Symphonium Crimson - One persons two year journey to find the One

First it is important to know this is just a review, one persons opinion (YMMV). The unit being reviewed was purchased by me at CanJam London for full retail.

Who am I, what do I value in audio reproduction and what’s my basis for comparison. Well I started down the audiophile rabbit hole with speakers in 1992 with my first pair of Alon 1 speakers. These were highly transparent but with deep tight bass response. As they years went on I fell in love with horn based speakers like the Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater and more recently OMA (Oswalds Mills Audio) Imperia and Mini as benchmarks.

I fell into headphone listening only due to a change in living arrangements, shorthand for I moved in with a friend and they weren’t going to indulge my audio gear in their living room. In late 2004 I joined Head-Fi as a short stop gap to find headphone audio to fill in this gap. Almost 20 years later I'm still here enjoying the people, music and gear (in that order).

I have owned AKG K-1000a, Grade PS-1, RS-! Pink Drivers (wow try these), RAAL ear speakers, several Stax headphones… My current full size drivers are the LCD-5 and HifiMan HE1kse. In ears I was there for the start of JH audio in 2009 and had 3 of his units (13, 16, Lola), also the Sony ier z1r, FIR M5 and I currently own the 64 Audio U12t and the Sony M9. I’ve auditioned countless IEMs at multiple CanJams and find two truths: 1) the IEM space has seen the greatest qualitative growth in the Head-Fi space over the past 5 year then any other category and 2) the sweet spot for me in IEMs is the $1500 to $2000 range. I have heard a lot of crappy weird sounding IEMs in the $3000 and up range that are just plain wonky. At Can Jam London I was searching for an IEM that could potentially dethrone the 64 Audio. This is a tough ask as they are pretty highly regarded and are normally found in the top 3 or 5 IEMs by reviewers that stack rank al products regardless of price.

I tend to favor a fast dynamic sound but also need deep tight bass that won’t overshoot into the mid range. I listen to primarily Classic Rock, Grunge, some classic metal, Jazz primarily from the golden age of 1957 to 1965 but wander out of that range a bit for great stuff and lastly blues music. I need a transducer that will make my toes tap and cause me to involuntarily smile or air drum without consciously being aware of it. Timbre aka tone quality is vital as I attend many concerts and play guitar and bass (woefully mediocre but joyously) so I have heard a wide array of actual instruments in many different spaces. A touch of warmth is ok but too much and the music loses its drive and vibrancy. So you could say I value PRaT and transparency.

I like to take a few weeks to sit with a piece of gear prior to writing a full review as sometimes gear that wows at a show or in a quick listen can fatigue over time and sometimes the shy wallflower comes to life and reveals greatness after a week or two.

Ok dude enough about you and blah blah blah… Did you like the Crimson or didn’t you?



I tried these pretty much directly following an audition of the Helios SE and then the Subtonic Storm (these are the best I have ever heard). I really liked the newly tweaked Helios and fell in love with the Storm (my wallet said no). I was expecting to be let down as how could test the Crimson directly after the Storm and not be let down? I was not and I was giddy with excitement at how much I enjoyed these.

Bass - This is a tough one as this may be my favorite IEM for bass reproduction and it’s not the quantity but the quality and how low these play. They have nice sub bass reproduction. The bass is fast and you can follow the bass notes extremely well better hear the cane in pitch than other IEMs I have tried. The bass has incredible texture as well. Listen to a Hammond B3 low notes and it brings chills, Charlie Hunter (Everybody Has a Plan Until..) it almost feels like a visceral impact to the body (although that is physically not possible). There is no bass bleed into other regions. Total win for me here!

Midrange - ok for me the test here is guitar, sax, trumpet and vocals. I can be sensitive to upper midrange brightness. This is my one caveat with these in rare instances there can be a touch of glare with some guitar sounds. I have experienced this extremely infrequently and it may just be the recording but for those with a similarly sensitive to this I thought I would mention it. Now for the good and oh I mean great stuff. TIMBRE in spades my friends. Guitars come to life with these in a way not heard by me in an earpiece. Last night I put on Let it Be by the Beatles and there is an iconic solo and the detail, tone and transparency had me feeling like this was the first time haring this song. As I explore my collection over and over gain I am hit with this experience. Vocals are super clean and clear, they come right out of a deep dark silence to appear hanging right in front of you. These also portray vocal nuance like throat or mouth sounds well. I have had several emotional/hair raising moments with these.

Treble - highly extended, at least for these late 50 year olds ears. My hearing has been tested and it is surprisingly good but age does what it does to hearing. I find the treble well executed and may be the reason for the wide stage and detail retrieval. There is a lot of information in the treble with these but oddly it is never overdone or harsh. I can’t fully explain it, it is there when you need it but it doesn’t push the instruments into harsh or exaggerated sounds. This is also an area that provides great instrument location and overtones that can really bring out the quality of the sound.

