Brent Hutto
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2005
- Posts
- 346
- Likes
- 15
Most people mention at the beginning of their review what similar equipment they've used in the past. Instead, I'll just have to say that the Portaphile V2 I recently purchased from Cesar Aguilera is the first headphone amp I've ever listened to (other than electrostatic driver amps a couple decades ago) so my only basis for comparison is the sound of my iPod and CD player with and without the Portaphile. The HD595 that I'm using is new to me as well, replacing for home use the PX200 that I had been sharing between home and office.
So my equipment complement for now is an iPod Mini, unamplified, driving the PX200 for listening in my office while at work and an old Adcom GCD-575 that I've had for 15+ years as source for a Portaphile V2 demo/prototype unit (that I believe some forum members have had in their possession at various times) driving the HD595. Since both headphone and amp were purchased used I doubt there is any break-in to worry about, not that I completely believe in breaking in electronic components anyway. My particular Portaphile has three channels of AD8610 opamps and BUF634 buffers. All of my listening has been done with a 24V wall-wart supplying power, I've not even put a 9V battery in the amp yet.
Even though I bought the amplifier to use at home with the HD595 and CD player I will say that I've tried it on the iPod Mini with a Pocketdock Line-Out. For the iPod, whether with the PX200 or HD595 the conclusion is easy. The sound is just better all around with the amp. More, lower bass which is much better controlled and less boomy. Instantly noticable dynamic range improvement and more quiet space surrounding each voice or instrument. No need to elaborate further, the iPod Mini with PX200 sounds just fine for playing quietly in the background at work but for immersive listening I'd hook up the amp, no question.
The effect of the Portaphile inserted between my CD player and HD595 is no less beneficial but certainly not as obvious. My Adcom has a stout little headphone driver of its own and does not suffer from any severe limitation when driving the HD595 (admittedly an easy to drive headphone) directly. Anyway, at first listen my impression was that the Portaphile brightened the sound a bit. Further attention to individual sounds broke that apparent "brightness" into two actual components. Most clearly, the upper bass and lower midrange were tightened up slightly and even though there is just as much bass energy present it doesn't impose itself in further up into the midrange. A second effect is that the Portaphile will make any hint of sibilance in the recording more evident. So the combination of the bass staying down low and the highs being reproduced in clear detail (for better or worse) provide an enduring sensation of a bright system character. I like a bright sound as long as it isn't harsh so that's actually a good thing.
Careful, critical listening to a few repeated short musical segments lets me attempt to record some detailed observations. I listen to bluegrass and other acoustic music such as singer-songwriter (voice and guitar usually) stuff. Some pop music too but my equipment needs to do well on the acoustic material to be useful to me. Female vocalists in particular are one of the true tests of a system's quality if I'm going to spend much time using it. So most of my time was spent with guitar instrumentals, guitar with vocals and a capella female vocals. One particularly revealing recording is of two closely-miked acoustic guitars played by Tony Rice and Norman Blake, a couple of fine flatpicking virutosos who recorded a direct-to-digital album together in 1987 titled simply "Blake and Rice". Mostly instrumental but they also trade off singing duties on a few tracks.
Here's one of the big things about the Portaphile. After listening several times to a 15-20 second snippet of guitar playing with the amp and then switching to the headphone jack of the CD player, it became clear that without the amp the sound of the lower and middle strings did not have a focused core. The attack of the flatpick on the string was very similar with and without the amp as were the overall pitch of the string and resonance of the guitar body. But with the amp I can hear the string singing after being picked and that core sound is distinct from what I'd call the body of the sound excited in the other strings and in the body. On a fast hornpipe-type song where a melodic on the upper strings is alternated with occasional notes begin struck on the bass strings, with the amp I can hear the string pumping sound into the body of the guitar and hear the body releasing it while the picking moves back up top. With the CD player headphone jack, it just sounds like alternating high and low notes with the low notes a little louder and less crisp than the high ones.
On a related subject, when one player is taking the lead and the other is providing rhythm the amplifier is needed in order to keep the two guitars in their distinct soundspaces while they both play in the same register. There is a blurring of the lower octaves in the CD player's unamplified output that creates an effect where the guitars spatially move apart when the lead is high and the rhythm guitar is low but then merge together if they're both in the first couple octaves of the instrument's range. With the amp, I don't get a great "soundstage" or whatever but there is nonetheless a clear sensation of two guys playing two guitars (even if they're both standing between my ears).
