Preview: Monolith by Monoprice Desktop THX Headphone Amp & DAC

[Azeendeen]

Mine has firmware version 1.01. The menu navigation was a little odd at first, but I'm used to it now. One thing I noticed, the volume from the analog inputs is much lower than if you are using the built in DAC.

@SteveB69 how is the sound and overall unit as a DAC/AMP. I have looked on hifi and reddit. People say it's good but it's only the firmware and user interface that is not on the same level

 

[wadec22]

@amirm this is odd. my unit shows a firmware of 1.01 (no beta indication). I ordered the day it popped up as well. I've been playing with it since Saturday. I have this unit and a D50/THX 789 combo.

I don't know if I'm keeping or not but some notes from using it recently;

• display looks pretty nice but not as nice as the topping d50
• I do like the volume, input & sample rate indicators on the display - very handy
• the chassis is attractive and has some heft and the volume knob feels good
• the two buttons are cheap feeling and do make the menus difficult to navigate

I am not sure you are being totally fair in this review tbh. you got a beta unit, that is not acceptable, but they are not all beta units - as mine was not.

Also - why is a remote so mandatory? I paid a combined $600 for my Topping D50 & THX amp and I don't get a remote.

107db SINAD is not off the charts - but my D50 in only a 108 SINAD.... so for the price of the unit being a combo unit this does not seem like an offensive result. I also wonder if your 107 SINAD was at 16/44.

The USB input is slightly frustrating but not extremely difficult. Not using a driver, I had to shut off Windows sounds to get it to keep it from defaulting to a 16/44 sample rate. Once I used ASIO - no issues with USB at all.

Yes the reference to a manual is also pathetic, but the D50 manual came as a miniature pamphlet and is pretty much a joke. The THX one could be mistaken for a registration card it is so slim and amateur.

I'm not trying to defend the unit to an extreme, as I'm not even sure I'll be keeping mine, but I thought it was worth sharing my experience has largely been a good one, again, especially comparing it to my other desktop setup that I paid more money for.

 

[Juhazi]

Now I'm glad that I'm not this European! Will keep on saving for RME ADI-2...

 

[Veri]

@amirmI am not sure you are being totally fair in this review tbh. you got a beta unit, that is not acceptable, but they are not all beta units - as mine was not.

Considered this unit is one of ~100 that got in stock (half the stock is sold by now btw), I would find it a fair review (it's labeled 'preview' though!): what are these beta products doing in stock being shipped out?!

There is no public firmware update available, nor are there public drivers. This product release is a total flop and they should have waited (even) longer. If one of the first buyers had shipped theirs to amir and there was no beta firmware shenanigans, that wouldn't have been truly representative if the latter part of their stock doesn't work, right... here amir is, stuck with a non-functioning unit.

 

[Timbo2]

Not only could they not finish the firmware, there is also no USB driver available. Maybe this will come sooner or later but looking at its current quality I wouldn't even count on it.

Besides that, all analog input goes into an internal ADC to make the EQ and/or DIRAC work. That's probably where @amirm's out of phase problem came into play. I was not optimistic this was going into an ADC just to go into the DAC again but told myself, how can they screw this up? Seemed straight-forward enough but well, I guess they did screw it up. God damn I really wanted to love this device.

Guess I'll be waiting for @March Audio's amp. Between the THX AAA, the Neurochrome and it, March's seems like the lowest distortion one, hope amir's tests it once it hits production

Yes I asked on the website about a Win 7 driver - no response. My interest was the EQ - looks like I made the right choice and decided to spend the $99 on the Subjective3 and just add it to my O2 stack.

 

[wadec22]

Considered this unit is one of ~100 that got in stock (half the stock is sold by now btw), I would find it a fair review (it's labeled 'preview' though!): what are these beta products doing in stock being shipped out?!

