Little Labs MONOTOR, Operator'S Manual

a word on specs

A review of  the Little Labs Monotor headphone amp came out 

that was all about measuring the specs. I had no dispute with 

most of  the measurements (one notably was output impedance 

which I definitively measured at 0.5 Ω, the reviewer says he mea-

sured 1 Ω), I did, however, disagree strongly with the conclu-

sions drawn by the review writer on some of  the measurements. 

The review and measurements can be found here:  

http://tinyurl.com/y69gkwak

Doing what I do for 40 years now, I know what specs are im-

portant and what specs are either misleading or not important 

for the product being reviewed. This will only be interesting to 

my audio friends, but this was my response. 

I’m the designer of  the Monotor.

I appreciate the effort the reviewer put into measuring the 

monotor. It’s interesting and useful. I just hope it doesn’t dis-

courage people from seriously listening and comparing, using 

their own ears as the final judge when making a headphone amp 

purchasing decision.

I do not dispute the accuracy of  the measurements. I do howev-

er disagree strongly with the conclusions drawn by the review-

er on some of  the measurements. In my 40 years of  working 

professionally designing, maintaining and manufacturing audio 

electronics for recording and mastering facilities, I can assure 

you a layman audio fanatics biggest mistake is judging a unit to 

purchase on specs alone. 

As a designer working with professionals with serious listening 

chops, you over time learn what makes a circuit sound better 

and what specs matter, and what specs are not useful in judging 

the sonics of  a design. 

One can make two identical circuits with different chosen com-

ponents that measure identically but can sound very different. 

One can also add to a circuit to make a noise floor even quieter 

when the noise is already audibly imperceptible.