Flux Lab Acoustics FA-10, FA-10 Pro, FA-12, FCN-10 & FA-12s Amplifiers - Summit-Fi for the People?: Reviews, Impressions & Discussion
Jun 25, 2022 at 4:05 PM Post #2,326 of 2,598
I’m placing a big order on digikey to recap a vintage amp, and I figure I might as well consider capacitor upgrades for my flux fa-12 since warranty is probably gone anyways.

Does anyone know which caps I should be targeting?
 
Jul 16, 2022 at 5:23 PM Post #2,327 of 2,598
What's actually going on at the manufacturer's site?
All headphone amps out of stock?!

shame - I was actually hoping they'd be up and running somehow, was about to email them. I have my eye on FA-12 for a while now as a potential upgrade couple years down the line, but thought that now might be a good time to throw some money from abroad into my country's economy.
 
Jul 16, 2022 at 9:28 PM Post #2,328 of 2,598
I'm thinking I want to experiment with a new stack. My Singxer SA-1 has some characteristics that have become bothersome after the past year or so. Chiefly, the sound quality differs greatly between the balanced output and the SE output, such that honestly I just use my Liquid Spark for SE headphones rather than the Singxer. The balanced output sounds phenomenal, but it's always such a kick in the pants when I get a new headphone and have to balanced-mod it or order a balanced cable and wait to feel like I'm getting the most out of it all.

I have my eyes on the FA-10 Pro. I'll be picking up an HE6se soon, and I've got a few 300- and 600-ohm cans, so some brute force is required for a lot of my collection. But I also have a good smear of more sensitive headphones, as well. Little bit of everything across the whole sensitivity spectrum, really. And in terms of my tastes, if I had to choose between musicality and detail, I prefer musicality, but I would much rather have both.

So, some questions:

How do the two outputs on the FA-10 compare? Will I be favoring one output and avoiding the other again, or are they more or less equal?​

On the musicality-vs-detail spectrum, where does this amp land?​

I'll initially be using my Schiit Modius as a source, but I'm real keen to try an R2R DAC in the future, something like a Denafrips Ares II, for instance. Any thoughts on pairing this with either of those two DACs?​
Thanks!
 
Jul 16, 2022 at 9:43 PM Post #2,329 of 2,598
I'm thinking I want to experiment with a new stack. My Singxer SA-1 has some characteristics that have become bothersome after the past year or so. Chiefly, the sound quality differs greatly between the balanced output and the SE output, such that honestly I just use my Liquid Spark for SE headphones rather than the Singxer. The balanced output sounds phenomenal, but it's always such a kick in the pants when I get a new headphone and have to balanced-mod it or order a balanced cable and wait to feel like I'm getting the most out of it all.

I have my eyes on the FA-10 Pro. I'll be picking up an HE6se soon, and I've got a few 300- and 600-ohm cans, so some brute force is required for a lot of my collection. But I also have a good smear of more sensitive headphones, as well. Little bit of everything across the whole sensitivity spectrum, really. And in terms of my tastes, if I had to choose between musicality and detail, I prefer musicality, but I would much rather have both.

So, some questions:

How do the two outputs on the FA-10 compare? Will I be favoring one output and avoiding the other again, or are they more or less equal?​

On the musicality-vs-detail spectrum, where does this amp land?​

I'll initially be using my Schiit Modius as a source, but I'm real keen to try an R2R DAC in the future, something like a Denafrips Ares II, for instance. Any thoughts on pairing this with either of those two DACs?​
Thanks!
Ares 2 + Flux FA-12 pair really well together with a few caveats. Bass won't be as slamming as Schiit gear as that's the Schiit house sound. The HD6x0 series can come off as a bit upper mids focused with the Ares 2 + Flux sound.

The best thing about the flux + denafrips combo is the sounds is so effortless and transparent. I just smile whenever I listen to music with it together. Down side is some poorly mastered youtube videos can sound grating. Gaming is not the strong suit of the ares 2 if you use USB as it has a big audio delay. I use a optical out of my gaming machine or a pi2aes for music.
 
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Jul 16, 2022 at 10:21 PM Post #2,331 of 2,598
Flux Lab FA-22 with Auteur OG / Atrium is the best that solid-state can get. 🥲
 
Jul 17, 2022 at 11:05 AM Post #2,332 of 2,598
Ares 2 + Flux FA-12 pair really well together with a few caveats. Bass won't be as slamming as Schiit gear as that's the Schiit house sound. The HD6x0 series can come off as a bit upper mids focused with the Ares 2 + Flux sound.

The best thing about the flux + denafrips combo is the sounds is so effortless and transparent. I just smile whenever I listen to music with it together. Down side is some poorly mastered youtube videos can sound grating. Gaming is not the strong suit of the ares 2 if you use USB as it has a big audio delay. I use a optical out of my gaming machine or a pi2aes for music.

The FA-12 responds very well with pre-amps. Put in a Gustard P26 pre-amp upgraded with V6 Vivid, I think it might put a bigger smile on you.
 
Jul 17, 2022 at 11:06 AM Post #2,333 of 2,598
Ares 2 + Flux FA-12 pair really well together with a few caveats. Bass won't be as slamming as Schiit gear as that's the Schiit house sound. The HD6x0 series can come off as a bit upper mids focused with the Ares 2 + Flux sound.

The best thing about the flux + denafrips combo is the sounds is so effortless and transparent. I just smile whenever I listen to music with it together. Down side is some poorly mastered youtube videos can sound grating. Gaming is not the strong suit of the ares 2 if you use USB as it has a big audio delay. I use a optical out of my gaming machine or a pi2aes for music.
Hello, by youtube video, do you means music on youtube ?
 
