Massdrop Cavalli Tube Hybrid Amp

Definitely wait for the tube to fully burn-in before making your final judgment.

To my ears, this amp is clear, airy, and spacious... not really warm or laid back. Then again, I'm the kinda guy who's used to listening on Modi Multibit>Crack>Atticus and wouldn't mind if the combo was even thicker

 

Okay I think I finally hit about 100 hours, but I was listening Monday and the Modi Multibit&CTH combo was already blowning me away. The amp dried up for sure, it was slow before, drum hits didn't capture the air my hd700 is capable of producing earlier on. My benchmark for this was The Who's 'Young Man Blues', now the Modi Multibit is outperforming the SDAC, and is more musical to my ears. I can also stand to listen to my hd700 for awhile with this as opposed to my Magni 3. Definitely going to be enjoying this combo. Honestly feels like I won't do much better than this without really getting into TOTL territory. Not Sure my MD+ iem's like the CTH though, they sound better through my Magni 3, so I guess I'll be keeping that lil guy around too .

 

Anyone listen to this with the K7XX's? I know MCTH+6XX gets high recommendations, and was wondering about the AKG side.

 

The MCTH drives the K7XX as well as any other amp. The combo is more in your head as far as sound stage. And a bit bright. I just tried it and thought it it was a little metallic. Didn't like it much. Could see this getting tiring with a lot of music.
I unplugged it and used the HD650. No question this is better. HD6XX would be a better choice, easily. MIne has the kiss mod.
I don't recall the K7XX performing this way on other amps. Might be better suited for, say, a Project Ember with it's myriad choices of tubes. Glad you made me think about this. I have an Ember in a box with scads of tubes that I was gonna list somewhere. I think I'll keep it until the Verum shows up.

 

Thanks for the impressions. The Vali/Vali 2 are supposed to be a good match with the MAKG's, but other than that there's sparse little information on tried and attested to synergy. I know it's not very synergetic with a heckton of amps, so it's trial and error, again and again...

The Ember has great reviews all around, but that's a bit of an expensive option, no? Anyway, YGPM.

 

I found very little overlap between Vali and Vali2, so imo just because one may be a good match with a particular headphone does not mean the other would be as well. And the Ember definitely does not get great reviews "all around." Some research on this site alone would confirm that.

 

Really, guess I assumed as a whole. During the last SBAF meetup I was in it was recommended to me a couple of time, small sample size and all that.

 

I really liked the K7XX and Vali 2 pairing.

 

Obviously we all have different opinions, so knowing the source of a recommendation is important.

If you look at @msommers ' tag, you can see he really likes a big headstage & warm sound whereas someone else might be a 'treblehead' or whatever. The best you can do is read around & find opinions that match your own.

Unfortunately, yes it's a lot of trial & error.

 

Quickly comparing my modded K702 to my HD6XX out of MCTH vs Magni 2U I didn't notice the K702 doing markedly worse in any particular aspect; but on longer listening out of MCTH there was extra low-level information coming from the HD6XX.

But that's more about the 'phones than the amp. More pertinent to your question: if your source is on the warmer side, MCTH + K7XX shouldn't offend you.

Edit: Holy shit, reading this again, what a dog's breakfast of a post. What I meant to convey by the first & second sentences was: on a quick listen, differences between my K702 & HD6XX out of each amp are broadly consistent; but out of MCTH, deeper listening reveals more low-level information (microdetail, microdynamics) from the HD6XX vs the K702 - reflecting I guess the consensus that when better fed, HD 6-- scales better than many other 'phones.

The third sentence is ok. Sorry for any confusion!

 

I was initially kinda disappointed with my LPS, but whether it's the caps breaking in or just my ears adjusting to the new sound, I was caught off guard several times today by how good everything sounded. If I had to compare based off of memory, it's now clearer and a little more solid in the mids with better low level detail and microdynamics. Not a little, not a lot, but enough to catch my attention during an otherwise inactive listening session.

