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Massdrop Cavalli LCX


spritzer

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Needless to say, I invested in one of these works of art and well... it didn't disappoint.  External build quality is way beyond the Cavalli Mk1 unit I had but inside...yeah....  So if anybody thinks this is good for 300$ they need their head checked.  Every expense was spared here, just look at the high quality sockets used.  I mean, who hasn't heard of the legendary "Hooya" sockets let alone "ZWEE".  I mean quality stuff...  :ph34r:

Circuit looks to be identical to the LC minus the internal switcher.  All the same issue as well plus the super cheap volume control...  DSC_0060-2.thumb.jpg.fb3afe5c5bc4b4d7b56e776e6debf3e6.jpgDSC_0062-2.thumb.jpg.c4fca17f2be7122038deb01da850c56f.jpgDSC_0061-2.thumb.jpg.2ab1c0a4d13caf2fa4b176d49fb5a766.jpgDSC_0064-2.thumb.jpg.7be16e0e84e9e28fdd96c791c4f42230.jpgDSC_0063-2.thumb.jpg.eb71a315670bfa683da94059bd3fa03d.jpgDSC_0065-2.thumb.jpg.46d688689f933ece3a602db302f8f054.jpgDSC_0067-2.thumb.jpg.007aa97f1ddee02450e6505fa5551ba7.jpgDSC_0068-2.thumb.jpg.29802640892bf82b4f6bb55920195d7a.jpgDSC_0077-2-2.thumb.jpg.59e73a3b89f5531fee271bc10378bb94.jpgDSC_0076-2.thumb.jpg.59bb9146c9cf8f72c2c7c348a457510d.jpgDSC_0075-2.thumb.jpg.697a703c9e93e0678754a1067dd686df.jpgDSC_0074-2.thumb.jpg.953c9cf952154a28c2f907af3a4d0ed9.jpgDSC_0073-2.thumb.jpg.e104d34b0a6d5f1605c049547adc1aa4.jpgDSC_0072-2.thumb.jpg.66e8b63889183190ef9844f0695b2a26.jpgDSC_0071-2.thumb.jpg.eaf91c8087875d3d6abec94041ecf010.jpgDSC_0070-2.thumb.jpg.9fd6c61f3d4685b6390c3bdd1147cb10.jpgDSC_0069-2.thumb.jpg.78bf5e2b37d110cf4510f91e14941cb7.jpg

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well at least it has a dc protection circuit which the original did not have, and its sure going to need it, absolutely no heatsinking of any kind.

OH look, a rail splitter that's necessary because of the ultra cheap single output switching brick.

At least its actually built better than the original at less than half the cost.

i'll bet that plugging in both unbalanced and balanced headphones is going to cause it to blow up. :D just like the original

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1 hour ago, lunaticbastard said:

No, I only got the CTH amp as well which should be here soon. 

1 hour ago, kevin gilmore said:

well at least it has a dc protection circuit which the original did not have, and its sure going to need it, absolutely no heatsinking of any kind.

OH look, a rail splitter that's necessary because of the ultra cheap single output switching brick.

At least its actually built better than the original at less than half the cost.

i'll bet that plugging in both unbalanced and balanced headphones is going to cause it to blow up. :D just like the original

The lack of heat sinking will be a problem here, why they didn't use the nice chassis as some form of sinking is just beyond me.  It's a nice sturdy aluminum shell so it could take some watts easily. 

I will probably blow this one up in the name of science...  ;)  Notice the pissant 2010 0.47R resistors for the output devices... yeah they won't last long. 

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I've actually plugged it in now and it appears to work but I'll try it out later on.  I'm expecting great things, I mean it has to be at least as spectacularly bad as the Cavalli version. 

Just read the manual and check out the last page under servicing, apparently this thing has a tube which I must somehow have missed... 

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17 hours ago, lunaticbastard said:

Do we know anything about the tech in this? They claim state-of-the-art performance, yet I'm surprised to see a single supply DC power input. Yet their measurements look great and don't show any signs of that sort of compromises. Sorry for the kinda OT question.

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massdrop and schiit seem to be trying to out cheap each other.

clearly this thing is much better built than the original for less than half the price.

whether the protection circuit will prevent it from blowing up if you insert unbalanced and balanced headphones is currently unknown.

but cost cutting is evident everywhere.  external switcher removes the need for line power inside the chassis (joutenheim) and the AC rated power switch. But rail splitter causes all sorts of issues. Virtually no heatsinking so the amp runs pretty much class B. etc

the CTH is the same thing. More rail splitter because its single ended.

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They are both far better... as this is a really shitty amp.  I think this one might actually be worse than the original LC if that is even possible. 

I had to go out tonight so I missed the delivery of the CTH so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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If the new LCX sounds worse than the original, its probably because of the rail splitter, otherwise the circuitry and parts are identical. I have never seen a rail splitter test well.

The original squarewaves all burned up due to heat and other stupidity, but otherwise sounded really nice, still the only headphone amp I know of that is both current feedback and all of the voltage gain in the output stage. The re-done version is still a sweet but low powered amp.

dynalo and supersymmetry dynalo still out perform everything else in their power class and as far as I know, no one has ever been able to burn one up.

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  • 2 months later...

so birgir sent me 2 pieces of cavalli to test

all at 20khz into 50 ohms  top is output, bottom is input

first up is the CTH which does in fact invert phase, check out the feedback spike

next is the lcx, much slower slew rates (mosfets, no surprise there) and the ringy dingy

 

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Edited by kevin gilmore
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