Jul 17, 2022 at 12:46 PM Post #2,334 of 2,598
I'm thinking I want to experiment with a new stack. My Singxer SA-1 has some characteristics that have become bothersome after the past year or so. Chiefly, the sound quality differs greatly between the balanced output and the SE output, such that honestly I just use my Liquid Spark for SE headphones rather than the Singxer. The balanced output sounds phenomenal, but it's always such a kick in the pants when I get a new headphone and have to balanced-mod it or order a balanced cable and wait to feel like I'm getting the most out of it all.

I have my eyes on the FA-10 Pro. I'll be picking up an HE6se soon, and I've got a few 300- and 600-ohm cans, so some brute force is required for a lot of my collection. But I also have a good smear of more sensitive headphones, as well. Little bit of everything across the whole sensitivity spectrum, really. And in terms of my tastes, if I had to choose between musicality and detail, I prefer musicality, but I would much rather have both.

So, some questions:

How do the two outputs on the FA-10 compare? Will I be favoring one output and avoiding the other again, or are they more or less equal?​

On the musicality-vs-detail spectrum, where does this amp land?​

I'll initially be using my Schiit Modius as a source, but I'm real keen to try an R2R DAC in the future, something like a Denafrips Ares II, for instance. Any thoughts on pairing this with either of those two DACs?​
Thanks!

What are the characteristics you are not liking on the Singxer SA-1. Cause it would be sad, if the FluxLab Fa-10 gave similar characteristics.

The FluxLab Fa-10 amps are quite steely/air-crispy in an unforgiving sense. Similar to the Ragnarok2 topology amps they are kind of related to. And this isn't due to the HE6 being underpowered, it shows on my other headphones.

It helps to not use the high-gain of the FluxLab Fa-10, medium-gain on my HE6 reduces the aspect of the playback, and increasing the output of my DAC in compensation (Using the full very hot output of my Dangerous Convert 2).

The Fa-10 are very nice though power wise to give an HE6 enough power for a clean bass & headroom for EQing.

Pros:
The presentation is nice and uncompressed in terms of staging; more towards in width than depth.
Bass is clean.
Lots of power for EQing w/ pre-gains applied.

Cons:
Steely/Crispiness to air/last-octave notes (not lower treble metallic notes) on high-gain.
Vocals of the mids have some kind emphasis in terms of honk? shout? compared to my other amps. (could be a pro for some headphones, with the hifiman/Sennheiser dip? Works out on my he6 and hd800. Sounds off on my Focal Utopia.)
 
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Jul 17, 2022 at 4:09 PM Post #2,336 of 2,598
What are the characteristics you are not liking on the Singxer SA-1. Cause it would be sad, if the FluxLab Fa-10 gave similar characteristics.

The FluxLab Fa-10 amps are quite steely/air-crispy in an unforgiving sense. Similar to the Ragnarok2 topology amps they are kind of related to. And this isn't due to the HE6 being underpowered, it shows on my other headphones.

It helps to not use the high-gain of the FluxLab Fa-10, medium-gain on my HE6 reduces the aspect of the playback, and increasing the output of my DAC in compensation (Using the full very hot output of my Dangerous Convert 2).

The Fa-10 are very nice though power wise to give an HE6 enough power for a clean bass & headroom for EQing.

Pros:
The presentation is nice and uncompressed in terms of staging; more towards in width than depth.
Bass is clean.
Lots of power for EQing w/ pre-gains applied.

Cons:
Steely/Crispiness to air/last-octave notes (not lower treble metallic notes) on high-gain.
Vocals of the mids have some kind emphasis in terms of honk? shout? compared to my other amps. (could be a pro for some headphones, with the hifiman/Sennheiser dip? Works out on my he6 and hd800. Sounds off on my Focal Utopia.)
Agree with the mid shout. It works great for my Ananda’s and lcd2f, but not the hd6x0.
 
Jul 17, 2022 at 9:27 PM Post #2,338 of 2,598
IMO the whole point of the fa-12 is it’s fully discrete design and resistor ladder volume control. If you aren’t happy with the sound just get a different amp.

I have gotten another amp. I didn't realize how great this combo is until I got the Soloist GT. The stock Soloist GT is not much better sounding than the P26 and FA-12 combo.
 
Jul 26, 2022 at 11:17 AM Post #2,339 of 2,598
Wierd observation, the bass and treble is smoother out of my FluxLab Fa-10 amp from the Single-ended 6.3mm output jack.

The Single-ended jack has the same gain as the XLR jack. How is it that they sound so different?

The topology is single-ended inside. As for the inputs doesn't matter if I use the back XLR or the RCAs.

The Single-ended 6.3mm jack has significantly less of a bad "shine" feeling to it. Way better to use the 6.3mm jack for my HE6.
 
Jul 26, 2022 at 11:21 AM Post #2,340 of 2,598
Wierd observation, the bass and treble is smoother out of my FluxLab Fa-10 amp from the Single-ended 6.3mm output jack.

The Single-ended jack has the same gain as the XLR jack. How is it that they sound so different?

The topology is single-ended inside. As for the inputs doesn't matter if I use the back XLR or the RCAs.

The Single-ended 6.3mm jack has significantly less of a bad "shine" feeling to it. Way better to use the 6.3mm jack for my HE6.
You might be experiencing cable differences. Some people don’t believe in this, so it’s up to you if you want to explore that.
 

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