You don’t have to unplug with the 788, but you do have to go through the menu to switch to line-out. Which takes about 3 clicks, and some knob rotation each time… (5 seconds once you get used to it). It’s not the most intuitive method, imo though.
Pre out is the output after amplification.
1 Like
that’s exactly what I needed to understand. Danke!
edit - is anyone else having the system remove quotes of who / what you’re replying too? I’ve had it happen twice now and no clue why.
got my 888 today 
only took 3 days to get to me from Shenzhen. i’m in albuquerque right now.
Ok so i tried out the SP200 and im very surprised. It brings out something ive suspected about the audiophile industry. And there’s two words that seem to symbolize best what I’m thinking. The Classy and the Hot Dog.
The SP200 seems to me to sound classy. amplifiers like the Shiit Magni sound to me more like Hot Dog. Hot Dog reminds me of what they call surfers who impose their own style on the ocean waves giving a more exciting performance. I guess I suspected from what I heard about the 888 that my music would come out sounding emphasized like the Magni. but instead it sounds more subdued, restrained, deeper. where as the Magni seems to emphasize features of the music more, sounding more exciting. Dont get me wrong though, on certain songs the 888 sounds fantasic.
I’m sad to say I may prefer the Hot Dog to the Classy when it comes how my music is portrayed by a AMP/DAC. but how the artist intended the music to be is important to me. would they approve?
I tried pairing the Drop Grace DAC balanced to it but I did not like the sound. since i got Amazon Music HD. I noticed a lot of tracks i played on it sound like im listening to this music through a dome. Bass sounds a little weird. cymbals crashing sound domed. I dont know if its trying to be “warm” or something. I don’t think this is a good DAC.
So I switched over to the Shiit Modi DAC if it sounds much better. I plugged it in through the RCA jacks. but I’m listening to it through the balanced port through my headphones. is this okay? or should I be listening to it through the single-ended port?
The 888 is much smaller than I thought it would be which actually suits me better. the Drop 789 seem to be quite large. so I prefer a smaller amp since I’m just putting this next to my laptop.
both sides of the amp are slanted, one side seems to be slanted more than the other but I don’t know, it seems to play tricks on me. it’s just barely slanted so it doesn’t seem all that stylish. one may wonder why they even bothered. the build quality on it seems medium. it doesn’t seem high quality. But its decent.
the power cable turned out to be a little short I would like to get a longer one. it’s a rectangular three prong plug female about 3 feet, do I need to search for something special on Amazon to replace this?
2 Likes
I like the way you describe it. This is actually my real undisclosed concern, that I’ll get the SP200+SU-8 (a serious upgrade from the only piece of headphone equipment I had, the FX Audio DAC-X6) and that I’ll then realize the combo sounds EXCEPTIONAL…ly dull. Or, even worse, the fear that I won’t hear a difference.
I guess for a lot of us this amp will mean finding out what “clean” is, and then if “clean” is something we like to listen to. For me personally, spending what for me is a fortune just in order to get an answer to this makes me kinda queasy
1 Like
I wouldnt worry. Now that ive tried other music than just simple minds it does sound great lol. and for 260$ its not to dear. With the Modi its a lot of treble though. Maybe the SU8 settings will help with this. I really need to get a better DAC though. I bought the SMSL SU8 DAC from Drop for 170$ I thought i made out till i saw the shipping date: Dec 17 2019. Why am i not suprised. I was thinking of getting the Geshelli Labs Enog but i need a USB Port. Is there a way to hook this up to a laptop? Maybe i should just get a Khadas tone board.
1 Like
You could get a USB to toslink adapter for the enog if you wanted. The tone board would work but imo it wouldn’t be a step up from the grace sdac
This power cable should work if you want a longer one.
according to Amirm the sp200 balanced and single-ended output are basically identical on the sp200. You can use either one based on convenience…
Speaking of the front panel, I forgot to highlight inclusion of both XLR and 1/4 inch jack. As testing will show, these are connected to the same output so no increased power from XLR connector. Use it for convenience.
Pretty powerful little amp. Zeos was right. I have the d70 set to -12db and trying all my headphones feel no need to hit high gain. Also got the balanced and and single ended interconnects plugged in and switching back and forth theres no immediate audible difference that I can tell. I suspect the 887 wont perform any better really so it’ll come down to look and feel. Also have to test iems with both. But overall this is great amp. Also will update later… but so far my unit has yet to get “toasty” as Zeos mentioned… but I’ll update if that changes.
8 Likes
That G symbol there, does that belong to one of those wireless charging mouse pads?
If you are ever looking for the source of sweeping noise and humming, that is it.
yeah, it’s a wireless charge pad. I’ll make note of it, but no issues with noise or hums.
Thanks for the link to the longer cable giova. The output power from the XLR and single ended being the same surprises me. I thought the XLR outputted more power 
Was the Drop 789 the same? I noticed that with my Elex i had the gain on high and the dial at 12. I worry that i might get a set of headphones the 888 wont be able to give enough volume.
i think anything is a step up from the Grace DAC lol
No. The 789 was always noted for having less power with the single-ended outputs than its XLR. If anything the 789’s single-ended output was never that powerful - I read a lot of comments saying if you’re only running single-ended get an Atom.
oh shit, did i just make a mistake purchasing the 888 over the 789?
You have 12:00 on high gain for the Elex? Are they that hard to drive or do you listen really loud? I am assuming you are referring to the SP200.
Shane D
i dont think their hard to drive. But im getting the argons soon. i got tinnitus but i dont think it interferes that much with my hearing. I dont think i usually use really high volume.
oh shit, did i just make a mistake purchasing the 888 over the 789?
I wouldn’t worry about it. The advantage here goes to the 888. You get a ton of power from the single-ended output on the 888, which isn’t really the case with the 789 where you HAVE to go balanced to get the full (up to) 6 watts. Not the case with the 888 chip. Full 6 watts of power per channel at 16 ohms in single-ended. 
It’s a boon for headphones that don’t have balanced capability… like the Neumanns or 1990 pros.
There IS a difference in power with the inputs XLR vs Single-ended depending on the DAC. Topping D70 for example outputs 4 volts line out balanced and 2 volts line single-ended.
1 Like