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Preview: Monolith by Monoprice Desktop THX Headphone Amp & DAC

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amirm

amirm

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OK, then I will re-test it but if it doesn't perform better, you two owe me a cup of coffee. :) Please start a conversation with me whichever one of you wants to loan me the gear and can be without it for a few weeks.
 

cairns

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Thank you. hifiman offered to loan his unit 5 posts back :) not sure how it will perform but it would be an actual production unit + firmware (not a "re-test"), so we can take the results seriously. thanks again.
 

yakman

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Thanks for sharing the preview and frustration...
Just realized Monoprice actually provided their results on the page
https://downloads.monoprice.com/files/specsheets/24459_Specifications_181029.zip

Looking forward to your new measurement results.
I listen to mainly classical recording, the virtualization processing is what I needed.

Thinking getting either this or iDSD BL (for the DAC w 3D and as a portable) + Massdrop THX amp (also heard a few cases of DOA or dead after a few weeks..)
 
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amirm

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I looked at their graphs. Some of the numbers look really good but there are no associated documentation on what settings were used so hard to know how they compare with my data. I am crossing my fingers that the issues have been resolved and performance is excellent.
 

yakman

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I just received my unit. Luckily firmware v1.01 and I really like it so far.
Before this I was using ifi iCan micro (amp section on par if not better than the iDSD micro BL tested here ), apparently it cannot handle the HD800 when listening to large scale symphony. HD800 sounds slightly better (sound stage mostly) than HD600 on this setup.

With this Monolith amp, HD800 completely outclassed the HD600 in everyway, which it should.
All the recordings sound new to me again (last time that happened was when I first got the HD600)
 
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yakman

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Hi, @amirm , if you were to re-measure this again. Could you help plot a frequency response of the DIRAC on in this unit. I notice some cut in bass when enable the DIRAC function, which is quite a surprise in a bad way...
Thank you
 

Veri

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Hi, @amirm , if you were to re-measure this again. Could you help plot a frequency response of the DIRAC on in this unit. I notice some cut in bass when enable the DIRAC function, which is quite a surprise in a bad way...
Thank you
The DIRAC is definitely hit-or-miss. I don't think this is a very heavily research/tested functionality honestly. Just a gimmicky feature slapped on it.
 

yakman

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The DIRAC is definitely hit-or-miss. I don't think this is a very heavily research/tested functionality honestly. Just a gimmicky feature slapped on it.
Yes. I notice even the bass cut is quite track dependent. Maybe it is to do with the phase in the channels
 
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yakman

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Hi @amirm , you may want to on hold this measurement for a while.
I contacted Dirac on the "missing bass". They acknowledged the issue and suggest it could be the input RCA phase thing you mentioned.

I double checked USB input Dirac seems to be working fine. Now I wonder whether they wired the input wrongly or its the ADC/DSP...
 
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Veri

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So basically, monoprice 'don goofed? What actually works with their THX implementations honestly?
They were not willing to license an XMOS driver either, UAC2 windows/mac default only. No ASIO.

I really wish they put in more effort in their own products...
 

WLVCA

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Amir, wondering if you have any further comments at the moment for the Monoprice Monolith THX Desktop Amp and Dac?

The reason I am asking is that Monoprice has a 20% off coupon today, code SURPRISE1, and was I considering buying one.

Thanks.
 

antdroid

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So basically, monoprice 'don goofed? What actually works with their THX implementations honestly?
They were not willing to license an XMOS driver either, UAC2 windows/mac default only. No ASIO.

I really wish they put in more effort in their own products...

They released xmos drivers.
 

Veri

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They released xmos drivers.
Would you look at that! :)
Of course the driver number is rather outdated by now, probably it's the version they worked with during development (holo audio's is at v.4.55, singxer is at v.4.59). Not a super big issue as in, it's good they at least listened to the community's need for driver...
 
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antdroid

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Guess I should have read more closely. I'll pass on this item.

I have had very good experiences with this device personally. I posted a review on the monoprice site and gave it 4 stars though if I could give it 4.5 I would. One of the Reddit /r/headphones moderators just reviewed this unit last week and also gave it high praises too
 

mi-fu

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If it works well, it is a nice $96 discount with the coupon today.
 

WLVCA

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I have had very good experiences with this device personally. I posted a review on the monoprice site and gave it 4 stars though if I could give it 4.5 I would. One of the Reddit /r/headphones moderators just reviewed this unit last week and also gave it high praises too

Thanks for the Reddit tip. I missed the Son-of-Lux review previously. Was your review on Monoprice dated February 11? That was the last review shown on Monoprice.

I originally intended to buy the Massdrop THX amp but missed the last drop. I thought the amp section of this device would approximate the Massdrop THX 789 and also had the AKM 4493 dac chip. I have two dacs with the ESS 9038 (D50 and SU-8) and wanted to try another flavor.

With the 20% off deal today it wasn't much more than the Massdrop 789 amp.
 
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