lmk what you think of some Focals (Clear, Elex) on it!
great review!
It’s more impressions than a review lol, at the moment I only have a utopia on me, and it kinda sounded pretty less than ideal on it, but the utopia is a picky sob, but the clear sounded great on it from my short demo I talked about previously, and comparing how the utopia sounds on the rnhp and g111 (all sub par with a utopia lol) the little labs would be my preference over the g111 for the clear, but I would still prefer the rnhp a bit unless I wanted to prioritize better extension overall for bass (for studio it might be a wash between the neve and the monotor but it would really depend on your chain and workflow, and what you are working with)
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Also I should note that the feature set on this amp is just sweet for all that it has to offer for studio use, it prob won’t matter for casual listening but this thing is really thought out on how it can be used and how it can integrate into an existing setup without issues. Being able to bypass the volume pot (which really feels like a stepped attenuation which I don’t recall it having, really nice) is cool. The mono options are really really nice to the point where I’d want to use it just for that, super handy and useful (for studio lol). Also the l-r phase option is really cool as it basically will remove anything that is in phase, and will only play back things out of phase which can be helpful
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Also a few more notes I forgot to mention, it is a tad lean sounding at times but that’s kinda expected given it’s slightly analytical nature but it’s not to the point where it would really bother me, and also staging depth is a bit more iffy in comparison to the rnhp to where it gets a slight bit convoluted when it comes to placement at times. Also the background on this amp is actually somewhat standout in comparison to the rnhp and g111, it has a much more vacant sounding background (not talking about noise floor, the noise floor on the g111 and rnhp is just fine with most headphones as is the monotor) which is pretty nice for the price
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In wine, I still get most excited when something can be on the shelf for $9.99 that is just lovely. Every Car & Driver, I’m going to the econobox shootout rather than the Bentley preview.
This ethos you convey that underlies a good heartbeat of this forum (and Z Reviews) is also my predisposition. Thank You.
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@M0N copying and pasting my question from another thread, your suggestions are appreciated as always!
For dac pairings that would be transportable? Hmm. A chord mojo might be a pretty solid choice actually, while it’s not true line out it still can sound pretty great, and you can just connect it using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm. Allo would also be nice. Neither of the options are really going to stack up to the higher end dacs you have currently though unfortunately, but they can still provide a pretty satisfactory experience. You could use the enog, but I would wonder what you would use that would be trans portable that has optical or coax spdif output to feed it (possibly some laptops have mini toslink in the 3.5mm I guess). I’d say the allo is a bit higher tier than the enog from my experience, and the mojo trades some blows or might be a bit higher than that
So by forward generally I meant it was more likely to push things toward you, be more in your face about things as it pushes detail closer to the listener and the stage is more up front (despite being potentially larger). So basically what you are experiencing there. I was saying more general forwardness overall, not specifically stage. I wouldn’t call forward similar to intimate to clarify
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That makes sense, I think that was what I was perceiving as well, RNHP is more intimate but Monotor is more forward.
By transportable I don’t really mean using it during travel, more like carrying it for international flights (which I won’t be able to do with BF2 for example) so sth of a smaller and lighter form factor like the ENOG was what came to my mind originally, and not necessarily a battery solution. With the ENOG I also got a Raspberry Pi with a HAT on it (again, small and light). As there really aren’t many options between 200USD to 700USD stuff (and a) I wasn’t particular a fan of the Modius and b) again it’ll be too large to carry for travel)
I only briefly owned the Mojo but only used it as a combo not the DAC alone and I found it not resolving and too warm for my taste possibly also not enough power for full sizes, so I guess it might be to do with the amp section. With its heating problem with the DAC and the not true line out function I am kinda hesitant to use it as a DAC
Is the Allo a still a bit higher tier than JNOG then?
Btw apparently interference is normal: FAQ — Little Labs
Ahhhhhh ok. Gotcha
Gotcha
I think it can be, but with the little labs it’s prob going to be on equal footing from a technical perspective. That being said the ability to tune on the allo would push it over the edge for me more (also assuming with the allo you also grab the nirvana smps)
Interesting, now that I think about it, I’ve kinda tackled most rf problems I’ve had in the past so I typically don’t get those issues anymore. But yeah try moving to a different room to test. Depending on where you are, it might not be reasonable to break off the grounding pin (in the us it’s easy, but with some of the plugs over seas they have more robust grounds)
Alright, I’ll keep an eye on a good deal but might not be worth it with the Nirvana/Shanti PSU over the E/JONG if the cost is substantially higher (the ENOG is only like 150USD used).
Yeah the UK plug is pretty robust lol, I don’t hear much interference as long as the phone is not next to it tbh.
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In the UK it’s even easier, just open the plug and disconnect the ground. (don’t do this unless you understand the repercussions and you want to take the risk).
But if the issue only occurs when your phone is near it, it’s not a ground problem, it’s an RF issue.
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Thanks. Well I certainly do not understand, but I’ve a feeling it’s more interference than ground issue, which is fine, forces me to keep my phone away when enjoying music 
Possibly pretty well, I haven’t had a holo at the same time as the monotor, but that is likely a good pairing to keep it pretty clean and detailed but give it a bit more spatial pop, a bit of a warmer slightly smoother response, and improve other technicalities
Interesting
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UK plugs aren’t sealed like US ones, commonly appliances ship without plugs and a user is expected to provide one and install it. I remember learning the color of the various plug wires when I was a kid.
Brown live, Blue Neutral, Green and Yellow stripes Ground.
Of course that had changed from an earlier standard when I think it was Black Red and Brown.
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Thanks, it just happens that when I return home I can probably grab one at the local price instead of the 1k price tag, and I wouldn’t have to worry about carrying it for flights. Also I got the impression that the Cyan is at least at the level of Ares II/BF2 so I don’t need to worry about worse SQ.
I notice that the Cyan has a combo version - is the amp portion worse or better than the studio trio like the Monotor?
I’d say in some aspects it’s a bit higher tier as well
I’d say the cyan amp isn’t as good as the other amps you have, but it’s decent like I wouldn’t call it bad, but I just don’t know if stacks up to most of the midrange amps. Also make sure to get the pcm version, the dsd holo is just not great
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Alright thanks as always. Good to have sth planned. The reason I dropped the Allo DAC is it only takes USB and I kinda need other digital inputs at home.
Makes sense, the holo is a big step up from that anyways lol (although the cyan ain’t that small)
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Wanted to post some thoughts here since I think this amp deserves more attention.
From the few weeks I have been borrowing this amp I can definitely say that it is my favourite amp out of the ones that I have tried for my preferences and IEMs/headphones.
I actually prefer this for the Clears that I was also borrowing over the BF2 and RNHP combo, it was just that slight bit more engaging with a bit more forwardness and impact.
The amp is a little wider than the RNHP with more bass presence and impact from what I can tell. It is also definitely more forward than the RNHP which I personally like a lot with most of my gear, the only thing I prefer on the RNHP is my Earsonics Graces as the Monotor makes them a bit too forward for me.
I will also add that I don’t listen to many genres that involve using natural instruments so the timbre being a bit less natural than the RNHP doesn’t bother me, but thats definitely one aspect that the RNHP does pull ahead in when listening to that sort of music.
I really like that it has both 6.35mm and 3.5mm outputs since I tend to use iems at my desk a lot and it means one less adapter.
Sorry if this ended up being much more of a ramble than a more structured format, but I felt like I wanted to give another view on the Monotor as it definitely deserves more praise.
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