Liquid Gold X Balanced Headphone Amplifier from Monoprice by Alex Cavalli

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by jexby, Sep 10, 2019.

  1. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    I’m probably too late for you, but I have been burning in my LGX. And frankly, Elite is the worst headphone I’ve heard with it so far. Perhaps more burning will help, but to me it sounds very muddy on busy passages.

    To be clear, this is the only headphone I hear this with. I mention over on Head-fi that it’s there’s no muddiness with any of my other cans (Ether 2, HEKse, Auteur, Hedd, Utopia, HE-560, HD-6XX).
     
  2. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    Not what I’m hearing after about 30 hours of burn-in.
    Amusingly, one reason I was willing to sell my BHA-1 was lack of dynamics/impact when paired w/ Ether 2. Not really bad, just kind of blah/boring.
    At one point I complained about lack of dynamics (w/ some gear, don’t remember which), saying that instead of screaming ‘London Calling’ it was like the admin politely saying ‘I have London on line 2 for you, Sir’. Not hearing that from LGX==>Auteur Classic (upgraded from OG Blackwood Auteur).
    For me, mTT2==>LGX==>Auteur have excellent dynamics … on the aforementioned London Calling, and also on:

    Petty — Breakdown
    Stones — Paint it Black, Miss You, Can’t You Hear me Knocking
    Tull — Aqualung, My God, Locomotive Breath
    Zeppelin — Whole Lotta Love, Gallows Pole, Immigrant Song
    The Who — Magic Bus from Live at Leeds, My Generation, Won’t Get Fooled Again
    Neil Young — Cinnamon Girl, Sedan Delivery, Cowgirl in the Sand, Alabama

    As you can tell, I tried a bunch of different (mostly) Classic Rock and didn’t hear a lack of dynamics. Perhaps that’s down to my upstream chain.

    Love LGX paired w/ Ether 2.

    Comment about poor pairings w/ Hifiman don’t match my experience w/ HEKse and (especially) HE-560s.

    All my ears/JMHO of course.
     
  3. Pancakes

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    I don't know what to tell you. For me it had zero balls - by far the weakest amp in terms of macro that I've ever heard. It's unfortunate because there was so much I liked about it. I really wanted to keep it but it was too underwhelming.
     
  4. muckyfingers

    muckyfingers New

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  5. Pharmaboy

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  6. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    Yes, I'm still burning it in, but it's certainly the best $500 amp I've heard.

    Hoping I can get Mono to refund me the difference vs what I paid last week. Otherwise I'll have to return and purchase again.
     
  7. lcmusiclover

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    Update -- talked to a nice Cust Srvce Rep at Mono. She said they normally only match price for 7 days, but that she would request approval. Heard back from here about an hour later, and the refund of the price difference was approved, so ... Yay!!!

    And thank you Mono :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2022
  8. Pharmaboy

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    Congrats on 2 fronts: getting the refund so you can re-buy at lower $$; and managing to reach a Monoprice CSR (not easy).
     
  9. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    I guess I wasn't clear -- they refunded the difference, so I'm good to go right now.

    A return and rebuy wouldn't have required talking to a human -- they have automatic 30-day returns on Monoprice-branded merch.

    But just getting the difference back was really what I wanted. Why go to the hassle of returning a perfectly functional amp which I had already burned in, just to start over? (I'll edit the original post.)

    Also, surprisingly, only a 4 minute hold to talk to a human, and she got back to me quickly as well. In all, a surprisingly satisfying process.
     
  10. Pharmaboy

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    It's only fair to point out: you assume she was a human...
     
  11. lcmusiclover

    lcmusiclover Friend

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    Oh, clearly human -- AI can't do that great of an accent yet :)
     
  12. Pancakes

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    For what it's worth, every time I had a product issue (every amp I bought :( ), Mono customer support was stellar.
     
  13. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Clearing the S:N ratio by deleting my dumb question, mods please feel free to delete this comment
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2022
  14. Pharmaboy

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    So you're using the DAC in the LGX instead of an external DAC?

    What's your O.S.? On my computers, I have to designate the DAC (that I want to hear) as the "Default device." Did you do that?
     
  15. elwappo99

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    I think you need to hit "D" button until it reads "U" for USB.
     
  16. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Thank you both, D and U combo did it!
     
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  17. elwappo99

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    Wonderful! Now please get some XLR cables so you can hear what the amp is capable of. (sorry Dr. Alex).
     
  18. Pharmaboy

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    FWIW, I have a single-ended DAC connected to the LGX (Audio GD R2R-11 MK2) with single-ended RCA interconnects; and on the headphone side, listen only via 4-pin XLR headphones/cables. The sound, particularly with planar headphones, is very good IMO.
     
  19. elwappo99

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    Wouldn't be surprised! Unfortunately the internal DAC holds back what the amp is capable of.
     
  20. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Whoever implemented the high gain setting on this amp needs a strict talking to. It's like someone tried to mimic the "vivid" setting on an OLED tv. Brittle, shrill, overly brightened, loud asf, so much so that it exterminates the signature smoothness of the LAuX, and loud, did I mention it gets incredibly loud? Seems like it was the same person who decided to not mute the gain switch at all and let it go off in a—again—loud"pop" in your headphones during switching...
     

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