Macworld

Monoprice Monolith desktop balanced headphone amplifer: A high-value audio component

It might be disappearing from smartphones, but plenty of home and mobile audio gear still has a headphone jack. Most manufacturers, however, treat the component as a mere checkbox item—they give very little consideration to the performance it will deliver when paired with a great set of cans.

Whether it’s the quality of the DAC (the chip that performs the digital to analog conversion), the amplification stage, or both, most any audiophile will sing the praises of a high-quality, dedicated headphone amp. The Monolith by Monoprice desktop balanced headphone amp is in that class, and it’s priced hundreds less than some competitors that don’t offer nearly as many features.

Not that $500 is cheap, of course, but Monolith once again delivers a high-performance product that delivers a tremendous amount of bang for the buck.

SOLID BUILD AND SPECS

Monoprice has a well-earned reputation for building high-quality devices and selling them for reasonable prices. Sometimes that means an unadorned, plain Jane device that arrives in

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