Cavalli Audio Bijou: A Streamlined Futterman Design
First, thanks to Runeight of these forums for such a fantastic design and his unbelievable support to the DIY community. Hats off. Also, thanks to Jeff Rossel for supplying the boards and components, he is fantastic to deal with and a massive help to us brits who otherwise would have to pay ripoff English prices.
Headphones: Sennheiser 650’s, Beyerdynamic 990.
Previous amps: Soha + Jisbos (very high quality components e.g. obbligato interstage caps). Beresford dac inc headphone amp.
Sources: CS4397 / Digital receiver : Crystal CS8416 with obbligato output caps.
Music: Shearwater – Rooks, The foals – Antidotes, Radiohead – In rainbows, Pink Floyd – DSOTM, Burial – untrue. Norah Jones not too late
This is my first attempt at a review so please feel free to give me constructive feedback.
Pics of the amp *leaving this amp exposed is not safe, it contains lethal voltages - +300v – this will be fully cased up very soon*
I am using 6n6p valves in the output stage, the driver stage is cheap Phillips 6922 which will be replaced with something special. The rectifier valve is an EZ81.
First impressions:
When I first fired this up I was gobsmacked. Not because of detail, not because of punch / prat / slam, but because of space. The bijou paints a beautiful holograph in you head. Close your eyes you can see the stage, and it’s a big bastard of a stage, wide tall and deep. This is genuinely the first amp I have owned that is able to give even lifeless recordings something a little bit more, a little bit of extra magic.
If someone asked you to describe the sound of valves, you would probably describe the bijou. Its very ‘valvey’. The mids are just superb. My dt990s can be lifeless in the mids, the bijou brings them up to become a very formidable headphone. The mids on the senn 650s are already strong, the bijou reinforces, but doesn’t bloom too much.
The highs are liquid smooth, but not rolled off. No hint of sibilance, even ‘Elbow – seldom seen kid – the fix’ which can have very shrill edges to the leads voice’, it’s now a massage on the ears. Where this amp really excels is female vocals. Norah Jones sounds organic and beautiful. What I love about the sound is that the detail is all there, but it’s not aggressive, its not detail for detail sake which is interesting first listen, but then fatigues. Listening to pinkfloyd – the wall, the bijou portrays the smokey atmosphere so well. Something that adds to the space is the ambience of the track, the bijou does a fantastic job of conveying the room the song was recorded in. 'Shearwater – rooks' the recorded cold echo is portrayed naturally, giving the album that extra mystique the band were looking for. The prat and slap of the bass riff in 'Radiohead - In rainbows - bodysnatchers' is there in all its grungy detail but again, without any obtrusiveness.
The bass is strong and deep, slight bloom, not intrusive but compared with the soha + jisbos the bass is not as tight. Because of the slight looseness (very pleasant to listen to) the bass appears to go lower and can be thunderous. Burial – untrue – has strong bass with low mids, the bijou still resolves but occasionally the slightest of bloom can be heard.
NFB: This amp has controllable NFB, its an interesting feature that on first play seems to do little more than alter the gain. Spending more time with the amp has shown NFB does alter the sound, i am not talking fundamentally, but certainly noticeable. With no NFB the amp has a bit more clarity (more in your face detail) and a slighter wider soundtage. dailign up the NFB and the bijou becomes more polite, to the point it can be overly polite at max NFB. It would be intereting to know others experience with this.
It’s a tough amp to review because you end up just listening to the music, it does very little wrong and a hell of lot right. It’s a true foot tapper.
Note: The senn 650's scale more than any other headphone i have tried. The respond heavily to different amps and sources. If you ever want to a/b between amps, use the 650's to test.
Mid term impressions to come….
Valve rolling to come……………
First, thanks to Runeight of these forums for such a fantastic design and his unbelievable support to the DIY community. Hats off. Also, thanks to Jeff Rossel for supplying the boards and components, he is fantastic to deal with and a massive help to us brits who otherwise would have to pay ripoff English prices.
Headphones: Sennheiser 650’s, Beyerdynamic 990.
Previous amps: Soha + Jisbos (very high quality components e.g. obbligato interstage caps). Beresford dac inc headphone amp.
Sources: CS4397 / Digital receiver : Crystal CS8416 with obbligato output caps.
Music: Shearwater – Rooks, The foals – Antidotes, Radiohead – In rainbows, Pink Floyd – DSOTM, Burial – untrue. Norah Jones not too late
This is my first attempt at a review so please feel free to give me constructive feedback.
Pics of the amp *leaving this amp exposed is not safe, it contains lethal voltages - +300v – this will be fully cased up very soon*
I am using 6n6p valves in the output stage, the driver stage is cheap Phillips 6922 which will be replaced with something special. The rectifier valve is an EZ81.
First impressions:
When I first fired this up I was gobsmacked. Not because of detail, not because of punch / prat / slam, but because of space. The bijou paints a beautiful holograph in you head. Close your eyes you can see the stage, and it’s a big bastard of a stage, wide tall and deep. This is genuinely the first amp I have owned that is able to give even lifeless recordings something a little bit more, a little bit of extra magic.
If someone asked you to describe the sound of valves, you would probably describe the bijou. Its very ‘valvey’. The mids are just superb. My dt990s can be lifeless in the mids, the bijou brings them up to become a very formidable headphone. The mids on the senn 650s are already strong, the bijou reinforces, but doesn’t bloom too much.
The highs are liquid smooth, but not rolled off. No hint of sibilance, even ‘Elbow – seldom seen kid – the fix’ which can have very shrill edges to the leads voice’, it’s now a massage on the ears. Where this amp really excels is female vocals. Norah Jones sounds organic and beautiful. What I love about the sound is that the detail is all there, but it’s not aggressive, its not detail for detail sake which is interesting first listen, but then fatigues. Listening to pinkfloyd – the wall, the bijou portrays the smokey atmosphere so well. Something that adds to the space is the ambience of the track, the bijou does a fantastic job of conveying the room the song was recorded in. 'Shearwater – rooks' the recorded cold echo is portrayed naturally, giving the album that extra mystique the band were looking for. The prat and slap of the bass riff in 'Radiohead - In rainbows - bodysnatchers' is there in all its grungy detail but again, without any obtrusiveness.
The bass is strong and deep, slight bloom, not intrusive but compared with the soha + jisbos the bass is not as tight. Because of the slight looseness (very pleasant to listen to) the bass appears to go lower and can be thunderous. Burial – untrue – has strong bass with low mids, the bijou still resolves but occasionally the slightest of bloom can be heard.
NFB: This amp has controllable NFB, its an interesting feature that on first play seems to do little more than alter the gain. Spending more time with the amp has shown NFB does alter the sound, i am not talking fundamentally, but certainly noticeable. With no NFB the amp has a bit more clarity (more in your face detail) and a slighter wider soundtage. dailign up the NFB and the bijou becomes more polite, to the point it can be overly polite at max NFB. It would be intereting to know others experience with this.
It’s a tough amp to review because you end up just listening to the music, it does very little wrong and a hell of lot right. It’s a true foot tapper.
Note: The senn 650's scale more than any other headphone i have tried. The respond heavily to different amps and sources. If you ever want to a/b between amps, use the 650's to test.
Mid term impressions to come….
Valve rolling to come……………
