Official THX Measurements of the Massdrop x THX AAA 789

[esm]

Looks like end of October:

We’re on track to meet our estimated ship date of October 31, and we'll check back in around the middle of October with the status of the shipment.

 

[amirm]

Thanks. I wonder if I should wait to get the Benchmark unit to compare both side by side or sooner.

 

[DuxServit]

Thanks. I wonder if I should wait to get the Benchmark unit to compare both side by side or sooner.

Yes please Amir.

Would be useful to see your usual annotated graphs.

 

[Grave]

Estimated ship date is Feb 15, 2019 PT.



Why bother even selling it?

 

[esm]

At that price, I ordered one; I figure by next year I'll have completely forgotten about it, and it'll be a nice surprise when an amp mysteriously shows up at my door.

 

[maxxevv]

I'm extremely tempted at that price but that February ETD is annoyingly long at best.
Fact that I just took delivery of my Matrix HPA-3B sort of makes it a bummer too ...

 

[amirm]

Estimated ship date is Feb 15, 2019 PT.



Why bother even selling it?

They may need the cash now.

 

[bakker_be]

They may need the cash now.

I think it's just another way of crowdfunding: if they manage to get enough commitment upfront they have no financial risk in starting a production run.
The thing that bothers me most about Massdrop as a European, and it's not entirely their fault, is the hefty import taxes one needs to calculate (33% on price shipping included, for Belgium where I live), making the deals a lot less attractive to not even attractive at all. For e.g. Topping products Audiophonics is quite close with their regular pricing to the drops + shipping + import taxes.
Some kind of European warehousing or EU Massdrop division could diminish that issue.

 

[Rod]

Just received this email from Massdrop:
Hi everyone, The Massdrop x THX AAA™ 789 Linear Amplifier is making its way through production! We also have some important updates to share about the gain specifications. We worked with THX to adjust the gains for the primary use case of the Audiophile community. Previously, the gains were optimized for variance in source output power. Most Audiophiles typically use 2V DAC sources and wish to drive in-ear monitors or hard-to-drive headphones. With these slight changes there were some updates to the gain specifications, which we have listed below: General: Frequency response: + 0.01 dB / - 0.03 dB 20 Hz–20 kHz; + 0.05 dB / - 0.15 dB 10 Hz–50 kHz Balanced Output: THD: -130 dB, 32 ohms, 1 mW: 0.000032% THD: -130 dB, 32 ohms, 100 mW: 0.000032% THD: -122 dB, 16 ohms, 1 mW: 0.000080% THD: -122 dB, 16 ohms, 100 mW: 0.000080% Gain: 0.66x , 2.0x, 6.6x (-4, +6, +16 dB), selectable via front switch Single-Ended Output: Output power: 1800 mW, 32 ohms, <1% THD (watts per channel) THD: -135 dB, 300 ohms, 100 mW: 0.000018% THD: -133dB, 32 ohms, 100 mW: 0.000022% THD: -130 dB, 16 ohms, 1 mW: 0.000032% THD: -125 dB, 16 ohms, 100 mW: 0.000056% Gain: 0.33x , 1.0x, 3.3x (-10, 0, +10 dB), selectable via front switch We’re on track to meet our estimated ship date of October 31, and we'll check back in around the middle of October with the status of the shipment.

 

[amirm]

Nice update and the numbers still look very good.

 

[amirm]

is the hefty import taxes one needs to calculate (33% on price shipping included, for Belgium where I live)

Wow, that is so high! Is that on electronics specifically?

 

[bakker_be]

Wow, that is so high! Is that on electronics specifically?

No, that's general, for everything costing more than 28$ or so. First they add 12% import tax to the total declared value and then they add 21% VAT to that total. If you're unlucky and the package was sent through DHL, you'll have to pay an additional flat fee of 36.5€ to pay for the privilege of DHL fronting the money for you ...

 

[amirm]

Amazing.

 

[Sythrix]

Going to try my hand at making my own balanced cables to wire this to my RME ADI-2 DAC and headphones.

Excited for it to finally be close to releasing. These drops take too long.

 

[Veri]

No, that's general, for everything costing more than 28$ or so. First they add 12% import tax to the total declared value and then they add 21% VAT to that total. If you're unlucky and the package was sent through DHL, you'll have to pay an additional flat fee of 36.5€ to pay for the privilege of DHL fronting the money for you ...

As a fellow Belgian I believe it's more like $16 "processing" and 21% on value PLUS shipping. Tax on shipping that's right. Belgium~~~~

 

[Rod]

As a fellow Belgian I believe it's more like $16 "processing" and 21% on value PLUS shipping. Tax on shipping that's right. Belgium~~~~

I would be OK with some "consumption taxes" seeing that the benefits in Belgium are much better than the US. Just not buying supplemental insurance after medicare would save me 5000 dollars a year. Glad I dont have kids in college either. A consumption tax(or vat) can be paid or not, your choice. But not buying insurance can be a death sentence or bankrupting in the US. Plus we still pay plenty of taxes in the US without the returns back to the public like Belgium has.
Edit: I should say that if a high vat went towards improving standards of living, which is highly suspect in the US. Lowering taxes on billionaires and more military spending would be the probable outcome.

 

[bakker_be]

As a fellow Belgian I believe it's more like $16 "processing" and 21% on value PLUS shipping. Tax on shipping that's right. Belgium~~~~

It could depend on the carrier for the fixed processing fee, I've had to pay 36.5€ to DHL twice last year for vastly different shipments, look here for actual tax calculation ...

 

[Veri]

It could depend on the carrier for the fixed processing fee, I've had to pay 36.5€ to DHL twice last year for vastly different shipments, look here for actual tax calculation ...

DHL has their own system which doesn't make a lot of sense

 

[bakker_be]

DHL has their own system which doesn't make a lot of sense

Tell me something new I deal with them on an almost daily basis in my job. Today saw the most absurd I've known them to get however: We had a shipment of laptops that left our warehouse last Wednesday, a road transport to Berlin. Due to some incomplete information we received from our customer it was put on hold, we supply the correct inf after verification, but on Friday it was put on hold again. This morning at 11:18 AM we suddenly get a mail stating that our shipment contained Lithium batteries (correct) and that since our account isn't cleared for dangerous goods (also correct) they couldn't allow our shipment (not correct, this only applies to air freight) AND THEY WOULD SHIP IT BACK TO US. I immediately call our account manager at DHL, he verifies and delivery had been done at 11:10 AM this morning, so 8 minutes before I received the mail

 

[Veri]

If you thought DHL was bad UPS is a bunch of clowns many times worse. I just don't understand how DHL calculated their import duties since they usually charge me 2-3 euros of tax and a bunch of "deferred risk" costs ending up around 20-30 euros not really taking the value even into much of consideration but I guess we're getting off-topic.

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