Review: CARY Audio XCiter

[DannyB]

The new CARY Xciter

The Xciter is Cary Audio’s new integrated amplifier with an emphasis towards headphone amplification. It uses four 6L6 tubes for power along with two 12AX7s. Output is reported to be 5 watts, yes, that’s 5 watts. Burn in is recommended at a minimum of 100 hours. Price is $2750.

My main use for this unit is as a headphone amp as I realized using it for my 89db efficient Von Schweikert VR5s would not be realistic: boy was I wrong and delightfully surprised. See below. As a headphone amp it was excellent. My frame of reference is a Singlepower MPX3 SE Extreme, a Singlepower Supra, and a Grace M902. Headphones included the Grado HP2 and Senn HD650 along with an AKG K1000. The best summary that I can give is that the CARY sounded very similar to the Singlepower Supra but with the added power of the SE Extreme which is a great accomplishment. The Cary was perhaps a bit more detailed in the mid and lower midrange and excelled at the low end.

Tube rolling helped nicely. I tried some early version SED Winged C KT88s which complimented the amplifier nicely with the expected increase in output and a slightly improved bottom end. I then tried my Mullard EL34s XF1 version and woooo mama, what a glorious midrange. I ended up using Telefunkens for the two 12AX7s.

Here is the surprise; the little ~5 watt integrated amplifier put out more than enough satisfying power to drive my VR5s at all but the loudest of volumes. I’m still scratching my head. The bass was more than respectable. I am still amazed. Where this helps me is to consider using the Xciter in the summer months when my room gets too warm using my BAT VK75SE for amplification. The rest of the time it will serve as my primary headphone amp.

Summarily, I found the Xciter to be an amazing little, and very cute unit that serves both headphone and most speaker amplification requirements well. Dennis Had seems to have thought through the design of this product well and given his vast design experience, he has brought it all home with the Xciter. Take what I have to say with a grain of salt as Dennis is a personal friend. However, there were a couple of his products in the past on which I chose not to comment. I have no hesitation with the Xciter. It is a winner sonically and cosmetically and does well with what it is designed to do; connect the music to the listener while also being flexible in application and sound, the latter a result of endless tube rolling possibilities. Simply put, this is a very satisfying product that has found a home, my home.

For a picture see Drew's (Moon-Audio) pic at:

Official Thread: Southern/Charlotte CanFest 2009

[krmathis]

Thanks for the review!
The Xciter sure looks like a nice amplifier.



Here is the manual, if you want more info..
http://www.caryaudio.com/pdfs/manuals/Xciter_manual.pdf

[apatN]

Wow the thing looks great. Thanks for your review.

[DannyB]

It was fun reviewing this little gem, especially as a headphone amp with all the power tube rolling possibilities. I'm anxious to get other opinions on it as it gets out into the marketplace.

[lmmo]

Looks very promising. I would mind buying a good headphone+speakers amp. Are there any good alternatives?

Thanks!

[Jon L]

Originally Posted by DannyB

It was fun reviewing this little gem, especially as a headphone amp with all the power tube rolling possibilities. I'm anxious to get other opinions on it as it gets out into the marketplace.

Could you post some large internal photos?

It's curious it's only getting 5 watts out of two 6L6 tubes; do you know if this is push-pull or parallel single-ended.

Also, Cary says, "The circuitry is optimized to provide a good match for all high quality headphones from four to 600 ohms." Since I don't see adjustable impedance switches to select among different-impedance transformers, I don't see how it is "optimized" to every impedance 'phone

[Skylab]

Wow, looks like a very nice product! Thanks for the review.

[DannyB]

You are right about it being curious only getting 5 watts out of the four 6L6s. I think Drew of Moon Audio may be in a better position to explain the technical issues, especially the headphone optimization point you bring up. He may also be able to get more pics of the guts from his unit of from Cary since he is a dealer. Other CARY dealers may have access to this information but Drew lives close to Cary Audio and has a good close working relationship with Dennis. Drew also seems to be very sensitive to the headphone aspect of this unit which is very helpful to this group.

I did pop the bottom off my unit and while I'm not very technical I had a friend around who is. He was never a big CARY fan but was quite impressed with the parts and build quality of the XCiter. Maybe he's a convert? Anyway, I'll leave the technical stuff to Drew and others smarter than me.
Think of them as the brains and me as the beauty. On second thought let's just leave it to their having the brains and my having the Xciter.

[panda]

have you heard the 300sei before? wonder how it compares. i'm not a fan of 300b tubes but the sei is not bad fone amp. much prefer 12ax7 so i'd be interested in hearing it, although i'm not a tube person for various reasons. cary tends to have a bias towards the bass, they love to have gut wrenching output, typical american voicing i say.

[atbglenn]

Looks great. I wish it were more affordable. Anyone take internal photos? Please post them here

[jpelg]

Nice. I've long been a fan of the 300sei.

I've never really understood "just" headphone amps that cost over $2500. With a little thought, an engineer designing a device costing that much (or more) should be able to include full preamplifier capabilities, if not be a decent integrated speaker amp. This Cary proves my point. Seems like a good value with a good feature set.

Congrats & enjoy. Keep the impressions coming.

[vcoheda]

looks very nice.

would love to hear it. Cary products are very solid. seems they are also making a matching DAC.

The Xciter headphone integrated amplifier is the first in a series of products to come under the Xciter name. The next Xciter product from Cary Audio Design will be a matching Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) featuring USB, coaxial and TOSLINK inputs. Please stay tuned. Let the Xcitement begin!

[DannyB]

You are correct. I am awaiting the arrival of the DAC and will be happy to pass along impressions. I have the CARY 306SACD and 303/300. I wonder if the Xciter DAC will have a similar sound signature to either of these. Time will tell.

[elnero]

Originally Posted by DannyB

You are right about it being curious only getting 5 watts out of the four 6L6s. I think Drew of Moon Audio may be in a better position to explain the technical issues, especially the headphone optimization point you bring up. He may also be able to get more pics of the guts from his unit of from Cary since he is a dealer. Other CARY dealers may have access to this information but Drew lives close to Cary Audio and has a good close working relationship with Dennis. Drew also seems to be very sensitive to the headphone aspect of this unit which is very helpful to this group.

If you have questions about the amp why not try contacting Dennis himself?

[Spareribs]

Wow, good stuff. This Cary look likes a real classic style beauty and something to look out for. If the speaker and headphone outputs are excellent, then it's a good value. I have a 10 watt tube amp and it drives my floor speakers the best I've heard. It's not about high watts.