Sythrix
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- Joined
- Mar 8, 2018
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Thank you Amir for reviewing this and thank you to the person (@Sythrix?) that drop shipped it to Amir!
No problem. I'm glad it was well worth it to ship it direct. Looks like we've got a real game changer.
We know that THX was very very much involved in the total technical design of the Massdrop amp. That is the critical success factor here, I think.
I wonder if the Monoprice amp has the same kind of involvement from THX? I read somewhere that Andrew Mason of THX wrote that Monoprice choosed the DAC-chip themselves. That maybe indicates a little less THX-involvement overall.
But isn't that same Andrew answering questions on the monoprice Question/answer product page of the amp?
Andrew works for THX yes and is answering questions. He has already answered one of mine that I asked a long time ago, trying to clear things up on conflicting information. It seems to me that THX has at least a heavy hand in this, so I would be optimistic about the Monoprice unit. Here's the chain of questions:
"OK, so the 788 isn't a true balanced amplifier... but you're putting two in. AND you're putting in two AKM 4493 DACs.
Are you putting two of these in to make it a balanced output? What is the reasoning behind using two of each of these units if the unit won't be balanced? Furthermore, why put a 4-pin XLR connector on the unit if it won't be balanced? You have a lot of clarifying to do Monoprice and I suggest you get someone who actually knows what they're talking about to answer all these questions, because they are not being answered with any clarity."
"BEST ANSWER: Incorrect. This Monoprice unit is truly balanced in & out. It contains dual THXAAA-788 stereo amplifier modules configured to create a fully balanced bridged stereo output. It also supports TRS unbalanced output.
The XLR-4 is present to permit balanced headphone connection."
Andrew M on Aug 23, 2018
"Incorrect? What information do you have? Do you work for Monoprice? Because the only thing I've seen is a staff response that told someone that it was not a truly balanced output (that response seems to be gone now), which prompted this question."
Also, during questioning over at Massdrop for the THX 789, on of the THX team stated that this DAC/AMP would not be truly balanced.
You on Aug 23, 2018
"I work for THX and have seen the schematic
The Monoprice desktop XLR-4 output IS truly balanced. There was an early miscommunication about how many 788 amplifiers were going to be included in the design. i.e. having balanced output requires more amplifiers than just single-ended output."
Andrew M on Oct 17, 2018
Support Staff also answered the question:
"The gentleman that answered is the AAA tech engineer from THX. Obviously, we stand by his answer as we worked extensively with THX in bringing this product to fruition. "
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