[Maelob]

Since you are using XLr inputs on carbon, you can connect rca output Arche to rca input on carbon. No problem - however read manual and be careful with volume - if you want to use carbon via Arche you may have to increase the volume on Arche for a full signal to be passed to the carbon - so don’t do that with a headphone connected to the Arche-

 

[Maelob]

Deleted

 

[Maelob]

And don’t forget to decrease the volume on Arche after done listening to Carbon amp- you don’t want to inadvertently blow you Stellia if you connect them to Arche at 99

 

[dbsylvia]

The only way I can think of, is to use RCA bypass output on LCX into RCA input of Arche. I don't know anything about the Arche though so I may be completely off on my advice.

 

[PaganDL]

Have a Liquid Carbon that is attached to a A & K Kann Cube by the XLR cables supplied with the Cube. Just bought a Focal Arche with Focal Stelia Headphones. Is there any way I can attach the Liquid Carbon to the Arche?

Hi @bettyn,

Not sure why you're double amping as there's nothing wrong with doing so but if Arche is your source amp after the Cube (Kann to Arche) then connect another XLR to XLR cable to the Arche XLR rear output to the LCX XLR rear input.

As a final note, make sure the volume knobs on both the Arche & LCX aren't past 12 to potentially avoid any distortion or possible feedback.

Feel free to ask more if you need.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[theMillerdave]

I recently picked one of these up along with a Schiit Modius, and I have to say it is quite versatile and performs great with the balanced out.. the SE out, however, leaves something to be desired, and doesn't seem to have love for power-hungry (like the 300Ω Focal Utopia) cans (in fact, if I crank it past 50% when the high-gain switch is on, the thing shuts off in self-defense). Pairs beautifully with the range of the HiFIMan HE series, as well as my Audeze LCD-2 Closed Backs and ZMF Atticus - especially for bass-heads,

 

[GrandNagus50]

I am jumping in here as the owner of a Cavalli Liquid Carbon from the first release back five years or so ago. I have underutilized my LC, I confess, partly because I don't have an entire audio system built around it that does it justice. What I would like to do atm is play music through my laptop (Dell XPS) and use the Liquid Carbon when I choose higher impedance headphones like my also underutilized Sennheiser HD600's. I tried this earlier today playing Tidal computer app output through an Audioengine D3 DAC/amp. I connected the laptop/DAC to the Cavalli using a 3.5mm to RCA connector cable. The Senns have a balanced cable to plug into the four pin XLR output from the Cavalli.

I have to say that the results were underwhelming. They were ok for quiet classical music, but when I went to vintage rock the sound seemed thin and distant. I suspect that what I am feeding the Cavalli is inappropriate somehow, what I have is badly matched equipment. When I use an XPS/Audioengine/Philips Fidelio X2 system the sound actually seems a bit better than what I was getting through the "better" system involving the Cavalli and the Senns.

Ok, I guess I am trying to get by here on the cheap and maybe that is not possible. I ask: what would I need in terms of upstream components to get the most out of the Cavalli. Do I need a better DAC? How much better? I suppose if worse comes to worst I can sell the Cavelli, but I would like to try to coax some performance out of it before giving up.

Doug Greenberg, Berkeley, CA

Hi, I have copied/pasted my post of a few months ago above, and am back with more! I got the feedback, both from my own ears and from other people, that the Sennheiser HD600s just don't play well with the Liquid Carbon, this even with a balanced cable, etc. So I put the Liquid Carbon away again for a while. In the meantime, I bought an iFi micro idsd black label DAC/amp. With this little device, the Sennheiser hd600s sound terrific! Much more bass, much fuller sound.

This seems like an indictment of the Liquid Carbon, and I confess I have had dark thoughts that the whole project was a hype or even a scam . But ok, I will put those thoughts aside and try again to make the best of the fact that my LC sits in its box in a spare room doing nothing atm.

I could invest in a better DAC than the dragonfly red I used previously, or I could hook the ifi black label to the Cavalli via its output jacks. But this leads me to a couple of questions:

1) what headphones actually "sing" using the Liquid Carbon as the amp? The Hd600s certainly do not. I guess what I am asking is what headphones might sound better using the LC than the ifi black label?

2) is it a big sacrifice to use non-balanced inputs on the LC? I actually am reluctant to recable headphones with XLR termination just for the sake of using them on the LC. If the non-balanced circuitry of the LC is crap, maybe I should just sell my LC for whatever I can get for it.

I am not deliberately being antagonistic to the Liquid Carbon world here. I would like to get some good use out of the amp, really.

 

[GrandNagus50]

Have a Liquid Carbon that is attached to a A & K Kann Cube by the XLR cables supplied with the Cube. Just bought a Focal Arche with Focal Stelia Headphones. Is there any way I can attach the Liquid Carbon to the Arche?

I guess I also am curious about why you would want to do this? Particularly for the Focal headphones, I would think the Arche would be a significantly better amp than the Liquid Carbon.

 

[networkn]

Hi.
I am considering grabbing the Liquid Carbon X from Drop as it's $200 which seems hard to beat in terms of value.
I have an original BiFrost DAC with no upgrades.
I use HD800S, Beyer T1 (v1) and HD650 (original version) with the HD800s being what I use most often.

Are these a good combination of DAC/AMP? I wanted the SDAC version but they aren't available right now.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Shane D]

Hi.
I am considering grabbing the Liquid Carbon X from Drop as it's $200 which seems hard to beat in terms of value.
I have an original BiFrost DAC with no upgrades.
I use HD800S, Beyer T1 (v1) and HD650 (original version) with the HD800s being what I use most often.

Are these a good combination of DAC/AMP? I wanted the SDAC version but they aren't available right now.

Thanks for any advice.

I enjoyed the amp although I am currently trying to sell mine. I find it soft, almost to the point of "tubey". I suspect your T1's and 650's will sound very good with it.
I loved mine with my T5p.2's. It softened the sharp edges of that headphone.

It is a pretty economical amp for the headphone collection you have.

 

[Odin412]

I enjoyed the amp although I am currently trying to sell mine. I find it soft, almost to the point of "tubey". I suspect your T1's and 650's will sound very good with it.

I agree, the Liquid Carbon is sometimes described as a solid-state amp that sounds a bit like a tube amp. I bought the original Liquid Carbon and I'm still enjoying it with a variety of headphones, including the HD 650 and T1v2.

 

[networkn]

Thanks. I already have the Bottlehead Crack Amp, so I am not sure if a warm Solid State is the right approach, but on the other hand I prefer my music slightly warm anyway....
The cans I have (with the exception of the HD800S) are pretty warm anyway right?
Hmm wondering what to do.

 

[Shane D]

Thanks. I already have the Bottlehead Crack Amp, so I am not sure if a warm Solid State is the right approach, but on the other hand I prefer my music slightly warm anyway....
The cans I have (with the exception of the HD800S) are pretty warm anyway right?
Hmm wondering what to do.

For that same money, I would look Hard at a Schiit Asgard 3. Tons of power, great price and I have yet to read a bad review on it.

 

[blackdragon87]

is this a good match with bifrost 2. might be able to get one for cheap.

thanks

 

[brandonwhm]

So I've got a usability question for anyone who can chime in about the LCX. I've got one just shipped out to me and I am now making a decision on the cables for it. I intend to run it off balanced obviously to my Edition XX cans. I also intend to connect my desktop speakers (nothing special, Razer Nommo) to the RCA passthrough. I know that it doesn't have pre amp controls so I can't control the volume of the passthrough but does the passthrough audio get muted when I plug in to the balanced headphone output or does it play all the time?