SPL Phonitor, new reference amp? - Page 8

The Phonitor sounds different from the Rudistor RP010B MKII. The Phonitor itself has no sound character whereas the RP010BMKII has the famed Rudistor house sound which is meant to suck you into the music unconsciously - like drugs! Both are very detailed and I would say the RP010BMKII played its own little magic to the music, in such a unique way that once you are hooked you did not realise you are drugged

The Phonitor is the highlander in plain clothes. The RP010BMKII is the white knight in glorious armor. Both are elegant but in different presentation. So, it is not a matter of one is better than other, and both just delivery different kind of joy to my ears.

The Phonitor paired up with my Nagra CDP is like a match made in heaven. Music flows in its truest from leaving all that for interpretation by the headphone you used.

The Rudistor RP010B MKII paired up with the Emm Labs CDSA is like a hot couple in love - so much so that they are not separable, and music flows like scent to my ears.

Both headphone amps have their unique DNA to please the listener. But I must say the RP010B MKII is the more seductive of the two. Well, I think this is also how a charming Italian woman compares to a disciplined German lady

Got to stop before I am labeled racist

F. Lo

May be I just don't know the end of my journey of exploration. I am truly impressed by the Phonitor. I did not expect that much given it is a "side-product" from a pro-gear manufacturer. I always thought "This is my last amp to have" - since the day of my taking ownership of the RPX-100.

Now I know - the more I listen the more I realise how wrong was my "last amp to have" assertion. Soon I picked up more exotic gears, tried different ways to de-bottleneck my audio chain by going into better sources, better DAC, better power supply, better interconnects, CD tweaks, and of course better headphones..... I am keen to know what else are out there that I may not have discovered.

Well, just when I think there is light in the tunnel - the Balancing Act appears on my radar screen - after over a year of email exchange with Craig, and then the HeadCode, the ValveCode from one of my most respected designer... , not to mention the Beta 22...and the TTVJ 307A

I only wish I have more time, and a deeper pocket. Make no mistake though, I am enjoying music everyday, not the gear. I just am not sure if I am hearing all that is in the music.

Poor me.
F. Lo

Phonitor must be a bargain then. Would one be happy with it without going balanced ?

I'll be getting mine very soon for review

Haha, ok just ordered it, should be here within 2 weeks. My first good headphone amp, so I hope it will drive my first good headphones (RS-1, GS-1000, Ultrasone ALO-780J and modded + recabled 900) well.

Well I got my review unit this past week and I'm really impressed with the crossfeed (after a lot of tweaking).

I'll write up a review over the weekend before I have to send it on its way sometime next week.

[QUOTE=bizkid;4803609]


Some more phonitor goodness

I was a bit bored today so i recorded a small clip from the phonitor, without CF and with CF. I used a recording which has a guitar panned to the left with some room ambience. There is nothing else so you can easily hear the crossfeed doing it's work.
Oh i mismatched the left and right channels by accident, dont mind that, it doesn't change the result at all. You can also use foobars exchange stereo channels to change it back. The DA to phonitor and AD back from it was done through my cranesong HEDD.
Sorry the file is only avaible in 24bit 96khz flac

http://www.aniston-park.com/clip_no_cf.flac
http://www.aniston-park.com/clip_with_cf.flac

The settings used were a bit "conservativ", crossfeed level was 3 and the angle 55degrees. Please note that the speaker angle does not per se emulate the exact angle of real speakers.

Wow, this sample is really impressive. I found a pro gear shop in my city that just ordered a Phonitor for me today to listen to in the shop next week.
If the crossfeed/speaker angle result with average music is as impressive and the overall sound is as good as expected I will have a hard time not getting one.

Got mine yesterday

Mine arrived yesterday. I must say this is very best amp that I have heard. My cans has never sounded so good before. For the very first time, I can feel that the M-Pro was being driven properly. I never knew that the HD650 has such a great sound stage. The K702 has never been so energetic and detail in mids and high.

This is just my initial impression before proper run-in. Can't wait when I put couple of hundred hours on it.

kevinchua,

Welcome to the Phonitor camp :-)

Please share your thoughts and impressions after the Phonitor settles down. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Francis

Thanks Francis, I am enjoying it very very much. It is easily the best amp that I have ever heard.

The Phonitor is now being run-in for 68 hours, it is getting better and better. I can hear the dynamics changed significantly within the first 15 hours. The bass is getting more solid. It is also getting more airy.

My custom made pure silver cable arrived and is being run-in at the moment. I can retire my temporary solution of XLR-to-RCA adapter.

have any owners of the phonitor tried it out with low impedance headphones, such as grados? one of the threads i saw, was a bit vague about its performance with these type of phones, and pointed at poor performance!

Wondering that nobody mentioned this yet:



SPL announced the Auditor at Musikmesse in germany this year. It is basically a phonitor minus the crossfeed. The rest is exactly the same, from the powersupply to the output stage. Also the same SPL op amps as in the phonitor were used. The Streetprice will be 699 Euro. This is definately the best deal in solid state highend headphone amps in my eyes. Especially if you compare the price to many of the voodoo offerings around here. Only way to beat that for a better price would be a DIY ß22

Quaddy: Don't have any Grados, but its a very good match for audio-technicas.

That is untrue...It works as effortlessly with the Markl Denon through the 600 Ohm Beyer Kustom Manufaktur 990's. It was actually configured for the "industrie norm" of 600 ohm phones but I run from the DX 1000's or ed.9's to Sennheiser with easy aplomb!

Auditor looks interesting. Has anyone listened to it ?

Very interesting indeed. A hard competitor for Rudistor line, at the price.

Taken from SPL web:
"availability scheduled for ... you guessed it: May"