Massdrop Cavalli Tube Hybrid Amp

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by purr1n, Aug 11, 2017.

  1. Br444m

    Br444m New

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2017
    Likes Received:
    40
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NL
    A Super Best Tube Hybrid?

    Couldn’t resist it too. With several contributions from the regulars, it feels like this is an introduction to the ‘house sound’ of SBAF, if one could exist. Looking forward to being introduced.
     
  2. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

    Pyrate Banned
    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,455
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Yep. I agree here. I have some nice NOS tubes here but there seems to be a certain synergy between the EH tubes and this amp. Usually stock tubes are there for filler and to meet a price point but don't exploit the potential of the amp when price is not the leading criteria.

    I haven't noticed that my NOS are any better than the EH stock, and I keep coming back to the EH.
     
  3. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,637
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Chennai, India
    I had the MCTH delivered on Friday evening and I've been playing it for over 3 hours now. Yggdrasil is feeding it through the AES16e. I am listening with my stock HD 600.

    Initial impressions are pretty favorable: a fairly neutral amp with good detail. It has very little of that "tubey" sound. Very nice extension in the treble; however a little soft in the bass. Does not have the slam that I hear with my SS amp (a DIY Sapphire). Initially, I had to crank up the volume to between 10 am- 11 am; now its slightly below 10. There is no difference to me between the XLR and SE connectors in terms of loudness or SQ. And, this is one cool running amp.
     
  4. Vordhosbn

    Vordhosbn Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2018
    Likes Received:
    99
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Tannhauser Gate
    I was kicking myself for missing the original drop, especially after hearing all the good reviews. Glad Massdrop put a new drop up so fast. The 2-3 day shipping is icing on the cake!
     
  5. StefanAC

    StefanAC Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2017
    Likes Received:
    32
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Germany
    I‘m rather new to headphones but have decades of experience with speakers. So please take my assessment of the MCTH + SDAC with a grain of salt. The equipment I used was a MacBook Pro running BitPerfect via TOSLINK into a modded EAD DSP-9000 Series III with Audeze LCD-2.2F headphones.

    Since I sold my Chord Mojo, I‘ve been using a Schiit Magni 3 as my desktop amp. While it was an improvement over the Chord, especially with the EAD doing the DAC duties, I still wasn’t satisfied. There was something missing compared to my speaker amp driving the LCDs. It wasn’t about detail, speed or something like that - I was missing the musicality and enjoyment I knew the Audezes were capable of delivering.

    With the MCTH, that something I was craving for has finally arrived at my desktop. Despite being far from burned in, it already surpassed the Magni 3 in the detail department while the sound staging was vastly improved. What surprised me most was the better slam of the MCTH compared to the more powerful Schiit amp - although here (and in some other aspects) my speaker amp remains king. To cut a long story short - the Magni 3 is already sold.

    These comparisons have been made with the EAD as the source. The SDAC, while being great for its price point, is holding the MCTH back. But one has to remember that the DSP-9000 was in the same league as a Theta Pro Gen V or a Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 in its day. Hopefully, Massdrop will come up with a stand alone DAC in the same enclosure as the MCTH to make a great stackable system - maybe using multibit or R-2R technology?
     
  6. dirt

    dirt New

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2018
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    WV
    I hooked my CTH to the Modi Uber 2 for a brief period, to diagnose a problem. Sounded pretty good. The problem was apparently old batteries in my Ack! dac V.2. So, bought some batteries, soldered up an new pack, and installed it. Don't know how many remember the Ack!, but I think it a very natural sounding piece of kit. It is a ladder dac, with no oversampling and no filters. Sounds more like vinyl. Still available, but they are not cheap. Made well, though. Anyway, with that dac, the CTH is just a delight. Got a new Sennheiser 3 meter cable yesterday. I'll install it on the Sennheiser HD6xx tonight and see if I hear any difference. Posts I have read here (and other places) indicate that it is a better piece of wire.
     
  7. Jinxy245

    Jinxy245 Vegan Puss

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    5,728
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Montgomery, New York
    Thank you everyone for your impressions.

    This deal seems too good to pass up. I figure there's a slim chance I won't enjoy this amp, and even if I don't, it shouldn't be hard to sell at a minimal loss.

    I've been wanting to try tubes for a while, and thanks to SBAF, I'm in.
     
  8. StefanAC

    StefanAC Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2017
    Likes Received:
    32
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Germany
    Has anyone the same experience with the volume pot?

    Zero level is at 7 o'clock, than the music starts on the left channel until at 8 o'clock both have the same level (tested with mono pink noise which went from left to middle and stayed there). My usual listening level is between 10 to 11 o'clock.
     
  9. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,512
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eastern Iowa
    I noticed the channel balance on mine isn’t great at low levels, but I usually have it up enough where it doesn’t matter. I read on another forum where someone thought they used a shitty volume pot, ( not really my opinion), but maybe for an out of warranty tweak, a better volume pot would be a reasonable upgrade if it’s an issue.
     