Dynamics - These are to my ears very fast sounding earpieces with a great degree of accuracy. They may favor newer masters with a fuller range of bass. All in all I found these a lively listen with great macro dynamics and very good micro dynamics.

Separation and Stage - Not sure how they did this in an earpiece but the head stage is pretty wide with sounds appearing extremely well localized in a 180 degree plane from your ears around you. You can tell the designers really focused on driving separation of sounds as you can clearly pick out each instrument in space in a way not present to this degree in any earpiece I have owned. Clarity is second to none (ok, ok, with the exception of the Storm)

Sonic Quibbles - If he mix is weak sauce then bass is not going to be great, my other pieces seem to homogenize this to a degree. There can be upper mid peaks for me, this is most present in guitars in rock music but only shows up infrequently

Fit and Finish - Fit good but I did need to experiment with several tips to get a fit that was comfortable. I settled for now with the AZLA Crystals. Normally I am a medium but due to the larger nozzle size I needed to size down to the MS to get a fit that sealed well and was comfortable. These are pretty comfortable in my ears with no part of the outer shell creating rub spots or pain. I like the look and the forged carbon has grown on me. The 8 wire cable provided to the early adopters is well done and has good flex. I would love an ear wire for the cable around my ear but I can always add one later. I have pretty much exclusively used the 4.4 as both my daps and my usb dongle docs have this as well.

While I have used many songs to audition these over the past few weeks. I largely focused on a few songs I have used over the past 30 years:

1. Eric Johnson 40 Mile Town
2. RATM - Killing In The Name Of
3. Mad Season - River of Deceit
4. Miles Davis - Shhh Peaceful
5. Led Zeppelin - Babe I’m Going To Leave You
6. Bill Evans - My Foolish Heart

Equipment Used - Shanling M6 Ultra, Ibasso DX320 (amp12) and FIIO BTR 7.

The Crimson is somewhat ruthless with the source and the Shanling and Ibasso showed up well with the Crimson. The FIIO sounded a bit harsh and listening fatigue arrived after about an hour and the timbre was just not as good. So all comments are based on the sound I got from the DX320 and M6 Ultra. I did need about 20% more volume subjectively compared the the 64 audio but at no time were the Crimsons hard to drive. I use medium gain on the devices and on the Shanling for instance it never goes much above 20. On low gain maybe 28 is needed so no worries for powering these.

Now on to comparing these to what’s in the current line up. You know you are truly crazy when you take three sets of IEMs with you on a trip to France so you can complete a review . Comparisons used the above tracks in more of a stream of consciousness approach.

Crimson vs 64 Audio U12t (m15 module) - U12t excellent but softer sounding bass is fatter but also significantly less defined. Treble on the U12t slightly more diffuse and delicate. Greater perception of details and sense of space with the Crimson. Layering better with the Crimson. Greater midrange presence on the Crimson. It takes several seconds to adjust to the change between these two as they deliver very different experiences to my ears. The 64 audio has good technical chops much has a bit of a warmer sound while the Crimson is significantly better technically but somewhat drier. Crimson delivers more tonal information for guitar sounds it is pretty noticeable. When switching back and forth coming from the Crimson going to the U12t the sound felt veiled and a bit closed in. Overall I prefer the Crimson although the mighty U12t is still a top flight IEM. The cost of the U12t new is $2k vs Crimson at $1.5k at release. Buying new I’d tip my hat to the Crimson.

Crimson vs Sony IER M9 - This comparison is a bit unfair to the Sony as it is about $1k new versus the $1.5k new Crimson. Similar to the 64 Audio comparison, the Sony is warm neutral so the Crimson is just so much more open and spacious. There is more kick drum impact on the Sony coming from the lows that are not nearly as controlled as the Crimson. The Sony has a nice warmth that I could see as an alternative to the Crimson on nights when your brain needs a rest or like this morning when I had a bit of a hangover from too many beers in a cafe with a new Belgian friend who loves jazz and plays in a band that plays around the world but like most musicians has a day job. Well this am maybe the Sony was a bit more prescriptive for me than the more incisive Crimson. One thing this comparison has also shown me is once again with three IEMs at $1k, $1.5k and $2k price is not the arbiter of what is best (at least for me). So I’d chalk it up to me preferring the Crimson head to head but seeing a place for the Sony as a backup, more warm alternative to the daily driver of the Crimson.

