This collaborative space allows users to contribute additional information, tips, and insights to enhance the original deal post. Feel free to share your knowledge and help fellow shoppers make informed decisions.
Model: Monolith by Monoprice Liquid Spark Headphone Amplifier by Alex Cavalli
Deal History
Deal History includes data from multiple reputable stores, such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. The lowest price among stores for a given day is selected as the "Sale Price".
Sale Price does not include sale prices at Amazon unless a deal was posted by a community member.
If you need other items get total to $100 and use 25MORE to get $25 Off. I bought this amp, added a cable and a USB Charger I was wanting and paid under $80 including tax..Not bad.
This starts you down the rabbit hole of HiFi. People start here and start dumping money into better sound. I went with an iFi unit and can run from my phone or other sources to good quality headphones. For some there is a huge difference in sound. Hifiman has some decent planar magnetic headphones for relatively inexpensive prices. (from as low as $109 up to $6K). You do need an amp to power something like those. You can squeeze by without, but you are missing out on the potential of the headphones.
Wondering if you might specify the newer designs at this price point that you found outpace this model?
It's gonna be tough finding a better one at this specific price point but a few models from topping and Fiio are at around the $100 price point (or maybe less if bought on sale)
so...for GAMING...this still ok? I think my Fosi Audio DAC-Q4 is starting to go bad...getting static out of my Philips X2HR Fidelio
For gaming, an amp is fairly trivial - it just needs to provide enough power to power your headphones. Your Philips X2HR don't really need a dedicated amp, so any amp will be good.
Your Fosi DAC is a combo unit - it's both a USB DAC and an amp - whereas this Monoprice unit is just an amp. If only the amp portion of your Fosi DAC is going bad, you can connect the Fosi DAC to this amp. This way, your Fosi does the DAC while this unit does the amping. If something else is wrong though, it won't fix anything.
Is something like this worth owning if the nicest headphones I own are Sony wh‑1000xm3's? Or would I not hear much of a difference because those cans are powered already?
Ironically nicer bluetooth headphones like the Xm3 use something called DSP, and if you plug it into an amp it will be louder yes, but you lose the DSP tuning that you get using the active bluetooth mode making it actually sound worse in wired. Some wired bluetooth headphones that are well made like the Focal Bathys for instance dont have as much of a variation between the Bluetooth DSP and analog 3.5mm connection.
Like
Helpful
Funny
Not helpful
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
For gaming, an amp is fairly trivial - it just needs to provide enough power to power your headphones. Your Philips X2HR don't really need a dedicated amp, so any amp will be good.
Your Fosi DAC is a combo unit - it's both a USB DAC and an amp - whereas this Monoprice unit is just an amp. If only the amp portion of your Fosi DAC is going bad, you can connect the Fosi DAC to this amp. This way, your Fosi does the DAC while this unit does the amping. If something else is wrong though, it won't fix anything.
ok, I'll probally just keep a eye out for a DAC/AMP since I don't know what is exactly going out on this...I mean it might be something wrong with the headphones, time will tell I guess. tyvm for your input!
Like
Helpful
Funny
Not helpful
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
Top Comments
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
63 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
It's similar to an amplifier you would use to drive speakers, except it's for headphones.
Typically meant to be placed on a desktop so you can plug your headphones into them to control the volume while using a PC or Mac.
This can be used as a pre-amp into a pair of powered speakers so you would use this to control the volume.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
This starts you down the rabbit hole of HiFi. People start here and start dumping money into better sound. I went with an iFi unit and can run from my phone or other sources to good quality headphones. For some there is a huge difference in sound. Hifiman has some decent planar magnetic headphones for relatively inexpensive prices. (from as low as $109 up to $6K). You do need an amp to power something like those. You can squeeze by without, but you are missing out on the potential of the headphones.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank LiangW7480
Your Fosi DAC is a combo unit - it's both a USB DAC and an amp - whereas this Monoprice unit is just an amp. If only the amp portion of your Fosi DAC is going bad, you can connect the Fosi DAC to this amp. This way, your Fosi does the DAC while this unit does the amping. If something else is wrong though, it won't fix anything.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Your Fosi DAC is a combo unit - it's both a USB DAC and an amp - whereas this Monoprice unit is just an amp. If only the amp portion of your Fosi DAC is going bad, you can connect the Fosi DAC to this amp. This way, your Fosi does the DAC while this unit does the amping. If something else is wrong though, it won't fix anything.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!