  10. Stride

    Stride Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2016
    Likes Received:
    145
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Sydney
    I also have the same issue with my MCTH. I find the left channel becomes louder from 7 to 8 o'clock and corrects itself between 8-9 o'clock. Unfortunately, my listening level is at 7-8 o'clock with my Klipsch HP3, so I am always going from 'music is too loud' to 'is my right ear blocked up' . My workaround at the moment is to add the Saga into the chain, so I can turn the MCTH up for balance and also helps widens the narrow soundstage. This isn't the ideal situation for me as I would rather have the Saga set aside for a future 2 channel stereo setup.

    Massdrop has offered a replacement or full refund which is good option to have but ideally wish this wasn't an issue for me in the first place. I am still deciding on what to do as it is only an issue for the really easy to drive headphones and I could theoretically be happy just using only HD650 with this amp.
     
  11. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2016
    Likes Received:
    4,521
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    London, UK
    In the shorter term, maybe using attenuators on the input would be a workaround, if the pot isn't much cop?

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rothwell-RCA-In-Line-Attenuators/dp/B00B7383F8
     
  12. shanchandi

    shanchandi Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    49
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    I'd be really interested to see Massdrop do an LPS in the same industrial-style black box as the amp. Would be a nice looking stack, and great for people like me that don't know jack about building an LPS for an amp.
     
  13. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,773
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    small island claimed by China
    Re Massdrop x Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X
    I thought remembered seeing something to this effect about the CTH, but maybe it was just this as I can't seem to find it now. Hoping I don't have this problem with mine, though I'll have a Sys upstream for attenuation as most amps have too much gain for my listening levels.
     
  14. dirt

    dirt New

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2018
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    WV
    If my volume pot were a little wonky, I'd want a new one. You might need to sell one day. Mine seems to be perfect. I think it was purported to be an Alps pot. My CTH sounds better every day.
     
  15. lerrens

    lerrens Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    May 19, 2017
    Likes Received:
    189
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Taipei
    Finally received mine!

    I wasn't expecting much about it's build quality to be honest, joined drops of several MD made products (HE4XX, O2, SDAC) and the build quality always seem meh to me.
    But the MCHT is radically different: the aluminum has a very polished finish which is not obvious in pictures but is extremely smooth and high class to the touch. The LED light on front is very subtle and delicate, the Volume Knob is super smooth and I can't stop putting my hands on this thing while listening lol.

    Soundwise I've been listening to it right out of the box and it's already pretty impressive.
    I'm using SDAC+O2+HD650 as my office rig and adding MCTH into the chain brings a fuller and deeper image, with better micro-details, clarity and dynamics all around. In comparison the O2 is plain flat, compressed and annoying.

    Guess I'll need to wait for MCTH to burn-in before comparing it to my Jot but at the time being, I think the MCTH+HD650 combo is giving me sudden goosebumps from time to time which hasn't happened that often before with Jot.
     
  16. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,461
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    I'll be interested to hear your impressions comparing to the jot.
     
  17. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,773
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    small island claimed by China
    Mine just made it in as well. Very slight channel imbalance from 7-7:30 (right comes in first). Silent to audible transition is a bit abrupt, but I doubt anyone will be using this range. A bit of scratch between 11-2, but only when turning the smexilly smooth volume knob. Build is impressive as mentioned, but the rear faceplate corners are rather sharp and caught while pulling it out of the bag. The inner box had a dent, though the contents were fine. Some padding around the corners in addition to the bubble wrap sitting on top would have been nice.

    Barely listened as I only have time to set it up tonight, but other than bass impact being a bit soft it sounds really sweet and engaging. The instructions say to unplug phones during burn-in if not listening. Is this to prevent them from being fried if it self-destructs while unattended? I would have thought a normal load would be better for burn-in.

    Edit: The 1/4" jack really is really rough. Might have to reterminate my HD650 cable to XLR just so I don't have to use it. Pity, everything else is really nice, really!
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2018
  18. Jinxy245

    Jinxy245 Vegan Puss

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    5,728
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Montgomery, New York
    That does sound odd... Maybe @CEE TEE could chime in about that. I don't understand the science behind it, but without a load, aren't you just warming up the tubes?
     
  19. Gray

    Gray Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2015
    Likes Received:
    51
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    I have gone through a break-in period of 150+ hours, and I no longer hear the static pops/storms. Most of this time was spent with the amp playing music without headphones plugged in, so I need to spend a few hours listening to confirm there are no further issues... but it appears that additional tube burn-in time was the answer.

    FYI - I let it play many days while at work, as well as many nights while sleeping... with a few rest periods with the amp off in between. I set it on various volume levels during this extended break-in period, as well as varying the signal level sent to the amp from my Mac.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2018
  20. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

    Pyrate IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,721
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    California Bay Area
    Home Page:
    ^Thanks for the follow-up notes, Gray!
     

Share This Page