Official THX Measurements of the Massdrop x THX AAA 789

[Sythrix]

I am very interesting in this THX amp but it ships way too slow, especially once monoprice stucks up on their own THX amp which will be a great competitor I'm sure. Wonder which of both will be better

Kind of an apples and oranges situation honestly. The Monoprice THX 788 Monolith will have built-in dual AK4493 DACs along with dual THX 788 amp modules. It will not feature dedicated balanced line outs and will be more of an all-in-one, stand alone solution. It's peak power output is less than the 789 as well, although still more than enough for most people.

The 789, as a balanced amp, is for those who already have a quality DAC source and want to use it to feed some of the (supposedly) best amplifier hardware ever made.

I'm interested in both, for different applications.

 

[jsmiller58]

Kind of an apples and oranges situation honestly. The Monoprice THX 788 Monolith will have built-in dual AK4493 DACs along with dual THX 788 amp modules. It will not feature dedicated balanced line outs and will be more of an all-in-one, stand alone solution. It's peak power output is less than the 789 as well, although still more than enough for most people.

The 789, as a balanced amp, is for those who already have a quality DAC source and want to use it to feed some of the (supposedly) best amplifier hardware ever made.

I'm interested in both, for different applications.

I joined the 789 drop... and also measuring out desk space for the 788 when it is available...

 

[Sythrix]

I joined the 789 drop... and also measuring out desk space for the 788 when it is available...

I know, they're pretty hard to resist, right? I want to stop myself from just ordering the 788 as soon as it's released, but I'm worried they'll sell out quickly and not be back in stock for months, given how many delays they've already had on the unit. It's been moved back at least 2 or 3 times already.

Also, I forgot to mention that we confirmed recently with Monoprice through a THX engineer that their 788 is going to be fully balanced. There was conflicting information from the staff on Monoprice (now deleted) and a post on Massdrop from another engineer which brought confusion. However, the THX engineer who posted on Monoprice explained why it would be (which made sense given the hardware that went into it, but yeah, there was some severe miscommunication).

Given how many times it was delayed, it becoming balanced may have been part of a product redesign for all we know.

 

[jsmiller58]

I know, they're pretty hard to resist, right? I want to stop myself from just ordering the 788 as soon as it's released, but I'm worried they'll sell out quickly and not be back in stock for months, given how many delays they've already had on the unit. It's been moved back at least 2 or 3 times already.

Also, I forgot to mention that we confirmed recently with Monoprice through a THX engineer that their 788 is going to be fully balanced. There was conflicting information from the staff on Monoprice (now deleted) and a post on Massdrop from another engineer which brought confusion. However, the THX engineer who posted on Monoprice explained why it would be (which made sense given the hardware that went into it, but yeah, there was some severe miscommunication).

Given how many times it was delayed, it becoming balanced may have been part of a product redesign for all we know.

Awesome! Great to hear the 788 is shaping up to be a pretty awesome device, just makes me that much more excited to get it.

Completely understand your worry about availability... I would love to have some units in the wild and reviews before buying the 788, but, considering I have purchased the 789 on just those terms, well, who am I kidding, I am buying on day one...!

 

[Veri]

I know, they're pretty hard to resist, right? I want to stop myself from just ordering the 788 as soon as it's released, but I'm worried they'll sell out quickly and not be back in stock for months, given how many delays they've already had on the unit. It's been moved back at least 2 or 3 times already.

Also, I forgot to mention that we confirmed recently with Monoprice through a THX engineer that their 788 is going to be fully balanced. There was conflicting information from the staff on Monoprice (now deleted) and a post on Massdrop from another engineer which brought confusion. However, the THX engineer who posted on Monoprice explained why it would be (which made sense given the hardware that went into it, but yeah, there was some severe miscommunication).

Given how many times it was delayed, it becoming balanced may have been part of a product redesign for all we know.

Has anyone got any plans to have the 788 measured by amir (once it is finally in stock, releases 11/2 it says at the moment) ?