Conclusion - Well if you’ve stuck with me this far you obviously know the Crimson has a strong buy recommendation from me. It’s got the edge in transparency, head stage, tonality/timbre, and the bass is right up my alley. CanJam SoCal is right around the corner as of the writing of this review and we’ll likely see a ton of Crimson impressions so you’ll have plenty of others to juxtapose this review with. Thanks for reading and Thanks to Symposium for continuing to push the envelop!!

HiFiman HE 1000 SE Review

Introduction: While I am not as active in the headphone community today, I was very active in the headphone community from 2005 to about 2014. Starting back in the early days when the Senn 650 and Grado RS-1 were the top in production headphones (for the most part). Yes we had the R10, K1000, Qualia and various Audio Technica woodies and L3k but for the most part they were limited in availability.

Today we are in a golden age (prices withstanding) of top end headphones, almost an embarrassment of riches. This was my starting point for a 3 month journey to find my best headphone based on all the new great options that are available today.

This journey started earlier this year with me pitting several high end headphones in a steel cage match against the Focal Utopia I purchased in 2018.

I had these headphones in house over the past 3 months the ZMF Verite Closed, Heddphone, Rosson Audio RAD-0, Meze Empyrean and RAAL SR1A and now the HiFIman HE 1000SE.

I was able to arrange a loaner for the Heddphone , Meze Empyrean and HE1000se. The Rosson, RAAL and ZMF these were purchased by me. I have not been paid or been given any incentive for a positive review from any of these companies.

My musical preferences and sonic objectives.

I am mainly focused on Rock from classic rock through modern rock and Jazz with Jazz I am more focused on what I consider to be the classic era 1958 to about 1965 but I listen to jazz/rock and current jazz as well.

I prefer headphones with a realistic timbre, even frequency response, separation/detail and dynamics. This is a hard group to get right and there are times I’ve given up stage for timbre or detail. My headphone benchmark is the Focal Utopia as this has been my go for the past few years and I have considered this a great all rounder headphone.

The winner of this match up also needed to be able to allow me to melt into the music and disengage my thinking brain and just let me enjoy the music. Some headphones are toe tappers or cause more of an emotional response than others. There are some cans that may create an instant WOW factor but over time become fatuguing or are all sizzle and no steak.

Enter the HE 100SE





Opening the package, there is a nice presentation box, three cables XLR, 1/4 and 1/8. The cables function well and are light and flexible but do not match the high end space these headphones play in. They seem rubbery and almost like hospital latex. That said the cables sounded great and other than aesthetics did not hamper my enjoyment of these headphones.


There is a nice booklet and the while the presentation box is nice, I greatly prefer the flight case style boxes the Meze, Rosson or RAAL come in. While in the time of COVID we don’t travel with our gear I am hopeful to be sharing gear with friends in the future and travel cases are great for this purpose. again not a reason to buy or not buy a headphone as you can fashion any number of alternative cases. The headphones look great and are a nice mix of wood, steel, synthetics.

Comfort : These were amongst the more comfortable headphones I have had at the house and maybe only bested by the Meze and maybe just slightly ahead of the Utopia although the Utopia exuded slightly more high end visual build appeal.


These are easily adjustable and it easy to see where you are with clicks and visual holes on both sides of the headphone. I really like the (p)leather and velour mix of the pads as velour is pretty comfortable and doesn’t get as sweaty as leather can. They also felt light on the head at just under a pound long sessions are a breeze with them. They also grip just enough to stay put if I move around or lay down.



Sound Impressions - Songs Overviews

Stevie Ray Vaughn “Tin Pan Alley” - Wow the bass and drums on the opening of this track are just outstanding. There is plenty of weight to the rhythm section and dynamics of the Tom and snare hits are first rate. Stevie’s voice comes in with very natural tone a smokey and weary tone . Feeling the the dynamics are a stand out of this track just you get relaxed Stevie rakes his strings and it pops you up! Timbre is great and the sound is one of you being in the studio based on the realistic tonal representation across the vocals, guitar, bass and drums. The macro and micro dynamics are very good as well.


Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
There is a fair amount of instrumentation on this track and the HE 1000se did a great job presenting each instrument without losing the pacing and rhythm of the track. James Jamerson’s bass track is a monster on this and is easy to follow the bass melody he laid down. With some cans the rhythm of the bass is present but pitch is not always clearly defined not the case with these. It was fun to pull out the multitudes of vocals on this track. These also passed the foot tap test. Many headphones play music with great technicality but lose the emotional connection of the music the HE1000 had my head bouncing and foot tapping!

Led Zeppelin “Song Remains the Same” “RainSong”I chose this track due to the layers of guitar Jimmy Page laid down. It was a blast picking up the all the different part in the right and left channel with the dominate part in the center. The headphones really do a nice job with Plant’s vocals that are just bordering on sibilants and were sped up post recording for effect. I couldn’t help myself and rocked out to Rain Song as well. The guitars sounded so real and wet with the vocals having a spooky presence. The mellotron which does the string instrument sounds is presented with a richness that evokes emotion.

