Headfier's,
I thought I'd share my most recent adventure in headphone amp land. The story begins with a Jeff Korneff 45 SET amp that I had purchased on audiogon. The amp had shipping damage to the chassis, though this did not effect the sound. My acquisition of the amp completed what I felt was a triumvirate of excellent 45 tube based amps, the Roger Modjeski 245.1, the Yamamoto A08S and now the Korneff 45. There are others of note, like the works of the late John Hogan and Gordon Rankin's work to name a few.
I spent the intervening years enjoying the sonic attributes of each, with each celebrating a different aspect of the glorious 45 tube. I've written about it elsewhere, but in brief, the 245.1 was the most authoritative and the A08S the most tonally rich with the Korneff occupying a space between. Each produced exquisite and resolving music; each was a stunner, producing the most realistic sound I had encountered. I used a pair of Zu Defs and the AKG K1000s.
Soon after, I decided to roll rectifiers in the A08s and the Korneff. This was where I was dumbfounded and a clear preference emerged: the Korneff 45 rectified with an RCA mercury vapor 83 had dynamics like I've never encountered. The A08S rectified using the newly issued EML 80 tube was incredible, but the Korneff with the 83v was simply the most realistic, paying homage to the dynamics inherent in music that are crucial for fidelity without losing any of the tone, resolving power or frequency presentation.
Then the Audeze LCD2 entered my life and, using my Woo Audio WA2, I knew I simply had to power the LCD2 with the Korneff combining these two masterpieces.
After a thorough web search I came upon Min of Tube Audio Labs. Min was friendly, engaging, knowledgeable and responsive. He had a few ideas on how to implement a headphone output onto the Korneff. A description of the rebuild and mod is available here with pictures.
I've included a few pictures below of the current setup of Korneff 45 powering a pair of LCD2s. I would simply be doing a disservice by plying various audio descriptions common to reviewers. All I can say is that the experience has me realize that a properly implemented low powered SET really makes the LCD2s shine. Contact Min and see what he can do for you, his work is impeccable, timely and reasonable. And if you come across a Korneff 45, snatch it up and bequeath it to your children and your children's children.
