[astrostar59]

I thought it would be interesting to share listening experiences on top headphone amplifiers (not electrostatic) and see if there is some kind of consensus as to what the ultimate amplifier might be currently.

I have heard the Viva Egoista on the Abyss, and own the Aries Cerat Genus with the LCD4s.

My list would include (so far):

1. Trafomatic Primavera
2. Viva Egoista
3. Woo Audio WA33
4. Aries Cerat Genus

Some photos to get it started.

 

[jp11801]

Wow no Eddie Current, TTVJ or DNA

 

[astrostar59]

Wow no Eddie Current, TTVJ or DNA

Photos, have you heard them, how good were they IYO?

 

[jp11801]

I have heard the Eddie Current BA and the TTVJ Pinnacle and the Woo WA5. All were top flight but I preferred the Eddie Current BA. The TTVJ is outstanding as well but was no better sounding than the EC BA and was more expensive. The Woo was beautiful sounding but not as fast and defined as I liked.

While I'm not to sure about the engineering and build quality the Wells amp sounded fantastic the last time I heard it. Poor dollar to sound ratio but still great sound.

The Woo stuff is great looking and solid built but I like the sound of the TTVJ, Eddie Current or DNA (Donald north) better. I'm not up to speed on the DNA stuff but last time I heard his 2a3 amp at a show it was fabulous.

 

[Thenewguy007]

My list would include (so far):

1. Trafomatic Primavera
2. Viva Egoista
3. Woo Audio WA33
4. Aries Cerat Genus

Some photos to get it started.

If you are including grossly over-priced $10k+ headphone amplifiers that don't justify their costs, might as well include the Apex Pinnacle2 Ultra head amp, at their low low asking price of $18,000.

Honestly, at the prices they are charging, you can buy an actual respected high end power amplifier that would smoke all of the above in specs.

 

[astrostar59]

If you are including grossly over-priced $10k+ headphone amplifiers that don't justify their costs, might as well include the Apex Pinnacle2 Ultra head amp, at their low low asking price of $18,000.

Honestly, at the prices they are charging, you can buy an actual respected high end power amplifier that would smoke all of the above in specs.

I don't agree. True, these are expensive amplifiers and solely for use as headphone amplifiers primarily (Woo, Viva Egoista (option)). The Aries Cerat Genus is a speaker amplifier first, a true SET with 25 watts, and the headphone is a luxury.

On general amplifiers used as headphone amplifiers, that can work, but in many cases IMO a true headphone amplifier designed for headphone output will probably sound better, and be safer for headphone use. The residual noise is also important for direct headphone use, as is a safety mechanism to avoid damaging the headphones or damaging the users hearing.

 

[Whitigir]

If you are including grossly over-priced $10k+ headphone amplifiers that don't justify their costs, might as well include the Apex Pinnacle2 Ultra head amp, at their low low asking price of $18,000.

Honestly, at the prices they are charging, you can buy an actual respected high end power amplifier that would smoke all of the above in specs.

This should be the title

 

[astrostar59]

Not heard the Apex pinnacle. Don't consider cost as the issue hear. My thread says top tier headphone amplifier, I never mentioned prices or the fact that higher price = better.

 

[336881]

A Wheatfield ha-2 and Apex Teton with the hd800 gets my vote.

 

[astrostar59]

Aries Cerat Genus SET (tube) speaker & headphone amplifer
As promised, here is my mini review of the Genus amplifier using the Abyss Phi (borrowed) and my LCD4 200 ohm headphones.

I got the Aries Cerat Genus Integrated SET speaker amplifier 2 weeks ago and have been enjoying it on my horn speakers. Really enjoying it. But that is not why I have started this thread.

I am a bit of a headphone nut, and for many years have owned quite a few different headphones and headphone ampliifers. my last system was the Stax 009 and a nice (commissioned) DIY KGSShv Carbon amplifier.

In January 2018 I sold that system and jumped onto Planars with the LCD2-C, later the LCD4 as well. The reason I jumped the electrostatic camp was my visit to Can-Jam in London in mid 2017. I took some favourite tracks along and pitched my system against various HPs and amplifiers, including the Susvara, Shangri-La and amplifier, Focal Utopia, Abyss, LCD4 and then the Sennheiser HE-1.

