Temple Audio Bantam XC2 impressions. Hand-made in England amp. - Page 2

Started the re-wiring. I'll be back soon with my impressions of the amp.

hmm i take it english ain't ya first language so perhaps i came across as criticising but i wasn't, honest!

and yes i've contributed detailed pictures and stuff in one of the valab NOS DAC threads :P

i look forward to seeing some pics of this bantam amp too, i love pictures

time-wasting over, speakers wired up and singing!

Hi zzkatsuyazz, thanks for the welcome. If English is not your first language you have learnt it extremely well - better than some people whose first language is English!

The Bantam amp is indeed a good start - especially now I have wired it up! I have banana plugs somewhere, but with bleeding fingers I just wanted to connect it asap so I used the existing bare copper wire ends screwed in "finger-tight". The terminals grip the wire very securely.

I've been playing the Bladerunner soundtrack by Vangelis a lot recently so that was the natural choice to test-drive the Bantam amp with.

To start with I turned the volume up to about 10 o'clock, but after the intro I had to turn it down to about 8 o'clock. That's a nice volume for background evening music close to the speakers. But I let it play for a few minutes at the louder volume first and, compared to my tired old Rotel amp, it was like sun-bathing under clear skies after dark winter clouds! The soundstage seemed to be wider than the speakers! The sound is crystal clear - even with my old Mission speakers - so I know the amp is capable of producing much better sound than the music I hear through them now.

To conclude, I never listen to music loud through speakers, just 'phones, and this amp definitely has all the power I will ever need, certainly plenty for an office or small room, and the sound is so good I can hardly believe it all comes out of that small box! I'm switching back to headphones now to enjoy a bit more volume, very pleased with my first proper "Head-Fi" purchase. Thank you very much for your information and recommendation.

Col

Is this thing actually *made* in England? The web site refers to it being supported by a UK company. Anybody know for sure?

In the pdf user manual it states:

"From the company that set the standard for British, hand made high tech
HiFi comes the Bantam XC2."

That's as close as I can find. The actual amp has no text, logo or any form of graphics whatsoever - I know, I just looked for a "Made in England" banner but it is completely blank. Even the power supply has no country of origin - just the absolute minimum CE safety / spec on one side and 2 gently curving parallel lines on the other side - and absolutely nothing else! If you didn't know where it came from you wouldn't know who made it, what model it is, which country it comes from, or even what it does! Bit of an enigma.

Absolutely tempting at this price. Would buy one in the near future. Thanks for all the impressions people.

Ok, so I've had the Bantam XC2 for a couple of months now and can say with 95% certainty that this marvellous little box of tricks needed a good long burn-in before I found its true potential. I hope zzkatsuyazz and anyone else who invested in one these Temple Audio amps can back me up on this. I say that because although I've listened to music mostly on headphones for most of my life, I'm still just a junior Head-Fi'er when it comes to using high quality "head-fi" products!

My initial impression of Temple Audio's Bantam XC2 was of a well-built and well thought-out, high quality amp and headphone amp. This was true at low-to-medium volume levels, but raising the volume past about 10 o'clock produced an increasingly muddy sound. However, I persuaded myself that this was a natural effect in human hearing - despite ample experience to the contrary! The truth was that I had no prior experience of "burning-in", and didn't want to think that I'd bought a poor quality product!

As time passed and the number of hours on my Bantam rose, that muddiness became more and more confined to ever-greater volumes. Now I can play it at 'ear-bleeding' volume and retain the same high-quality sound that was previously only present at lower levels. Obviously "ear-bleeding volume" is something we all must avoid or risk early deafness. I'm a freediver too so it's particularly important to look after my ears, but some songs only "work" when they're played pretty loud!

Temple Audio have included a fine 15+15watt stereo amplifier which I have never pushed beyond about 9 o'clock - I'm just not comfortable with the thought that my music may be disturbing others, regardless of whether it's midnight or midday. Therefore I have no idea whether the same burn-in is needed for the Bantam's speaker amplifier. All I can say is that the quality of that amp is every bit as good as that of the headphone amp, across the volume range that I have experienced.

Essentially the sound characteristics from both the headphone- and speaker- amp circuits tick all the boxes regarding qualities we all like to hear: The bass is deep and punchy while retaining clarity and not overwhelming - or under-whelming(!) the mid's and treble. Mids are handled beautifully with a wide, clear sound-stage where you can close your eyes and 'see' where every single drum, instrument, and note is placed in the mix. The human voice is portrayed faithfully and seemingly effortlessly all the way from the lowest registers to the highest. Treble is not a problem for the Bantam XC2 either as the high chimes in some of Vangelis' work shows, and my own birdsong recordings are as clean and clear as you could possibly wish for at this price-point.

As mentioned above, these perceptions are true for the headphone amp at any volume once it has been through a fairly long burn-in period. And they are equally valid for the speaker-amplifier in the volume range I have experienced - that is up to a quarter-turn of the ultra-smooth metal volume knob.

I have recently bought a pair of Sennheiser IE8's (my first foray into IEM's) which the Bantam XC2 drives at least as well as my Beyer DT770 or DT100's, producing sound of a quality you would not expect to find in an amp at this price point.

I would thoroughly recommend buying the Bantam XC2 for powering speakers in a small room / office, and for almost any type of headphone. Incidentally I have no connection with Temple Audio other than as a happy customer. I stand to gain nothing from recommending their products - other than the self-satisfaction of telling others about an excellent product which I thoroughly enjoy on a daily basis!

Bought one of these to keep me entertained as my main amp is broken.

 

While not having the powerful sound i am used to,i find it quite engaging with plenty of detail and nuances coming through and a surprisingly large sound/head stage.

 

Have had it playing for a week now and will probably give it another week to give it a final evaluation.Can't comment on the speaker amp section yet but in time i will give it a shot.

 

Good stuff