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Master "deals" (massdrop, ebay, Amazon, etc.) Thread on Audio Product Sales

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amirm

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https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33304

Finally Cavalli Monoprice Liquid Spark Headphone Amplifier is ready to ship.

Though this is not exactly a "deal," the $99 price tag makes it probably fall into the same category.

But no measurement whatsoever yet.
I was waiting for it and when I received the monoprice notice today, I ordered it. :)
 

RayDunzl

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I ordered it.

Who is Cavalli?


Ok, who was Cavalli?


Ok, who makes Monoprice stuff?


Ok... A little shady there...

Got the tool to open it up when you get it?

1538694912862.png
 
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amirm

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Who is Cavalli?
Some DIY dude that was designing amps a while back, built them commercially and then went out of business. And now people are licensing his name and maybe his design to build amps. That is all I know about him. :)
 

Sal1950

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Looking at a couple posted specs, if true this could be a nice little amp. The headphone market is out of hand even worse than the audiophool power amp market. The requirements to build a transparent headphone amp are well known and the component costs for a low powered amp as required should be minimal. $100 + power supply should be able to do the job perfectly. ;)

THD
1VRMS (20mW) - .007% THD at 1kHz both channels.
•5VRMS (530mW) - .035% THD at 1kHz both channels
•10VRMS (2.12W) - .065% THD at 1kHz both channels.

Output Impedance
Less than 0.1 ohms and most likely less than 0.05 ohms.
 

mi-fu

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From an early review, it seems that there is quite a bit coloration in the amp. I would bet it is not the type of amp of our likings.

But I did order one too. For 99 bucks, it is not bad for trying something different.
 

Sal1950

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From an early review, it seems that there is quite a bit coloration in the amp. I would bet it is not the type of amp of our likings.
But I did order one too. For 99 bucks, it is not bad for trying something different.
When Amir gets one, the numbers will tell the true story.
 

JJB70

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Looking at a couple posted specs, if true this could be a nice little amp. The headphone market is out of hand even worse than the audiophool power amp market. The requirements to build a transparent headphone amp are well known and the component costs for a low powered amp as required should be minimal. $100 + power supply should be able to do the job perfectly. ;)

THD
1VRMS (20mW) - .007% THD at 1kHz both channels.
•5VRMS (530mW) - .035% THD at 1kHz both channels
•10VRMS (2.12W) - .065% THD at 1kHz both channels.

Output Impedance
Less than 0.1 ohms and most likely less than 0.05 ohms.

I think the world of headphones has been trying to make up for all those lost years when it was a small island that opted out of high end madness. When I bought my Sennheiser HD580's in the mid 90's they were considered to be high end headphones and were basically as good as it got yet although they weren't exactly cheap they weren't expensive either and were perfectly affordable for most audio enthusiasts without making any great sacrifice. And at that time although there were headphone amps most people were quite happy to use headphone outputs on integrated amplifiers or CD players. I still use all my headphones with the headphone output of my CD player and in all honesty it drives them way louder than I'd listen to and is audibly transparent for listening purposes.
Even ten years ago, although high end headphones had appeared models like the Sennheiser HD650 were pretty much recognised as being as good as headphones got, yet these days the HD600 and HD650 almost seem to be looked down upon as being little better than entry level by many headphone enthusiasts. That said, the HD650 was an expensive headphone when it appeared (even if nothing like as expensive as what we now see in the headphone market) and it is pretty easy to buy them for less in actual pounds or dollars today than when they were new if my memory is right never mind factoring in inflation for all those years.
Nowadays even the $1000 is starting to be called "midfi" by some and we see ever more mega bucks models. And of course there is now a whole industry peddling amplifiers and DACs costing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$s, despite the fact that most people didn't know they "needed" to spend a lot on a headphone amplifier or DAC until they read a magazine article or visited an online forum.
I'll admit to being a hypocrite as I do own some rather pricey headphones and love them, but I bought my T5Ps as new "B" stock for less than 50% of SRP from the UK distributor (I think they just needed to clear excess stock without damaging future value with a fire sale as they were brand new sealed and even the box was immaculate), I recently bought a pair of Oppo PM-2s but they were already reduced by over £200 to clear final stock by a dealer plus I got one of those 10% off EBay coupon codes. I paid a lot less than SRP for my Sony MDR Z7s too. However, regardless I've spent a lot more than I needed to just because I like nice headphones but it does sadden me that what was once an island of sanity in the whole audiophoolery world of hifi is making up for lost time with a vengeance. Most people think I'm bonkers when I tell them I'm quite happy to use my headphones directly from my smartphone headphone output and that with FLAC files or even high quality MP3 files the output is transparent and does not need an external DAC.
 
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amirm

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Today only (Ray, this is it...a 55" OLED TV...last year model for your $1,000 budget).
- 55" B7 = $1,000
- 65" B7 = $1,800

https://kinjadeals.theinventory.com...d-tv-for-just-1-000-today-only-1829649292/amp

Today is a good day for OLED shopping, Life's Good (LG).
Just make sure your refurb doesn't have image retention, yet.

But other than that it's the 2nd best TV in almost the whole world (regardless of price), after the LG C8 I posted last week for only $2,009 (65" Class), another one-day amazing sale. Today it's $3,000 for the C8 (the B7 is basically equivalent, also very highly rated by all the top TV scientific experts).
Bob let's keep this thread focused on audio as the title says. :)
 

mi-fu

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Ooh, I was looking to pick up one of those a while back, and that's an excellent deal on it. Thanks!

Hi,

I just got the M-Patch today. But I found there is audible distortion and one of the XLR output sockets is bent. I'm going to return it.

Be sure to check yours if you also bought one!
 

Headphonaholic

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I was waiting for it and when I received the monoprice notice today, I ordered it. :)

That was exactly what I did as well! Hopefully it's good. I'm also curious about the other amps Monoprice has in the works. They also released this recently, I didn't order it though. They generally don't put their more popular items on sale but they can kinda be a bargain if they are good products. The M1060 would have been one such product but the ringing ruined them for me.
 
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amirm

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That was exactly what I did as well! Hopefully it's good. I'm also curious about the other amps Monoprice has in the works. They also released this recently, I didn't order it though. They generally don't put their more popular items on sale but they can kinda be a bargain if they are good products. The M1060 would have been one such product but the ringing ruined them for me.
It has monster amount of power at 300 ohm which is good. Alas, this is not:

1539300827380.png
 
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