krisno
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2008
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The source w/Burson HDAM V2 and Panasonic 0.1uf filmcap bypassing v+v- pins:
Project Sunrise headphone amp with russian 6922 tube
Can it really be....?
Yes! The etiopian lambskin covered $1799 Ultrasone ed 9 headphone, one of top three headphones in the world?
But first, how does this sound with the Sennheiser HD 600? The Sennheisers often sound "closed in" and muffled with small soundstage without proper amplification. The MF X-can series has never been able to drive them properly, i have tried for many years. Though using the Matrix M-stage(Lehman clone) w/ AD797 opamps, they are driven very well. Once stated in a review on Head-fi: the M-stage drives the Sennheiser HD600 & HD800 as good as the Luxman P1.
Using the Project Sunrise amp with the Sennheisers, they are equally well driven, but now the sound has proper body. The dynamics are great. The spatial positioning has never been better and gone is the flat sound, we now have real depth! The sound is as wide as it can possibly be, its fast, its detailed and the "bloat" is gone. To put it in one sentence, the Sunrise makes the HD 600 sound better than the M-stage, and never in my lifetime have these headphones sounded better.
So what about the Sunrise driving "the worlds best headphone", the 40ohm Ultrasone 9? What comes at you with Antonio Vivaldi - Orlando finto pazzo, Jazz at the Pawnshop, Dick Hyman, Doug MacLeod and Miles Davis makes the HD 600 seem like a old rotten sailor. It beats it in every aspects. The spatial positioning is out of this world. Perfectly balanced, the bass, the mids and highs are all there, presented on a gold and diamonds platter. Just perfectly extended and presented either way. Pure magic and seducing sound, but with details as good as with a solid stage amp! Sounds just so "nervous" compared to other tube hybrids I have heard. This all with the russian Reflector stock tube which even normally lacks the upper registers in inferior amps. This really is the champagne of audio! Compared to the Senns, the Sunrise + Ultrasones are heavenly, and that considering the Senn HD 600 really never sounded better. The sound is as organic as life. Mids are a real killer. No harshness. N shrills. No fatigue. No "boring" parts. Its magical and fun and it cannot be done better, atleast I have not heard it and I listened to a $200 000 Meridian stereo last week.
What happens if we swap the Reflector tube for the Mullard 6922 goldpin? Not much really, the Mullards sound a bit brighter, but without any extra details and no better spatial positioning, it actually sounds a little harsh in the highs with the Ultrasones. But the mullards spice up the HD600, though also inject some "too bright" parts in the audio.
Conclusion: The Sunrise HP amp is the best I have heard in my life.. ever; even using cheap Reflector 6922 tubes. It is important to understand for most Head-fi forum users: The TUBE is the weak link in any hybrid amp, and there is not anything designers can do about that. One cannot extract what is not there! This is a single tube design as well, making it cheap with replacements. It is not worth getting any other amp than this, and that is before considering the price. There is only one thing the designers of the Sunrise amp can do - industrialize the design and put it in mass production so that headphone users around the world can get to enjoy the best audio that tubes can and will ever produce.
Make your choice and stick with it, and this one sticks... and while your at it, why not get a pair of Ultrasone ed 10 too?