Enough guitar stuff. I talk a lot about it because that's where the most obvious improvement from the Portaphile seems to occur. On my Naimh Parsons CD of mostly solo (and some a capella) songs from the Celtic music repertoire, the HD595 headphone shows it colors as an ideal instrument for reproducing vocal subtleties. The difference with the amp or without is all in those subtleties but I think it is real. When she sings a capella, frankly the CD player acquits itself magnificently. I don't need the amp to hear a good female solo a capella sound. Add a guitar accompaniment, and the story is slightly different. I suppose having that lower-frequency content to reproduce puts some additional load on the CD player's output section but there are some breath sounds and slight wavering of pitch at the end of softly-sung phrases that are lost without the Portaphile in the loop. My CD is "Heart's Desire" and on the song The Rigs of Rye I played a short phrase over and over with and without the amp. At the end of that phrase, as her voice fades almost to a whisper she loses just a tiny bit of control over the pitch. Without the amp, even turning the volume up higher I just hear the note fade and become a sort of pitchless unvoiced puff of air but with the Portaphile the pitch core stays in until the end even though not perfectly centered (and believe me the phrase as delivered is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, this is no critique of Ms. Parsons transcendent gifts). There is also earlier in the phrase a little bit of breath used to emphasize an "H" sound in the middle of a word that is completely absent without the amp no matter how high I turn up the volume on the CD player to try and hear it.
Well, enough angels singing on the head of a pin. I hate to go overboard in pseudo-audiophile-speak but there are textures and details on the CD, being delivered from the DAC that are only expressed by the HD595 when using an amp like the Portaphile. Good music sounds good without the amp but for some particular types of sound, at least, that extra headroom and cleanness is needed and appreciated. On non-acoustic music like Dire Straits or Greenday I didn't do any critical listening but definitely like the sound of the system with the Portaphile included better than the CD player and headphone alone. I'll also make one comment about classical music. I haven't listened to much with my new stuff but the HD595 seems perfect for string quartets, for instance. The difference that the Portaphile brings is to clean up a certain tendency for the "breath" in the music (microdynamics) to get a little out of sync when listening to the CD player's output directly. Adding the amplifier lets the tiny ebbs and flows of each player's contribution all mesh together in that wonderful sense of the quartet being a single living being singing the music in polyphony and amazingly complex phrasing. I have a CD of the St. Lawrence String Quartet which is a strikingly energetic (some people might say over-the-top) example of this sort of dyanmism. Through speakers or unamplified headphone it's good stuff but not something I'd want to listen to unless I'm in a certain mood. With the new setup including the Portaphile it's really something to look forward to.
That's all I can write at one sitting. Oh, and some technical notes. I had Cesar set the voltage gain at 5 for my 50-ohm, fairly sensitive headphone. If I had it to do over I'd have chosen 2.5-3 because I can't come close to using even half the volume pot travel at comfortable listening level. BTW, my interconnects are quite crappy. Not only am I using the original cable on the HD595 (perish the thought, you tweakers) but until I get my hands on a better one I'm using the little small-gauge mini-to-RCA cable that came with my Pocketdock Line-Out. I am using a good-quality Grado adapter to get my 1/4" headphone plug into the 1/8" mini jack on the Portaphile.
So my equipment complement for now is an iPod Mini, unamplified, driving the PX200 for listening in my office while at work and an old Adcom GCD-575 that I've had for 15+ years as source for a Portaphile V2 demo/prototype unit (that I believe some forum members have had in their possession at various times) driving the HD595. Since both headphone and amp were purchased used I doubt there is any break-in to worry about, not that I completely believe in breaking in electronic components anyway. My particular Portaphile has three channels of AD8610 opamps and BUF634 buffers. All of my listening has been done with a 24V wall-wart supplying power, I've not even put a 9V battery in the amp yet.
Even though I bought the amplifier to use at home with the HD595 and CD player I will say that I've tried it on the iPod Mini with a Pocketdock Line-Out. For the iPod, whether with the PX200 or HD595 the conclusion is easy. The sound is just better all around with the amp. More, lower bass which is much better controlled and less boomy. Instantly noticable dynamic range improvement and more quiet space surrounding each voice or instrument. No need to elaborate further, the iPod Mini with PX200 sounds just fine for playing quietly in the background at work but for immersive listening I'd hook up the amp, no question.
The effect of the Portaphile inserted between my CD player and HD595 is no less beneficial but certainly not as obvious. My Adcom has a stout little headphone driver of its own and does not suffer from any severe limitation when driving the HD595 (admittedly an easy to drive headphone) directly. Anyway, at first listen my impression was that the Portaphile brightened the sound a bit. Further attention to individual sounds broke that apparent "brightness" into two actual components. Most clearly, the upper bass and lower midrange were tightened up slightly and even though there is just as much bass energy present it doesn't impose itself in further up into the midrange. A second effect is that the Portaphile will make any hint of sibilance in the recording more evident. So the combination of the bass staying down low and the highs being reproduced in clear detail (for better or worse) provide an enduring sensation of a bright system character. I like a bright sound as long as it isn't harsh so that's actually a good thing.