The HE-1 was the system that made me change direction. It had everything but was obviously ridiculously expensive / out of reach. To my ears the LCD4 out of the GSX MK2 was the closest to that sound.

I then tried quite a few headphone amplifiers with the LCD4 and choose the Violectric V281 as the best balance, close to my ideal. It is easily powerful enough, is very smooth and transparent enough without heading towards the Stax direction, which I now felt was too analytical and unnatural to my ears. I have had great fun with the V281 for 12 months.

All was cool, until the Genus landed
This Aries Cerat monster amplifier is actually the 'baby' of the range, but still measures 53cm x 52 cm and 67 kilos. It has just two gain stages, the final stage using the big bottle 813 tubes. I got it to primarily power my Zingali horn speakers. That kept me busy for 2 weeks or so.

Today, I hooked up the LCD4s. There is a true headphone output on the back of the amplifier, a SE 6.3mm jack, with Low and High setting. So I set that up, selected a track and.....
Jaw On Floor time.

Track swopping was halted as I listened to one of my albums straight through. Holly Molly this thing rocks. And the detail, information is immense, yet it is super smooth, very realistic, like a layer has been pealed back. I am now looking at the original Rembrandt, brush strokes, colours, textures, depth. Wow. I never got it before, well I did hear it, roughly the same FR and such, but a photocopy version. So this is what is sounds like.

The Soundstage blew my mind, it is huge. Individual instruments are well spaced, I can hear minute detail even when everything else is playing at the same time, it really is impossible to take it all in. It is just so natural, hard to describe. I guess it is the tubes and SET amplification meets the perfect match - the LCD4. Some say the LCD4 needs a sharpish and fast SS headphone amplifier like the GSX MK2. I disagree. It the amp is up to the job, the LCD4 will deliver it all, including the treble regions which some think are the Audeze weak spot. I don't hear that at all here. I believe the Genus has no coupling capacitors in the signal path, which can slow things down in the treble regions.

And it has huge transformers both in the power supply and output stage, really huge. There are also 3 enormous capacitors in the power supply for energy storage. The amplifier has no sag or delay, superb bass response and drive. It really shames the other SETs I have tried to date IMO.

I have owned SETs before, so I expected the midrange to amaze me, but never expected the speed, control and sheer directness of the music to be so there, it sounds like a cliché but it really is a superb thing. Once you hear it, there is no going back.

One last thing often overlooked on headphone amplifiers - the Balance control. This is important in headphone listening and to me as well, as my right ear is about 5-8% down on the left. I can manage on speakers, but headphones, it drives you nuts. The Genus has relay controlled attenuation and can swing left or right to a very accurate amount, perfect. Note, the V281 has a balance pit as well.

I'll post more in a few days. Here is some backup to my Headphone journey and some of the amps I have heard along the way. The Genus is an insane headphone amplifier, really huge, but if we consider it is primarily a speaker amplifier the headphone output cannot be discounted here, it is just much too good to overlook it. In fact, I would have bought the amp just for the headphone quality to be honest.
But I admit I do like headphones. It is a bun fight as to which I prefer, late night listening, no contest, headphones all the way.

Headamp BHSE EL34 (last stage, rest SS) heard many times

Violkectric V281 3W SS amplifier (bought January 2017)

Hifi-Man Shangri-La 300B (heard at Can-Jam 2017)

Sennheiser HE-1 (heard at Can-Jam 2017)

Viva Egoista 845 8W (heard at Can-Jam)

My KGSShv Carbon (DIY commissioned build). Stax 009. Sold January 2018.

The headphone socket is on the back to the left of the black speaker taps. I run a 6.3mm to 4 pin XLR cable from the back and sit it on my desk. Then plug in the Norne Draug All Silver cable and voila.

So that is my journey. As you can probably tell I am super happy with this amplifier, and am shocked how much it has transformed my headphones as well as my speakers performance. I would encourage anyone to get to listen to a good SET amplifier, they do something quite magical and sound so natural. It is a perfect match for high resolution high end headphones, fatigue free detail with a huge soundstage. But not all SETs are created equal, they need big power supplies and very high quality output transformers to perform at their best.

 

[chimney189]

The HE-1 is perfection, but there is no way it is worth $50,000.

 

[astrostar59]

The HE-1 is perfection, but there is no way it is worth $50,000.

