SPL Phonitor, new reference amp? - Page 10

My DT48e was still held under hostage by Revelation Audio Labs - Bought a new one and sent it over for recabling. I paid everything upfront. It was December 2008. To-date, I still haven't seen my DT48e. Send tons of emails but nothing happened.

As soon as I have my DT48e back (it is a 25 ohm version), I will definitely hook it up with the Phonitor and report back how it sounds. But honestly I have no idea what this will happen

F. Lo

How does the Phonitor compare to the headphone amps in Benchmark DAC1 USB ? Is it more of the same, ie transparent since both are progear ? Or are there noticeable improvements in sonic quality ?

From what I have read, the Phonitor is miles ahead of the DAC1's internal amp. Having said that though I have not heard the SPL (but have heard the DAC1) so perhaps someone who has used both can chime in.

should be able to pass comment on this in the next few days, fingers crossed

The one thing I see repeated a lot about the SPL is "pure" - does this come at the sacrifice of musicality? That is, does it sound cold/analytical compared to what seem to be inherently "musical" amps (Rudistor, Woo, etc)?

Carmel,

You are right. The DAC1's headphone amp is not even close. The Phonitor belongs to a different class - in terms of resolution, articulation, 3-dimensionality, imaging, body, treble extension, bass quality, balance, and control.

F. Lo

Wonder how does Phonitor vs Luxman P1? Any idea, anyone?

Me too. Tried to listen to a 220V a.c. version of Luxman P1, ... never have that priviledge

F. Lo

No. What gets in gets out. It doesnt have a coloring signature of it's own so it mostly depends on your source with the phonitor. If you like it warm you can get a tube based dac or something like that. My DAC1 -> phonitor chain never sounded "cold".
The Phonitor runs all over the DAC 1s buildin headphone amp, it's actually pretty mediocre even compared to mid priced headphoneamps.

Sorry to hear that..

Looking forward to your impression.

I had two quick questions for Phonitor owners:
- do you use the crossfeed / speaker angle - that is, do you find the music preferable with it engaged - or do you tend to leave it disabled? (I'm trying to gauge if it is worth the additional cost over the Auditor)
- how do you find the Phonitor handling low impedance headphones? I've read that it handles high-impedance 'phones with aplomb; but fares less well with low-Z cans?

Cheers
X

Regarding low impedence headphones, I look at the spec of Phonitor, the output impedence of the headphone out is 9 ohms. That would make for a low damping factor for even 72 ohms headphones. Is the spec correct or is this amp really is design for 600 ohms phone ?

I tried the L3000, Grade HF-1 (modified), ,Qualia 010, W5000 and ESW-10JPN with no problem at all, although depending on the source level I might need the help of the "dim switch" which give you more play of the volume knob. So in my personal experience, the Phonitor handles high and low sensitivity headphones well.

It's a non issue. The phonitor has much better bass control over headphones ranging from 32 to 600 ohm than for example the DAC1 (0 ohm impedence).