Originally published on August 2, 2009
Note: this review is an exact cross-post from post #2 of this thread on Head-Fi, which contains some user discussion on the review that may be relevant to read: http://www.head-fi.org/t/501781/mini-reviews-luxman-p-1u-and-p-200
Please note that I never wrote a review of the FET-A and cannot write anything about it now as I no longer have it and all impressions were forgotten.
The following is sort of my "mini-review" of the P200 to share my impressions. Disclaimer: these impressions are based on 6 days of listening, far from ideal. Normally I would've liked to spend at least a week per headphone which is what I've done in the past, so even I might disagree with my own impressions later. My opinions varied a few times during listening in fact and without enough time to confirm what I heard via repeated listening, take these impressions with an extremely small grain of salt.
Equipment used:
- Source: Plinius CD-101
- RCA interconnects: BPT IC-SL
- Headphones: AKG K701, Alessandro MS2i, Audio-Technica AD2000, Grado HF2 and HP1000, Sony SA5000 and Qualia 010
Music used:
- Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand
- Alison Krauss & Union Station - New Favorite, Lonely Runs Both Ways
- Jane Monheit - Surrender
- Massive Attack - Mezzanine
- Orbital - The Middle of Nowhere
- Priscilla Ahn - A Good Day
- Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin'
- The Crystal Method - Community Service
To get right to the point, I thought both the P200 and FET-A are good amps, at least for the price. The P200 crushed the FET-A, enough that I thought it was the sonically superior amp. And at $650, the FET-A isn't a bad amp at all, but I did find some detractions that would make me hesitant to recommend it for everyone in every situation. I'll write more about the FET-A later in a different thread since I want to keep the subject here to the Luxman.
The P200's gain could probably be a little lower but I actually found it not that bad with the low-impedance headphones I used, as I got enough control to achieve just about any volume I wanted. Also it's worth noting the amp doesn't turn on immediately - it takes about 10 seconds to actually fully power up after the power button is pressed (the LED blips for a while as it turns on).
As far as sound quality, the Luxman was right up my alley. It was very fast and kept up with everything I threw at it. Strong, clear, & clean treble, in fact quite a noticeable contrast against the FET-A which didn't have as pronounced treble. The FET-A smeared over fast notes in comparison and failed to deliver some key details in the AKUS CDs, like vibrating strings and high-speed twangs.
The Luxman also separated & splitted musical elements from each other more distinctly than the FET-A, enough that each could be clearly discerned and located by ear (the FET-A had more of an "integrated" image). I felt the Luxman also had more of a "sharp focus" type of sonic image whereas the FET-A was a bit blurry - very good "crystal clear" sound on the Luxman, but some loss of distinction between musical elements on the FET-A. It also had more controlled and defined bass (the FET-A was a bit flabby and generic-sounding). Good strong, deep bass, though not too much mid-bass quantity (the FET-A was more of a mid-bass pounder).
I'd guess the Luxman might sound somewhat similar to a discrete HeadAmp amp but without a Gilmore Lite or GS-1 on hand, I can't say for certain. It had a similar type of sound compared to my AE-2 but I didn't directly compare the two, only going off of memory (the AE-2 has been my primary amp for the past several months). The Luxman did sound "flat/linear" compared to the FET-A which seemed to have a few colorations.
I listened for soundstage on every appropriate CD track but my impressions kept varying so I'll say nothing on the subject, other than that the Luxman seemed to do a proper job as far as width and size. For CDs that were recorded with studio acoustics, it did really feel like I was in the studio.
I also compared my Plinius CD-101 to my Arcam FMJ CD36 with the Luxman (using the Qualia 010) to check how well it could scale. Oh and it scaled all right, I could hear the clear sonic advantages of the Plinius over the Arcam. The soundstage was smaller on the Arcam and instruments were placed much closer too. Musical elements weren't as properly delineated on the Arcam and multiple concurrent voices/instruments weren't properly separated either. The Plinius also came across as edgier and quicker, and had clearer bass too (somewhat generic-sounding bass on the Arcam). Both CDPs are good though, and both conveyed the kinetic energy of AKUS properly, it's just that the Plinius sounded more detailed due to its faster speed and more separation. (Technical addendum: both the Plinius and Arcam output 2V, so I did not need to adjust the volume for compensation between the two. I also found that the two CDPs have the same remote control codes! I was able to use the Arcam remote on the Plinius and the Plinius remote on the Arcam!)
Overall I was impressed by the Luxman. For $1500 it's a very good amp that can scale with high-end sources and it didn't really have any major disadvantages that I could tell, other than perhaps a lack of authoritative low-bass power. It was actually a really good match for my low-impedance headphones from Audio-Technica, Alessandro, Grado, and Sony, and I would recommend it for those brands too.
The amp had a hard time driving the K701 though which leads me to not recommend it for use with high-impedance AKGs, Beyers, or Senns. The K701 lacked oomph with this amp, and when I turned up the volume to a very high level (past ear-safe volume), the bass started distorting and the frequency balance went wonky.