Hifi2jungle
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2015
- Posts
- 136
- Likes
- 56
Some short initial impressions from the High End in Munich on SP2000Cu vs SP1000Cu. I had my SP1000Cu with me to compare them side-by-side with both Utopia and Empyrean (both with balanced cables). Both are very easy to drive and do not need the additional output power of the SP2000. There was only one obvious sound difference imo, bass performance. Bass is a bit more prominent with SP2000Cu, and much much tighter. This was surpisingly obvious with the Utopia, much less so with the Empyrean. Mids sounded very slightly leaner with SP2000Cu (just a bit leaner, not recessed). SP1000Cu sounded very slightly warmer to my ears (warmer sounding mids), in spite of having a bit less bass. I could not reliably detect other sound differences. I would clearly prefer SP2000Cu in combination with the Utopias, but it was more or less a tie with the Empyreans.
Overall, I think that the SP2000 is an evolutionary step, but no real revolution. Nevertheless, I was surprised by the improved bass performance of the SP2000Cu, because I never experienced the SP1000Cu to be lacking there. So, bassheads will prefer SP2000Cu over SP1000Cu in terms of bass quality and also quantity. Generally speaking, however, there is no real need to upgrade for those who are happy with their SP1000s, imo. Both models are clearly high-end DAPs and will remain so for several years.
Thanks for this statement. What about the sp1000 amp and the utopia? Do you have an opinion on that? Waiting for Nomax to return to Austria and sending out my utopia to Germany cheers.