Monoprice Monolith Liquid Spark - By Alex Cavalli
Mar 31, 2019 at 9:24 PM Post #316 of 623
Just got mine this weekend and I love it already. Drives my hd6xxs well and also iems without problem. Leaving it to burn in this week b4 checking in next weekend

Excellent. I'm no amp expert, but I have been continually VERY HAPPY with the spark (combined with the Grace SDAC). Based on what I read, my expectations were high, but the spark has lived up to those expectations (which is a bit rare in this hobby lol). The SDAC & Spark for desktop, combined with the Radsone ES100 for mobility, has very much satisfied my needs.
 
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Apr 2, 2019 at 6:59 PM Post #318 of 623
Anyone able to compare this to the Loxjie P20 as far as sound sig?
 
Apr 5, 2019 at 11:06 PM Post #320 of 623
Eyeing the Liquid Spark for my first ever amp. Considering the Atom as well, which is said to have better on-paper measurements, but comes at a 13USD premium due to shipping.

Would love people’s thoughts, thanks!
Monoprice doesn't charge for shipping, but they do charge a sales tax- they charge a sales tax where I live, anyway.
 
Apr 18, 2019 at 10:07 PM Post #326 of 623
I Sent back my defective spark to monoprice. They were a little slow to get me an rma # but they did send a shipping label which is nice. So I got my replacement and right out of the box the power cord was defective and unusable. One connector on the plug side is seated too deep and won't make a connection. Luckily I had more power cables on hand that work with it. Also, why are the buttons so crooked on these? My defective one had crooked buttons but the new one is even worse.

I get it..it's a $100 amp so I shouldn't expect perfection but c'mon now. I have/had plenty of other amps in that price range that were built better and actually usable out of the box. I did a quick test and at least the new one is functional. I'll have to spend some time listening to it before I completely cast judgement but I'm not impressed with their qc at all. I was considering one of their higher end amps but I'm skeptical after seeing these.
 
Apr 20, 2019 at 12:17 PM Post #327 of 623
Even though it's mostly overkill for me right now, I bought this. I've had if for about a week and a half. A few days ago, I turned it up a bit past 12 o'clock, and got severe distortion in the right channel. I thought my earphones were the problem, but when I tried others, the same thing happened. The distortion didn't kick in at the same point every time, but it always happened at some point, and always in the right channel only. I left it alone until this morning, when I tried it again. At some point, I had earphones with a right angle connector plugged into the amp. The strain relief was pointing upward, and just fiddling, I moved it so the strain relief pointed to the side, and the distortion disappeared. I tried other earphones and the one headphone I have, and...no distortion. I'm still inclined to have it exchanged, but I wonder if anyone else has experienced this and knows what caused it.
 
Apr 26, 2019 at 12:17 PM Post #328 of 623
Even though it's mostly overkill for me right now, I bought this. I've had if for about a week and a half. A few days ago, I turned it up a bit past 12 o'clock, and got severe distortion in the right channel. I thought my earphones were the problem, but when I tried others, the same thing happened. The distortion didn't kick in at the same point every time, but it always happened at some point, and always in the right channel only. I left it alone until this morning, when I tried it again. At some point, I had earphones with a right angle connector plugged into the amp. The strain relief was pointing upward, and just fiddling, I moved it so the strain relief pointed to the side, and the distortion disappeared. I tried other earphones and the one headphone I have, and...no distortion. I'm still inclined to have it exchanged, but I wonder if anyone else has experienced this and knows what caused it.

Fwiw, I was using a few different 3.5mm mail to 6.35mm female adaptors that I had lying around, and I was having similar issues. I then bought a new set here, and I haven't had any issues since.
 
Apr 26, 2019 at 2:35 PM Post #329 of 623
Fwiw, I was using a few different 3.5mm mail to 6.35mm female adaptors that I had lying around, and I was having similar issues. I then bought a new set here, and I haven't had any issues since.
Thanks for that info, I appreciate it. Can you describe the issues you had with it? The distortion started up again a couple of days later, so I requested a return authorization.
 
Apr 26, 2019 at 2:40 PM Post #330 of 623
Thanks for that info, I appreciate it. Can you describe the issues you had with it? The distortion started up again a couple of days later, so I requested a return authorization.

This was mainly what my issue was with various headphones/cables:

At some point, I had earphones with a right angle connector plugged into the amp. The strain relief was pointing upward, and just fiddling, I moved it so the strain relief pointed to the side, and the distortion disappeared.

Mainly sound slightly distorted and being cut out, like you get with bad connection, or broken input jacks. I'm not sure I was experiencing "severe distortion" though, so the return may have been warranted.

Are you getting a replacement?
 

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