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Monolith™ by Monoprice 

Desktop Headphone Amplifier and DAC 

with THX® AAA Technology (Dual AKM 4493 DACs & Dual AAA-788 Modules) 

 

 

 
 

P/N 24459 

User's Manual 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Monolith

Page 1: ...Monolith by Monoprice Desktop Headphone Amplifier and DAC with THX AAA Technology Dual AKM 4493 DACs Dual AAA 788 Modules P N 24459 User s Manual ...

Page 2: ...ont Panel 6 Rear Panel 6 Display 7 CONNECTIONS 7 Headphones Output 7 Pre Amplifier Output 8 Analog RCA Input 9 Digital Coaxial Input 9 Digital Optical Input 10 Digital AES EBU Input 10 Digital USB Input 11 OPERATION 11 Power 11 Source Selection 11 Volume Control 12 MAIN MENU 12 EQ MENU 13 Shelf EQ 13 PEQ 14 DRC 16 ...

Page 3: ... to fully dry before reapplying power Do not touch the device the power cord or any other connected cables with wet hands Do not subject the product to extreme force shock or fluctuations in temperature or humidity Do not expose this device to excessively high temperatures Do not place it in on or near heat sources such as a fireplace stove radiator etc Do not leave it in direct sunlight Do not pl...

Page 4: ...evice FEATURES Dual AK4493 32 bit Digital to Analog Converter with support for up to 768kHz PCM and 22 4MHz DSD Direct Stream Digital Dual THX AAA 788 amplifier modules with bipolar class AB output stages each providing 1590mW of power into 16Ω at less than 140dB THD Dirac Sensaround provides a natural soundscape where listeners can enjoy their favorite media in a way that seems to spread instrume...

Page 5: ...e Customer Service representative through the Live Chat link on our website www monoprice com during normal business hours Mon Fri 5am 7pm PT Sat Sun 9am 6pm PT or via email at support monoprice com PACKAGE CONTENTS Please take an inventory of the package contents to ensure you have all the items listed below If anything is missing or damaged please contact Monoprice Customer Service for a replace...

Page 6: ... 5 Value Knob 6 Enter Button Rear Panel 1 DC Power Jack 2 USB Digital Audio Input 3 Optical Digital Audio Input 4 Coaxial Digital Audio Input 5 AES EBU Digital Audio Input 6 XLR Balanced Right Channel Analog Audio Input 7 RCA Unbalanced Analog Audio Input 8 RCA Pre Amplifier Output 9 XLR Balanced Left Channel Analog Audio Input ...

Page 7: ...ill need a 3 5mm to 1 4 adapter such as the Monoprice 7139 adapter available separately You cannot use both the balanced XLR and unbalanced 1 4 TRS headphone outputs at the same time When a 1 4 plug is inserted the XLR output is muted When plugging or unplugging a 1 4 connector completely insert or remove the connector in one quick smooth motion Because of the design of the plug keeping the connec...

Page 8: ...together as the ground pin for a single ended headphone Never use any adapter to connect the Balanced Headphone Output to a single ended headphone Pre Amplifier Output You can use the Desktop Headphone Amplifier as a pre amplifier or a digital to analog converter DAC by connecting the RCA Pre Amplifier Output to a power amplifier or a pair of powered speakers ...

Page 9: ...ect a digital audio source device to the Coaxial Digital Audio Input using a digital coaxial cable available separately The digital signal will be converted by the internal DAC and sent to the analog headphone and pre amplifier outputs The Coaxial Digital Audio Input accepts only stereo PCM signals Compressed and multichannel audio signals such as Dolby Digital and DTS are not supported ...

Page 10: ...ly stereo PCM signals Compressed and multichannel audio signals such as Dolby Digital and DTS are not supported Digital AES EBU Input You can connect a device with an AES EBU digital output to the AES EBU Digital Audio Input using a 3 pin XLR cable available separately The digital signal will be converted by the internal DAC and sent to the analog headphone and pre amplifier outputs The AES EBU Di...

Page 11: ...e and pre amplifier outputs OPERATION Power Momentarily press the Menu Button on the front panel to turn the amplifier on While the unit is powering on the Monolith logo will display When it is fully ready for use the Home Screen will display Press and hold the Menu Button until the display scrolls off to turn the amplifier off Source Selection Perform the following steps to select the input sourc...