Maybe. If you have say the Abyss for 5.5K, a decent DAC (say the DAVE) for 8K, then a top amp such as the WA33 or Viva Egoista at 10K we are now at 25K roughly.

I would say my current setup with the Aries Cerat Kassandra Ref II, the Aries Cerat Genus and the LCD4s which is 18K + 15K + 4K = 37K is better than the HE-1 to my ears. My system has the detail and smoothness, huge soundstage of the HE-1 but has more body and dynamics. So is better IMO.

Getting this thread back on the OP.
Last night I was listening to some Pink Floyd remasters on the Aries Cerat Kassandra DAC and Genus integrated speaker / headphone amplifier. The sound is the absolute highest level I have heard, and I am 100% sure it is beyond the levels of any other headphone amplifier I have used or heard at shows. It is more natural than the Sennheiser HE-1 for example, and equals the system for soundstage, one of it's best traits. Other electrostatic headphones and electrostatic amplifiers I have heard are behind that level IMO, even the BHSE and 009s, which are detailed and fast but lack body and realism and bass drive, dynamics.

The Viva Egoista is fairly close from my memory, but I would put the Genus ahead of that amplifier on dynamics again and timbre. The Egoista oddly also got very hot for a headphone amp.

The HiFi-Man Shangri-La, I heard that at Can-Jam i 2017 on my own 3 test tracks and it was not nice. It had a brittle and bass light FR to it, as though it was tipped up. The DAC used was the DAVE, so I put the FR imbalance on the amp or HP in that system. It was 50K as well, so a failure IMO to catch the HE-1 yet asking the same money. Odd it was bright, as it uses 300B tubes?

The Mal-Valve I heard at Munich both on the Stax 009s and LCD4s was good, but not at this level. It was also way to complex with 18 valves in it. And not cheap either at 15K.

So my tortuous journey through the head-fi maze over the last 10 years has finally been resolved. This is the destination piece for me, really I can't fault it. The LCD4s are seriously fast and detailed on this amplifier, yet retain their famous bass and creamy mid range, smoothness on vocals and violins.

A dedicated headphone amplifier from Aries Cerat may be possible to build, but probably would still be big in size. Aries Cerat refuse to compromise the sound with size or weight constraints. I have no issue with that, as the sound is so good. The Genus is so good on the headphone output, and you get amazing performance obviously on speakers, this is after all a big bottle 25W SET.

So the Genus might be possibly the most powerful headphone amplifier on the planet, I feel very lucky to own it.

More to follow....

 

[Klonk]

Hi astrostar59, thanks for sharing your impression on this fabulous amp. So it could be used for headphones only, no speakers connected to it? How close was the Egoista (845 I assume) to it? How well does it play at low levels?

 

[astrostar59]

Hi astrostar59, thanks for sharing your impression on this fabulous amp. So it could be used for headphones only, no speakers connected to it? How close was the Egoista (845 I assume) to it? How well does it play at low levels?

The Genus is primarily designed as a top SET big bottle amplifier for Speakers with 25W class A (not Parallel or push pull) and can do 40W peaks. It uses the big 813 tube which is more powerful than either the 211 or 845.
The amplifier also has a 2 tap of the transformer for high or low impedance headphones. To my ears it is better than the Egoista 845. It costs 15K euros, and I have heard it beat other SETs costing over 50K (Kondo for example).

At low levels on my speakers is is superb, a lot better than my previous Plinius SA-103 solid state power ampliifer, that came on song at higher levels, but at lower levels was quite flat and uninteresting.

PM me if you want more info.

 

[336881]

If you are including grossly over-priced $10k+ headphone amplifiers that don't justify their costs, might as well include the Apex Pinnacle2 Ultra head amp, at their low low asking price of $18,000.

Honestly, at the prices they are charging, you can buy an actual respected high end power amplifier that would smoke all of the above in specs.

The builder of the Pinnacle 2 is one of the best amp builder's period. Too expensive? You can probably save 50% and DIY one yourself. Good luck finding that in power amps today.

I get where you are coming from but guys like Pete at Apex, KG and Justin at Hadamp and Doug at ECP are as honest as you are going to find in any audio segment out there. Literally giving you the ability to build it yourself if it is an expensive top end model and offering up budget options as well such as the grub amp and starving student .