Luxman P1u Loaner program and reviews! - Page 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict 

 

Lastly, you mentioned if you have to choose that you might take a P-200 over the P-1u.  Is that because of price or sound?  i.e. if both were the same price which would you prefer, and with which headphones?

 

Thanks!

This is my question as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmac03 

This is my question as well.

In Asr's P-200 review that I just found he seemed to think the P-200 was better for easy to drive or low impedance phones, and recommended not to get a P-200 for K701 or Sennheisers.  Most of my good dynamic phones are hard to drive orthodynamics or Sennheisers, so I suspect that the P-200 would be inadequate for my purposes.

Asr and I don't really like very many of the same headphones, and so it makes sense that the amps he likes that work well with his favorite phones may not be right for me.  But some are, such as his BHSE with O2.  In my case thought the P-1u drove everything that I like well, but I'm one of those people who thought the AD2000 were on the same level as the HD600 before I sold them.  My AD2000 were mids-centric and a little bass-shy vs my HD600, only excelling in detail and resolution but not musical presentation and balance.  So, I suspect that I might not have liked the AD2000 on the P-1u either, but maybe for different reasons.

^ Ah-ha...

I tried searching for his posts regarding the p200, but I am clearly not great at searching.

Thanks for quickly interpreting asr's opinions of the p-200 vs the p-1u.

And for the record - In contrast to the version sold by audiocubes, does the p-1u provided by Todd come with a standard 120 volt ac input?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmac03 

 

And for the record - In contrast to the version sold by audiocubes, does the p-1u provided by Todd come with a standard 120 volt ac input?

Yes.

Does ASR or any of the reviewers have any thoughts on the Headamp GS-X compared to the P1U? Thank you.

Seamaster, I know it may be a bit too early for your full fledged review. But could you briefly describe your initial thoughts of the p-1u vs your WA22.  I am inches away from pulling the trigger on a WA22, but your impressions may have some impact on that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmac03 

Seamaster, I know it may be a bit too early for your full fledged review. But could you briefly describe your initial thoughts of the p-1u vs your WA22.  I am inches away from pulling the trigger on a WA22, but your impressions may have some impact on that.

So far WA22 is more life-like, lush. P-1u is more "hi-fi" sounding.  I need more time to make other impressions. Each person have their own tast tonally. Please note my WA22 is modded, which can handle more dynamic, and have more density in tone than stock.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict 
I also felt the Luxman was a good match with the HD800, but don't have the other phones that you used.  It seemed like you thought the SPL soundstage was just right with AD2000, T1 and HP1000, but too big with HD800/K701 when comparing it to the Luxman.  You seemed to like a smaller soundstage with the K701 and HD800 more.  But how did the HD800/P-1u combination's soundstage sound vs the AD2000 or T1 with the SPL for example?

 

Can you say more about the Luxman soundstage when using the XLR inputs vs RCA, in terms of which input you preferred to use?   I couldn't tell if you liked it more via XLR or via RCA.  You mentioned the XLR inputs sounded wider and deeper, but put instruments farther away.  But did that make the soundstage as big as the SPL?  For instance, when you used the T1 headphones, it sounded like the SPL soundstage being deeper and bigger was a good thing, but it wasn't clear if you used the Luxman with RCA or XLR inputs for that comparison.

 

Lastly, you mentioned if you have to choose that you might take a P-200 over the P-1u.  Is that because of price or sound?  i.e. if both were the same price which would you prefer, and with which headphones?

 

Thanks!

First, a preface to this response to Larry/HPA and everyone else reading: everything I wrote in the mini-review was meant directly and literally, and specifically stated. No parts were implicitly left out. Any "extrapolation" of anything more than stated in the mini-review will just lead to inaccurate extrapolations.

Now to move on, I did not think the AD2000/SPL soundstage was just right, and I intentionally try to not make statements like that either because "just right" (whatever that would mean) is subjective & vague. I was speaking only to the effect on soundstage that the SPL had and that this effect didn't really matter on the AD2000 - primarily because I don't care about soundstage when listening with the AD2K. "Liking" the soundstage of the K701 and HD800 with the P-1u is also something I didn't say, I was speaking to the effect of the amp on those headphones which I thought worked better with it as opposed to the SPL. My approach to the listening process for this mini-review went like this: I picked just one headphone for a day (or two days in some cases) and used it to compare the amps. Almost each day I swapped for another headphone, using only one per session for that day. I also did not listen to the amps as a gauge to evaluate performance levels between my headphones, as I don't care about that kind of thing and I didn't think anyone else would care either.

On the subject of XLR vs RCA input, I will not say whether I liked one over the other, as I formed no opinion and I was trying to go about that test from an objective point of view. I did not compare the soundstage of the XLR input on the Luxman to the SPL (via XLR or adapted RCA). All direct comparisons between the two amps were done via RCA input only; I attached XLR-RCA adapters to the SPL to use my RCA interconnects on it. I forgot to note this in the mini-review and will update it accordingly.

