Massdrop x Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X Amp Discussions | Drop

Massdrop x Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X Amp

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Sep 17, 2017

This or the Bottlehead Crack for my HD 6XX?

Sep 17, 2017

MrMotionthat comes down to whether you are more interested in balanced solid state vs OTL tube. Just understand that OTL tube amps are designed to drive high impedance headphones and may not do so well with low impedance and low sensitivity headphones like planars, AKGs, etc (OTL tube amps have high output impedance, the Crack being about 120 ohms IIRC).

Sep 17, 2017

MrMotionWhat he said. And also keep in mind that the Crack will have a lot more clipping distortion than this, but when a tube amp distorts it gets this very special "tubey" sound. I like it, but not everyone does. The LCX have a much bigger headroom, so your music will be more dynamic.

Marlowe

143

Sep 17, 2017

JackulaAnd of course, you have to build the Bottlehead Crack. I realize that's actually a plus for some and more power to you. Everyone's interests and skills vary. But me? I have degrees in history and law, but would have failed kindergarten arts and crafts if they gave out grades and am even less skilled now at 64. Since I can't define a circuit and don't know which end of a soldering iron is which, trying to build it would be at best an unpleasant exercise in frustration even if I got it built, at worst (which is more likely) an impossibility. (Plus I assume a klutz like me can burn himself with the soldering iron, the necessary purchase of which, BTW, would increase the price to me even more.) You can get a pro to build it on their website, but that close to doubles the price. If they had an option to buy it assembled at a more reasonable price (like Garage 1217, though I passed for other reasons), I would have seriously considered one.

Sep 17, 2017

MarloweHa! Nice post :) For me, the best thing about building the Crack is experimenting with it, you can build a balanced amplifier out of the kit parts if you wanted to. If it's that daunting, you can always buy a pre-loved unit off eBay. From what I've found they tend to cost more than kits so maybe for the extra money it's better to invest in something that's already assembled.

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Sep 17, 2017

EinTheVarianceSounds like a SS amp may be the way to go. Would you consider this amp to be the best SS amp at this price? I was looking at the Aune x7s and it seems to have more power as well as a smaller form factor.

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Sep 17, 2017

JackulaWould you possibly be able to explain what you mean by more dynamic as far as music goes? I am a bit of a newbie to all of this :p

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Sep 17, 2017

MarloweI have never really built any sort of circuit or anything like that so maybe building it is not a great option for me :)

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Sep 17, 2017

MrMotionDynamic as in you get a better contrast between the softest and loudest passages of your music without clipping distortion. X7S doesn't have enough power for your HD6XX on its single ended output, you'll have to spend $80ish for a balanced cable to take advantage of the extra power output from the XLR output on the X7S. Remember, you don't need balanced, but you need the power which balanced provides. LC is still the better choice.

Sep 17, 2017

MrMotionI'd say it's one of the better options for the price, at least on paper. I don't think the Aune X7s is outputting 2.8w into 50 ohms so I'm not sure where you saw that it has more power. Keep in mind that the X7s isn't a true balanced amp either, it only accepts single ended input.
Also of note, the liquid carbon's low gain is 1x (0db) and has insanely low output impedance. The Aune X7s IIRC has a 10 ohms output impedance on SE and 20 ohms on XLR which is not good to be honest. You'd definitely notice coloration and hissing with lower impedance headphones on it.

Sep 17, 2017

EinTheVarianceOutput impedance is irrelevant in this context since the OP is asking about the HD6XX. You generally won't care if damping factor is above 8x. Hissing has nothing to do with output impedance.

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Sep 17, 2017

Jackulathat's true in the case of the HD 6XX but it's still something to consider unless OP is planning to stick with the HD 6XX forever. It's the reason why I mentioned it in a separate paragraph and started with "also of note..."

Sep 17, 2017

EinTheVarianceAh ok, thanks for clarifying. Also of note, some coloration isn't necessarily bad, it's a matter of preference. There wouldn't be any reason to use XLR output for a low impedance headphone as the power output from single ended would be more than sufficient in most cases.

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Sep 17, 2017

Jackulatrue I suppose. That said even on SE, the output impedance is 10 ohms, so pretty much any headphone below 80 ohms will be affected, especially those lower impedance headphones with low sensitivity like planars, AKGs, and some others like the TH-X00 for instance.
Anyway, the point is that LC fares much better in that aspect vs the X7s.

Sep 17, 2017

EinTheVarianceYes I agree. Actually, both of us have been recommending the LC :) We've just been disagreeing on the "why" ha ha!

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sdfx

108

Sep 18, 2017

Jackula @EinTheVariance If you guys did a write-up on impedance, power, balanced vs unbalanced, I feel like it would be amazing. Granted, there are also a bunch I could probably google, it would be native to MD :P

Sep 18, 2017

sdfxI think you can google these, but I think most people wouldn't be interested even if I wrote an article on it. The most difficult to grasp concept is output impedance and damping due to lack of reliable information on it, so I'm going to summarize it. There are others here who can probably explain it better than I can.
Damping is when electricity is outputted from an amplifier, travels along a wire, meets a load (resistance) and some of it is reflected back. The amount reflected back depends on the difference of the output impedance and the load impedance.
Because headphones generally have an impedance curve - much higher impedance in the bass region, compared to the mids and treble, uneven power distribution is delivered across the frequency range, especially when the output impedance is only a little lower than the headphone rating.
So what we try to do, is impedance matching. That is we try to get a lowest possible output impedance, so that the amount reflected is similar proportionally, ensuring similar power delivery across the frequency range. The bigger the difference the output impedance and your headphone, the better. But never 100% perfect.
The general rule is 8x, that is the impedance at 1kHz 8x higher than your output impedance. I'm not sure who invented this rule and how it came about. I'm thinking just some random guy more reputable than me who thought it was "good enough".
Planars and orthos are not impacted by output impedance in the same degree, since most (Not all) have a flat impedance curve. Electrostats don't matter either since their impedance is so insanely high.
Hope this helps!

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