I know someone had a massdrop 789 ordered to be measured by amir but not sure about the monoprice one. It has dual dac and dual thx chips, seems like the better deal as an all-in-one...

 

[helloworld]

Has anyone got any plans to have the 788 measured by amir (once it is finally in stock, releases 11/2 it says at the moment) ?

I know someone had a massdrop 789 ordered to be measured by amir but not sure about the monoprice one. It has dual dac and dual thx chips, seems like the better deal as an all-in-one...

Would be interesting to see if the monoprice 788 will be outperform rme adi 2 dac since it has ak4493 which is better than ak4490 and the 788 technology for the headphone amplifier.

 

[Veri]

4490 vs 4493 is minimal difference though, RME just spent a shitload of resources on optimising their implementation which I'm not sure monoprice is capable of matching. Schiit did all right on their modi 3 (4490) design though! Also the newest topping DX3 Pro will feature the 4493 from AKM.

All very interesting ^^

 

[March Audio]

What do you think of these preliminary measurements? No its not the 789


Here is the dashboard with 100 k load:

The distortion products are barely visible which is excellent. With 300 ohm, the performance stays the same:

Power is modest though at 191 milliwatt @ 33 ohm:

Output impedance is a very low 0.8 ohm.

 

[Veri]

Not seeing anything after your ':' @BE718

 

[March Audio]

Not seeing anything after your ':' @BE718

weird I can see the plots. Can you see these?

 

[TungstenC]

Can you see these?

Your second post show up fine, but I don't see any plots on the first one just blanks.

 

[Veri]

Wow @BE718 what the hell are those specs

 

[March Audio]

Wow @BE718 what the hell are those specs

My new headphone amp to be released soon Amir has performed some tests on the prototype.

 

[Thomas savage]

What do you think of these preliminary measurements? No its not the 789


Here is the dashboard with 100 k load:

The distortion products are barely visible which is excellent. With 300 ohm, the performance stays the same:

Power is modest though at 191 milliwatt @ 33 ohm:

Output impedance is a very low 0.8 ohm.

I just see empty small white boxes where I’m guessing graphs should be .. the following post is fine.

 

[Deleted member 65]

My new headphone amp to be released soon Amir has performed some tests on the prototype.

So, just purchased this from Massdrop, as I don't have a headphone amp when can I buy yours?

Edit: PS Still need to do my measurements of the AMT DS.

 

[Veri]

My new headphone amp to be released soon Amir has performed some tests on the prototype.

I think i need this in my life.

 

[bakker_be]

I think i need this in my life.

I think that makes two of us. Now how can we fool Belgian customs???

 

[Sythrix]

My new headphone amp to be released soon Amir has performed some tests on the prototype.

Looking good! Is this just the amp we're seeing? You have a DAC too, don't you?

 

[Veri]

I think that makes two of us. Now how can we fool Belgian customs???

((PM me if you're serious lol I haven't paid customs in years))

But yes is there any DAC design to accompany the amp one?

 

[March Audio]

So, just purchased this from Massdrop, as I don't have a headphone amp when can I buy yours?

Edit: PS Still need to do my measurements of the AMT DS.

OK, situation is that the DAC will be the first product to market. The milled enclosure is being manufactured in China at the moment, but of course they are having one of their week long holidays at the moment so that is not going to ship until at least Monday. My experience of shipping from China is it is ssssslllooooooowwwww.This batch is a small number to check fit and finish. Assuming that this is OK (fingers crossed) then I can start selling the dacs pretty much straight away. However I am visiting back to the UK as of next week for 3 weeks so it will be a month away for DACs.

Again if the DAC enclosures are OK I can push the button on the headphone enclosures. I am still waiting for a new PCB revision. So headphone amp is going to be 2 months being realistic about it.

Hypex based power amps can also go into production as soon as their enclosures are made, so about 1 to 2 months.

Enclosures will all be based on these renderings of the DAC. Solid milled aluminium with anodized black or silver. They are 150 x 120 x 40 mm. Power amps will just be deeper, about 280mm.