These headphones have a great quality that allows you to pick apart the mix if you like or just let the whole wash over you.

Steely Dan “Aja” This is a great song Steve Gadd on drums on this one just kills it. It was a joy following his drum solo on the outro the HE1000 did a great job laying this out. Vocals and keys sounded rich totally but representative of how this record sounds on top flight speaker systems I have heard this LP on.

Larry Coryell - Organ Trio "Rain or Shine"

Nice sense of space on this recording, Larry's guitar tone is well reproduced his super clean playing is just so much fun on this classic tune. The tone of the organ is wonderful with that slight hair on the tone from a great organ sound.

Hopefully this gives you a taste of how much I enjoyed these based on impressions on some of my favorite songs.


Treble - extremely well defined with plenty of texture. Cymbals shimmer and don’t come off as harsh or one dimensional like with some lesser cans. You hear the hit and get a great sense of stick placement on the cymbal along with nice decay. Not he kind of cup induced reverb decay some closed headphones can give just a very natural sound of what’s on the tape. Upper register piano strikes were well represented and were hard and jarring when the musician played it that way but I never got a sense the HE1000 was putting its thumb on the scale when presenting the the music.

Midrange - nice and neutral, instruments and vocals just sound right. Vocals both male and female sounded natural, this can be a challenge for many headphones. Vanessa Fernandez was a real treat with these, if you get a chance pick up her past two records! I play a bit of guitar and I thought the guitar tones were really natural, picking dynamics were well represented.

Bass - this is part of the review that I question myself as bass can be tricky for me. I tend to choose quality of bass over quantity of bass but love when I can have both. These have really really nice bass. I am currently spending a lot of time with the RAAL SR1a and they have great bass definition but not quantity. There were times I thought I would turn the bass up a touch but early on having listened to the Rosson I wanted slightly more bass.The HE 1000 se hs very well done bass probably in the middle of the pack less than Meze or Rosson but more than Utopia or RAAL. Bass is nicely textured not as much so as the Utopia or RAAL but with slightly more quantity comes a trade off maybe. Overall striking a very Goldilocks balance that I found ultimately very satisfying.

Details - These are the most detailed traditional headphone I have had the pleasure to listen to. Room sounds and boundaries come alive. The HE1000 picks details that you may have missed with other headphones and presents them to you but not is splashy way or at the expense of tipping up the upper frequencies. These are fast headphones maybe tied or slightly ahead of the Utopia which is one of the fastest dynamic driver cans. While they were highly detailed I didn’t feel as though they were tipped up to tease out detail at the expense of tonality.

Timbre was spot on with just about no complaints

These were driven by my Headamp GSX-mini and my Sony WM1a. The GSX-mini had enough power to rip your head off with these. The mini was a great match for these with plenty of power and a one notch past neutral to warm sound. Based on my time with the Sony WM1a I would think Sony’s TAZ.... would be a killer match with these as well. The WM1a has just enough to drive these single ended and I was fortunate to have Forza Audio 4.4 cable for these so I could see how much they sang with the Sony WM1a.

Overall these are stellar headphones and deserve to be on your short list if you are auditioning or contemplating a TOTL set of headphones. Nothing to complain about on the sound front just really nice balanced sound.

I would however upgrade the cables upon purchase to either something from Moon or Forza as the cables would have bothered me long term, not the sound just the feel and look.

I highly recommend these and give them 4.75 stars out of 5 so in head-fi terms 5 stars. HiFiman has a real winner on its hands here.

First huge thanks to Justin Wilson at Headamp.com for the loaner.

I had these along with two others for about one week to play with. After some back and forth I settled in on these as the tonality was far superior than the other two models..

I tested these with a variety of tracks form Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Pearl Jam, Shelby Lynn, Norah Jones and Led Zeppelin. My source was a Schiit Yggy GS and Lumin T2 and the amp is a custom FET based amp.

Vocals were sublime with these headphones with great body and lifelike presence.They do a nice job of putting you with the vocalist in Ann alternate reality.
Details were good but not up with the very best. I would say these have $1k-1.5k level of detail retrieval. Vocal reverb and decay were limited and cymbal hits were one dimensional. Again not bad just not up with the better headphones I have.
Bass - oh the bass. These are truly unique in how they are semi sealed with a gasket that allows the tuning of the headphone by the manufacture. The bass was at least 5 db too loud and I could not have these as a main set of headphones based on this flaw (or feature depending on your preference ).

