I finish messing with tiny foam squares in my T50RPs and I see this lol. 
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Ha…welcome to theT50RP’s and Phantom’s foam padded cell’s are this way → lol
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I thought the THX AAA amps were bringing to the table amps that measure exceedingly well, well beyond the norms many of think that are inadudible to human hearing…the .00000000X stuff or measurements.
Not that it takes away anything from the original recording good or bad…
The magic here is they use a CLASS AB cross over distortion detection and invert and put back in the audio cicuitry to eliminate that distortion helping to produce these stellar measurements.
I have a Monoprice TNX AAA 887 here as well as 14 other amps!! (yes i am an amp addict)…and I dont see the THX taking away anything or adding anything…sterile yup many folks use that word because its so distortionless…garbage in garbage out…
??
Alex
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I mean, it’s just really easy to see it fall apart when you use higher end headphones after you hear a nicer solid state, and you have tested the asgard 3 correct? Imo that’s already a higher tier of amp to me at least lol (in sound that is, which to me matters more than what I see on a graph or in specs)
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Yup,
I have (had) most of the Schiit amps except for the RAG and Mol.
I honestly have not seen it “fall apart” whatever that means??
That said its the best measuring amp here, but I prefer others to it!!
The Lyr 3 is a much better amp to me than the THX and the ECP T4 and Hagerman Tuba are better for my listening preference for sure.
But there is a movement afoot for these stellar measuring amps good or bad…totally agree on the sound vs specs…specs are a good baseline but they are not the end game for me …
Alex
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Ah I mean you can really just hear the flaws of a hard core feed forward topology, doesn’t really sound that great with a headphone that is more sensitive to amps and able to showcase amps (the clear is a great example of this, it just really increases in quality with a higher end amp, and imo it actually preforms better to me on a heresy or A3 than a thx amp (and of course with higher end amps as well)
Understand now what your saying…I know a person that has designed a very high level amp…that would argue this point to death…
And thats fine, its up to each of us as a consumer to ultimiately decide what we like and do not like.
Its all good…
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Yeah, not trying to start a war here (involve engineers and you’ll most likely get one lol)
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Been there done that and it wasnt pretty!
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I do commercial mastering on the side and sometimes I just hate to meet other audio engineers because it’s non stop arguments about anything lol, no fun allowed
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I mean my 100$ JDS Atom got 1dB more SINAD than the original 789 and no one complained about it sounding “sterile”. The problem is definitely not the 0.00…% distortion @ like 120dB (holy shit!), I guess my question is, is the “AAA” in “THX AAA” a problem (achromatic = “lifeless” ?).
I have to say, the only thing that I REALLY notice about my THX 887 is that it makes headphones that have dark character sound worse, unnatural, and mildly less pleasant. Pair the 887 with brighter, v-shaped, or anything that is meant be constrained drivers (NDH20) and the amps are enjoyable enough. I have to say that you want a slightly warmer DAC to make the THX 887 sing.
I think next week I should A/B test the Schiit Heresy with the THX 887 off of the Bifrost 2. I know with the Airist R-2R I enjoyed my Blon B20 and kph30 more with the 887 than the Heresy. Yet, LCD X on the Airist on the Heresy was more enjoyable because the Audeze slight darkness/midrange dip wasn’t as bad. LCD X + Airist + 887 LITERALLY had me regretting buying the LCD X to the point of finding a better home was sincerely on the table until setting up the Bifrost 2.
If there is anything I learned and am QUITE grateful for with my THX amp is that entire systems of source + amp + headphones REALLY can make a difference. It’s an odd difference too that I can say that the Loki I keep around just in case cannot make up the difference in sound in some situations. If my 887 didn’t make anything that may sound slightly dark in the chain seem so punishing, I would recommend THX as much as Zeos and Josh do in their videos. Analytically though, I REALLY can’t knock the Schiit Heresy. I kinda want a version of the Heresy with maybe more power and balanced inputs.
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Well we all have opinions and our own experiences…
I dont think the AAA - lifeless…I have 14 amps here and blind testing with several of them have indicated to me that several of them are pretty much the same “sounding”…or should say the overall presentation sounds very similar…hard to tell the difference when you dont know which on is in use.
My Magni 3 is very similar to the THX AAA …$99 to $400.
I have not found the 887 to make anything “darker” here, the exact opposite in my case.
When you AB test, make sure you level set accurately, and let someone else handle the swithing etc…so any of your bias will stay out of the picture.
You can easily use el cheapp Y adapters off the back of your Bifrost 2 and run two sets of the same cables to two different amps and level set both, then in a few second someone can unplug the same cans from one to the other…without YOU seeing which amp is being used…
I do this all the time and have conversed with Schitt and its fine to do this and this is what they do often in the Schiitr to do their comparions etc…
Let us know!
Alex
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I think THX is good for basically 0 noise floor, that’s about it. I find that THX amps lack in sounding natural. They also fail miserably at recreating vertical space. 0 imaging vertically, at least to my ears. They are rough sounding in treble region as well. Vocals also sound unnatural to me.
Each to their own, but THX tech is overpriced and overrated IMO.
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Wow!
Benchmark would disagree using the same tech as the less costly $400 and less variants that measure close to each other…
I think we could say the overrated and overpriced pertains to many other amps and stuff out here in headphone land as well…
…and your correct “each to theuir own”…
That what makes this hobby so interesting…
Alex
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From my experiences they have been very very underwhelming for the price imo, in that price range that benchmark lives in you have way more capable options imo. They definitely aren’t bad but they also don’t stack up to their competitors in the same or lower price range sonically from my experience. Although I did hear one of their speaker amps paired with some totem sky towers that I actually liked (other than that though it’s mainly been misses for me)
But they have a really nice “case” or “box” or “package”…looks nice!!
What other “capable” options are way more capable that the Benchmark?
I have never used one…way out of my budget.
Alex
I agree on overrated and overpriced, but those other amps you refer to don’t have the ad nauseam hype that THX has. That is specifically why I feel those words apply. I feel that the JDS Labs Atom, and even more so the El Amp and Rupert Neve RNHP sounded much more natural and recreated space better than the THX amps.
That being said, THX is a welcome part of the market in my opinion. I’m all about people having more options, not less. It is what makes the current market great as far as having a bunch of good choices.
Not sure if there has been a better time to be in market for purchasing an Amplifier. Only the IEM market is better as far as options in the current market.
Great time to be in the hobby. 
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I don’t use a THX amp, but I think it’s been a good thing for the market space.
It’s driven innovation by taking in a large portion of the segment (lower priced “audiophile” amps, with the Benchmark as the exception price wise).
For me, innovation is always a good thing.
Edit:
@Hazi59, I should’ve read your reply before typing mine, as I’ve basically parroted and paraphrased your sentiments. Well stated.
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It was(?). I am a bit worried about what will happen to small businesses with this virus-imposed economic downturn. Many of our favorite audio companies are boutique, small enterprises. Both their supply chains and their customer bases are going to be affected for at least weeks, more likely months.
However, the tech that has been developed will survive. So if it does get bad for current companies, there will be a rebound at some point.
Apologies if I’m sounding too doom and gloom here.
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