Yes, Tari has a great space at work for us to meet.

Here is a link to Alex's ongoing blog about the LAu

..dB

Unfortunately the HD800 only had dual 3pin xlrs and I didn't include this as an option for the proto ( it will be standard in the production LAu ) , no adapter also meant no ability to use either LG or LF which was a real pity.

What?  Dude, the stock cable's under that foam rectangle in the box.  Unless some UPS guy opened the box and stole it it's there.

As this is a Liquid Gold thread and not a meet impressions thread, I'll make my thoughts brief:


(As a disclaimer, we were probably overloading the DAC by putting out to three amps at once, with RCA splitters and then loop outs we were driving the BA, LG, and Lau at the same time.  So... I'm not sure what conclusions, if any, a potential buyer could draw from this.  I don't know that they can.  Its more about me listening to music, enjoying it, and then writing about everything involved in the experience except for the music as some bizarre penance for possible misdeeds in a past life.  Reading these impressions is just masochistic of you to be honest, but at least its hive masochism, so its all okay.)


Although I didn't get to hear it balanced (it seems like an unspoken meet rule is any little thing that can go wrong will go wrong) I did enjoy the Gold, which is saying something as I'm not generally into solid state full size dynamic amps.  The first thing that struck me (and this was listening to a godmodded LCD-3 no less) was the soundstage - this is something that I've always felt well designed DHT amps had over solid state- B22, GS-Xv1, Headroom Max, Burson, whatever - they always felt constricted.  The LAu had soundstage though, a sense of (not artificial) space that allowed my NAD to breathe.  This was consistent with every headphone I listened to it with.  The other thing that struck me was its engaging quality - I'll point out that this is not to say that it is colored necessarily.  Great extension and bass presence, definitely sounded like a solid state amp with a lot of power at its disposal.  In the interest of not sounding like a shill, (and since this is EF) I will say that Joni Mitchell's voice sounded a bit sharp compared to what I am used to with the Balancing Act.  Whether this was the fundamental in her voice (Don thinks maybe the mids stand out with this amp), the harmonics, or some other part of the chain I don't know, and I'm not sure its repeatable/statistically significant to any degree.  It is something I've noticed with solid state in general after listening to a lot of tubes lately, and while the LAu may have struck gold with its ability to throw a soundstage no other solid state can match, the sharpness/edge that I sometimes hear in solid state seems to have not magically found a solution.  For those who don't experience or don't think they experience this with solid state, it would then be pretty darn close to a perfect amp solid state amp.


Edit- after reading what Don had to say, I would clarify- to me glare and sharpness are two different things.  I didn't really hear what I would term glare with the amp. 


One more thing to note - the amp has great resolution and is pretty revealing of source gear.  Don noticed loss of resolution when the volume was set too high on the Mytek, and switching to the ODAC as a source was instantly noticeable.  Cymbals were really painful to my treble-phobic ears with that combo.


I promise when I started this post I intended to be brief.  When I start typing I get very stream-of-consciousness-y and end up being so long-winded that I end up writing long run on sentences to explain why I write such long run on sentences.

Link: http://www.cavalliaudio.com/index.php?p=morestuff&stuffId=5


I think its really cool that Alex is doing this, even if I don't understand everything he's talking about.  Companies that have white papers and detail the technical progression of their amps tend to have less to hide, and are usually sound designs.


There was actually a green screen behind us at the meet, just send me a picture of your place and I'll edit some of the pictures to show being in Sachu's place.