Midrange was sweet and was among the best I've heard tonaly although not the best with details. Vocals, guitars, Keys all were enjoyable (sans the bass distractions)

compared to the Meze Empyrean, Focal Utopia, ZMF Veritie Closed or Rosson RAD-0 they were in or above the price of most of these but were well below the total performance of them.

I gave them 3 stars for the tone, midrange and bling build. The pads are awesome if you have ever experienced grado ear rash after a few hours. These were really beautiful and comfortable.

Right not these are a pass for me but may be right for the audiophile basshead (is there such a thing).

 
I first caught wind of the 3a about 18 months ago in the cryptic words of the designer Jerry Harvey, telling me that he had something really big on the horizon.
Prior to CanJam Chicago word spread of a very cool innovation that Jerry was going to show at the event. Most that heard the potential of the 3a that day were blown away at the increase in quality over even the already outstanding JH 13 or 16. The concept was to take IEMs and create crossovers and amps that use sound gains made in high end live sound and high end studio monitors. Many audiophiles love single driver speakers because they eliminate the crossover unfortunately they all largely roll off at the extremes. The 3a rips a page out of the book of high end studio monitors like ATC, take the signal and divide it prior to amplification then send just the signal meant for the driver in a multi driver set up. This optimizes the signal for the amp provides a much cleaner signal for the driver. 
 
JH is implementing this via DSP so an analog signal goes into an ADC (analog to digital converter), all signals are then converted to 24/96 and sent to the DSP chip where a digital signal processor applies the correct eq and phase correction.Then the signal is separated into three signals highs, mids and bass and then these three signals are sent to an amp section dedicated to just segment of the frequency. The signals are sent to the earpieces as three separate signals and then to your ears.
 
Jerry his company and customers went through a very trying time over the past year since he showed the concept. Various design changes and people who joined the project left but Jerry stayed the course along with a dedicated and slightly smaller group of customers. Well 8 months after the original release was it worth it? This customer says absofreakinglutely yes! Although I am not fully certain most headfi readers will fully understand what is going on for the current price of $1800. Given that there are three amps, a DAC, an ADC, a DSP module and the earpieces I'm amazed Jerry was able to come to market at this price. heck a JH16 and average amp from ALO, RSA or Headamp would run you $300 to $500 on top of $1100 or 1200 for the IEMs. 
 
Well with the backstory done here are some of my listening thoughts. I'll be doing this in two parts as I am waiting on a USB to spdif cable to test 24/96 and the spdif input. Part one will focus on the analog in from my iPhone and the USB input sourced by my MacBook pro and using Audirvana software for playback. 
 
To start the amp/DSP/DAC module is very well done there are two inputs a USB in the rear that also serves as a charging input and the mini input in front that serves as an analog in and a digital SPDIF input that will accept up to 24/96 signals. There is a switch marked B/M which is used to turn off the bass adjustment and allows for a mic input for performers ( a larger part of JH clientele). Then we've got a volume and bass knob. The gain is set high and my one suggestion is for the gain to be set lower as I've never listened above 10 o'clock and it might be great to have more volume adjustment at lower levels. That said I've not had a problem finding a comfortable listening level. 
 
I'll be looking at the following areas Treble, Mids and Bass response, speed, overall clarity/detail as well as tone/timbre.
 
Sonny Rollins , I’m and Old Cowhand from the Way Out West cd. Great detail, the drum into is well done and the bass is deep and defined. Did I say these are fast and dynamic, well when Sonny Rollins who is in the far left channel hits the sax hard you feel it. Overall tone is great and it is a wonderful track for this. I love jazz tracks that have moaning, humming or other vocal sounds that players make almost unaware. There is a great bit of this that is really brought out here.
 
Rolling Stones, Can’t You Hear Me knocking from Sticky Fingers cd. This track is a bit bass light but if you like you can bring the bass up without overshooting the mids, which is a problem with most iems I have tried. This may be the best separation I have heard from an IEM or headphone. Each instrument is able to be picked out in the mix. The middle section the 3a does a great job tone wise with the right side guitar’s wet tone, mid headstage percussion and sax and then left guitar that comes in later with an even juicier tone. 
 
Next up MIles Davis, All Blues from a KOB
 
The brush drum work is really clear and in focus here and the cymbal work is very well portrayed. Bass is ok, KOB for me has always had so so bass, it’s there but it is muddy on the recording and not alot for the 3a to do other than show it for what it is. Miles trumpet is very dynamic here. The best thing may be the way the 3a really allows you to openly hear each instrument very clearly. Mids could be a bit warmer but they are not cold just very neutral sounding. 
 
