I received the Monoprice Liquid Spark yesterday. Usually I don't buy anything without measurement or proven quality. However, it seems that Cavilli is a well respected name in the subjective audio world. And for $99 bucks, I think it is okay to take a little bit of risk. As I have no measuring equipment, nor do I have the knowledge of it, I can only talk about my impression:
- The build quality is decent. It feels solid and the look is not bad. It doesn't look like a cheap Made-in-China product. The volume knob is also smooth.
- With my headphones, I don't find any audible channel imbalance, unless at the extremely near silent level. I don't have IEMs with me here to test though.
- I run it with Sony MDR-V6 and Sennheiser HD 6XX. Both produce good results (subjectively). It has more than enough power for HD 6XX. I only turned the volume knob to around 10-11 o'clock level for HD 6XX, and around 9 o'clock level for MDR-V6 - both at low gain (3x) mode. (Note: I don't listen to music at loud level.)
- When I compared it with RME ADI-2 DAC (using the same DAC, but switching between the Monoprice Amp and ADI-2 headphone out), it seems to me that the Monoprice has quite some coloration (or distortion) to the music. It sounds good though, nothing irritating. I guess whether it is euphoric or not is a matter of personal taste. I still prefer the sound of ADI-2, nonetheless.
- It also seems to me that some clarity is lost while using the Monoprice amp. And maybe a bit more noise too? It doesn't sound "as clean" with ADI-2. I think we may need to wait for Amir's measurement to verify this.
- I like pairing it with Topping D50, as there is no headphone amp of the DAC. Both of them share similar dimension. It also sounds well to my ears.
- One negative though: It doesn't sound good when paired with my Philips SHP-9500. Seems a bit noisy? I don't know. Maybe some measurement data will shed light on it.
Hope it helps!
- The build quality is decent. It feels solid and the look is not bad. It doesn't look like a cheap Made-in-China product. The volume knob is also smooth.
- With my headphones, I don't find any audible channel imbalance, unless at the extremely near silent level. I don't have IEMs with me here to test though.
- I run it with Sony MDR-V6 and Sennheiser HD 6XX. Both produce good results (subjectively). It has more than enough power for HD 6XX. I only turned the volume knob to around 10-11 o'clock level for HD 6XX, and around 9 o'clock level for MDR-V6 - both at low gain (3x) mode. (Note: I don't listen to music at loud level.)
- When I compared it with RME ADI-2 DAC (using the same DAC, but switching between the Monoprice Amp and ADI-2 headphone out), it seems to me that the Monoprice has quite some coloration (or distortion) to the music. It sounds good though, nothing irritating. I guess whether it is euphoric or not is a matter of personal taste. I still prefer the sound of ADI-2, nonetheless.
- It also seems to me that some clarity is lost while using the Monoprice amp. And maybe a bit more noise too? It doesn't sound "as clean" with ADI-2. I think we may need to wait for Amir's measurement to verify this.
- I like pairing it with Topping D50, as there is no headphone amp of the DAC. Both of them share similar dimension. It also sounds well to my ears.
- One negative though: It doesn't sound good when paired with my Philips SHP-9500. Seems a bit noisy? I don't know. Maybe some measurement data will shed light on it.
Hope it helps!