Review and Measurements of Massdrop THX AAA 789 Amp

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks. Do you know any similar sounding amplifiers with very low impedance output?

v200 has very low output impedance.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks. Do you know any similar sounding amplifiers with very low impedance output?

Oh you mean, you don't have the access to it. my bad

 

[JohnYang1997]

Thanks. Do you know any similar sounding amplifiers with very low impedance output?

I don't know if you have access to it either which is yulong daart canary. I think you can buy on ebay. And it's a dac/amp combo even. It's a warmer sounding one. But distortion is low. More suitable to mid impedance headphones like planars or k701.

 

[JohnYang1997]

 

[ReAlien]

How is your impression? Satisfied with the purchase?

Yes, satisfied very much. It lacks THX's clarity and detail yet has a more pleasant, analog-like sound with high impact bass.

 

[Rojaran]

I don't know if you have access to it either which is yulong daart canary. I think you can buy on ebay. And it's a dac/amp combo even. It's a warmer sounding one. But distortion is low. More suitable to mid impedance headphones like planars or k701.

I am looking for an amplifier matching 12 ohm headphones

 

[amirm]

Atom is a great amplifier, but I do not like clinical sound. I read somewhere that Atom sounds like that. Hence the direction of V200

I have listened to countless headphone amps in my reviews. I have not found one that is clinical, or one that is not. The main and only audible difference is that some amps run out of power and distort. That distortion in small amounts makes the music bright. The benefit of JDS Labs Atom and Massdrop THX 789 is that they have plenty of power and don't distort. To that end, what you hear is what the recording is producing, sans what your headphone is doing to it.

So please don't go by these myths that audiophiles have created to justify improper evaluation of these devices.

 

[JohnYang1997]

The main and only audible difference is that some amps run out of power and distort.

But in real world, do we ever use more than 10mw. 1mw is often too much for many earphones. Dynamic range is limited by digital domain. 0db is the maximum output.
So i would say, also from my experience, amps do have sound even when they measure pretty good. Small amount of noise, or distortion will end up in the reproduction. It may not be prominent in ab comparison because when we do ab test we tend to mask the difference if it's small enough. (we also magnify the difference when it's big enough)
One thing i noticed is that many audiophiles love noise. They love noisy equipments. Not that they are too noisy that can be heard no matter what but noisy that it will change the way it sounds. Warmth, looseness, softness, graininess are mostly caused by noise. And at high level measurements it's often overlooked. At normal listening volume noise is usually way higher than any distortion..
Best measuring amp will sound glossy, smooth and tight. But some people won't like it.
Last part is, good headphones will sound good no matter what. Some headphones need distortion and noise to mask the faults to make it sound listenable that's the other part of the spectrum.

one last question, do you not hear any difference between amps? or you think there is difference but it's caused by power strain. Or it's too small that can be omited.

 

[GoMrPickles]

Warmth, looseness, softness, graininess ... glossy, smooth and tight.

What do these terms mean?

 

[JohnYang1997]

What do these terms mean?

Well if you can hear it you will know what it means. If you don't hear it then don't bother with it.

 

[GoMrPickles]

Well if you can hear it you will know what it means. If you don't hear it then don't bother with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

Where audiophoolery meets obscenity!

 

[JohnYang1997]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

Where audiophoolery meets obscenity!

I'm being friendly here. So if you don't get it just ignore it and forget it.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

I was debating buying one at work today but decided naw. I just bought the $500 Gilmore Lite mk2 in December, I have no doubt the THX measures better but the Gilmore Lite mk2 is no slouch.

I've debated sending it to Amir for review to see how it measures up but then I would be stuck on my Asgard 2

I would love to see some measurements on the Gilmore. Sell the Asgard, buy an atom amp with the proceeds. Now you have extra cash, money to cover shipping, a cleaner amp and we all get to see another review

 

[753159]

I currently have O2-amp and Sennheiser hd650. Since this 789 amp has received such high praises I was wondering is there really that much audible difference between O2 and 789? I mean is it completely different meal or more like just a little bit different flavour of the same spice?

 

[JohnYang1997]

I currently have O2-amp and Sennheiser hd650. Since this 789 amp has received such high praises I was wondering is there really that much audible difference between O2 and 789? I mean is it completely different meal or more like just a little bit different flavour of the same spice?

Everyone here would say no difference. But thx789 takes balanced input so that opens up possibility for balanced dac and gain better performance from dac(most people here still say no audible difference still).

To me, i know some of the limitations of thx 789 due to design but I'm not talking about them.

I would say, audible difference, absolutely yes. Which would you prefer, i can't tell. If you are happy with o2 and don't feel the need of spending more money to feel good about yourself. I don't think it's necessary. And i believe the shipping will be far away in May iirc.

 

[tired_guru]

Best measuring amp will sound glossy

 

[JohnYang1997]

In contrast some will sound dry or dull or grainy. I did blind tests with amps recently. I had no bias and the difference is consistently noticeable.

 

[Veri]

Everyone here would say no difference. But thx789 takes balanced input so that opens up possibility for balanced dac and gain better performance from dac(most people here still say no audible difference still).

Balanced dac has common noise rejection which is neat, but besides the possibility for 4V output instead of the unbalanced 2V there is no real reason it should provide audible difference whatsoever.

 

[tired_guru]

Balanced dac has common noise rejection which is neat, but besides the possibility for 4V output instead of the unbalanced 2V there is no real reason it should provide audible difference whatsoever.

It has also very extremely low crosstalk, can use much longer cables without degradation of signal. Thanks to big CMR it is great in very EMI noisy environments as long as the wires are routed next to each other (special function in PCB designing programs like altium/old protel called "differential pair", that takes care of routing them parallel to each other and very close to each other).

https://www.altium.com/documentation/18.0/display/ADES/((Differential+Pair+Routing))_AD

There will be also no possibility to have ground loops when using balanced rig (under some circumstances still possible but it is very rare).

 

[pos]

Another alternative: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B3GC...colid=W25DX4NAX94B&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
They do have 30cm/50cm/75cm/1m variants.

The components and cable seem high quality! Can you see in the write up a description of how its xlr pin 1 is wired? I couldn't see at first glance.

A small follow-up: I got a pair of these cables to replace the one I made myself which had intermittent problems (I blame the cheap RCA connectors, NOT my poor soldering skills )
These cables are the real deal: canare star quad cables properly wired as per hypex recommendations (pseudo-differential), Neutrik XLR connectors, Rean RCA connectors and clean solder joints.