I'd take the P-200 over the P-1u primarily because of sound quality, but the price is also a factor, just not as much. If the two amps were the same price I'd go with the P-200 as it's physically smaller and does not have balanced XLR input (as I don't see the point of that on the P-1u when it doesn't have headphone balanced output), and I did like its sound quality, but obviously I can't speak for any sonic differences between the P-200 and P-1u (I have no idea if they actually sound alike or not). But just because I liked the amp's sound quality in general doesn't mean I liked everything about it sonically, and it doesn't mean either that I particularly liked any of my headphones on it, as those are different things. I'd hesitate to recommend a particular headphone for the P-200 even among the ones I own as I have a very specific sonic preference and I demand certain things from each of my headphones that other people might not share, and as stated in the P-200 review I did not get a whole lot of time with it either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict 

In Asr's P-200 review that I just found he seemed to think the P-200 was better for easy to drive or low impedance phones, and recommended not to get a P-200 for K701 or Sennheisers.  Most of my good dynamic phones are hard to drive orthodynamics or Sennheisers, so I suspect that the P-200 would be inadequate for my purposes.

I specifically stated headphone brands in the P-200 mini-review and purposely did not categorically sweep all low-impedance brands or headphones into my recommendation, as I haven't heard them all. As low impedance doesn't also necessarily mean efficient (case in point, AKG K701) there are obviously exceptions. Also the reason for saying that the P-200 might be better for the low-impedance headphone brands mentioned is primarily for the electrical characteristics, not necessarily for anything related to sound (I neglected to mention this part when writing that review).
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmac03 

^ Ah-ha...

 

I tried searching for his posts regarding the p200, but I am clearly not great at searching.

 

Thanks for quickly interpreting asr's opinions of the p-200 vs the p-1u.

The P-200 review is here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/501781/mini-reviews-luxman-p-1u-and-p-200
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgs9200m 

Does ASR or any of the reviewers have any thoughts on the Headamp GS-X compared to the P1U? Thank you.

Back when I owned the GS-X (which was about 3 years ago) I thought it was one of the most "transparent" amps I'd heard until then. ("Transparent" as in allowing the sound of the source to pass through the amp without it inflecting too much of a sonic signature of its own, and also having the ability to allow different sounds to be heard resulting from changes in source and cabling.) I can't say the same for the P-1u, as it seemed to definitely inflect something sonically on the sound signature of my CDP. There are the other aspects not related to sound quality that should factor in too (aesthetics, functionality, etc).

Steve,

Some things regarding soundstage were not clear to me, which is why I had questions in that area.  I used terms like, "it seemed like you thought..." or "you seemed to like...", so I wasn't saying that's what you actually said in literal terms.  I was showing that's how I would interpret what you wrote if I couldn't get a clarification.  I'm not trying to put words in your mouth.

And yes, it was not clear to me if your "smaller than SPL soundstage" comments were when using RCA or balanced input with the P-1u.  I used the balanced input for comparisons with my ZDT, and the RCA input when comparing to my Stax/WES rig because the WES is balanced only.

At this point, I am beyond trying to figure out what you like. :-p  It would be fun at the upcoming Colorado meet to listen to the same rigs and share our opinions with each other about what we liked and didn't like about one, while the experience is fresh in our minds.

Cheers.

Perhaps if I added another post it would help explain:

I don't normally listen critically, especially within the past several months that I've been amassing lots of music new and old. Usually when I've sat down to listen, it's been to enjoy the music first and foremost. This is also one reason I largely stopped writing reviews, as it took away from my enjoyment of the actual music (there were other reasons too though).

Whenever I approach listening for a review though (this review included), I mentally shift gears and don't listen to the music to enjoy it but to analyze it. In this mode of listening (which I also do at meets and audio shows) I don't necessarily form opinions of what I'm hearing or determine whether or not I'm liking what I hear. I take a much more "detached" perspective and separate myself from the music and I critically analyze what I'm hearing. I try to come at the gear from the perspective of other people who might not share my preferences (sonic and otherwise) as I adjust my opinion and try to judge different aspects along relative scales instead of independently absolute so that other people can infer where they might stand based on my experience.

During reviews, I don't listen to equipment to like or dislike it - I listen to learn about it and stack it against previous frames of reference, some of which have become personal measuring guides. This is also another reason I almost always have some type of comparison equipment on hand - if I'm reviewing an amp, I'll compare it to another amp. If I'm reviewing a headphone, I'll compare it to other headphones. Likewise for sources and cables. With no comparison point, the review would be meaningless. As an example, the Sony Qualia 010 is my personal frame of reference for the cleanest, clearest treble that I've ever heard from a headphone. Its treble is my measuring guide for all other headphones and provides a comparison point.

Thanks Steve.  I understand where you are coming from.  Especially about the part where doing reviews takes away from time to enjoy the music.  Enjoying it is most important.

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac 

 

 

My review isn't quite ready yet but here are some pictures in the meantime.

Ahem...