Monoprice Liquid Spark for Sennheiser HD 6xx: Good idea? (+Need a DAC)

[Energycore]

Recently I bought a mono 111567 amp for my Sennheiser HD 6xx.

 

I liked the sound, however I feel like it both didn't give me the improvement I wanted, and it distorts VERY easily on high volumes. You can hear unpleasant crackling.

 

I returned the product from Amazon because thankfully I was in the window, so now I have options for amps and I'm looking at something a little nicer.

 

I saw a review of the Monoprice Liquid Spark and I saw that it's very close to the Magni 3 (only loses in corner cases) AND it's relatively accessible in my country (I can only buy from amazon.com.mx), so I'm thinking about jumping on one.

 

I also would need a DAC for the amp. Not looking for anything fancy, just want good bang for buck. Under $99 is preferable, only from amazon.com.mx. I would like RCA output so that I can buy studio monitors later.

 

If you think nothing of what's available there is worth anything, let me know. We have limited audio supplies.

[Spuriae]

Crackling at high volumes sounds like a hair is caught in the headphone driver. You may want to consider tearing it down and checking for that before spending more money.

 

For 300Ω loads the Magni 3 is better than the Liquid Spark in virtually every measurable aspect, not just corner cases, and the Magni Heresy significantly better still.

 

If you do still decide to buy a DAC/amp around that price point, and are purely chasing objective measured performance for the money:

 

The Sabaj a10h might be worth looking into; its amplifier circuit is a clone of the Topping L30, currently the highest SINAD amplifier on Audiosciencereview, and manufacturer measurements appear to confirm a comparable performance level. I believe a unit is waiting for review at ASR at some point if you want to wait for that. Cheaper than the Liquid Spark on Amazon.com.mx. Edit: The a10h appears to have a poor grounding layout or power supply coupling to mains power, giving it high mains noise. Even though the amplifier circuit itself performs on-par with the L30 and the problem could probably be fixed cheaply with a lower leakage wall power supply, I can't recommend it as highly given these issues.

 

The Liquid Spark DAC, Modi, and JDS Atom aren't available on Amazon.com.mx. If Aliexpress is an option and you resample to 48kHz, the Meizu hifi dongle performs on par with the above for about $25USD. The Tempotec Sonata HD Pro is a dongle at about the price you're looking for with comparable performance, but you might feel that the dongle setup with 3.5mm out instead of RCA is a bit janky. The SMSL Sanskrit 10th Mk II is about $150USD and performs slightly better than the above in most measures but has low frequency IMD issues that make me reluctant to recommend it. Khadas Tone Board and Topping D10 are also good candidates around that price.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Nimrodor
Sabaj a10h measurements now available

[Energycore]

Just now, Nimrodor said:

Crackling at high volumes sounds like a hair is caught in the headphone driver. You may want to consider tearing it down and checking for that before spending more money.

Oh. Thanks for the heads up, I hope it's just this. I do have long hair so that's probably what's going on.

 

7 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

For 300Ω loads the Magni 3 is better than the Liquid Spark in virtually every measurable aspect, not just corner cases, and the Magni Heresy significantly better still.

Interesting. Unfortunately Schiit doesn't sell outside the US, it's a shame really.

 

Let me look for hairs before jumping on new hardware. If the crackling is solved I'm ok with this amp's performance.

 

I can always look for something in the $400 range a year from now to get the experience of upgrading your sound setup again.

[Energycore]

33 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

Crackling at high volumes sounds like a hair is caught in the headphone driver

LOL. This was the problem. I can't believe something that stupid got me xD

 

I gave the driver and earcuffs a good clean. They're good now

[rice guru]

The liquid spark is great it's a different amp to the magni it's a warmer amp to me it's a good pairing with the 6xx. Wither amp imo works great for the magni 3+..liquid spark has slightly less power. But the thing the liquid spark has over all the $100 amp is it's ability to do big boy bass that only more expensive amps can do. Measurements won't tell you the whole story. Dac wise ant of the $100 DACs would work with it .