You just laid out my dac path! Airist to RME. 
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Thanks all. The Topping or RME both added to the top 2 spots on my list. I think I will wait till the amp arrives. I don’t want to buy another Schiit multibit as long as I still have a Lyr 3 Multi.
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Monolith Balanced Headphone Amplifier THX AAA 887 is on the monolith site
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=39359
looks familiar and A. has measured it (not a believer, not critical) but if someone is interested… can google himself
shipping will start at 27th october… - not yet to europe from what I read
I prefer the Massdrop finish
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Would anyone here be comfortable recommending a 789 with the HE-6? Or would it need more power?
my 789 finally arrived… quick n dirty office setup smartphone picture
first song was “seemed like a good idea at the time” by The Darkness. Fast, clear… no coloration.
Played a bit “Muse” over mqa Tidal Masters paired with ifi xDSD and the Elegia … fine
Now I need harder to drive cans - my 1990s are the “hardest” to drive, I own 
…560s…Aeolus…?
Happy so far…
have to do some A/B listening with ifi xDSD as DAC/AMP and xDSD as DAC+789 as AMP
Forgot my 2.5mm TRRS to XLR adapter at home … so my balanced IEMs will have to wait
My balanced custom Elegia cable by oidio sound UK should arrive at the end of the week…
Will test my 660s balanced this evening…
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Congratulations.
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thank you Paul - today is kind of hectic at the office with a few meetings and this evening soccer is the highest priority with FC Bayern München playing in the Champions League …
somehow bad timing - I just want to listen to my new toy 
and fall deep in the new-toy-syndrom
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I can relate to this. I listen to my music in the evening aswell.
My wife’s a big Manchester City fan (though only since Pep Guardiola arrived) so it all stops in our home in order for her to watch darling Pep, I mean City. Bayern though should be ok at home against Locomotive Moscow, but they’re all good teams at this stage. Best of luck with the game and your lovely setup.
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we obviously love Pep… had so much fun with his style - Man City is a strong contender for the finals
today Belgrad is in Munich, not Moscow, but it is not soooo important.
I will have one eye on the tv, my ears elswhere and my wifes eyes?.. will roll 
and I get boxed everytime I miss something important with the match… 
probably will sit down after the match with a beer or three and listen to a few playlists 
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Oooh great choice, love The Darkness. Glad you are liking the 789! It’s nice when you spend money and it doesn’t feel like a waste!
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my wife and I have visited all concerts - the shows are fun and the performance on stage is way over average. The Darkness is/are always a good choice for me, remembering good times.
wanted to tell myself with this song, not to be angry, if my first listen with the new amp will be underwhelming. What should it do way better with my easy to drive cans? Picked it for the “wire with gain, without colour” so I listen to the xDSD DAC with it and it´s good. That is enough for me.
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Oops my mistake. Enjoy.
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it was “Bayer Leverkusen” vs Moscow - sounds similar to “Bayern Munich” vs Belgrad - nice of you takin the time to google
game was fun … 3:0 is not high enough, but Bayern Munich is now first in the group after Tottenham played 2:2(0:2) in Greece
the listening session afterwards (11pm) was chaotic
the balanced connection vs single ended is a thing
I even had the feeling(with a few beer in my head) that single ended on the THX was slower and veiled vs xDSD standalone as DAC/AMP balanced out - that is bs - for sure… my brain… the untrained analytical hearing… switching between line out mode on the xDSD and hf out mode takes a few seconds + unplugging…
I constantly switched between Tidal, my Flacs and some DSD files - pure chaos with 3 different headphones(1990s and Elegia both single ended and 660s balanced)
what makes it worse, is that I ordered last night at 4am the SMSL SU-8 balanced DAC and went to bed - could not resist - the SMSL and my balanced Elegia cable both should arrive tomorrow and I will have the house for myself after office for a few hours 
thought about getting one of those dumb(non powered/passive) XLR switch boxes with 2 pairs XLR in and one XLR out to connect both, the SU-8 and ifi xDSD at the same time with the THX AAA 789
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The THX AAA 789 is now available on A… with Prime S.
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Sales may be tapering with the introduction of competitors THX products. If they had their production situated they could have dominated that niche, but lack of availability left the door open.
Still a fine amp by most accounts, but I’ve personally lost interest. I’m certain owners won’t be regretting as they shouldn’t.
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on ebay germany they still get sold for double of the regular price
because of such as…es… the availabilty also gets like it was - Drop shouldn´t have sold more than one unit per customer
on the other hand… which drop exclusive was more often sold out or requested in the last 1,5 years?
obviously they weren´t interested in optimizing the production - the old apple marketing trick, maybe? - not sure if it went wrong or drop won
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As of April 19, 2020 the 789 is $299 at Drop.
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That’s a good price. Too bad I just fired my budget away this month with another amp. 
Since they’re in the works for a smaller version (here), apparently this is a smaller form factor as well.
If they can accommodate the balanced version in the smaller footprint, then I’d be (even more) interested about this amp.
No rush at this side of the screen.
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Mmmm I dunno about that one. It is pretty neutral to me. The stage is rather spacious giving instruments plenty of breathing room for showing off their distinct character traits. I don’t hear any kind of added warmth, not that the bottom end is lacking. I find the bass pretty confident actually. Lots of great texture added to instrument presence. It doesn’t have any sort of heavy coloration that may spring to mind when thinking about tubes factoring into how an amp can change the overall presentation of a headphone. Instead the CTH takes the tuning of whatever headphone you plug in and fully embraces it. So it may come off as a little dry compared to that sub bass rumbling gooey nature some people have talked about. No where even close to as dry as the 789 still. I’d say its main strength is in how coherent it is with its balanced sounding nature. Less wow effect with more ‘woah, the inconsistencies in the frequency response of my cans are way less noticeable’. At least those are my thoughts going from previous sub $300 set ups. It allowed me to rock out to my TR-X00 Purple Hearts helping me to forget the mid range recession. Love the Elex and Atticus out of it to bits too! Listening with the SDAC built in. Enjoyed it so much, my JDS Atom + OL dac were sold to a better home where they’d get more use. I can’t wait to see how this stacks up against the upgrades coming, which I’ll admit I’m a bit scared of since they may make me consider the CTH dull. Lyr 3 + Bifrost 2 is coming in a bit over a week.
TL;DR - Does a good job of breathing life into headphones while keeping things pretty even not emphasizing any particular part of whatever you pair it with. Little wetness thrown in from the touch of tube.
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So the CTH sounds like a more neutral amp than I thought. That’s interesting. 
I’ve heard nothing but good thing regarding it. I just may pick one up since they’ve dropped down in price, and it sounds like a good tube hybrid.
Thanks for your reply. 
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