Monolith 133304 Liquid Spark Headphone Amplifier - by Alex Cavalli with RCA Input, Single 1/4 Output 1.3Watt@50R, 108Db

I have been buying headphone amps since the Creek OBH11 came out,in 2003, (which was a disaster)...and have graduated to the O2, (meh)... and from that to the Cavalli Massdrop CTH tube hybrid (sweet and smooth tube-like warmth)...a few DAC/amps of various brands..and on to the Schiit Jotunheim (still a reference for me)...until I decided to check out the latest versions of amps that sell for around $100.00. I bought the Schiit Magni 3+...the Schiit Heresey....and the Cavalli designed Liquid Spark prodced by Monoprice. I am amazed by what fine quality now comes in these small packages!! As a long time speaker designer and builder, I love hearing music through different systems, and comparing the sound of different transducers and components in the payback chain. so... I conducted extensive listening, on each amp, with three headphones of my choice, The Audeze 2 Closed, The Sennheiser Amperior, and the Audeze LCD X, to a wide variety of music from CDs after all the headphone amps had burned in for about 100 hours. I compared five headphone amps, the two small Schiit amps, (Heresy & Magni3+)... (the two Alex Cavalli amps, (the CTH & the Liquid Spark)...and my long-time standard, the Schiit Jotunheim, which is by far the most costly of these amps, using a Schiit Bifrost DAC fed S/PDIF optically from a Yamaha CD changer. Three amps were simultaneously connected on identical cables, (from WBC), to that wonderful DAC. I realize this is not a scientific study with double blind tests. I realize I have personal biases concerning sonic preferences, and music, as does everyone. I have a home recording studio with good gear, and I record mix, and master both acoustic and electronic music. I have been doing this for decades (5) and still have good hearing (so grateful!), for a guy my age. That said my ears roll off at 14Khz now...but it happens so gradually, you think you still hear everything (lol). I do like to ask others of their opinions on sound, and read a lot of reviews on equipment, (and see and hear them)....yep ...hooked.:-) Cutting to the chase, purely subjectively, here are my findings; 1) Jotunheim barely retains first place, but only wins in its balanced mode, which is unfair due to the fact the other amps are not balanced, and are a fraction of Jotunheim's price. If I were to rate these amps strictly in S.E mode the Jotunheim would tie witrh the Liquid Spark on these headphones. If your cans are not efficient or harder to drive, the Jotunheim would rule here with its huge power, even in SE mode. 2) Liquid Spark, when using the cans I had, and comparing all SE, ties the Jotunheim! It excels in detail presentation, resolution, sound staging and space, lack of grain or glare, solid punch, low bass, airy highs, and musical presentation in general in all music types. I think this amp would pair well with headphones with well balanced frequency responses. Bass shy, overly bright headphones ,(I won't mention names), might sound best with the Cavalli CTH, with its warm smooth character and broad imaging. 3) Schiit Magni 3+ is a winner I could be entirely happy to live with as my only amp, if I hadn't heard and lived with the Liquid Spark, that is. The Schiit has a slightly warmer and ever-so-slightly smoother sound signature that is powerful and dynamic, but not as refined or transparent as the Monolith To sum up, the best of these four amps, used single ended, is the Liquid Spark, hands down. Follow the directions for use that come with it, and be patient with burn-in , and give this amp time to mellow (and it does beautifully). It will reward you with superb sound. The Liquid Spark runs quite warm, as does the Schiit Magni 3+, but the Heresy doesn't. That is all I wish to say about the Heresy. It left me cold.

I've been doing reviews on my purchases for the past 2 hours lol so I'm a little burnt out and will finish this one quick. This amp (for the price) truly deserves a well thought out and lengthy review but I'm to tired. So here this goes. Short and sweet. This is Hands down the best amp on the market for under $140. It's only competitors are the schiit magni 3 and JDS Labs atom. Power: 1) schiit magni 3 2) liquid spark 3) atom Build: 1) schiit magni 3 2) liquid spark 3) atom Sound quality: 1) JDS Labs atom 2) liquid spark (very close to atom. I'm talking fractions close. Not even that noticable of a difference but measurements show atom is slightly better) 3) schiit magni 3 (there is a higher noticable difference in sound quality compared to the other 2. This amp is all power and build quality for the price but lacks a very clean sound) If you have headphones that require a nuclear reactor to power lol and your on a real budget then the schiit magni 3 "might be" your best choice and that's a slight "might be." The liquid spark is not to far behind the magni 3 in power but miles ahead in clean sound quality. It's a tight race for best budget amp between the liquid spark and JDS Labs atom. With the liquid spark having more power, considerably better build quality and only a fraction of lesser quality clean sound I have to give the best budget amp award to the liquid spark. This is truly a very impressive amp for the price that drives almost all headphones without problem. I can't gush enough about what you are getting for the price here. Absolutely superb. To be perfectly honest though you can't really go wrong with any of the three. If your looking to buy a $100 amp then my guess is your just an average every day consumer/listener who isnt going to be a snob about your equipment and with that being the case all three of the amps I mentioned are fantastic choices and comes down to what your needs are. It comes down to this. If your looking for the Absolute cleanest sound and your not focused on power and build because you have very efficient headphones and your careful with your equipment then get the jds Labs atom. If your not worried about very clean sound and you want heavy power and great build quality then get the schiit magni 3. If your looking to meet somewhere in the middle and have the best of both worlds then get this the liquid spark. Hoped this help make you a decision on which to buy. Take care and enjoy my fellow audio fanatics.

