[Kashtan]

I would be grateful for comparing the sound between these amps, I am interested as overall, and to bass, stage, and dynamics.

PHATLAB PHANTASY
MASS-Kobo Headphone Amp. model 404
Masskobo model 428
Wagnus Bialbero Epsilon S
Triad audio Lisa III
WA8 Eclipse
ANALOG SQUARED PAPER TU-05
Analog Square Paper TUR-08
THE VORZAMPDUO II BY VORZUGE
Bakoon HPA-01M
Portaphile Nok
Bakoon HDA-5230
ROMI-AUDIO Balanced Headphone AMP Less BX-2
ALO Continental v5

 

[Kashtan]

Any opinions?

 

[eskamobob1]

Bump for old thread cause im curious as well

 

[Ta6ypeTka]

I could tell some about phantasy ii, wa8, wa11, pure ii+, bx2+, alo v5, alo cdm, ba300s, and sassy gt, if its still interesting.

Would love to see the rest ones compared

 

[Ta6ypeTka]

wow, the thread is alive. kinda xD
to cut a long story short (only amp parts):

wa8: insanely juicy, a bit dark, much upper base and midrange. decent micro. mediocre power output. does very well paired with hugo 2 and airy planars. love it a lot.

wa11: a bit sharp. fast. i kinda disliked it. decent power output.

pure ii+: also fast and a bit sharp, but feels more neutral and more micro-accented rather than sharp as wa11 is. very airy and wide. susprisingly powerful for the size (2 most powerful for the planars on this list after bx2+), 10 hours playtime. very good for the price for used.

bx2+: even wider, than pure ii+. but sounds way more analog-like. flowy mids, vocals. very melodic. juiced bass. mids and highs are felt very neutral. decent technicality. extremely powerful, but still cant run heddphones, sus, 1266 and etc.

ba300s (first rev.): the weaker one in this list. a bit bassy, a bit muddy. for example, its pretty well felt in a/b comparison vs the in-built p6pro obsidian grey amp. mids arent that tuby. doesnt have its own power.

alo cv5: just a slight tube touch in the mids; decent overall in other aspects. doesnt affect the sound all too much if compared vs the in-built amps in daps besides the slightly yellowed midrange. not very powerful.

alo cdm: the weakest power output in the list. very delicate and melodic, a bit yellowish and tuby in the midrange. fine treble without any remarks, but not having the crystal-like highs. decent technicality (but id prefer wa8, f.ex. despite being darker, wa8's micro is felt better for me. idk the exact tubes that were in cdm, but they were a lot better than the stock ones. and its a very important point: cdm is greatly dependant on the tubes. and its very easy to tube-roll with it. compared to wa8, f.ex.).

im not able to decently compare phantasy ii and sassy gt due to a big gap in when ive heard them. afaik, phantasy ii is very comfortable in the far treble (yet very transparent and detailed), decently tuby in the mids, having the very good micro. very powerful, but made for dd. i couldnt properly listen to the planars using it. ive had the distortion all over the spectre. sassy gt felt for me as way less tuby amp. close to alo cv5, but just better overall and more tuby. and it defenitelly didnt have such a recessed sparkle in the treble as phantasy ii did. however, a friend of mine tells, that sassy gt sounds more tuby when directly compared vs phantasy ii. so ill advice to take this with a grain of salt. however, id still say, that overall id prefer these two to all of the rest mentioned above.

vorzuge sounds a bit too micro-accented to me. romi is way too melodic for me. im a metalhead and i want a hard striking one. wa8 can do that, but it lacks power and a bit of transparency for my high-level requests. wa11 is sharp. oriolus lacks transparency (most of the list), cv5 is just a bit simplier.

if there were no other amps and ive had to pick something else but the phatlabs, id then go for wa8 or bx2+, depending on the dac/dap. at the current state, while owning the pr6pro obsidian grey, id defenitelly go for wa8 as it would make an insanely juicy and groovy combo for the heavy genres.

 

[Nostoi]

Been through several of the amps listed above and whittled it down to the ones listed in my signature, though still curious about Analog Square Paper.

But in short:

- Mass Kobo 428: outstanding technical performance, supremely transparent with excellent layering and precision. Clean, clean, clean. Will upgrade any DAP/souce several tiers above.

- Phatlab Phantasy II: timbre, tone, texture. I've had WA8 and C9, and for me Phantasy II refines the tube texture of WA8 and linear tuning of the C9, but improves on these amps in every sense. Dynamics are also markedly better than C9 and WA8.

- Bakoon HDA5230: very unique and really only suited to planar, though will also sound good on some dynamics (HD800s esp). Hard to describe as it has a chameleon like quality, but when the synergy hits it's really the best of the amps out there. Dynamic, organic, precise, spacious....and enigmatic.

 

[Ta6ypeTka]

Bump for old thread cause im curious as well

I know, you've heard many of those (you can guess by me writing here xD).

Could you, please, maybe, shed the light on the comparison between any of these amongst each other?

a100tb, 424/428, hpa-01m, hda5230, hpa-23rm. and on the tube side: tu-05, tur-06, tur-08, phantasy ii, chimera ii, sassy gt.

i also wouldnt mind comparing ss vs tube ones.

im a metalhead. mostly interested in dynamics, speed and presicion of the bass, bass slam impact, soundstage openess, clarity & transparency, treble detail retrieval and midrange instruments textures, treble comfort. however (and this might sound a bit weird), im a tube-fan. and i love colored midrange. groovy stuff. but only after precision and transparency are top-tier. the source is going to be p6pro og, hp: planars only. both iem and oem.

would greatly appreciate that.

i'm collecting as many opinions as i can. and i think i have somewhat fine images of most of the cases, but im really lacking a100tb vs mass kobo & bakoon comparisons and asp vs phatlab ones as well. ive found only one comparison of asp vs any other tube amp so far, actually. it was in the wa8 review. and it doesnt help much, since the diff between phatlabs vs wa8 and asp vs wa8 are generally very similar. and nothing for a100tb.