Amphora Headphone Amp Impressions

[veloaudio]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

...and why did you come up to me and introduce yourself?

Anyway, I picked up mine from the NYC Meet and I couldn't be happier.
So far I have tried it with 1- an iMod and my ESW-10's, 2- Meridian with R-10's and 3- an iRiver H120 optically out, into an iBasso D-10, using the line out into the Amphora.
The sound is astonishing. Almost to the point of being creamy .
On all three configurations, the bass is deep and clean. No wobble, no muddle. Almost visceral. The soundstage is wide and quite realistic (as far as I can guess that realistic is, with my age old reference recordings). The highs are euphoric, without any sense of harshness with the cymbals holding on for a full ride.
There isn't a spec of background noise anywhere, even at high volumes, and the amp has no noticeable problem driving any 2 headphones that I can throw at it, in any impedance.

I'm very happy.

How many hours do you have on it so far?

My Amphora should arrive tomorrow

[vkvedam]

Thanks for the impressions guys.

[immtbiker]

Originally Posted by veloaudio

How many hours do you have on it so far?

My Amphora should arrive tomorrow

I don't know how long it was actually being used at the meet, but I personally have 6 real-time hours on it.

[ghostmusic]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

...and why did you come up to me and introduce yourself?

Anyway, I picked up mine from the NYC Meet and I couldn't be happier.
So far I have tried it with 1- an iMod and my ESW-10's, 2- Meridian with R-10's and 3- an iRiver H120 optically out, into an iBasso D-10, using the line out into the Amphora.
The sound is astonishing. Almost to the point of being creamy .
On all three configurations, the bass is deep and clean. No wobble, no muddle. Almost visceral. The soundstage is wide and quite realistic (as far as I can guess that realistic is, with my age old reference recordings). The highs are euphoric, without any sense of harshness with the cymbals holding on for a full ride.
There isn't a spec of background noise anywhere, even at high volumes, and the amp has no noticeable problem driving any 2 headphones that I can throw at it, in any impedance.

I'm very happy.

I swear, I should introduce myself when I go to these things... the Queens meet was my 2nd meet I've ever been to of any kind. Kind of intimidating, with all the gear and new people... would've been nice to meet you immtbiker. A tantalizing report, btw, on the Amphora. As far as I'm concerned, the iMod + Amphora is THE ideal office rig. Tiny, tiny footprint but full-blooded sound. No interconnects, no power cable! That's huge not having to depend on suspect electricity in an office building, with all the computer peripheral cords plugged in. And at the end of the day, you get to just slide it in your slingbag and bring it back home.

And that wooden block w/ pearl inlay... very zen-like & Bauhaus at the same time. I totally dig how it looks. Kind of like a 47 Laboratory minimalism but with the warmth of wood. Seeing it in person only heightened my lust for the thing, I shouldn't have gone to the meet, man.

[immtbiker]

Minezzz:

[jpelg]

Originally Posted by ghostmusic

the iMod + Amphora is THE ideal office rig. Tiny, tiny footprint but full-blooded sound. No interconnects, no power cable! That's huge not having to depend on suspect electricity in an office building, with all the computer peripheral cords plugged in. And at the end of the day, you get to just slide it in your slingbag and bring it back home.

I totally agree. For someone with an iMod, getting the optional built-in doc is a no-brainer.

As I posted in the other Amphora thread, this amp sounded particularly good to me on the zero-gain setting with my Ety's (the only headphones I tried). Basically acting like a huge current buffer for the source, with high-quality parts doing the job. The result is a very easy-to-listen-to presentation.

Seemingly easy to do, yet so elusive in many, many amps.

[immtbiker]

Jimmy. You mean as simple as "wire with V-Cap/V-Cap with Goldpoint Stepped Attenuator with gain"?

[jc1600cc]

I got a chance to hear the Amphora with separate Idock and modded Imod . I have to say the sound was really AWESOME . It floats up from a total black floor . Amp is dead quiet . Vinni played some blues for me and it was spectacular . You Guys have a great product . I was using my Senn HD600 with Jena Labs 18g Cable .
The Synergy was uplifting . The design is very pleasant . The Amphora has plenty of POWER . Should be able to drive anything . I had a Wonderful time at the NYC meet Sat.

Ken love my Senns and Cable .

Vini you were a great guy to talk to .

[Vinnie R.]