There is no public firmware update available, nor are there public drivers. This product release is a total flop and they should have waited (even) longer. If one of the first buyers had shipped theirs to amir and there was no beta firmware shenanigans, that wouldn't have been truly representative if the latter part of their stock doesn't work, right... here amir is, stuck with a non-functioning unit.

I did miss the "preview" notation, so I think that is fair.

however I also think since he went through the trouble of measuring and briefly mentioning his measurements - it would be good to post them and give them the usual detail. was the SINAD at 16 or 24 bit? The usual graphs for power measurement would be nice.

I also don't think the comment about the remote is fair. I have not seen a unit in this price range that checks every box and provides a remote. Closest is the DX7s and for those of us with low impedance cans - it isn't an option.

Why is 107db SINAD so bad? We love the D50 at 108db and it doesn't have an amp.

I also don't think the manual is a big deal. I don't recall reading about how pathetic the Topping or THX manuals were before I bought them. The THX and both Topping products I have purchased have pathetic manuals and I do the same thing for all of them - go online for the pdf.

No question - the release should have been more polished with downloadable firmware and drivers though.

 

[Veri]

I did miss the "preview" notation, so I think that is fair.

however I also think since he went through the trouble of measuring and briefly mentioning his measurements - it would be good to post them and give them the usual detail. was the SINAD at 16 or 24 bit? The usual graphs for power measurement would be nice.

I also don't think the comment about the remote is fair. I have not seen a unit in this price range that checks every box and provides a remote. Closest is the DX7s and for those of us with low impedance cans - it isn't an option.

16-bit/24-bit, since I'm not sure we have a proper driver I've no clue what windows defaulted to, although 107dB SINAD seems way too high for a 16-bit result. The usual graphs for power measurement would be nice, but as he said the device stopped functioning in line-in mode which is necessary to complete the amplifier testing suite as far as I know.

Considering we have a device that stopped working, and the constantly fluctuating 0.5dB output difference bug, I can see why amir just called it quits. Maybe @amirm had the SINAD test saved at least? Maybe @AndrewMason comes to the rescue.

Let's see what happens.

 

[Azeendeen]

@wadec22 I think you are right . While I do understand Amir frustration. I also acknowledge that monolith should not have rushed the product.Only complain I see right now of the product itself is the user interface and firmware which I'm sure could be improved on in the future

 

[Sythrix]

I returned my M300s to Monoprice without much issue, so you shouldn't have any problems.

The only drawback was how slow they refunded me, but it eventually happened.

Obviously you received some kind of test unit and should return it.

 

[Jake's Dad]

Amir,

Sorry for your troubles, but my goodness that review was hilariously funny! That unit, and the attendant customer service ineptitude (they can't find your house?? again??), makes it a contender for POS of 2018. I will pause and think carefully before buying again from Monoprice. It all gave me a good laugh about the theatre of the absurd quality of your experience, which somehow reminded me of one of the all-time great absurd stereo moments: .Hitler Learns High-End Cables Don't Work

Happy Holidays to all!

 

[wadec22]

16-bit/24-bit, since I'm not sure we have a proper driver I've no clue what windows defaulted to, although 107dB SINAD seems way too high for a 16-bit result. The usual graphs for power measurement would be nice, but as he said the device stopped functioning in line-in mode which is necessary to complete the amplifier testing suite as far as I know.

Considering we have a device that stopped working, and the constantly fluctuating 0.5dB output difference bug, I can see why amir just called it quits. Maybe @amirm had the SINAD test saved at least? Maybe @AndrewMason comes to the rescue.

Let's see what happens.

agreed. this unit was a hot mess.

I just didn't care for jumping on it for things that we haven't bagged on other similar units for. The SINAD is on performance with the DX7, even in this state. That unit is in the same price bracket and while it probably has more power, you can't use it with low impedance cans.

The DAC/AMP combo units in the sub $500 category that include a display, good SINAD and headphone amp (with 1/4" or XLR jack) that can power low impedance cans are few and far between.