I am not the worlds best fundi on audio - but I do know what sounds good, and what doesn't. I bought this unit as well as a Neoteck unit as I wanted the Liquid spark for the desk, and the Neoteck as a portable unit. So - tested the Neoteck first, and it is a good little unit, good sound and works well. THEN - after a day or two, I plugged the liquid spark in. Well wow - this Monolith Liquid Spark is proper decent people - I know she still has a ways to go before reaching the magical burn in - but even straight out of the box you can hear this baby purr.. Truly soft and mellow, tight controlled bassyness, and nightingale sweet high end this little monster is a brick in a velvet cloth. Truthfully the soundstage is more open and clear, stereo separation is also something that is managed very, very well. After a day or two, I took her for a run and cranked her up a bit, she has long breaths, and when she gets striding, she has has breath to spare, on your standard sort of 32 Ohm cans, you're going to hit the wall long before she will. Lovely power, and always controlled - a bit like Tracy Chapman belting it for all she is worth. One thing that did surprise me about this little monolith is that after an extended period of long listening at higher volumes, you won't feel fatigued either. now THAT is impressive. High end is carried very well, and never gets harsh. This is a unit that I would not hesitate to recommend, Yes, there are better units out there, but not at twice the price.

My system: Senn HD6XX, Schiit Bifrost 1 Multi-bit DAC with Unison USB I really liked the sound coming out of this little amp. The bass has great extension and excellent quality without too much quantity or bloom, very well controlled. The mids are laid back with a slight smooth quality. Treble is airy and detailed without being grainy. Excellent timbre, wide stage, and balanced dynamics. Honestly an amp this small and cheap has no right to be this good. The only issue with this amp is the channel imbalance. It's pretty bad below 11:00 o'clock on the knob, but even after there's still a little left that never goes away. While researching this issue I found it to be very common. It may have to do with the potentiometer used, a Chinese branded Sanni pot (according to Alex Cavalli himself on the ASR forums) that may have poor QC, rather than a tried-and-true Alps pot. Or maybe it's inherent to the design of the amp. Well whatever it is, it was no good so I had to return it. The price of this amp fluctuates wildly, sometimes hitting as high as $150 and as low as $75. I'd say if you can get it at or below $99 and you don't get any channel imbalance issues, you may never need another amp.

A member of the recent panel of $100 pure headphone amps, alongside the JDS Labs Atom, Schiit Magni 3, Gishelli Labs Archel Pro, et. al. Features a metal case, RCA Line In, RCA Pre Outs, a 1/4" Headphone Out, Lo/Hi Gain switch, power switch, and analog potentiometer. Being an Alex Cavalli amp, it's a powerful amp for the money, while offering an interesting shape compared to other black boxes, and the vents are striking. The volume pot is smooth and except for the very beginning of it's radius, free of channel imbalance. It gets warm, and Monoprice says it would benefit from ~100 hours(!) of burn in. I don't know about all that, but for $100, it has enough power to get T50 mods loud, and drive the HD 600 series pleasingly. When going from it to an Emotiva BasX A100, or a Massdrop x THX AAA 789, you DO notice a step up in sound quality, but those amps are double, and quadruple the price of this one respectively. However, especially with T50RP (and associated mods, etc.), there is a noticeable increase in the richness, and fullness of the sound. It's a great amp for it's price, and entirely worthy of being in the company of the Atom and Archel, in my opinion. **Disclaimer: All of the above regarding sound should be taken as statements of subjective opinion, and NOT objective fact. Sound is subjective, I am human and make mistakes, and I have not heard everything ever. No one has attempted to influence the content of this review.**

