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Monoprice Monolith THX 887 Balance Headphone Amp: New Champ?

Celty

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What does that mean. Reviewers keep saying that sound is richer when coming from a high power amp. is 887 considered high power or is it in the league of something like atom/heresy/magni with added bonus of lower distortion albeit already inaudible floor, better snr. I distinctly remember older hardware distorting going nowhere near 100%, but these things perform at 100% as well as normal listening volumes. But whats the point of distortion free even at 100%. Must be perks of modern electronics.
At 300 ohms you have 250mW for the Atom, 410mW for the Heresy, and 700mW for the 887. The Heresy is an excellent little amp, but yes the 887 does best it in measurements. Then of course there is the matter of features. The 887 wins in having XLR input and output, as well as a 3.5mm output.
There is also the 3 gain levels on the 887.

Do the differences make up for the price difference? Depends on your needs and priorities :)
 

saadi703

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Hi, Does anyone know how much power my 887 can provide for 60ohm headphones? If the headphone only has 83db sensitivity. Does this amp has enough oomph to power this headphone properly?
 

saadi703

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Hi, Does anyone know how much power my 887 can provide for 60ohm headphones? If the headphone only has 83db sensitivity. Does this amp has enough oomph to power this headphone properly?

Can anyone please reply this? In other words, can this amp drive Hifiman Susvara to it's potential? Some help will be highly appreciated in this regard.
 

Veri

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Can anyone please reply this? In other words, can this amp drive Hifiman Susvara to it's potential? Some help will be highly appreciated in this regard.
In high gain, it should. However, you could wait for the release of Topping A90 which has a higher peak output of 6.5W balanced. Most very powerful head-amps max out at 3-3.5Watt. The Topping A90 should safely drive any headphone out there, while being a superb pre-amp too. I will buy one.
 

saadi703

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In high gain, it should. However, you could wait for the release of Topping A90 which has a higher peak output of 6.5W balanced. Most very powerful head-amps max out at 3-3.5Watt. The Topping A90 should safely drive any headphone out there, while being a superb pre-amp too. I will buy one.
Thanks so much for reply. I actually already own the 887 and thinking about buying Susvara. Wow A90 seems very impressive, this 6.5w of power is at how many ohms? Is it at 60ohms? 887 also seems very powerful as it has 8.8w at 16ohms but it drops rapidly and at 60ohms may be 3-3.5watts as you mentioned above. I wonder how much power A90 would have at 60ohms. If A90 has more power at 60ohms then I would definitely buy one or probably Cayin iHA-6 since it has high current mode as well and planners love high current. Not sure whether it would be better than A90 though.
 

Mocs123

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I think the SMSL SP200 THX Headphone Amp can also output 6.5W so it should be able to drive just about any hard to drive headphone out there and it's only $289.
 

frogmeat69

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Can anyone please reply this? In other words, can this amp drive Hifiman Susvara to it's potential? Some help will be highly appreciated in this regard.
It powers my HE6se with no problems with it's XLR cable, the SMSL SP200 does also, so the Susvara should be ok, too.
 

Veri

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I think the SMSL SP200 THX Headphone Amp can also output 6.5W so it should be able to drive just about any hard to drive headphone out there and it's only $289.
Right. super powerful but less gain modes. good value for sure
 

frogmeat69

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By the way where are you on the volume on 887 at high again on normal listening levels?
Everyone's "normal" listening level is different, but on high gain I have it at around 12 or 1 o'clock on the knob, depending on what I'm playing.
That is when being fed a signal through the balanced inputs from my RME ADI-2 DAC and using the stock balanced headphone cable.
Still trying to figure out if I like these HE6se headphones, need massive power, and still seem a bit light on the bass side of things, not enough oomph, if you get what I mean.
 

saadi703

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Everyone's "normal" listening level is different, but on high gain I have it at around 12 or 1 o'clock on the knob, depending on what I'm playing.
That is when being fed a signal through the balanced inputs from my RME ADI-2 DAC and using the stock balanced headphone cable.
Still trying to figure out if I like these HE6se headphones, need massive power, and still seem a bit light on the bass side of things, not enough oomph, if you get what I mean.
By normal listening levels I meant 80-85db. Why do you think that it is light on the bass? Still not enough power supplied to the headphone or it is just the way it sounds? Apparently, people like the bass it produce but some people are driving it through speaker amps. Not sure whether it needs that much power or they are pushing the headphones beyond what it is designed for.
 

frogmeat69

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If I turn it up past 1 o'clock on the volume knob it gets to be painfully loud for me, and it produces the bass, just doesn't have much impact, say to like the LCD-2f. Guess I like my bass a little on the heavy side??
I might have to hook up the iCan Pro again, seemed to have better bass with that amp, which also made these headphones scary loud, just to make sure it's not subjectively all in my head.(Though it still would be subjective)
Maybe the distortion Amir found in the measurements of the iFi could make for a "warmer" tone or more bass??? I dunno.
All I know is on high gain the THX amps can make the HE6se pretty frigging loud, lol.
And if these cans are only gonna be good with me having to get another separate amp just for them, they're not worth the bother.
 
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saadi703

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If I turn it up past 1 o'clock on the volume knob it gets to be painfully loud for me, and it produces the bass, just doesn't have much impact, say to like the LCD-2f. Guess I like my bass a little on the heavy side??
I might have to hook up the iCan Pro again, seemed to have better bass with that amp, which also made these headphones scary loud, just to make sure it's not subjectively all in my head.(Though it still would be subjective)
Maybe the distortion Amir found in the measurements of the iFi could make for a "warmer" tone or more bass??? I dunno.
All I know is on high gain the THX amps can make the HE6se pretty frigging loud, lol.
And if these cans are only gonna be good with me having to get another separate amp just for them, they're not worth the bother.
Thanks so much for the detail reply. Much appreciated. Yes, iCan Pro is even more powerful and I have heard that planers like more current so possibility is that it might supply more current? Not sure, I am pretty noob at this kind of stuff and I am also looking for answers.
 

Ntrax

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These are excellent.
IMG_20200421_223231__01__01__01.jpg
 

Ntrax

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Cannot compare SE with BAL. IMO. And it may not be 887 as Casidy Audio not with DROP I think.
 

Celty

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Appears to be a stripped down, single ended, lower powered entry level THX.
 

jae

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Honestly I don't know why they didn't do an AMP/DAC combo with one of the better THX offerings, that is what everyone wants
 

Veri

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It basically looks like a JDS Atom clone, in THX AAA housing, pre-amp and all.
The fact that it'll be cheaper might make it work for drop..
 
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