The problem is I’ve never heard ALEX Cavalli’s original amps but my experience with Massdrop Liquid Carbon X was terrible. It didn’t sound right with any of my headphones (HE-560, E-MU Teak, & HD 800S). Even my HD 800S feels like a closed back headphone with little to no instrument separation! To my ear, it has so much high bass that bleeds to the mids and does’t even give room to mid bass and sub bass to shine. So practically, no articulations. That’s why I’m on a hunt for a new amp. I was almost certain that I’d get THX AAA 789 this time but found out about Gold X which made me pause :).
It seems that Crimson, Gold, and Glass created a cult in the audiophile world so I’m also curious to see what was the buzz about but as I said, Liquid Carbon X left a lot to be desired.
Any more feedback would be highly appreciated

I haven't heard the
Massdrop Liquid Carbon X, but I have the original Cavalli Liquid Carbon and I assume the sound signature is very similar. To my ears, the Liquid Carbon captures a lot of the Cavalli magic, with a liquid midrange and great musicality
(I also have the Monoprice Liquid Platinum, which I also love)
. If you didn't like the
Liquid Carbon X you may not like the sound of the Liquid Gold X either, and something along the lines of a THX AAA amp may be more to your taste. There are no right and wrong answers here, it's more a matter of personal taste. For me, the Cavalli sound is just what I like.
 
Mar 12, 2020 at 8:30 PM Post #108 of 694
I haven't heard the
Massdrop Liquid Carbon X, but I have the original Cavalli Liquid Carbon and I assume the sound signature is very similar. To my ears, the Liquid Carbon captures a lot of the Cavalli magic, with a liquid midrange and great musicality
(I also have the Monoprice Liquid Platinum, which I also love)


. If you didn't like the
Liquid Carbon X you may not like the sound of the Liquid Gold X either, and something along the lines of a THX AAA amp may be more to your taste. There are no right and wrong answers here, it's more a matter of personal taste. For me, the Cavalli sound is just what I like.
I totally agree with this.

Any amp designed by Cavalli is pretty much going to be the polar opposite of that hyper-neutral, ultra-low-distortion type of sound signature that the THX stuff is all about.

So if you find that you really like the way a Cavalli amp sounds, then all of the hyper-neutral type amps probably aren't going to be your cup o' tea, and vise versa.

As for myself, like many others here, I started out thinking that Schiit gear was about as good as it got. Then I tried the CTH and LCX, and, uh.... let's just say that I think Alex's 'secret sauce' tastes delicious! :stuck_out_tongue:

giphy37.gif


And I can't wait to try the Liquid Gold X next!! :L3000:
 
Last edited:
Mar 12, 2020 at 10:43 PM Post #109 of 694
Has anyone seen a comparison of LP and the Ifi Ican Pro somewhere?
 
Mar 13, 2020 at 10:56 PM Post #110 of 694
Thanks everyone for sharing your experience with me. I always thought Massdrop screwed up with Liquid Carbon and the original was way better. From what I understood from your comments this is not the case and it’s quite similar to the original‘s sound signature. Since I really dislike how my Massdrop Carbon Liquid sounds, I guess I’m better off placing an order for THX AAA.
Cheers
 
Mar 14, 2020 at 5:36 PM Post #111 of 694
Thanks everyone for sharing your experience with me. I always thought Massdrop screwed up with Liquid Carbon and the original was way better. From what I understood from your comments this is not the case and it’s quite similar to the original‘s sound signature. Since I really dislike how my Massdrop Carbon Liquid sounds, I guess I’m better off placing an order for THX AAA.
Cheers

Well, not so fast. Here's a different opinion. I have the original Liquid Carbon V1, and I have never heard the Massdrop version. But someone who has heard both mentioned something resembling exactly what you suspected : namely, not only that the V1 and the Massdrop version do not sound exactly the same, but also that he definitely preferred th V1 to the point where he could not stand the Massdrop version. To me. that wasn't surprising, at least, not anymore surprising than hearing that the Liquid Platinum does not sound the same as the Liquid Crimson upon which it is based, or that the Liquid Gold X will not sound exactly the same as the original Lau.

People often argue that the original versions and their subsequent Massdrop/Monoprice clones often share the same house sound and sound somewhat alike, in spite of the difference. That seems to console many owners of the Monoprice or Massdrop cloned versions, assuring them that they're close enough to the original to be worth the coin, and hence buyers can pat themselves on the back, when they get them, and congratulate themselves for having got a good deal. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with liking one's Massdrop or Monoprice Cavalli clone amp, mind you. I love my Liquid Platinum to kingdom come, and it has still not stopped amazing me. I also think I might get the Liquid Gold X, although not immediately upon its release, although I have never heard the either the original Liquid Crimson before, nor the original Lau, for that matter. The crucial question here is whether I would love my LP as much as I do, if I also had a Liquid Crimson, or if I had listened long enough to a Liquid Crimson to become familiar with its sq or used to it.

I cannot necessarily answer that question in the positive either, until I have actually compared the SQ of an original L Crimson with that of my Liquid Platinum. Ironically, I get the impression that it is the very less than perfect resemblance between the SQ of the Liquid Carbon V1 and the Massdrop version which the enthusiast I mentioned above who had heard them both was finding to be off putting. For him, it was as if the Massdrop version was trying too hard to be something it wasn't (the original) . Maybe if I had the original Liquid Crimson, I might react the same way about the LP, or maybe I might not, and ditto for the Lau/LauX comparison.