Terrence Blanchard and Dianne Reeves, I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love Me. I got
into this track when a good friend bought a pair of ATCSCM50 Anniversary speakers. This track really blew me away and the 3a portrays both Dianne Reeves’ vocals and Terrence Blanchard’s trumpet just as I recall. The pace on this track is deceptive as its got a bit going on for a ballad type song. The 3a tracks the rhythmic section very well along with presenting the cymbals effortlessly. 
 
Alice in Chains, No Excuses from Jar of Flies. 
 
Holy Cow that intro was crazy tom and bass drum hits are very very physical and definitely is a top three strength for the 3a. If you have a 3a play this track just for the intro .
 
Led Zeppelin ll I spun Whole Lotta Love, What is and Should Never Be and Ramble On.
 
Great job separating out Jimmy Pages multiple guitar tracks. It is great to be able to clearly hear the multiple parts he plays here. Tone is spot on guitars and drums sound just right. It is really easy to track John Paul Jones bass lines and hear each note very distinctly. 
 
So overall 
 
Treble : 9 (could be a bit hot on hot recordings)
Mids : 9.5 
Bass: 10 best bass I have heard in the headphone world and I’ve heard a lot of headphones.
 
Speed/Dynamics: 10 best in class with out being sharp or hazy sounding.
 
Clarity/Detail : 10 best in class
 
Tone/Timbre : 9 to 9.5 depending on input used the analog 9 in is softer sounding and the USB 9.5 is brighter sounding. Neither are bad just marginally different. 
 
Compared to other headphones I have like the LCD2 or the Audio Technica AD2k I believe the JH 3a to be better. The 3a represents the entire frequency range better than either with the AT having better high than the LCD2 but the LCD2 having better bass. Neither appear to go as high or low as clean as the 3a. I do like the presentation on the LCD2s and will miss them now that they are sold. Either of these full sized headphones required a great amp and source to have them compete ( and lose) to the 3a. Given a lesser amp the contest would not have been as close. 
 
Things I’d change would be the gain it is set high and in the future I may have it set lower as it never rises above 10’ oclock. I’d love to see JH offer the SPDIf adapter cables with the amp or as an add on at time of shipping. Other than that I am one happy customer.
 
So I’d overall give the 3a a 9.5 overall score in round one. Jerry hit a Home Run with this product. Next up in the coming weeks will be impressions with the Halide Bridge USC to SPDIf feeding the 3a. I’ll be able to test how the 3a performs with high res materials. 

Last month Craig Uthus of Eddie Current debuted a new amp at a smallish gather of friends in NorCal. I've heard many amps by Craig including those under the old Moth banner as well as his current name Eddie Current and I've been impressed by his output,Under theEddie Current name he has helped define the high end space with amps like the BA and HD25 hitting it out of the park for me. I've owned a few of Craig's amps notably one of the original Moth 2a3s that was a visual masterpiece and sonically one of my all time favorites. To this day it is the one piece of gear that I regret selling. He's made better sounding amps like the HD 25 ( a one off that he built for me) and Balancing act since then but the marriage of industrial almost gothic design, old school innards like brass plugs for switching output impedance and wax cloth wires and  sound quality earned a special place for me.

Enter the new 2a3, Craig's had multiple iterations of the 2a3 design at Moth from an his first more expensive units, scaled down more entry level and finally his 2a3/45 SI ammo box units. This new amp can switch between 2a3 and 45 tubes with a toggle switch located in the rear. Users that try to run 45s in 2a3 mode will most likely learn quickly that 45 tubes do not like to be run in 2a3 mode (POP goes the NOS tube). So like all things a little care and knowledge goes a long way. The amp is a two box affair with a 5ar4 driven power supply with the amp hosting a pair of 2a3s (Craig supplied Sylvania tubes) but I'll also run my big bottle JJ's in there as well and a 6sn7 for the driver tube. I'll likely try and sub a 6fg8 with adapter in there at some point in the trial. There are three single ended inputs, a set of speaker taps, and both a 4 pin and 1/4 headphone plug out front.

I ran the amp with a pair of Alon Lotus SE speakers ( http://www.sonoris.c.../lotussemk2.htm ) , a pair of Audeze LCD2s, Audio Technica AD200s and the JH13s. As a source I've got the Metric Halo ULN 8 (badged as a Sonic Studio 305) and an Origin LIve Sovereign turntable with their encounter tonearm with either the ZYX Atmos cart or the Miyajima Shilable cart (still can't make up my mind about which to keep).

When I received the amp I  gave it a few listens with the Alon speakers, LCD 2 and JH13s and so far it is very favorable. This is an uber quiet amp with gobs and gobs of detail, glorious tone and drive. It really splits the difference well between pacing, detail/extension and the all elusive musical expression. Some amps do one or two of those but its tough to find an amp that has rhythmic drive, extension gobs of detail and great tone. as of this red hot moment the 2a3 is hitting all three equally well. I'l see over the course of my time with it how it fairs over the longer haul.
 
