Great piece of equipment. Didn't try to feed it from RCA inputs, but who needs SE input if this guy is designed for a fully balanced mode. Just be sure to pair it with the right DAC and use headphones that make nice synergy with tube amps.

Plenty of power to spare- I am feeding this with silver USB to Monolith Alex Cavalli DAC with dual Mogami XLR to this amp. Monolith XLR finished headphone cable to Monolith AMT's.
I am very high volume listener and there is more amp and headphones here than I can take. Very clear and accurate voicing- bass suffers as it does with all headphones- but this setup is fairly tolerable if the volume is kept reasonable. Above the low end everything else is superb. Piano, acoustic guitar have excellent tonal finishes and details. Using flac. lossless or 192k type source will bring out all this amp has and it's very clean when working hard with out being sterile.

As I've read in other online reviews, I had the problem of the left and right channels having uneven power (volume) at lower listening volumes, up until about 9 - 10 o'clock and above on the volume dial. Many of my headphones are sensitive, and this volume was too high for comfortable listening. Despite sounding good for the sale price of $599, I decided to return this amp, as it didn't work for my setup. If you only own low sensitivity headphones, like the HEDD Audio Heddphone, this amp will work for you. Or you can buy an external attenuator.

Love the sound it is warm, but acurate. The detail is nice and is different sound signature from my Burso soloist 3x, which is exactly what I wanted.

Very good amp. Satisfied with acquisition )

A very stout amplifier, smooth clean sound signature, made by the legendary Alex Cavalli, while it doesnt really sound anything like my Liquid Crimson it definitely showcases a tiny bit of that lineage in its mid presentation. At 400-600$ this is an absolute steal in its price-range that can pretty confidently match aps 2-3x this price especially if you mod it or tube roll it. If your someone like me who mostly games this amp is totally worth it just for the purpose of improving your audio quality, does so ten fold, grab it on sale.

Nice soundstage, clear full bass and mid-range spectrum, especially when used with balanced XLR.

I just received the amp after it travelled some weeks to get here to Germany ? it was well worth the wait!

Even without burn-in time it made my Focal Utopia come to life in a very natural and extremely pleasing kind of way. I put it up next to my Burson Audio Conductor 3XP which is a great amp, bright and highly analytic. (I'm actually using the Burson's DAC to drive the Monolith.)

And I can say it's worth having both amps: the Burson for whenever I'm eager to hear through all the details in a crystal clear way, the Monolith for deeply involving, long listening sessions without getting tired. As a rule of thumb I would say it may very well become my choice for live recordings and classical orchestral works.

I have rolled tubes with my old amp, and I found it improved listening pleasure immensely. With the Monolith, I don't feel that I need to do this ? the supplied Electro Harmonix tubes are well chosen.

There are only two things I don't like very much: first, a gain switch is missing! The Utopias are 80 ohms cans, and volume increases to max. bearable levels with only a very small turn of the dial (to about 7 o'clock position).

Second, a quick-release XLR socket would have been a better choice. I always need to hold the body of the amp when I'm plugging or unplugging the headphones, because the sockets need some pushing and pulling for release.

Bottom line: highly recommended.

PS #1: I am using it fully balanced (XLR in, XLR out).

PS #2: The discounted price in May '21 helped my decision, otherwise import tax would have made it a very unattractive deal.

Ok, so I purchased an open box unit to save some bucks and was a no-brainer. Unit came in great shape, no missing accessories and ready to rock. This thing is kind of a misfit. Not really a true tube amp, not really a solid state. I don't have patience for tube rolling, so I just put a loki in the chain to adjust for my ears. Overall, the sound quality is great. Not as analytical and fatiguing as a THX amp, but can still put out plenty of power, without really any distortion/noise. The sound, to me, is a bit more relaxed and musical. Balanced output is a definite plus and really allows the LP to shine. Wouldn't use for IEM, but why would anyone want an amp for those anyway? This thing feeds power hungry headphones and keeps 'em fat and happy.

I love it. But a question: On the back are two sets of RCA connections. One set has a vertical line and the other a dot. There is an arrow starting at the vertical line and pointing to the dot. Which one should be used when connecting Liquid Spark?

Another question: what are the balanced inputs for if I am connecting my cd player via the Liquid Spark DAC (which has no balanced connectors)?