Well, three's a charm. I have gone through three different (not too expensive) AMPS and FINALLY found one that can kick these 250 Ohm Fostex headphones (pictured) into high gear! Now, I do have a lot of equipment in front of this baby but all it does is add to the deliciousness of this AMP. I read the documentation that it might take as long as 100 hours of "burn-in" to get the AMP to reach it's full potential but...I'm fine with how it sounds now. If this baby gets better, OMG. So, let's do a small "audiophile review" shall we: Upper ranges: No idea. To loud. I think they're there. I don't hear any shrills (except for Biff Byford's tantalizing screaming vocals) so, I guess it's thumbs up! Mid-Ranges - Still no idea. Ears hurt SO GOOD! Just kicked in the 6 amp gain switch. WOW! that's loud. Bring the THUNDER BABY! I'm "old school!" I can handle it. No, no I can't. Volume down a little. Lower Ranges: All I know is the bass player for Black Swan is stomping on my eardrums right now and it's painfully perfect. ZERO break up. Just driving bass into my skull. Awesome. Just awesome. So, there ya go. My "audiophile review'. Seriously, this baby stomps. Oh, some of you might be wondering why I have two preamps. Well, cause I can! That little Fosi tube pre-amp in the picture and the pre-amp (off the RCA input in the back of the deliciously wonderful Liquid Spark) play SO WELL together. I mean, I can adjust the bass and the treble on the Fosi (and the volume input for the tubes on the Fosi, also available here on Amazon - :-)) and meld this wonderful, head stomping, pleasure-pain-inducing, incredible amp clarity, into one focused stream of audio driven by these amazing Fostex (also available here on Amazon - :-)) for a not to bad, Visa charge. 250 Ohms of head stomping rumble is what I need right now and I FINALLY got it! Yeah, recommended. Wow...

Listening setup: liquid spark, Sony mdr1a headphones with Sony cord, iPod nano 7th generation with rock and none equalizer setting, Amazon brand rca connector, generic gold plated 1/4 to 1/8 adapter. Review: The iPod nano generally puts out enough power to make the low resistance Sony headphones sound great, or so I thought. I listened to 3 different songs with and without the liquid spark. I set the iPod to middle volume and then set the liquid spark to output the same volume when it's attached. I also tested with the iPod at 3/4 volume and the liquid spark set to match the same volume level with the iPod set to middle volume. With the liquid spark the the sound reproduction is definitely improved. The liquid spark makes ALL frequencies sound like they are more accurate, tight, and powerful. The bass specifically sounds much tighter with significantly less boom on the mdr1a. Where the liquid spark shines is in increased volumes. The iPod struggles at higher volumes to drive the Sony's I have but with the liquid spark the same clarity and power comes through at high volume. The music sounds great and the amp seems to have deep power reserves even at high volumes. The only problem I noticed is at volumes less than 1/4 on the spark the sound output is not balanced, one side is louder than the other. Above 1/4 it is perfectly balanced. I did not notice a change or improvement in sound quality over time. I have about 30 to 40 hours on this amp and it sounds the same as I remember when I first plugged it in, which is great.

Amp was great, when it worked. Every game I played it would cut off randomly (led would go red) and then it would come back a few seconds later. I assumed maybe the volume was too high, or it did not like my DAC. I switched everything, tried again, same. I was willing to accept that, because music sounded awesome with it... Then it cut out while playing certain songs. I got a replacement, and sure enough, same thing. Overall I had an awful experience with this product, going to have to move on to something else. Update : Went with the JDS Atom and it's night and day. Sound quality is noticably better than the liquid spark, and I have had no cutout issues... And it cost less than the Spark.

Great sound quality and loads of power with this amp. I have paired with a TEAC UD-H01 Dac for my set up with PC, I can power just about anything I own, including the difficult to drive TinHiFi P1's. No problem for Sennheiser HD600's, 650's or Monolith M1060's. A passthrough for speakers with the volume control and auto cut off when plugging in headphones. Sooooo pleased with this purchase and well worth the wait for delivery from the States.