 
The speaker sound was fantastic, very detailed but also very musical but ultimately the Alons do need more power maybe like a 300b an 845 (which I already own). Where EC 2a3 bested the Fi X 2a3 and the Dared 845  micro detail, tone (oh that amazing natural and accurate tone!). At low levels the EC 2a3 shined but did run out of gas with dynamic peaks or recordings with full dynamic range. This is not a knock on the EC 2a3 just a fact of a 3 watt amp powering a three way passive crossover speaker. Hooked up to a pair of Cain and Cain Horns I bet would be a revelation.

I've always loved the AT AD2k and the EC really re-enforced my love. The common knock on the ATs are they are airy (what the heck does that even mean) and lack bass extension and power. This was totally mitigated by the EC 2a3 as the AT's shone like a light on the recordings that I threw at it. I downloaded the new Rolling Stone HD tracks 24/176 of Though The Past Darkly. Man of man it was like being in a studio control room listing to the masters. Little details jumped out. Ruby Tuesdays strings had stunning bow attack and Jagger's voice was so freaking papable. Jumping Jack Flash was a blast, Jagger takes a breath right before singing and I never really noticed it before " I was born in a crossfire hurricane" and it's like he's right there in fornt of you! This was one memorable listening session.

Switching to the LCD2s its a totally different perspective instruments are weightier bass is powerful and driving. Details are still there but its like going from a studio monitor to Maggies. Both are awesome but they just portray the music in a very different way.

I played some Beatles from the 24/44.1 usb stick that came out and same great results weighty detailed and musically involving. The EC 2a3 should be on any LCD 2 owners short list, particularly if they plan to power high efficiency speakers as well.
 
I borrowed an old friend'd (i've know him a long time and he is old ) K1000s to see how they would perform with the EC 2a3 and they were sublime. The 2a3 to me rose to the top flight k1000 sessions I've heard with amps like the Moth 300b or first watt F1 being driven my an Eastern Electric pre amp . One of the knocks on the k1000s is they can get strident with the wrong amp and while some amps can power them they still don't sound good. The 2a3 provided a very balanced sound with nice bottom end (not the k1000s strong suit), speed like a possessed demon, PRat and tone.

Right now I'm using an RCA 5ar4 instead of the Chinese rectifier that was provided. I pulled the Sylvania 2a3s and popped in the JJs I had on hand and both are really good. The JJs have more bass and are overall thicker sounding where the Sylvania tubes are cleaner but have less bass weight and extension. I've got a few 6sn7 variants here but for now have stuck with the United Electronics that Craig sent. I do plan on popping in a 6fg8 and maybe a 7n7 as well for kicks. I also plan on playing with the Bendix 6106 (?) and 5y3 I have here too. I'd go for NOS 2a3s if you can find then as they bettered the JJs and are normally only marginally more expensive and sometimes less.

While  not the TOTL experience that the BA is and the only comparison I did was in NorCal the 2a3 does not give up much. It's not a balanced input amp like the BA and the PS in the BA is arguably better but the 2a3 is dead nuts silent. The BA to 2a3 is a tough comparison as the BA's I've heard had wither PX4 or AD1 tubes compared to the 2a3. Craig offeres the BA in  45/2a3 variation but most are being made with the PX4/300b option and from what I understand the AD1 version is no longer made.

The amp really responded to tube rolling and the change from the stock NU driver to one of my 6fg8 tubes (with adapter) improved tone and perceived headstage on both the AD2ks and the LCD2.
 
The amp can be made with either partial silver core or copper transformers. The partial silvers were in the amp I auditioned and I'd go that route as the copper provide slightly more gain but you lose the sonic benefits of the silver cores that according to Craig are speed and tone.
 
This amp reallly puts people in a spot that are looking at the BA as it comes close to BA quality, say a 9 out of the BA's 10 but that last bit of improvement is pretty large. I hate people that equate the percentage increase in cost to a value equation to improved sonics. First it's just not possible to truly measure improved subjective sound quality and secondly my 9 out of 10 might be somone elses 7 out of 10 depending on what thye value.
 
So in closing if you want to power just about all headphones (including the k1000s) and have a budget of around $3000 this amp is a slam dunk. You also can experiement with single driver high efficiency speakers while you are at it.
 
 
Here is a picture from Craig, as I failed to take a picture of it when I had it in house.

