[drwlf]

Oh my, such responsibility over your wallet.

Axiom #1: Feed the family first.

Actually got a new mouth inc in the summer. LOL.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Actually got a new mouth inc in the summer. LOL.

Congrats!! Boy or girl, lets just pray they are an audiophile.

 

[drwlf]

Congrats!! Boy or girl, lets just pray they are an audiophile.

Thanks!
Second girl in two years, tryin' times for a beginner headphone enthusiast!

 

[drwlf]

Hmm, was the output impedance mentioned anywhere? I thought I had seen it, but couldn't find the info now.

 

[CarlosUnchained]

@drwlf there's no such info anywhere.

Well, I went today to try the Watson. Here it is.

First say that the venue was noisy and I had to crank up the volume more than usual. Take that in account while reading.

I have to say that this amp is engaging and really fun. Lots of power to spare.
The sound signature of this tube hybrid is warmish, not too detailed and pretty generous with instrument separation and soundstage. I would really like to come back and have a more quiet environment.

So to describe it better I compared it with the Phatlab PHAntasy and Sassy (What, right?). PHAntasy was a pure tube portable amp clearly underpowered for the LCD-X, more detail delivered but less bass extension, veiled and a lot of distortion when cranked up. The Sassy was a hybrid tube portable amp with lots of power as the Watson. Really close to the Watson, maybe a tad less warm a more detailed.

The Watson does have some flaws though.

The bass seemed a bit out of control sometimes depending on the song (the noise around may be to blame).
At low (very low) volume there's big channel imbalance, still out of the range of normal listening (or maybe in, screw the noise).
The volume pot is not very accurate as you have a small range where the pot turns but the volume does not change.
Also concerning the volume pot, it wobbles up and down a bit when putting pressure with one finger to turn it. It's not really sturdy and make the whole thing look cheap.
The noise floor level is there, not as high as to be concerning though (or maybe it was the surroundings, who knows? not me).

Anyway, price for performance I think it's great. LCD-X really welcomes those 2Watts per channel.
Tell me if I'm wrong, but for 150€ I believe you cannot get that amount of power in any other amp.

Ah, it's as beautiful as an open design can be.

 

[drwlf]

@CarlosUnchained thanks for the impressions!
Odd that there's not enough range for the LCD-X and its low impedance though.
Not the most encouraging impressions!

 

[CarlosUnchained]

@CarlosUnchained thanks for the impressions!
Odd that there's not enough range for the LCD-X and its low impedance though.
Not the most encouraging impressions!

Oh sorry, by "the former" I mean the PHAntasy, not the Element. There's two other amps in that comparison.

On the Watson 25% of volume is good enough for the Xs

I already fixed it in the post above.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

@CarlosUnchained thanks for the impressions!
Odd that there's not enough range for the LCD-X and its low impedance though.
Not the most encouraging impressions!

The issue is that the Watson increases volume logarithmically instead of linearly, so on something like the X there's a very narrow band of "listenable volume."

And hey @CarlosUnchained, looks like the tube bias screws aren't aligned. Have the arrow pointed at 6 on both and that should fix the imbalance.

 

[CarlosUnchained]

The issue is that the Watson increases volume logarithmically instead of linearly, so on something like the X there's a very narrow band of "listenable volume."

And hey @CarlosUnchained, looks like the tube bias screws aren't aligned. Have the arrow pointed at 6 on both and that should fix the imbalance.

I didn't play with the screws. Maybe next time I'll ask, thanks for the tip!

 

[drwlf]

Should I go for it?

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Well DUH . Seriously though this little amp packs quite a punch. I don't think there has been a customer of ours who wasn't impressed by the cost/performance of it.

 

[Lohb]

Teradak can make a custom linear power supply for the Watson at 26v/1ah.
Teradak888@hotmail.com
$155 including tracked airmail.

I think LPS will always take an amp up several notches when the design does not include significant power cleaning/regs as-is.

Won't get my Watson until next month, just thought I'd share after some web digging for a matching LPS.

Text size a bit wonky on mobile browser LoL

 

[grig]

Teradak can make a custom linear power supply for the Watson at 26v/1ah.
Teradak888@hotmail.com
$155 including tracked airmail.

I think LPS will always take an amp up several notches when the design does not include significant power cleaning/regs as-is.

Won't get my Watson until next month, just thought I'd share after some web digging for a matching LPS.

Text size a bit wonky on mobile browser LoL

if you decide to buy one of those, don't forget to update us

 

[feinanng]

Received my Watson today, bought it used though.
Short impression :
Added oommmppphhhh to HE560....
It drives HE560 easily, I cant go further beyond 10 o'clock.
It adds some warmth into the mid, kind of fixed the dryness of this cans.
for soundstage, watson does has more width compared to idsd.
Middle pots were set at dead center(6 o'clock )

 

[Krisna13]

What amps did you compare the Watson to with the Elear?

Hi Andrew, my apologies for such a late reply. I'm comparing the Watson to the iFi iCAN SE. From my experience the Watson is the 'fun' amp out of the two. The iCAN SE is very linear, neutral and I would say presents the music with very little to no colouration from source. Not quite analytical however. The Watson definitely adds bass, specifically sub bass to the Elears, which is an added welcome. Furthermore there is more 'body' and 'emotion' to the mid section, which I feel the Elears lack, sounding a little 'dry' and 'thin' on the iCAN SE. To my surprise, detail and resolution is pretty damn good on the Watson. I'm yet to want more performance from the upper-mid and high frequency range when combining the Watson and Elears. I am however using 'bright' interconnects to connect the Watson my dap (Fiio X5 III) or dac iFi iDSD/iDSD Black Label.

Soundstage and timber are definitely more pleasant on the Watson, but imaging on the iCAN SE.

My personal preference with the Elears is to use the Watson with classical, acoustic, vocal and jazz recordings, whilst anything that requires a little more speed, precision and attack, the iCAN SE (electronic music, bop/hard bop jazz, rock etc).

For overall synergy, if I could just keep one amp I would choose the Watson, no second thought.

I don't have many amps in my arsenal, so I hope this quick comparison helps.