Careful, critical listening to a few repeated short musical segments lets me attempt to record some detailed observations. I listen to bluegrass and other acoustic music such as singer-songwriter (voice and guitar usually) stuff. Some pop music too but my equipment needs to do well on the acoustic material to be useful to me. Female vocalists in particular are one of the true tests of a system's quality if I'm going to spend much time using it. So most of my time was spent with guitar instrumentals, guitar with vocals and a capella female vocals. One particularly revealing recording is of two closely-miked acoustic guitars played by Tony Rice and Norman Blake, a couple of fine flatpicking virutosos who recorded a direct-to-digital album together in 1987 titled simply "Blake and Rice". Mostly instrumental but they also trade off singing duties on a few tracks.
Here's one of the big things about the Portaphile. After listening several times to a 15-20 second snippet of guitar playing with the amp and then switching to the headphone jack of the CD player, it became clear that without the amp the sound of the lower and middle strings did not have a focused core. The attack of the flatpick on the string was very similar with and without the amp as were the overall pitch of the string and resonance of the guitar body. But with the amp I can hear the string singing after being picked and that core sound is distinct from what I'd call the body of the sound excited in the other strings and in the body. On a fast hornpipe-type song where a melodic on the upper strings is alternated with occasional notes begin struck on the bass strings, with the amp I can hear the string pumping sound into the body of the guitar and hear the body releasing it while the picking moves back up top. With the CD player headphone jack, it just sounds like alternating high and low notes with the low notes a little louder and less crisp than the high ones.
On a related subject, when one player is taking the lead and the other is providing rhythm the amplifier is needed in order to keep the two guitars in their distinct soundspaces while they both play in the same register. There is a blurring of the lower octaves in the CD player's unamplified output that creates an effect where the guitars spatially move apart when the lead is high and the rhythm guitar is low but then merge together if they're both in the first couple octaves of the instrument's range. With the amp, I don't get a great "soundstage" or whatever but there is nonetheless a clear sensation of two guys playing two guitars (even if they're both standing between my ears).
Enough guitar stuff. I talk a lot about it because that's where the most obvious improvement from the Portaphile seems to occur. On my Naimh Parsons CD of mostly solo (and some a capella) songs from the Celtic music repertoire, the HD595 headphone shows it colors as an ideal instrument for reproducing vocal subtleties. The difference with the amp or without is all in those subtleties but I think it is real. When she sings a capella, frankly the CD player acquits itself magnificently. I don't need the amp to hear a good female solo a capella sound. Add a guitar accompaniment, and the story is slightly different. I suppose having that lower-frequency content to reproduce puts some additional load on the CD player's output section but there are some breath sounds and slight wavering of pitch at the end of softly-sung phrases that are lost without the Portaphile in the loop. My CD is "Heart's Desire" and on the song The Rigs of Rye I played a short phrase over and over with and without the amp. At the end of that phrase, as her voice fades almost to a whisper she loses just a tiny bit of control over the pitch. Without the amp, even turning the volume up higher I just hear the note fade and become a sort of pitchless unvoiced puff of air but with the Portaphile the pitch core stays in until the end even though not perfectly centered (and believe me the phrase as delivered is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, this is no critique of Ms. Parsons transcendent gifts). There is also earlier in the phrase a little bit of breath used to emphasize an "H" sound in the middle of a word that is completely absent without the amp no matter how high I turn up the volume on the CD player to try and hear it.
Well, enough angels singing on the head of a pin. I hate to go overboard in pseudo-audiophile-speak but there are textures and details on the CD, being delivered from the DAC that are only expressed by the HD595 when using an amp like the Portaphile. Good music sounds good without the amp but for some particular types of sound, at least, that extra headroom and cleanness is needed and appreciated. On non-acoustic music like Dire Straits or Greenday I didn't do any critical listening but definitely like the sound of the system with the Portaphile included better than the CD player and headphone alone. I'll also make one comment about classical music. I haven't listened to much with my new stuff but the HD595 seems perfect for string quartets, for instance. The difference that the Portaphile brings is to clean up a certain tendency for the "breath" in the music (microdynamics) to get a little out of sync when listening to the CD player's output directly. Adding the amplifier lets the tiny ebbs and flows of each player's contribution all mesh together in that wonderful sense of the quartet being a single living being singing the music in polyphony and amazingly complex phrasing. I have a CD of the St. Lawrence String Quartet which is a strikingly energetic (some people might say over-the-top) example of this sort of dyanmism. Through speakers or unamplified headphone it's good stuff but not something I'd want to listen to unless I'm in a certain mood. With the new setup including the Portaphile it's really something to look forward to.
That's all I can write at one sitting. Oh, and some technical notes. I had Cesar set the voltage gain at 5 for my 50-ohm, fairly sensitive headphone. If I had it to do over I'd have chosen 2.5-3 because I can't come close to using even half the volume pot travel at comfortable listening level. BTW, my interconnects are quite crappy. Not only am I using the original cable on the HD595 (perish the thought, you tweakers) but until I get my hands on a better one I'm using the little small-gauge mini-to-RCA cable that came with my Pocketdock Line-Out. I am using a good-quality Grado adapter to get my 1/4" headphone plug into the 1/8" mini jack on the Portaphile.