Portable audio is something I've had a love hate relationship with for a long time. Growing up in NY and later working in the 5 boroughs with an hour commute at times the three daily papers, a Walkman and a half dozen tapes made the journey tolerable and sometimes fun. I'd always spent the money to get a good deck and even back then I'd trash the stock earbuds and trow down $50 or so for upgraded headphones. Later I migrated to minidisc and found atrac to sound great. When I joined HeadFi I jumped headfirst into the rabbit hole of portable rigs and had a succession of iPods/Imods, other daps, portable amps and LODs. While I'd gotten decent sound I'd never seriously thought these portable rigs rivaled any of my home set ups.



Before I get started on the HiFiMan 602 let me say I still love my iPhone and iPad and they are great multipurpose devices that perform well in that regard. I did always dislike the rigamarole of the dap, lod, amp and band to keep them all together.

At the LA CanJam in 2009 Fang from HeadDirect showed me the HiFiMan 801. It was a beta and a little buggy but is sounded significantly better than any dap I'd heard. I wasn't ready for a device like that at the time but was impressed at Fang's vision to produce high audio quality portable devices. It takes balls to invest hard earned money into a market flooded with dap solutions. At the most recent RMAF I picked up the 602 after some intense listening at Fangs table. After now a month of listening I am incredibly impressed with this device and believe it delivers on the promise of home rig sonics in a portable device. Now it's not without it's niggles,'ll talk about those as well.

First up I'm an Apple guy and most of my music is in AIFF a format not supported by the HiFiman at this time. So after some transcoding and some HD tracks stuff that originally came in FLAC I was off to the races. On my system loading was slower than say syncing my iPod but not unbearable. Once loaded up I had some good reference tracks that I am familiar with:

John Coltrane A Love Supreme 24/96
Paul McCartney Band On The Run 24/96
Dire Straits Brothers In Arms
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin l
And the recording I made at CanJam of the Michael Arnopol Trio

Here are my thoughts on the sound paired with my JH13s

John Coltrane ALS new HDtracks remaster sounded great, solid bass and the cymbal work on part one acknowledgment was rendered with clarity but not splashy in any way. Overall soundstage is increased and I'm really impressed with the mix of detail without treble spikes.

Paul Macs BOTR showed off the 602 strengths to a greater degree. Bass was rock solid without bloat and great tone. Bass is a weird thing and often I see people on this site value quantity over quality. I prefer taught bass with a line you can easily follow as well as being able to pick up on the pluses use of technique on a particular track. The 602 delivered in spades in this area! Separation was another clear strongpoint, there are multiple guitar tracks on BOTR both acoustic and electric and it was easy to pick apart the instruments in the mix. Let Me Roll it was another fun bass song with it's deep bass line and distorted guitar lines with Paul's vocals doused with liberal reverb.

Moving on to Dire Straits Brothers In Arms, Your Latest Trick. This track is a favorite of mine and short of hearing out of my speaker rig the 602 was a fav as well. There is a nice percussion track on this and it was well rendered by the 602. The track really retains the smokey club atmosphere that I imagine Mark Knofler was going for. Once again it's all about the tone all instruments retained their tone that often gets a whited out feel on my iPad/iPhone with whatever FOTM lod and amp I have at the time. Why Worry showed rich strat tone that I love along with a huge vocal track both are subtle performances that really shine through with the 602.

Pink Floyd The Wall is where the 602 stumbled slightly, not sonically if anything sonically this lp was a favorite with the 602 but lack of gapless plackback hurts the vibe. Sonics were crazy good fat bass and similarly portrayed fat drums on Hey You with great instrument separation. So you get lost in the music while in tracks but are somewhat jolted at songs end given the songs flow together. Its a minor quibble one that I'm sure Fang will address. Holy smokes soundstage on Is There Anybody Out There is wide and layered with the solo acoustic guitar portrayed brilliantly. There is tone in spades on Nobody Home!

Led Zeppelin l Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, great vocal detail picking up Plants breathing and mouth sounds. Once again tone was a strong suit the acoustic guitar tracks were stunning. When the track gets busy it is still easy to pick up the multiple parts going on, although I did find myself really focused on the guitar tracks as they were sounding awesome.

So overall I strongly recommend the 602, particularly for JH owners. I've paired the JH13s up with a lot of gear and short of direct into my Sonic 305 DAC I've not heard better. The amp/DAC combo in the 602 seems to be highly qualified for IEMs and with the JH13s it is a hand in glove fit.

I do wish there was aiff support, gapless support and maybe a smoother user interface but I'm willing to look past there three rather minor quibbles for the LARGE step up the 602 delivered over iPod/amp combos or other stand alone daps I've tried. At $439 for the 602 and $259 for the 601, both using the same TDA 1543 and amp modules it is a no brainer for iem owners that value sonics over GUI. I also really like the single unit aspect with no old or amp tethered with rubber bands.

The 602 has my strongest recommendation and I could easily live with it and my JH13s as my sole music rig.