Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon Manuel utilisateur
Liquid Carbon
Balanced Transportable
Headphone Amplifier
®
Cavalli audio
Copyright © 2015-2016 Cavalli Audio, LLC
All Rights Reserved
®
Page 2of 15 Copyright © 2015-2016 Cavalli Audio, LLC
Copyright © 2015-2016 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 3of 15
Congratulations! You’re now the proud owner of
the Cavalli Audio Liquid Carbon®Balanced
Transportable Headphone Amplifier!
Amplifier Break-In
Your Liquid Carbon® amplifier has been tested before leaving the factory, but has very few
hours on it. Most amplifiers need at least 150 hours of continuous use, playing music, to reach
their full sound signatures. We recommend about the same for the Liquid Carbon®.
You can, when you’re not listening, you leave the amp on continuously with your source in loop
mode for enough hours to reach the 150 hour point. It is not necessary to leave headphones
attached. In fact, we recommend that you disconnect your headphones when not listening
during this break-in period.
At this point - and not before this point –will the amplifier reach the level of performance
enabling you to accurately judge its sound quality and to determine whether it meets your
critical listening standard.
Before you judge the sound quality of the amp please follow this procedure!
Return Policy
You may return your Liquid Carbon® amplifier within 30 days of delivery. Returning the amp
within this time period will incur a 30% restocking fee.
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Important points to remember about the Cavalli
Audio Liquid Carbon®Balanced Transportable
Headphone Amplifier
The Liquid Carbon® is a lightweight, small, transportable balanced solid state Solid State
headphone amplifier. It is especially designed for handling a wide variety of headphones from
IEMs to planar magnetics.
The amp has both balanced (XLR) and single ended (RCA + 3.5mm) inputs. The input type is
selectable with a 2-position front panel pushbutton switch. The single ended input has an
internal solid state buffered phase splitter to create a balanced signal to drive the amp fully
balanced.
The amp has two gain settings to help with the wide range of headphone impedances and
sensitivities. The high gain is 3X and the low gain is 1X. The Liquid Carbon® circuit allows you to
hot switch the gain using the front panel switch.
The Liquid Carbon® has 3 outputs: 4 Pin XLR balanced, 4 Pin RSA (Kobiconn) balanced, and TRS
(standard ¼” phone plug) single ended. Note that the SE output, which comes from half of each
channel, only delivers ¼ the power of the balanced output.
The Liquid Carbon® is powered by a universal switch mode power supply (SMPS) which makes it
operational in nearly every location globally using a standard power cord suitable to the local
conditions with a standard IEC connection to the amp.
Copyright © 2015-2016 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 5of 15
Operation
Your Liquid Carbon® amplifier operates over a wide variety of power conditions, 85-265VAC/50-
60Hz.
1) Insert the proper power cord. Be absolutely sure that your power cord has an approved
safety ground connection from the amp to the outlet.
2) The leftmost pushbutton is the power switch. Push this button in to turn on the map. All
three LEDs on the front panel should light.
3) The center pushbutton is the gain switch. Out is 1X and in is 3X. The LED indicator will be
white for 1X and red for 3X. You can hot switch the gain while listening to music.
4) The right pushbutton is the input selector. Out is balanced and in is SE. The LED indicator
will be white for balanced and red for SE. You can hot switch the input while listening to
music.
5) We recommend that you let the amp warm up for about 15-30 minutes before connecting
headphones and listening (although this is not required).
6) If there are any problems with the normal operation of your amp please contact Cavalli
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CAUTION
Please remember to turn down the volume (or power down
completely) before plugging or unplugging any sources or
headphones into or from your Liquid Carbon®.
Doing so will protect your both your hearing, and your
equipment (headphones, Liquid Carbon®, etc.).
Please note that we are not responsible for any damage to
your hearing, or damage to any equipment, due to a failure to
lower volumes or power down before plugging/unplugging
any sources or headphones.
Copyright © 2015-2016 Cavalli Audio, LLC Page 7of 15
Headphone Outputs
The Liquid Carbon® Balanced Transportable Headphone Amplifier is equipped with one 4 Pin
XLR output, one 4 Pin RSA (Kobiconn) output, and one TRS (Phone). All three output jacks are
on the front panel.
4 Pin XLR
This jack supports headphones wired with a 4 Pin fully balanced connector. This jack is
labeled above the round jack with the letters “bal”.
CAUTION: do not connect headphones with a 4 Pin XLR which has a common ground (3
wire) connection to the headphones. This will absolutely damage the amplifier and
void your warranty.
RSA (Kobiconn) Jack
This mini 4 pin balanced jack is located on the front panel to right of the TRS jack. The
jack is also labeled “bal” with a headphone symbol above.
TRS Jack
One ¼” TRS jack is located on the front panel of the amp. This jack is labeled above with
the letters “se”. Note that this output, using half of each amplifier, supplies only ¼ the
power of the balanced output.
Recommended Mode of Operation
The Liquid Carbon amplifier can run with singled ended input
and single ended output or a combination of single ended and
balanced. However, to get the best performance from this
amplifier we recommend that you operate in fully balanced
mode from input to output.
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Balanced vs Single Ended Outputs
The Liquid Carbon® is a versatile balanced amplifier in that it can receive both Balanced and SE
inputs, always working in balanced mode, and it offers both Balanced and SE outputs.
When using the Carbon, however, it is important to remember that the Carbon is designed to
perform its best using the balanced output. Balanced output will maximize the power output
you can get from the amp while minimizing the noise floor to the low noise levels available
from the amp
We recommend that, if at all possible, you use headphones terminated with balanced
connections.
The SE output on the Carbon is provided for those who cannot, for various reasons, run in
Balanced out mode. The SE output uses only half of each channel’s amplifier. In this mode the
Carbon cannot deliver as much power at any given volume setting. Also, because the SE out
doesn’t benefit from common mode type noise rejection, the noise floor from the SE output is
higher than from the Balanced output. This is normal.
To get the best from your Carbon, whether you are using planars, dynamics, or IEMs, it will
always be best to run from the Balanced outs.
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Front Panel Controls and Jacks
This diagram shows the power button at left, gain button in center, and input selector button at right.
There are two balanced outs, 4 Pin XLR and RSA. There is one SE out TRS jack.
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Rear Panel Jacks and Power Inlet
This diagram shows the power inlet at right. There is on set of 3 Pin XLR jacks for balanced input. There
are 2 RCA jacks and one 3.5mm TRS jack for SE input. SE input is phase split to create a balanced signal to
the amplifiers.
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