The Cavalli Liquid Carbon

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by maxedfx, Oct 17, 2015.

  1. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    Definitely coming up with the bright part by looking at how reflective the chassis is. :p

    And I guess I was just bored and found some math that I could actually do. (division, multiplication, yay) And I definitely admit that I've got absolutely no idea about any kind of data related to the audio business. I just wish I did so I could judge equipment based on both how it sounded and what the margins were. I'd be more likely to give positive reviews to a product that had a very progressive profit margin, but that's just my bias as a middle class citizen.
     
  2. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    And I know I've no place in the DIY world. I'd better stick to my ears than my brain.
     
  3. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    So if my order# is > 1100, is it a good bet (based upon available info) that it will ship no earlier than sometime in December?

    Also, I see in the HF thread that some are discussing which power cord to use. Don't want to open a can of worms, but is that really something worth considering, more than what you're tapping into for juice in the first place?
     
  4. insidious meme

    insidious meme Ambivalent Kumquat

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    I'm just using a spare computer power cord that came with a replacement PSU. Sure you can get something more expensive, but I'm sticking with this for now.
     
  5. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    If you don't have one around and you want to get a quality one that's pretty durable and not expensive, Emotiva has a pretty decent line of interconnects, speaker cables, power cables, and the like.
     
  6. audiofrk

    audiofrk Guest

    To be honest the profit margins on most of the hifi gear is a mystery we can guess but their is really no reliable pattern. Fiio has had great growth if you measure market presence and adoption rate and their stuff is usually <$200. While staxx put itself up for sale a while back despite selling $5000 headphones that had nearly universally positive reviews. The biggest obstruction is that the companies are usually privately owned and so they don't have to report anything.

    Best to listen to a product and compare it with other products in price range to see if you are getting a good deal.:sail:
     
  7. Asgeir101

    Asgeir101 New

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    Gents,

    Alex just posted on n head-fi that they would be built in batches, first one is 150, followed by batches of 100's. His aim is to send all pre-orders before x-mas.
     
  8. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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  9. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

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  10. Sopp

    Sopp New

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    I got one question after reading purrin's philosophical statements in the Grace Design m9XX thread. Will Liquid Carbon be an upgrade, sidegrade or even downgrade considering that I own GS-X mk2 and ECP Black Diamond?
     
  11. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    Not taking into account solely the huge price difference, seems they're targeting different needs (transportable vs. top of the line discrete amp + separate power supply). Assuming the Carbon is "warmer" than the GS-X, wouldn't up/downgrade be based solely on what you'd be looking to rectify, change or enhance in your current setup?
     
  12. JewBear

    JewBear Almost "Made"

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    This is very disturbing IMHO. It's cutting corners and introducing variability between different units.

    EDIT: I'm might be an idiot.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2015
  13. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    Not disturbing at all. Power age for infant mortality based on circuit design is standard practice in many industries. Medical, industrial, defense, aerospace all have standards that vary dependent on knowledge of the circuit, components, design temperatures, margins, statistics and pilot runs. Price points are affected by power age; longer is more costly. Overkill both delays the delivery and increases the amount customers must be charged. Cavalli appears to have a good grasp of right sizing the power age to the product line.
     
  14. JewBear

    JewBear Almost "Made"

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    Don't most other amp makers burn in their equipment though? I also wonder if this will make production amps sound different than show ones.
     
  15. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Burn-in, depending, is part of the production process (test). It is definitively not cutting corners. It's an extra expense actually.

    It reduces costumer returns. But it increases production prices.

    Will it sound different? Unit to unit variations will exist, burn-in or not. Possible burn-in will make unit variations less of a problem if the units are tested and adjusted afterwards as implied by the bias discussion in that post.
     
  16. JewBear

    JewBear Almost "Made"

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    They said they were only going to burn in for 5 minutes earlier in the thread before shipping it to customers.
     
  17. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Per unit that's quite a bit, depending on the price and volume of the product. Burn in is part of test and the longer a unit takes to test, the more one has to pay.

    That said, I don't know what the standard burn-in test time is for portable audio electronics.

    In analog modems, the majority of stuff did not go through burn-in. Just in-circuit and systems test. In circuit would be usually south of a minute and one would do several modems at the same time. In systems test we probably were looking at 1-2 minutes. Again, no burn in.

    Besides, folks seemed to be complaining about doing burn in at all. Now it's not 'nuff :confused:. IMO, $600 piece of gear should go through some burn in. It also gives some indication that the system is supposed to go through some testing. I would be more concerned if someone said $600 piece of gear was going as is out of the re-flow oven.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2015
  18. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    There are no standards in consumer electronics. Totally dependent on mfg and product price point. Some inexpensive consumer electronics don't even bother with PCB flux wash.
     
  19. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Well, at least that's how it was for analog modems back in the day. Some stuff did not even go through in-circuit test, cuz costumer did not want to pay for it. And occasionally shit would hit the fan in costumer returns.

    Fun times when a line had to be set up to rework a crap load of boards for wrong capacitor, resistor or a bunch of parts.
     
  20. insidious meme

    insidious meme Ambivalent Kumquat

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    For those in Southern California, the Liquid Carbons are being shipped out of Simi Valley. I don't have a scheduled delivery date. I would guess Monday as they shipped mine out today and I'm in the OC.
     

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