Originally Posted by jc1600cc

I got a chance to hear the Amphora with separate Idock and modded Imod . I have to say the sound was really AWESOME . It floats up from a total black floor . Amp is dead quiet . Vinni played some blues for me and it was spectacular . You Guys have a great product . I was using my Senn HD600 with Jena Labs 18g Cable .
The Synergy was uplifting . The design is very pleasant . The Amphora has plenty of POWER . Should be able to drive anything . I had a Wonderful time at the NYC meet Sat.

Ken love my Senns and Cable .

Vini you were a great guy to talk to .

Hi jc1600cc,

It was great to meet you and your recabled HD600s sounded great - a nice, fleshed out sound that had really good synergy with the Amphora.

Thanks for your post, and see you at the next meet!

Vinnie

[veloaudio]

Mine arrived today. I'm starting the burn-in as I type

Let me add, the Amphora pictures looked amazing but seeing in person was a pleasant surprise. The amp is beautiful! Well done Ken and Vinnie!!

[immtbiker]

ATH-W100's and a WooAudio stand?

[veloaudio]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

ATH-W100's and a WooAudio stand?

Yes, W100 with L3000 drivers and Woo stand

I'm really looking forward to the burn-in period. The amp sounds very smooth out of the box with only a very slight harshness in the upper frequencies (only noticeable on my few classical recordings) that should smooth out with burn-in.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I was thinking about selling my IE8 and Edition 9 before using them with the Amphora, but now I am not so sure I need to sell them at all. Amphora has about 65 hours on it as of midnight. I had it locked away in my suitcase for part of the day Monday and Tuesday, or I'd have over 90 hours on it already. Must keep it protected from hotel housekeeping...

[veloaudio]

HeadphoneAddict: any more comments on the background noise/hiss? I listened to a few songs tonight where it was very pronounced. So much so that I needed to stop listening for the night because I was hearing it on every song (whether it was really there or not). I did some A/B'ing with my M3 earlier this evening and the background noise is much less noticable on the same recordings. I wonder if this will get better with burn-in? Ken?

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by veloaudio

HeadphoneAddict: any more comments on the background noise/hiss? I listened to a few songs tonight where it was very pronounced. So much so that I needed to stop listening for the night because I was hearing it on every song (whether it was really there or not). I did some A/B'ing with my M3 earlier this evening and the background noise is much less noticable on the same recordings. I wonder if this will get better with burn-in? Ken?

I am back home tonight from a 4 day spring break trip, and got to listen with my ES3X again. I have to be honest that I am noticing the background hiss to be a little more pronounced than I recall hearing right out of the box, regardless of whether with a nice DAC via line-in or via iMod (or with no source connected).

I wasn't noticing very much hiss at all on my spring break with the IE8 or Phonak Audeo in the hotel room (and none with full size cans), but my Westone ES3X and Livewires 124dB/mw customs do need the Shure volume attenuator with the volume knob rolled only about 2-3 mm to wipe out the background hiss. I'll have to run out to my car to get my Westone 3 later to try again and listen for hiss. I only hear the hiss between songs or when paused and not above the music, but I can see how it can get to you knowing it is there with very sensitive IEM.

I am thinking that I might want to send a spare attenuator to Ken to install internally on the 1/8" jack. Then I can open the bottom of the amp and set it and leave it alone without looking at it or losing it. But the sound quality of my Edition 9, modded Denon and ESW10 with the Amphora is so good that I may consider the amp even just for those alone. In my living room rig where I plan to have the Amphora, IEM are not practical because I need a 6-10 foot cable, and my 4-foot APS V3 extension and 4-foot Cable pro panorama are too heavy for using with iEM.

At the moment the only dynamic amp in the living room rig next to my Woo GES is a head-direct EF1 which has poor channel balance at low volumes with IEM, too high gain for IEM, and at zero volume the music still comes through with IEM - so the Amphora is a big step up from that. I'll admit that if high sensitivity IEM will be the ONLY thing you listen to with the Amphora, that you likely will want to get a volume attenuator or a P-S adapter. But not all IEM demonstrate a bothersome level of hiss with it - It is mostly an issue with my customs, and 95% of the time I use the customs on my laptop rig with a small DAC/amp combo or with my iMod as a portable. However, when traveling with it at my bedside or at a desk, I may want to use it with IEM more. So, it can be an issue in those cases - but I have found no other issues of concern other than this so far. You mileage may vary.