Page 12: ...input signal The volume level range is 80 0dB to 16 0dB in 0 5dB increments It is normal for the displayed dB value to change by several dB when adjusting the volume at the low end of the range due to the logarithmic nature of the volume control curve MAIN MENU Momentarily press the Menu Button to display the Main Menu Rotate the Value Knob clockwise or counterclockwise to cycle forward or backwar...

Page 13: ...4 Rotate the Value Knob clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the LF GAIN value from 6dB to 6dB in 0 5dB increments 5 Momentarily press the Enter Button The Display will change to show SHELF EQ 2 4 and the pointer will move to the left of the FREQ label 6 Rotate the Value Knob clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the FREQ value from 60Hz to 200Hz in 10Hz increments...

Page 14: ...an boost or cut a specific range of frequencies within a bell curve This gives a greater amount of boost or cut to the frequency at the center of the curve and a smaller amount to frequencies the further they get from the central frequency This allows you to accentuate particular sounds voices or instruments in an audio mix It is also useful if the speakers or headphones or even any item within th...

Page 15: ...nts 10 Momentarily press the Enter Button The Display will show PEQ 1 4 4 with the pointer to the left of the Q label 11 Rotate the Value Knob clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the Q value from 0 5 octaves to 5 0 octaves in 0 1 octave increments 12 Momentarily press the Enter Button The Display will show PEQ 1 1 4 with the pointer to the left ENABLE label 13 Momentarily press t...

Page 16: ...lowed by two independent stereo compressors and a mixer to combine the compressed low and high frequency bands The DRC operates on the pre volume control signal so the DRC threshold level refers to the level of the incoming signal source The Threshold value determines at which point the DRC takes effect The Ratio value determines how much compression is added to the signal The lowest setting 1 2 1...

Page 17: ... The Display will show DRC 4 4 with the pointer to the left of the LF OFFSET label 10 Rotate the Value Knob clockwise or counterclockwise to adjust the LF OFFSET value from 12dB to 12dB in 1 0dB increments 11 Momentarily press the Enter Button The Display will show DRC 1 4 with a pointer to the left of the ENABLE label 12 Momentarily press the Menu Button two times to return to the Home Screen Alt...

Page 18: ...pace Dirac Sensaround reproduces key acoustic properties associated with high fidelity stereo home cinema listening within the headphones themselves You will notice that the result sounds vastly different from so called virtual surround techniques that color the sound and take the edge away from the recording Dirac Sensaround is not a sound effect to grow tired of it is a headphone sound field opt...

Page 19: ...reconstruction filter so that is why the AKM DAC and other DACs have selectable filter characteristics Your headphones and listening requirements vary so experiment with the different slopes to find your sound The possible options are Normal Slow 1 and Slow 2 ADC Filter This is an anti aliasing filter similar to a DAC The possible options are Normal and Slow Reset All This function allows you to r...

Page 20: ...set the Desktop Headphone Amplifier s settings to their factory default values rotate the Value Knob clockwise until the RESET ALL value is YES otherwise leave it set to NO 13 Momentarily press the Enter Button If you had RESET ALL set to YES the system will reset all settings to their factory default values The Display will show ABOUT 6 6 14 If you want to view the product name and software versi...

Page 21: ...XLR Input Voltage 5 2 Vrms XLR Input Impedance 20 kilohms Maximum RCA Input Voltage 2 6 Vrms RCA Input Impedance 10 kilohms Optical Sampling Frequency 96kHz Maximum Optical Resolution 24 bits Coaxial Sampling Frequency 192kHz Maximum Coaxial Resolution 24 bits AES EBU Sampling Frequency 192kHz Maximum AES EBU Resolution 24 bits Supported Sampling Rates 32 192 kHz Direct Stream Digital Support DSD6...

Page 22: ...ss hours 7 days a week You can also get assistance through email by sending a message to tech monoprice com Monolith and the Monolith logo are trademarks of Monoprice Inc THX and the THX logo are trademarks of THX Ltd registered in the U S and other countries Direct Stream Digital is a trademark of Sony Corporation Dirac and Dirac Sensaround are registered trademarks of Dirac Research AB Dolby Dol...

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