Monoprice Monolith THX 887 Balance Headphone Amp: New Champ?

[Ceburaska]

" it is my absolute pleasure to recommend the Monolith THX AAA Balanced headphone amplifier. It delighted me to see a company dedicated to absolute excellence and full transparency to our sources and content. This is a type of product you buy once and you are done. "

My THX AAA 789 is set to arrive on Thursday and now I'm contemplating slitting my wrists.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Especially when the differences are likely inaudible.

 

[amirm]

The recent good things are a bit too much, I am a little stunned.O_O

You and me both. DACs and amps at 120+ dB SINAD. We live in golden era of audio when it comes to DACs and headphone amps. And to some extent, power amplifiers.

 

[pwjazz]

Indeed. I am tired of recommending the Massdrop THX and then be told people can't get them. Maybe competition will also force them to increase volume.

Excellent results! Looking at those charts, I still feel good about my Atom. For single ended it's all the amp I'll ever need, it costs 1/4 of this and availability is no issue.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Oh no. You have an exceptional product. Don't get buyer's remorse that way. The monolith is for people who have not yet managed to get a Massdrop one.

Yeah, that whole 2 dbs have left me crestfallen. NOT!

 

[amirm]

Yeah, that whole 2 dbs have left me crestfallen. NOT!

You should have given us a sign that you were being sarcastic.

 

[August]

Is there a possibility: he put the 789 pcb into the new box of Monoprice

 

[nemesisrobot]

Incredible! Nice job Monoprice!

The way I see it, there's no reason anyone should get the Massdrop over this, especially if Monoprice can keep to the 10/27 release date (I recall the 788 being delayed), as I believe any orders placed now for the Massdrop 789 unit won't ship until November.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Is there a possibility: he put the 789 pcb into the new box of Monoprice

Shouldn't be the opposite?!

 

[August]

Shouldn't be the opposite?!

Because their button position and rear panel interface position are exactly the same, it is suspected to be a measurement error or a small version modification. They are very similar anyway.

 

[AnalogDE]

" it is my absolute pleasure to recommend the Monolith THX AAA Balanced headphone amplifier. It delighted me to see a company dedicated to absolute excellence and full transparency to our sources and content. This is a type of product you buy once and you are done. "

My THX AAA 789 is set to arrive on Thursday and now I'm contemplating slitting my wrists.

Chill man, it’s just a headphone amp

 

[deafenears]

@amirm any chance of measuring the dimensions of this thing? Nothing on the Monoprice website.

 

[August]

@amirm any chance of measuring the dimensions of this thing? Nothing on the Monoprice website.

I think he is similar in size to 789.

 

[soundwave76]

This looks to be an awesome product, however... now that I have found Stax head... err 'earspeakers', all normal headphones don't really interest me at all anymore. I do wish that ASR or somebody would measure electrostat amps as well.

 

[Schackmannen]

Was the channel imbalance test done in high gain? Because pretty much only 40 dB of usable reduction seems pretty bad, not to mention the imbalance early on. @amirm Do you know what the different gain settings are, is it like the THX 789 (-10, 0, 10) dB in single ended mode? Also could you please measure the residual noise level like in the HPA 4 test?

 

[amirm]

Was the channel imbalance test done in high gain? Because pretty much only 40 dB of usable reduction seems pretty bad, not to mention the imbalance early on. @amirm Do you know what the different gain settings are, is it like the THX 789 (-10, 0, 10) dB in single ended mode? Also could you please measure the residual noise level like in the HPA 4 test?

Going to sleep. Will do tomorrow....

 

[deafenears]

Monoprice usually has once or twice a year sales so could probably get this lower than the Massdrop/Drop THX 789.

 

[Noob]

Going to sleep. Will do tomorrow....

Sleep well. We really appreciate the work you put in to let the people know what is really happening in the audio market.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

You and me both. DACs and amps at 120+ dB SINAD. We live in golden era of audio when it comes to DACs and headphone amps. And to some extent, power amplifiers.

Aside from Benchmark, don't know of any closing in on the 120 SINAD class yet. And we need one for l.t. $1000 USD before we can talk about a golden age on that one.

You should have given us a sign that you were being sarcastic.

;D

 

[nemesisrobot]

I wonder if Monoprice will release a balanced DAC to complement 887...

 

[Veri]

Wow so slightly less noisy than even the Massdrop THX amp. My only concern was that you tested the previous THX amps at 5.8V output at high gain rather than 4V output on medium gain on this THX 887 amp (For historical reason, I am running high power headphone amps at 5.8 volts output using XLR input at 4 volts).

Is it a fair comparison this way?