šŸ”· Monolith Liquid Spark Dac


@j.foppsā€™s impressions were correct solid dac for the price. I will add though coax sounds slightly better than usb. Slightly wider and slightly less treble

also thanks to @j.fopps for selling me this unit and hooking a bro up

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Whatcha think @RiceGuru This or d10

Looks like it could be a good complement to the spark. The combo could sound amazing when it comes to vocals from whatā€™s been said above and how the spark sounds from personal experience.

This cause the d10 is hard to get legit

Do you guys think this is a warm DAC? I donā€™t think itā€™s warm but I only have my Musician Pegasus / Sony UDA-1 to compare to. Itā€™s definitely more neutral sounding than my Sony UDA-1 which is slightly warm IMO, definitely more detailed in the high-end than my Sony.

I donā€™t wanna call it warm. Itā€™s neutral and more energetic than what Iā€™m used to. I do gain a bit more power/ impact as well as resolution than my d10 which is surprising there is a significant enough difference to notice. The d10 feels overall softer sounding than the LS DAC which sounds wider but more precise

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https://youtu.be/sVctVZaJMDc glad he didnā€™t hype it too much I still donā€™t know what the food metaphor means I guess crispy and butterry sound which I can aggree with I guessed?

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I would think buttery means smooth lol dunno about crispy. I think Zeos was hungry during that videoā€¦ best give that man a snickers

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But he said like buttered toast I believe

Now i want toastā€¦

Yea i got the impression it is a warm dac, like creamy buttered toast warmā€¦ eh, yea.
Seems like a nice alternative from the other budget dacā€™s that are all generally neutral/bright.

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I think it was ā€œsalty crusted butterā€ whatever the hell that means.

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Did you pair your LS dac with the a3? If so, Iā€™m curious to know how the modius+a3 compares to your new pairing with the atom too.

I did. At this point,.I have tried the E30, LS DAC, Modi 3, and Modius with the Asgard. I personally hears very little difference between any of them. For me, the Modius was more about looks and two outputs than sound quality.

Right now I am really enjoying LS DAC with the JDS Atom, but I think the amp makes way more difference than the DACā€¦ At least at this level.

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Okay so Iā€™ve used the Liquid Spark for a while now with the Dt880 250 Ohm, Koss headphones and some IEMs with an if audio IEMatch. So far I havenā€™t had anything connected where I could turn the headphone past 12 oā€™clock on low gain, so Iā€™m kinda wondering whether I have everything connected right or whether the LS can just output waaaay more then Iā€™ll ever need.
I have an E10K over USB to my pc, and then a 3.5mm to tulip cable connecting the E10K from the back of the E10K to the liquid spark. This is correct right?

Yes, thatā€™s normal, there isnā€™t a headphone your likely to ever plug into it that will need more than a few 100 milliwatts to get loud, and most require much less than that.
A headphones sensitivity dB/mW can be used to calculate the required power.

There are headphones that need more power HE6/Susvara/Abyss 1266, but they are not generally something you would plug into a spark.

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Alright thanks. Already thought so but just wanted to make sure before I find out later Iā€™ve been doing it wrong all along :stuck_out_tongue:.

I end up pusing both bey 4xx and 250 ohm 990 past 12 oclock not much more than 12 oclock but I hay have my settings a bit quite digitally as on youtube I cant really push it over 12 and if itā€™s on spotufy and music bee I do end up pushing it

So Iā€™m curious for opinions:

  • Stick with my FiiO E10K and Liquid Spark Amp (ā‚¬0,-)
  • Swap the E10K for the Liquid Spark DAC (ā‚¬115)
  • Swap the E10K for the Topping D10s (ā‚¬99)
  • Sell the Liquid Spark and E10K and get d Topping DX3 (ā‚¬230 - what I get for the LS Amp)

The LS DAC should get in stock somewhere this month.

what do you expect to change or improve?

Well one thing is looks, the E10K on top of the liquid spark looks a bit stupid. That alone is enough to spend at least ā‚¬99 of course, but I have no idea what to expect and whether or not I will even be able to tell the difference when getting a new DAC. I admit to having a hard time hearing the difference between the LS and E10K headphone out and my source is Spotify, so Iā€™m a bit afraid nothing will improve.
I was thinking of getting something with Bluetooth so I can easily switch between my laptop an desktop, was think Xduoo xq-50 I guess the d10s and LS DAC are better quality.