I have been an audiophile for over 30 years but didn’t get serious about headphones and headphones amplifiers until I found Head-fi just over 2 years ago.
Since then I have gone through several amplifiers. Among them are the CAI, Heed, Stello, Headamp GS-1, Rudistor RPX-33 MKII and RP-7 Lite. From all of them the Rudistors are the best sounding in my opinion.
A few weeks ago I got the upgrading bug and knowing how much better my Hi-Fi systems sounded when I went all balanced I decided to give a balanced headphone system a try.
I contacted my good friend Alberto (Sovkiller) to check options in the Rudistor line. For some time I had my eye in the RP010B (you know, if you are going to do it then do it well). With Alberto’s help I ordered one.
The box arrived last Thursday. They amplifier was very well packed and when I finally was able to take it out of the box my eyes just sparkled at the beauty of this gorgeous amplifier.
This little beast is heavy, well built and stunning just like a Michelangelo’s fine piece.
I proceed to connect it to my system from the balanced outputs of my Threshold DAC 1e using a pair of Nordost Red Dawn balanced cables. The AC is provided by a dedicated line and a Vesuvius power cord from Silver Circle Audio.
Since my headphones were not changed to balanced yet I started listening to the “low” single ended output. The first headphones going in were the Edition 9. My first reaction was WOW!!! I just could not believe what I was hearing so I switched to my Denon WD2000 RL Edition. This second set confirmed what the Edition 9 showed me. From the WD2000 here comes the Denon D7000 and to my ears the sound improved and finally the DX1000. Another winner! Four different headphones, one great sound so what’s the common denominator? The wonderful RP010B. The beauty of this piece does not stop in the hardware, it’s sound is even better.
So how does it sound? Well, let’s start with the bass. It is very fast, deep and extended. This little monster has enough juice to control the voice coil of any dynamic headphones and reproduce the deepest notes with ease. Listening to the live acoustic rendition of Hotel California you can feel the kick drum at the beginning of the song all over your head. Then here comes the finger picking of Don Felder and Joe Walsh guitars. What a midrange! It is so sweet, natural and melodic. I just can’t believe I was listening to a recording. I close my eyes and I can see those guitars in front of me. The high frequencies are also very clean, sharp and well defined creating no fatigue at all.
There are 3 recording that I know perfectly well and I always use to evaluate any change in my systems. They are: Hotel California from the CD Hell Freezes Over, Beautiful Child from Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk and The Look of Love from Diana Krall live in Paris.
Listening to them with the RP010B is like I have never listen to them before. They sounded so natural, real and perfect. One thing that I think is very impressive about the RP010B is the level of detail you can hear without sounding cold or analytical because if this amplifier is something is MUSICAL.
Yesterday I changed my WD2000 RL Edition and my D7000 to balanced. The result was more of the same but even better. For what I can tell I gained some power (the volume know when down a little bit), the transparency and clarity of the sound increased as well as the definition of every note reproduced. the sound stage got bigger in width and depth and they air around the instruments and voices got even better define.
I want to thank Rudi and Alberto for providing us such a wonderful piece of audio engineering and allow us to enjoy all those hours orgasmic musical experience.
Since then I have gone through several amplifiers. Among them are the CAI, Heed, Stello, Headamp GS-1, Rudistor RPX-33 MKII and RP-7 Lite. From all of them the Rudistors are the best sounding in my opinion.
A few weeks ago I got the upgrading bug and knowing how much better my Hi-Fi systems sounded when I went all balanced I decided to give a balanced headphone system a try.
I contacted my good friend Alberto (Sovkiller) to check options in the Rudistor line. For some time I had my eye in the RP010B (you know, if you are going to do it then do it well). With Alberto’s help I ordered one.
The box arrived last Thursday. They amplifier was very well packed and when I finally was able to take it out of the box my eyes just sparkled at the beauty of this gorgeous amplifier.
This little beast is heavy, well built and stunning just like a Michelangelo’s fine piece.
I proceed to connect it to my system from the balanced outputs of my Threshold DAC 1e using a pair of Nordost Red Dawn balanced cables. The AC is provided by a dedicated line and a Vesuvius power cord from Silver Circle Audio.
Since my headphones were not changed to balanced yet I started listening to the “low” single ended output. The first headphones going in were the Edition 9. My first reaction was WOW!!! I just could not believe what I was hearing so I switched to my Denon WD2000 RL Edition. This second set confirmed what the Edition 9 showed me. From the WD2000 here comes the Denon D7000 and to my ears the sound improved and finally the DX1000. Another winner! Four different headphones, one great sound so what’s the common denominator? The wonderful RP010B. The beauty of this piece does not stop in the hardware, it’s sound is even better.
So how does it sound? Well, let’s start with the bass. It is very fast, deep and extended. This little monster has enough juice to control the voice coil of any dynamic headphones and reproduce the deepest notes with ease. Listening to the live acoustic rendition of Hotel California you can feel the kick drum at the beginning of the song all over your head. Then here comes the finger picking of Don Felder and Joe Walsh guitars. What a midrange! It is so sweet, natural and melodic. I just can’t believe I was listening to a recording. I close my eyes and I can see those guitars in front of me. The high frequencies are also very clean, sharp and well defined creating no fatigue at all.
There are 3 recording that I know perfectly well and I always use to evaluate any change in my systems. They are: Hotel California from the CD Hell Freezes Over, Beautiful Child from Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk and The Look of Love from Diana Krall live in Paris.
Listening to them with the RP010B is like I have never listen to them before. They sounded so natural, real and perfect. One thing that I think is very impressive about the RP010B is the level of detail you can hear without sounding cold or analytical because if this amplifier is something is MUSICAL.
Yesterday I changed my WD2000 RL Edition and my D7000 to balanced. The result was more of the same but even better. For what I can tell I gained some power (the volume know when down a little bit), the transparency and clarity of the sound increased as well as the definition of every note reproduced. the sound stage got bigger in width and depth and they air around the instruments and voices got even better define.
I want to thank Rudi and Alberto for providing us such a wonderful piece of audio engineering and allow us to enjoy all those hours orgasmic musical experience.