En el rango de precio de los $100 USD solamente hay 3 opciones reales: - Liquid Spark - The Atom Estos dos los comparan reviewers en los que confío: Z reviews, DMS y Josh Valour, yo recomiendo que veas los videos en YT de los 3, el más atinado y menos sesgado es Josh en su apreciación y el video que me hizo NO comprar el Atom fue el de Sam Campbell. Sam recibió 2 unidades del Atom y ambos presentaban desbalance de canales en el potenciómetro y además cuando procedió al desensamble de plano no me gustó lo que vi, muy muy mal acabado el Atom y más caro al importarlo a México porque cobran el envío de 33 USD más lo que te cobren al entregártelo. Ahora si no tuviera el Geshelli Labs Stack (Anchel Pro + Enog2 Pro) pensaría que el Liquid Spark es el mejor para su precio pero no es cierto, el Anchel Pro es mucho más transparente y analítico sinembargo como Josh Valour dice en su review (vs The Atom, que suena similar al Anchel Pro) las altas fecuencias pueden fatigar después de uso prolongado. El Liquid Spark es un AMP muy relajado en su sonido pero transparente, las mejores cualidades para escuchar música "moderna" y Videojuegos. Dije que había 3 opciones y las hay: el tercero siendo el Geshelli Anchel Pro pero necesita forzosamente el DAC de ellos también porque no tiene Gain Control, la idea es no comprimir el audio y que la portencia de señal sea controlada en el DAC. Teniendo el Stack de Geshelli Labs no hay mejor sonido en este precio, pero es más caro y tipo boutique, no es para todos. Yo compré un Schiit Modi 3 en Amazon USA y no hay mejor "Stack" para alguien que está importando aquí en México siendo Liquid Spark + Schiit Modi 3 lo mejor que puedes hacer por tu audio, a mí en lo particular no me gustan los DAC's chinos Topping, los Topping tienen buenas métricas según ASR pero yo que los conozco no me emociona su calidad de esamble, para mí la calidad de ensamble es muy importante y el Liquid Spark + Schiit la tienen y por mucho. Desventaja REAL del Liquid Spark: se calienta bastante como un AMP Class A, es casi tan caliente como mi Aune X7s, sinembargo es pequeño y ligero, no así el Aune. Otra ventaja del LS es que cuenta con un adaptador de corriente nada estorboso en tu regulador o multicontacto! El Stack que yo recomiendo es: - Liquid Spark comprado aquí en Amazon México. - Schiit Modi 3 comprado en Amazon USA. La única opción real si todo lo quieres comprar en Amazon México: - Lisquid Spark - Topping D30 (D10 no es opción está carísimo aquí, en USA cuesta 89 USD o menos) y el AMP de topping (A30) es bastante malito en su calidad de audio, nada que ver con el Liquid Spark y mucho menos con lo demás que ya mencioné arriba.

Amazing amp, and if you just Google liquid spark in many audiophile forums / YouTube, you'll see just how amazing it is. It's honestly such a great mix of tube and solid state sound that just makes it work with everything. Of course, keep in mind that it really brings you into the sound and immerses you in it. If you want a spacious echo-ey experience, I'd say go for a tube like the Loxjie P20. Nonetheless, you can find a lot online about this with way more well informed opinions, so I'll up to how I use it. I play 24 bit / 96+ music with it from a Hidiz Ap80 DAP. I actually start my process listening with the Loxjie P20 first to really determine which album is suiting my mood, but I later will eventually want to hear more and just really get into the music - and that's when I switch to the Liquid Spark. The contrast, immersive depth, and detail just makes everything so much fun at that point - and it seriously works very well with every type of music. It's almost like you're looking at a track with a microscope and is a great AMP to see just how good your DAC is. It's not an endgame amp, but certainly one that would make anyone want to relisten their favourite albums and start every sort of equipment pairing tests. If you're new in this whole world of AMPs, you totally can't go wrong with this. However, make sure you purchase this for roughly $120-$140 CAD. It's the perfect pairing of value and performance at that MSRP, so use some patience since it just adds that much more magic to it. On top of that, those savings can go to another cable, amp, tubes, albums, whatever.

The Liquid Spark headphone amplifier captures the space, nuance, body and flow of live music with total clarity, effortlessness, dynamics and impact, with no distortion, grain or harshness. I’m using the Liquid Spark with Rega P8 turntable, E-Glo Petit phono stage, Chord Qutest DAC with M Scaler and OPPO PM-1 planar magnetic headphones.

Very happy with this amp! I got this amp to boost the volume of my PS4. I connected my fiio e10k to the PS4 by USB and use that as the DAC then I connected that to the Liquid Spark and it solves the low volume issue. Not only does it solves the volume issue but it sounds better than just the e10k alone. Deeper bass with better clarity on my Sennheiser 598s. I find it makes high vocals a bit too bright (for my taste) as opposed to the e10k alone but I bet that will resolve itself after burn-in. I'm writing this review with fewer than 20 hours on the amp. The company advises 100 hours of burn-in to get the full, proper sound so we'll see soon enough. I'll add an edit in a few weeks if this doesn't resolve but besides that minor (highly subjective) complaint I'm very happy with this amp! Along with the sound, it feels and looks like a premium amp. All metal casing and a buttery smooth volume knob makes me feel very confident about its quality and suggests years of use. It runs a bit warm but if you give it room on your desk I don't see it being an issue. I listened to it for almost 9 hours in a row yesterday and it's just slightly warm. Just don't put things on top of it. All things considered, I highly recommend this amp! Great price for what you get!