Anyway it will be interesting to see what Andrew says and if they can provide him with firmware (assuming he would even be willing to revisit it)

 

[RayDunzl]

We occasionally have a second or two of power outages here. Sometimes longer.

Here's the UPS for the PC:

Nothing here has died from it.

How does that fit into their warning?

 

[PuX]

Forgot to note this in the manual:

View attachment 18099

Say what??? Prolong its life? What happens to it if you don't follow that? Something wears out?

I have seen recommendations like this a few times. Not 30 seconds, just "don't turn on instantly after turning off". Not sure why but maybe some power supplies send too much/too little current when you turn it off/on quickly?

 

[amirm]

however I also think since he went through the trouble of measuring and briefly mentioning his measurements - it would be good to post them and give them the usual detail. was the SINAD at 16 or 24 bit? The usual graphs for power measurement would be nice.

As I noted in the review, I ran through the tests quickly and did not save any of them. My dashboard tests are always at 24 bits and if that gets truncated to 16, SINAD will drop to below 97 dB. So not the case here.

 

[amirm]

I have seen recommendations like this a few times. Not 30 seconds, just "don't turn on instantly after turning off". Not sure why but maybe some power supplies send too much/too little current when you turn it off/on quickly?

It is one thing to say this can damage the unit, it is another when it says it wears out. What wears out in a solid state unit?

It might be a mistranslation from Mandarin. Regardless, someone designing this had some concerns about power cycling and they should have fixed the issue rather than posting a vague warning in the manual.

 

[amirm]

That sucks bro. But in the future lets just say if you were to somehow get a perfectly working unit that was sent to you at the correct address and time with an updated firmware .Would you reconsider reviewing it ?

I would but like to have an explanation of what happened here. So far one issue seems to be resolved that others have received production firmware.

 

[amirm]

Mine has firmware version 1.01.

That's fascinating. The order for this unit was actually delayed and was shipped just a few days ago. How did they send pre-production unit then?

 

[amirm]

I'm not trying to defend the unit to an extreme, as I'm not even sure I'll be keeping mine, but I thought it was worth sharing my experience has largely been a good one, again, especially comparing it to my other desktop setup that I paid more money for.

I appreciate that. We should remember that if any of you had bought a $500 unit and it died a few minutes after unboxing, you would not be very charitable to it. My sense is that there are design issues here. You all have not run into it yet because you have not gotten it to go into protection mode. Ditto for phase reversal of one channel on one analog input.

On the remote, the Topping DX7 was $400 (even less on massdrop) and came with a remote. The DX7s doesn't come with one but the remote capability is there and pretty cheap to add (and I complained about this in my review of DX7s). The Topping DX3 Pro comes with a remote and it only costs $240 (less on sale). SMSL SU-8 comes with a remote and costs $250 (less on sale) but doesn't have an amp.

In general, my critique of a unit is my personal opinion of what a product should be. Even if no other competing product has a feature, but is one that is needed, I will complain about it. Navigating the UI is much faster for example in DX3 Pro using the remote than front panel. This is why I keep the remote close to DX3 Pro even though it is my desktop unit.

 

[amirm]

Why is 107db SINAD so bad? We love the D50 at 108db and it doesn't have an amp.

Because of expectations of THX technology in this unit. If it provides no advantage, then there are plenty of other choices.

The hope here was that this unit would distance itself from competition as the Massdrop THX 789 has. So far the portable unit has not and seems that the desktop unit will not either.

 

[amirm]

Just a bit on shipping issue here. Monoprice uses a smaller shipping company called GSL in california. I suspect they hire drivers to deliver way up here and are at the mercy of how good they are. The company itself once I called them, was quite responsive. They called me back multiple times trying to sort to things out. So while they are bad on following up on their online contact forms, they seem fine otherwise. They were supposed to talk to their driver to straighten things out.

Everyone else uses the post office, DHL, FedEx, and UPS and those people know us almost by first name . So there is not this kind of problem.