The point of this long rant is that we are in a world of deeply subjective preferences, and differences in performance results that depend on the synergy between different, competing, components, and that you can never be completely sure what you would or would not like until you have all the usual suspects first hand, in the environment of your own rigs. Of course, YMMV.
 
Last edited:
Mar 15, 2020 at 9:45 PM Post #112 of 694
I haven't heard the
Massdrop Liquid Carbon X, but I have the original Cavalli Liquid Carbon and I assume the sound signature is very similar. To my ears, the Liquid Carbon captures a lot of the Cavalli magic, with a liquid midrange and great musicality
(I also have the Monoprice Liquid Platinum, which I also love)


. If you didn't like the
Liquid Carbon X you may not like the sound of the Liquid Gold X either, and something along the lines of a THX AAA amp may be more to your taste. There are no right and wrong answers here, it's more a matter of personal taste. For me, the Cavalli sound is just what I like.

I had both the Carbon v1 (still do) and the Liquid Carbon X at the same time and they weren't even close. Original Carbon was better in pretty much every facet. Despite some build issues with the original Carbons, I still highly recommend them to people. Especially at the ridiculously cheap prices they go for these days.
 
Mar 16, 2020 at 7:49 PM Post #113 of 694
I had both the Carbon v1 (still do) and the Liquid Carbon X at the same time and they weren't even close. Original Carbon was better in pretty much every facet. Despite some build issues with the original Carbons, I still highly recommend them to people. Especially at the ridiculously cheap prices they go for these days.
I have the V2 version of the Liquid Carbon and it's a steal, if you can find one. Both of the original LC's have a much better footprint than the Drop version of the amp.
 
Mar 16, 2020 at 8:20 PM Post #114 of 694
The big downside with the original Liquid Carbon (both V1 and V2) is that a lot of the original owners reported all kinds of reliability issues with them, some of them requiring multiple repairs.
So it's definitely a crapshoot. You might get lucky and get one that's trouble-free:sweat_smile:, or you might end up getting yourself a not-so-nice little money pit. :rage:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cavalli-audios-liquid-carbon-2-0-owners-impressions.822866/

Pages 13-16 talk a lot about the problems.
 
Last edited:
Mar 16, 2020 at 9:00 PM Post #115 of 694
The big downside with the original Liquid Carbon (both V1 and V2) is that a lot of the original owners reported all kinds of reliability issues with them, some of them requiring multiple repairs.
So it's definitely a crapshoot. You might get lucky and get one that's trouble-free:sweat_smile:, or you might end up getting yourself a not-so-nice little money pit. :rage:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cavalli-audios-liquid-carbon-2-0-owners-impressions.822866/

Pages 13-16 talk a lot about the problems.

I had to send my v1 back for repair. A few months after Cavalli closed up shop and the lifetime warranty was void. Wah wah...
 
Mar 16, 2020 at 9:06 PM Post #116 of 694
The big downside with the original Liquid Carbon (both V1 and V2) is that a lot of the original owners reported all kinds of reliability issues with them, some of them requiring multiple repairs.
So it's definitely a crapshoot. You might get lucky and get one that's trouble-free:sweat_smile:, or you might end up getting yourself a not-so-nice little money pit. :rage:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cavalli-audios-liquid-carbon-2-0-owners-impressions.822866/

Pages 13-16 talk a lot about the problems.

V1's didn't have so many issues, relatively speaking, but many V2's had faulty volume pots due to a miscommunication with the factory. As I understand it, they used machine soldering on a hand-solder-only part, which nobody figured out until it was way too late. I believe the majority did get serviced under warranty, but as a general rule, it's probably safer buying a V1 than a V2 on the used market. As always, YMMV.
 
Mar 16, 2020 at 9:52 PM Post #117 of 694
The big downside with the original Liquid Carbon (both V1 and V2) is that a lot of the original owners reported all kinds of reliability issues with them, some of them requiring multiple repairs.
So it's definitely a crapshoot. You might get lucky and get one that's trouble-free:sweat_smile:, or you might end up getting yourself a not-so-nice little money pit. :rage:

My V1 Liquid Carbon has been trouble-free from day 1, but I've also read reports that not all owners have been that lucky. Caveat emptor, I suppose.
 
Mar 16, 2020 at 10:18 PM Post #118 of 694
My V1 Liquid Carbon has been trouble-free from day 1, but I've also read reports that not all owners have been that lucky. Caveat emptor, I suppose.

Same here : My V1 has been rock solid and glitch-free from day one.
 
Mar 18, 2020 at 5:22 PM Post #119 of 694
@ sahmen
you pretty much nailed it.
Not only is it subjective, it’s also difficult for people to be critical of what they have paid a big chunk of money for so a potential buyer has a hard time finding unbiased opinions on the Internet. This time, I went for THX AAA. Drop sells it for $350 if one chooses the amp with the old Massdrop logo so not a big loss if I don’t like it but a quite good bargain if it’s to my liking. I’ll keep an eye on this thread though to see more reaction and how it goes especially when the honey moon period is over.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top