Monoprice Monolith Liquid Platinum Headphone Amplifier by Alex Cavalli

So far I’m not that impressed by the Monoprice LP. I’m comparing it to my Pavel (great amp builder) built maxxed out SOHA1 with jisbos output stage (DIY Cavalli amp) and I think the LP is a little more detailed but not by much. I also think the LP has a bigger soundstage. The biggest difference is the SOHA1 has more forward vocals.

it’s a good sounding amp definitely I love my SOHA1. I’ve had it for about 12 years and it always impresses at meets especially since it looks so humble.

I should do more listening before saying more.

But so far my main concern is the price. I don’t think it’s worth $800 at all. The sale price of $400 is more where I see it priced at. Even if it wasn’t made by Monoprice.

I’m looking forward to comparing it to the Jottenheim 2 which seems like it’s likely competitor despite the price difference.

 

I'm dying to compare it to a Jot 2 as well. As much praise as the Jot 2 has gotten, I have a hard time believing it will do staging and layering as well as the LP.

As for the price, I think $800 could have been justified with a gain switch and a better volume pot. Without those, I think the base price should have been $600. I think the sales price of $400 is a deal no matter what the original price. I've owned several $400 amps and I've never heard one as good as the Liquid Platinum when run fully balanced in and out to a high ohm dynamic headphone.

 

I’ve been told the input actually doesn’t matter because the LP turns the signal into a balanced one either way.

but I should say I haven’t heard it balanced. I have no balanced headphones only modded vintage orthos. I kind of want to have one reterminated balanced for the LP Jottenheim showdown.

maybe you’re right about the price. It’s not really fair comparing DIY to commercial even if it is little Chinese kids putting the amp together.

 

Just saying...

 

Well I gotta reterminate then if I keep the amp!

 

It's a good amp but I think it's pretty gimped SE out.
You owe it to yourself ! Interested in your thoughts on Jot 2 and LP both xlr out. Jot 2 is better SE out hands down though.

 

did you mean this the other way around?

 

Jot 2 has better SE out performance than the LP. Comparisons would be required to determine if the balanced out of the Jot is better than the balanced out of the LP.

 

Nope.

 

I put these tall feet on my LP. They look awesome and obviously help with heat dissipation especially given the LP’s Lockheed air vents. The adhesive isn’t strong enough though so you have to cut out little circles (trace around the base of the feet) of black Gorilla double sided tape and then super glue the feet to the double sided tape (not to the amp) because adhesive doesn’t stick well to adhesive.

Looks much better in person it really goes with the Lockheed look. But here’s a pic

 

The Genalex Gold Lions are a very nice step up from the stock tubes in the LP. Offers a truly compelling midrange and plenty of clarity without sacrificing usability.

I still think the LP is a remarkable amp. It’s certainly strong enough that I don’t think about anything I’m missing when I use it. It lets me dig into my music and hear every last nuance of it but never sacrifices that musical feel. I’m truly grateful to be able to listen to an amp of this caliber on a regular basis.

 

I'm using the Gold Lions and agree. You gain a little more punch over the stock tubes and the amp becomes less dry/flat.

And yeah, it's a great amp. It's an unpopular opinion, probably, but I prefer the LP over the SW51 for the HD650. The SW51 is a fine match, but it seems to want the 650s to be something they are not...something livelier with more energy. The LP, on the other hand, takes the 650s for what they are and goes with it. Nice, laid back, full sound. Nothing forced.

The HD600 is a completely different story where the SW51 shines.

Very happy to have both amps in the rotation.

 

Not sure he knows what he's talking about

 

But it's the only tube amp good for planars dude!

 

He doesn't. And he has 12K views. Never trust an audio review of a guy in a Nike had and dressed from Target.

Seriously, he made no points other than the LP is good for planers and bad for IEM's. And basically does not understand the LP is a hybrid and does not understand output impedance. SMH.

Everyone here should go down vote his video. This guy makes money from YouTube with these crap videos. Real money.

 

Obviously if you know how to light and shoot a "dope" looking video that makes you an expert on the topic at hand. Didn't you know that?

 

corrected that for ya...

 

and he doesn’t have his LP on speaker spikes. You all seriously need to do this. Makes it one of the sexiest amps ever.

 

So I’ve finally got a good balanced headphone here to hear the LP balanced. My own rhythmdevils modded HE6se.

SE

I prefer my maxed out SOHA1 (with Jisbos output stage ie kind of a one off mini stacker ish type amp). It’s got a nicer tone and edges out the LP in the usual technicalities - soundstage, resolution, microdynamics, etc.

Balanced

The LP is better no contest in all technicalities. It’s got more control, more dynamic, bigger soundstage, more space between notes, clearly more resolving and it seems much more powerful. My SOHA1 seems to struggle driving the HE6se, the LP does not. Though I’m sure there are amps that do a better job like my forthcoming first watt F7 speaker amp. I suspect with tube rolling I could find a neutral, natural tonality that I really like.

I don’t know about 800$. That a lot of the green. Especially given the craptastic volume pot (seriously what hives it’s worse than any portable amp I’ve owned - mine is good witt channel imbalance (knock on wood) but the volume increase is so uneven and it just doesn’t feel great to turn. They need to put a better pot on this amp.

But it’s a great amp. Not worth buying for SE use (most of my headphones) but for balanced it is awesome.

side note about tubes:
I was using the amp as a reference and thought I had an issue with the bass of my modded HE6se it was kind of thuddy and overbearing and lacked integration with the rest of the spectrum. But I switched to my SOHA1 and it wasn’t there. I had been using Reflektor '75 SWGP SS tubes. So I switched to some Siemens ECC88 and it so far seems completely resolved though I’m only a couple albums in.

Are the Reflector ‘75 SWGP known to be bassy like this (bassy with disjointed thuddy lower bsss)? It was mostly lower bass so I imagine people like it with shitty rolled off electrocrodynamics. But my HE6se has no roll off.

 

Actually I have to walk that last post back. I was fooled by a tube with a strong sound signature. I was using the LP with the weirdo Reflector ‘75 SWGP tube and assuming it was neutral as a reference for modding a pair of HE6se. I wound up loving my modded HE6se but thinking the bass was funky and discovered it was the tube. When I switched tubes, tte LP’s sound changed dramatically and my tuning of the HE6se was suddenly off.

so when comparing the 2 amps using the weirdo tubes and HE6se that I tuned to sound neutral with them, the SOHA1 sounded dramatically duller and smaller but it was actually just reflecting how the HE6se wasn’t tuned right.

now that I’ve got what I assume are normal-ish tubes in the LP (Siemens EC88) and I’ve retuned my HE6se using my trusty well known-to-me reference of the SOHA1, my SOHA1 is not only more neutral sounding with better defined and cleaner treble it just sounds better overall and this is SE on my SOHA1 and balanced on my LP. The LP is kind of dull and lifeless in comparison.

So I’m not a big fan of the LP in the end except for the Lockheed look. Stay away from those weird fuckin tubes!

but you all shouldn’t get your panties in a wad, this is a special SOHA1 built by a great amp builder, and has always surprised people at meets. Lots of double takes due to its unassuming looks.