Hey all,
As some of you probably remember I was
inquiring a while ago, about a 45 tube based Headphones amp.
Well, the day has come and the beauty is finally alive
It was a long wait, but it was sure worth it !
First, I would like to say that the amp was designed and built by someone I got to know not a while ago, who has passion to amps, tubes and music. all of this, in addition to building experience have manged to make up a fine and musical amp !
A bit technical:
The amp consists of the following tubes:
Pre/Gain - Raytheon 5842WA (might be upgraded to 417A in the future)
Power - Sylvania 45 ST shape (duahhh)
Rectifier - 5VG4/CV729 (Some Russian made)
As can be seen from the pics, the amp is HUGH !!! it makes my MPX3 look like a portable amp :P
On top of it, he weights a ton ! probably double than the MPX3, which brings it to the 12-15 kG Range, Heavy weight fighter
But it is for a very good reason,
6 hand made custom designed transformers !
1 power, 2 output, 2 choke and 1 interstage (if I recall correctly).
As I said, the impedance of the output transformer was targeted to 50Ω, because of my Audio Technica cans impedance.
In addition, everything on this amp is point to point hand soldering.
The potentiometer is Alps blue velvet 50KΩ, the Headphone socket is Neutrik Locking Jack.
As for the sound:
What can I say ? well, I can start with the fact that after more than two weeks of listening to it, I really can't even think of something wrong/bad/not good with it.
Moreover, the sound is very natural and clarity is amazing.
Everything feel at the right size, shape, timber and time. from drums to pianos and violins, heavy guitar riffs, growling or countertenor, you name it !
everything I throw at it, it makes beautiful music as a result
The sound is
very open ! with no hiss, harsh or bright, not even the slightest, in comparison to the MPX, I can listen at higher volumes with no problems, not to mention that I couldn't feel any fatigue no matter how many hours I was listening to it straight, quite surprising.
Its greatest strength is with no doubt, the
dynamics !
This amp is so dynamic, I am still shocked !
You can hear the layer separation, clear and for which is own, nothing gets in the way.
I have tried it with the most instrument heavy recordings I know and everything sounds good and at it's proper level no matter how many instruments and their type/strength/level tempo.
I was listening to some of the Shostackovitch creations and at some point there were so many instruments, including drums, violins, wind instruments and a few more instruments which I don't recall now. all of them playing together at varied levels, nothing was getting lost and you could hear the big drums smashing and creating huge booms while the little and humble cymbals were gently playing at the the side of the stage.
Some parts were really intensive and the amp just made it with no sweat !
The amount of detail that this amp can present is astonishing
Pretty quickly I noticed that the extreme frequencies got much more clear and distinct, all in all, creating a very coherent sound, balanced all across the border.
Bass guitar got into life, their volume, texture, feel and tone are really sensible and easy to distinguish.
A little bit of "ommph" has been added which makes the sound even fuller.
but the bass is not bloated in any way, it's has more lower part weight.
It's not as tight as the slam, but bigger and more detailed.
Treble has got much better, especially with drums and their cymbal, on many recordings it was recessed and not as clear as with this amp, now it's clear, and detailed, not congested together so you can barely hear what it is.
As for detail, the amp manages to extract a bit more detail than the MPX3, both in macro and micro.
When guitarists moving their fingers on the strings, it's more clear, for instance.You can really hear every little detail, every little breath, every little pick is audible. With well recorded guitar riffs it was really a joy, I felt the riff had more roughness and inner detail ! you can really feel the riff roaring at you, loud and clear.
The decay period of fading sounds has really got extended when listening to this amp, notes don't cut and end, they fade away, nice and naturally.
You can hear it very well on drums, when a strong hit was made, at a quite surrounding, the hit has it's volume and decay, you can also hear the space which wraps the drum.
Presentation with this amp is quite exceptional, it takes the sound one step backwards, not as in your face as the Slam, some instruments sound "at the background" buy yet they manage to stay very clear and not recessed.
It's really is a 3D sound, if you add the very wide soundstage which is produced, it reminds me a bit of speakers, yes, indeed
It's hard to describe, it's this slight amount of space between me and the music which reminds me of speakers, as with headphones I am use to a sound which most of it is in/near your head, but this is not the case.
I am pretty sure classical music lovers will adore this amp, it makes violins and pretty much every "natural" instrument to sound very real and lifelike, the timbre of these instruments were really different when I used to with the MPX3.
For me, it was really hard to evaluate this amp, mainly because it is very musical, and I always find myself drawn very hard into the music, and forget about the (great) sound it makes.
If you know the feeling of irritating sound which just makes you want to listen more and more
that's exactly what I am talking about.
As for looks
:
Tubes, tubes, tubes:
Speaking of Synergy
I don't know how or why I haven't done this yet, but probably I will soon part with my beloved MPX3 Slam which served me for about 2 years.
But with this amp being better at almost every part I really can't see any reason why I should keep it.
All in all, I really enjoy the amp, the looks, the synergy, the sound and especially the musicality.
The first 45 tube HP SET amp ! aka. 45 into your head !
Linear Mode
