Preface
I would first like to thank Head-Fi for being a fantastic hub for audio enthusiasts, without Head-Fi I would be using Skullcandy or Bose. I would like to thank SPL for their gracious gift to me, while being very overwhelming it's much appreciated. I'm very honored to be able to own and review such a high end piece of equipment, especially one that Head-Fi's own Jude thought highly of enough to give it a fantastic video review.
This piece of equipment is above and beyond what I would have ever imagined when I entered the audio world almost two years ago. The quality of this product can not be described as anything other than solid. Unfortunately I don't have an optimum set-up for this amp, I unfortunately am forced to double amp due to using a 3.5mm -> RCA adaptor in order to connect RCA to the XLR. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot that this amp can provide as my gear isn't up to par in comparison to many others. Even with that said I feel like this will be a good experience for Head-Fi, having someone with no experience in high-end audio share his views on a high-end amplifier, especially someone who is a skeptic of high-end audiophile amps. I will give this the most honest review I'm capable of with the gear I have available to me.
I would also like to apologize for the pictures. I don't have a great camera or set-up to photograph things, but I did the best I could.
Gear Used
Source - MacBook Pro
Headphones - Audio Technica Ad900, Sennheiser HD558 Headphones and HiFiMan Re-0.
Packaging
The SPL Phonitor arrived in a large box, over a foot long, that stated clearly what was inside. No frills here, simply a brown cardboard box. No complaints here, I wasn't expecting anything fancy. I was able to see clearly what I was about to open. Inside the Phonitor was well protected with plastic air filled bags and styrofoam and was wrapped up nicely.
As I began to carefully take out the Phonitor, which weighs in just shy of 9 pounds, I couldn't help but think that this was one amazingly built product. A product booklet and a manual came with the Phonitor as well. Missing was a power cord. This is something I wasn't expecting from a $2,000 product, I've e-mailed SPL about it and am awaiting their response. Thankfully though any computer power cord will work.
Build Quality
On first glance I couldn't help but think this amp was brought out of 1950's Germany. The style is reminiscent of a panels in a WW2 styled fighter plane. The build quality is top notch, nothing feels or looks cheap and flimsy. The craftsmanship is unparalleled compared to anything I've seen and I highly praise SPL for this. I've always wondered what a $2,000 headphone amp would feel and look like and I can see why, just by build quality alone, that this is so expensive. One thing I must note though, this thing is big. It's over a foot long (15.5 inches), 8 inches wide, and 5 inches high.
The knobs are completely smooth when turned, no creaks, no snags, they were completely smooth. The only thing I could compare them to was taking a knife through warm butter, absolutely perfect. The switches are of the utmost quality as well, when I toggled them back and forth I never felt once as if they would break, or that I could possibly be harming an internal if I played with it too much. The meters are absolutely stunning, each with a nice soft light to complete the 1950s feel.
In the back the Phonitor offers XLR in and out, a voltage switch for users around the world, and a power switch. The XLR input is definitely intimidating for a user like me who's used to 1/8th and 1/4th sized plugs, SPL definitely is aiming this amp towards professionals and those who are serious about their hobby. There is also a serial number on the back which adds a nice touch.
I've not compared this to similarly priced amps but the build quality of this leaves nothing to be desired. I can't imagine anyone being unsatisfied with that aspect of it and for that I highly praise it.
Controls
The amount of control the user has at their disposal is a huge selling point for the Phonitor that it has over other competitors. A power user has almost complete control over how the sound is presented to him or her to the point where they can get lost tinkering with the knobs for hours, I know I did. Let's see what each one does:
The Phonitors crossfeed is one of its biggest selling points and after playing with it I can see why. What crossfeed does, in layman's terms, is feeding some of the left speakers audio into the right and vice versa. This allows for a more natural sound, as you would hear from properly placed speakers. I tinkered with it some and almost got lost going back and forth for many songs and many passages. Speaker Angle does what you would think. Imagine having your monitors set up and slightly turning them to have the sound presented slightly different to you. This is essentially what this allows. It's nice to play with to adjust the imaging.
Both of those options can be globally turned on/off with the Cros./Spk. toggle.
Center level knob allows for the sound to be presented more as if it were in-front of you, or less. This is highly useful when playing with the crossfeed and speaker angle as the center of sound can feel a bit congested at times. The Center On/Off toggle turns this option on or off.
The Meter Mode toggle allows the meters to either act as they normally would, or on PPM it will only show the peak levels. This helps the user prevent unwanted distortion of the sound. The Meter Cal. toggle allows the user to extend the range by +6db.
The Dim toggle is what allows lower impedance headphones to work with this. At it's normal position the Phonitor is set for headphones of 600ohms. When toggled on it will allow the Phonitor to work better with lower impedance headphones.
Solo allows only the left, or only the right channel to be heard. The Phase toggle I don't particularly understand. I don't think anyone using this for listening purposes will use it much anyway, I kept it off. Mono switch I also found useless for normal listening.
Sound
After at least 50 hours of burn-in and at least 10 hours of listening/playing with this I feel I'm able to give the most fair review I'm capable of giving it. Most of my listening was done through my Audio Technica Ad900, which as everyone here knows are not the most demanding headphone in the world, so naturally I wasn't expecting much. After listening for at least 10 hours I can honestly say there's not a huge improvement in sound without the controls. I can chalk this up mostly due to my Ad900 being very easy to power and my less than ideal listening set-up. The amplifier definitely allowed my Ad900 to become loud, loud to levels that would probably have damaged my headphones had I gone further and definitely damaged my ears. This was with the DIM toggled to allow for low impedance headphones, so I don't doubt that the Phonitor is capable of powering any headphone available. It also slightly increased the quality overall, instrument separation, clarity and tightened bass, but I didn't really noticed until I went back to "stock." The difference was night and day then.
The real treat though, was playing with the speaker angle and crossfeed. I had been missing the full sound that loud speakers provided that most headphones struggle with. The Phonitor tricked my ears into thinking I was using loudspeakers at times. The controls allowed me to change the presentation and imaging in my head which made them sound completely new to me. The music felt full and alive. I was thoroughly impressed.
Conclusion
It's obvious I don't have a set-up near demanding enough to take advantage of this, which is unfortunate. This is an excellent piece of high quality machinery and anyone with the proper equipment to take advantage of it will be absolutely glad they have it. This will undoubtedly be able to power anything you can throw at it without a hitch, while providing a great sound.
I'm aware that I'm nowhere near an expert in amps or headphones, but this is a review from my eyes. I'm giving it as fair and balanced as I can and I hope I've at least helped one person!
Edited by keanex - 7/29/11 at 8:58pm
