Decware csp-2

supra1988t

Head-Fier
Pros: Autobiasing, common tube types, sounds amazing.
Cons: White top plate not very attractive, inputs/ouputs on top rather than the side.
Amazing sound for the money.  Doubt it gets much better than this.

davisoly

New Head-Fier
Pros: brilliant
Cons: inconvenient power switch location
I've owned this CSP2+ for a couple weeks now, and it is mostly burned in, but it makes little difference. It is a brilliant preamp/headphone amp. Dexter Gordon's tenor sax envelopes you in warmth and reediness that makes you stop and take notice. It sounds like you are next to the player, hearing the breathing and movement of air past and over the reed. Any drummer that has decent miking becomes a real listening feature. The splash of the cymbals, thwack of the foot-bass, and resonance of the toms really puts the drums on equal billing with any other instrument. Do you describe the sound of drums as beautiful? With this CSP+, I do.
 
I listen for hours at a time, and prefer the open speakers to my phones (that cost almost as much as my speakers). I am not saying that the headphone amp is a weak link in this unit. I just really like what the preamp does with the room. I am a believer in all that the Decware website has to say. I am saving my bucks to purchase a Decware power amp.
 
The only negatives have to do with a couple design elements that I could have changed by purchasing a couple modifications. The power switch is near the back of the top surface, and nestled between the transformer and the power plug and cable inputs. Difficult to reach. I would recommend a mod that places the switch on the end of the unit.
  • Like
Reactions: Argo Duck

Skylab

Reviewerus Prolificus
Pros: Great sound and feature set
Cons: vertical IEC power cord connector can be a pain
I was able to convince Steve Deckert, head Zen of Decware, to send me his Zen CSP2 headphone preamp for review. While the CSP2 is also marketed as a preamp, I did not try it as such. It does have 2 inputs, and trim pots for the preamp outs. The CSP2 is an OTL (Output Transformer-Less) design.

Manufacturer's website: DECWARE / High Fidelity Engineering Co.

The CSP2 is housed in a nice wood frame, but absolutely everything is top mounted – tubes, inputs and outputs, AC cord, trim pots for the preamp outs. I’m not s sure that’s my favorite configuration – I generally prefer my jacks to be front-and-rear mounted, but the CSP2 does have kind of a cool look – here is a pic:

DSC01713.jpg

DSC01719.jpg

DSC01716.jpg

DSC01715.jpg



The CSP2’s stock tube configuration consists of three Russian 6N1P dual-triodes (one serving as an input tube for both channels and one as a power tube for each channel) and a 5Y3 rectifier tube. Decware supplies an RCA 5Y3GT that looked OK. I used none of these tubes, however. I used a trio of JAN-Sylvania gray-plate 6DJ8’s and a JAN-GE 5Y3WGTB (6087) for the rectifier, all NOS. The truly excellent manual covers tube rolling in detail, and is in well-written English, as the amps are made by Decware in Illinois. The manual provides some basic info about how the sound will likely change using either a 6DJ8 or 6922 in place of the 6N1P, and also lists that 5U4, 5AR4, GZ34, and 274B rectifier tubes can all be used. Some 5U4 tube types can be VERY expensive, and I did not have any available, so I stuck with the 5Y3WGTB, which is not an expensive tube, but at least in this amp, sounded TERRIFIC.

And that is the main thing I have to say about the CSP2 – it is a truly, truly excellent tube amplifier. It has enthralling sonics. Transparent, lush, detailed, dynamic – frankly, I wasn’t really prepared for how good it sounded. It isn’t really a cheap amp, at $795 (and about $80 worth of NOS tubes in my case), but it sounds just fantastic. Bass was deep, powerful, and well defined. It was a little less controlled than my SinglePower Extreme, but still truly excellent.

The Midrange was open, transparent, lush, inviting – really ALL the things I hope to get from a tube amp in the mids were delivered in spades. This is truly an amp that lovers of midrange purity will really enjoy. Listening to My Morning Jacket’s “One Big Holiday”, both vocals are guitar were simultaneously clear and distinct. I would characterize the mids as just slightly rich/ripe/fat – what one would expect from a 6DJ8/6922 amp – but certainly not overly so by any means. And dynamics of snare drum hits were still very fast.

On top the CSP2 is smooth as silk, and quite extended. Treble detain is also very good. The SinglePower Extreme has a little more treble extension, and a little more detail, but the CSP2 is no slouch. And it has plenty enough detail to keep things interesting to be sure, while being unfailingly smooth. The interesting percussion details on Sheryl Crow’s “There Goes The Neighborhood” was very cleanly represented.

Soundstaging was also excellent. The imaging was very holographic. I did feel depth was better than width, and this was again another area where the SP Extreme was a little better, but the soundstaging of the CSP2 was very convincing and notably better than less expensive amps like my Woo Audio WA3.

The CSP2 was able to drive my 27 ohm Denon D5000’s extremely well, and equally my 600 ohm Beyer DT990’s. It’s listed as handling headphones from 30-600 ohms. I certainly satisfied myself that this is true. There was plenty of gain for both sets of headphones.

Also, and very importantly, the CSP2 is TOTALLY quiet. No hum at ALL. It’s a silent runner, which is really nice.

Conclusions:

The CSP2 is a truly excellent headphone amp. In fact, of the tube headphone amps I had at the time of the review, the CSP2 is better than the WA3, the Ming Da 84-C 07, and the TNS Sweet 2. I felt the Darkvoice 337 and SP Extreme were a little more to my personal liking, but only VERY slightly, and the CSP2 is available from a USA maker who is very, very responsive to customers, so it deserves strong consideration in its price range. Color me impressed. In fact, I was so impressed, I bought the review sample, and have been using it happily ever since. I can enthusiastically recommend the CSP2.
Back
Top