 

Yeah, the 6XX sounds great, especially for anything mids, but the soundstage isn't there for me. It's also why the LCD's are fabulous, but just not for me.

K7XX is the only budget option I know of that does that airy element justice of sorts. I can confirm that the Aune B1 is a good match... but again, it's budget portable + budget open back. Hardly going to yield any TOTL performance.

Thanks for the impressions! No worries, completely understood. It's good to know actually, because I bit the bullet on the SDAC yesterday. Fingers crossed that it pairs well - I know the saber DAC's are definitely not too great with the AKG's.

 

I’m facing an issue with my MCTH and I wanted to check if someone here might have some troubleshooting tips.

My MCTH was purchased in April this year. I’m running it absolutely stock. After the 100 hour burn in I was primarily using it with the hd6xx and the hd800 running off the regular 1/4 jack.

My signal chain is usually Mac mini > Gungnir Multibit > se out > MCTH but I use the Allo Digi one as a source over coax as well.

The issue: the amp keeps going into protection. It switches back on and goes into protection again in a short while. Sometimes this occurs after an hour of usage sometime after minutes. Once it goes into standby the first time more often than not it continuously goes into standby in short intervals.

Troubleshooting I have done:

Have disconnected headphones and inputs. Volume pot at 0. Amp still goes into protection if left on for a while.

Disconnected headphones. Inputs connected. Volume pot 0. Amp goes into standby after a while. Sometimes goesinto standby when I hit play in roon other times not. Also goes into standby with nothing playing.

I have tried swapping DACs - same issue.
Tried the balanced out with balanced cables.

I have not tried another psu or lpsu because I don’t have one.
I don’t have spare tubes so I haven’t tube rolled.

I’ve been tinkering further tonight. I hooked up a chromecast audio into the MCTH and connected my beyers.
Amp went into protection as soon as I cast music to the cc audio. It went into protection again after five minutes of usage. It’s been runnin fine for the last 20 minutes or so.

Any ideas on what I should try? I’ve written to Massdrop support already.

 

Assuming everything is fine with the wiring in your home and you're using an appropriate tube, I'd suspect a faulty power supply.

 

Running the stock tube. I run all my gear through a power filter.

I might try and borrow someone's LPS and play around for a bit.

By way of an update I've been using the amp since I posted last and it has reset 4 times so far

 

If it's going into protection - even with no load and volume at zero - that means something is pulling more current than should be or is able to be supplied. If not the power supply as @Skyline suggests, maybe the tube is on its way out and is intermittently shorting/arcing. I'm no tube expert and am unsure if they do that; but there were reports earlier in the thread of the stock tubes crapping out after a while.

Depending on MD support's reply, it might be worth you replacing the tube (with another the same, EH 6922) as a cheap and quick test.

 

My MCTH would go into protection sometimes from being too loud. Like a loud bass or snare hit. It would always come back in a few seconds. I somehow remember it was slightly worse on LPS.

I noticed it would happen too sometimes if I had something playing and switched sources quickly on my passive switcher.

Disconnect from the power filter. Amps usually wok better just straight in the wall.

The protection turns on at the slightest DC offset. So also try another source and some different cables.

 

This is all good information. The only other thing I can think of is checking the tube itself. The amp seems to go into protection mode if it's knocked into. Shot in the dark, but the tube could be loose.

 

Thank you for your responses.

I've taken the tube out and reseated it a few times. Doesn't seem to be loose.

Thanks. I've tried it directly in the wall socket as well. Have used a starting point nos dac and a chrome cast audio as sources using different Ghent audio cables and Amazon basic cables. The issue seems to be agnostic to source and cables.

Massdrop support has been very prompt and have offered a full refund which I'm inclined to take given that shipping a replacement ampnwill incur additional customs duties. India's current account defecit has led to increased customs duties and vigilance by snoopy customs officers!

 

This whole thing is making me very wary of ever buying a massdrop amp.