What can I say, I love this amplifier. However, if you're reading this, I'd take that with a grain of salt, since I have little experience with amplifiers. In fact, this is my first 'real' headphone amplifier, and I must say, I absolutely love it.
First off, the fit and finish is excellent. I love the quality of this unit. The silver is a really nice color for it. It's a nice solid weight, not too heavy (is there such a thing?) and not too light. Feels like you are really getting something worth your while when you take this out of the box. Mine only came with the feet and power cord in the box. The power cord seems to be of nice quality. I really like the use of this type of cord as opposed to a wall wart style adapter.
The power switch has a real nice firm turn on and turn off, a nice solid feeling switch. I guess here is where I should mention that my amp has the relays, I can tell because a few seconds after flipping the switch on I can hear them engaging, and immediately after turning the switch off, I can hear them disengaging. The RCA hookups are real nice and smooth, work well with all my cables.
The volume knob and jack is on the front. The knob is excellent, nice and buttery smooth. The jack as a tight feel when I plug my headphones into. Real satisfying.
The sound. Well, I guess this is where my opinions come into play the most. I like the sound very much. Smooth sounding, and sounds relatively balanced across the audio spectrum. Really helps bring out the low lows in my headphones. Also seems to slightly create a slightly wider soundstage than straight from my iPod or laptop or something. Seems to have a nice amount of detail. It's a great match with my Monitor 10s. Really makes them sing. Sometimes, it's scary the things this combo can pick up in the audio track. Also works very well with my SE-50. They love the juice this can really pump out.
The low output impedance is a plus in my book, and coupled with the sound and design of this amp, I really think it's a great deal. Yes, it runs warm, but nothing crazy. And, I kind of like how it runs.
Sorry about the long review guys, hope it was helpful in some way. As always, this was just my experiences, and your mileage may vary.
First off, the fit and finish is excellent. I love the quality of this unit. The silver is a really nice color for it. It's a nice solid weight, not too heavy (is there such a thing?) and not too light. Feels like you are really getting something worth your while when you take this out of the box. Mine only came with the feet and power cord in the box. The power cord seems to be of nice quality. I really like the use of this type of cord as opposed to a wall wart style adapter.
The power switch has a real nice firm turn on and turn off, a nice solid feeling switch. I guess here is where I should mention that my amp has the relays, I can tell because a few seconds after flipping the switch on I can hear them engaging, and immediately after turning the switch off, I can hear them disengaging. The RCA hookups are real nice and smooth, work well with all my cables.
The volume knob and jack is on the front. The knob is excellent, nice and buttery smooth. The jack as a tight feel when I plug my headphones into. Real satisfying.
The sound. Well, I guess this is where my opinions come into play the most. I like the sound very much. Smooth sounding, and sounds relatively balanced across the audio spectrum. Really helps bring out the low lows in my headphones. Also seems to slightly create a slightly wider soundstage than straight from my iPod or laptop or something. Seems to have a nice amount of detail. It's a great match with my Monitor 10s. Really makes them sing. Sometimes, it's scary the things this combo can pick up in the audio track. Also works very well with my SE-50. They love the juice this can really pump out.
The low output impedance is a plus in my book, and coupled with the sound and design of this amp, I really think it's a great deal. Yes, it runs warm, but nothing crazy. And, I kind of like how it runs.
Sorry about the long review guys, hope it was helpful in some way. As always, this was just my experiences, and your mileage may vary.