LTA thread, MZ2 / MZ3 / Z10 / Z40 / Ultralinear

Thanks, I will be sure to post a pic as soon as it arrives and my rack is not so “naked.”

Got it primarily for headphones with the secondary benefit of using speakers in the future. The goal is to build my headphone rack so that I can make a smoother transition to speakers when space allows.

I am swapping in my MZ2 with a dealer. The Z10 is used, about 6 months or so old. Grabbed the MZ2 as a temporary solution last year looking for a deal on MZ3 or Z10. Jumped at it once the opportunity presented itself.

It has the LPS+ power supply and apparently the previous owner was using it as a preamp somehow. I have heard people post it can but I have not seen it on the website or seen any official materials from LTA on that specifically. I am wondering if they are running it through the subwoofer output.

Either way, not something i am relying upon but curious how that can be done.

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Yep. Those outputs are full variable volume outputs. Work well with subwoofers and everything else :slight_smile:

Thanks. I was the guy who asked LTA about it and DanM responded on headfi with the response they gave me. Audio forum 6 degrees of separation :joy:.

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Made the same switch and loving it.

Had the MZ2 for about a year in my 2ch setup before upgrading to the Z10i.

You will love it!

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Is it worth trying IEMs on the Z10e or MZ3? Anybody with such experience?

No experience with those amps but I’d say it’s worth a shot. It may not be worthwhile for some iems but for others it may surprise you. I wouldn’t have known how much the ie900 scales if I hadn’t tried it on the amps i have. Just take proper precautions like muting or turning down the volume etc…

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I tried some IEMs on the mz3. It’s not bad at all. The noise floor is so quiet on the mz3 that it was pretty enjoyable. I also used Koss porta pros too :smile:

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Some DAC updates:
They’re hoping to release the first one in a few months for under $3K and “compete in the $6K range”. The second higher end is targeted for the end of year “hopefully”.

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Thanks for the update! I’m excited to see what the LTA guys come up with.

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Their vesrion of a Mystique 3 with tubes from the looks of it at the Capital Audiofest show. Definitely worth listen when it comes out.

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I’m guessing they’re thinking of it as a complimentary DAC to their MZ2, MZ3 range and then another one for the Z10 Z40 and UL. I wonder if they’ll build it with those form factors in mind as well.

Had a tube go rogue in my Z10e.
Tried troubleshooting, found the culprit, messaged LTA and a new matching pair will be sent to me tomorrow as part of warranty. No questions asked, they cover the tubes for a year.

Those aren’t expensive tubes but it’s nice of them to still do that.

Great service. Tubes suck.

EDIT update - got overnight shipping, on first listen they are dead silent. Happy listener here.

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I really wonder how it will compete with the Mojo X and X SE. I believe they were “inspired” by Ben’s stuff and Ben regularly upgrades LTA amps in the past. I dont know how much of a relationship they have but they seem to have a bunch of good vibes when their equipment is put together.

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I asked the LTA reps the same thing at Axpona, to see if they gave a different answer, and their response was consistent with yours.

The PA and MZ3 have the same headphone circuitry, but the level 2 upgrade makes the PA a much better pre-amp.

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That makes sense for their product line. I’m sure many would opt for the MZ3 if it had the same level preamp compared to its full-sized stablemate.

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Smaller form factor and cheaper it would make the preamp redundant…
I haven’t heard either but wonder how big of a difference there’s between them and then how much better the pre is from the Z10e.
The dedicated preamp with active desktop monitors kind of gets you the best of both worlds if you have headphones that synergize well with the MZ3 or PA. But perhaps the MZ3 is more than enough.

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Just saw this on the LTA website. Shows the different setups they had at Axpona with links to the different products:

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I’ve admittedly turned into an LTA fanboy over the last 12 months, but they were 2 of my favorite rooms. After several hours of very technical, very “hi fi” sounding rooms (or terribly set up rooms), both LTA rooms had a very organic, musical presentation, the perfect place to end the day.

Also, a friend let me know that my headphone demo ended up on their instagram. I look like an idiot because I have my Stellia plugged into the hi output, but I was just experimenting to see what it sounded like.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CrE4w3hO5V2/

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Those Fern & Roby speakers are underwhelming, especially at their price point. You can spend half on a pair of better sounding Omegas. I know they have their partnership on the design front with the LTA guys but just not a $9k pair of speakers in my opinion.

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They sounded great with the Z40, it was a nice contrast to the “hirez” sound of the half million dollar rooms. If I had to choose, I probably preferred the room that had the Ultralinear driving the PureAudioProject Duet15 Prelude open baffle speakers, but they also had a different DAC, different cables and were playing music that I preferred. It’s really hard to do comparisons at a show like that.

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