[cfranchi]

This impression is from Susvara owner

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flu...s-impressions-discussion.930883/post-15695792

Interesting, however THX / A90 are analytical amps, ideally they would have to be compared to FA-10 Pro.

Here is an interesting comparison between A90 and FA-10 :

https://soundnews.net/amplifiers/headphone-amps/topping-a90-review-resetting-the-trend/

« Flux Lab Acoustics team wanted something different, they wanted to offer that magical Class-A sound, that unique topology and sound signature that less and less manufacturers are working with. Sadly, due to newer legislation and regulations of power consumption all over the globe, Class-A amps will slowly start disappearing from the Hi-Fi landscape. Class-A is having an efficiency of only about ~35%, everything else is transformed into heat that goes to waste. When it comes to sound, FA-10 and most of the class-A amps are all about midrange presence, about hard-slamming bass, about being natural sounding, without a single trace of digitus or brightness. FA-10 is indeed boosting a bit the low-end (bass) and the midrange, it also calms down the treble area by few notches. FA-10 is a warmer and a smoother sounding amplifier, it is all about having a bold sound with a heavy tonality. FA-10 is still the most powerful headphone amplifier with those 16 Watts under its belt. That power translates into an amazing punch and slam into the eardrums, you need to hear to believe that slam with some snappy music. It’s a transient monster when it comes to faster executed notes.

These two designs can’t be compared, it’s an apple vs oranges thing. I personally love both designs, FA-10 works a lot better for simply enjoying your music without thinking about small details, stage size depth, frequency and so on. FA-10 brings more emotions from your tunes and highlights them. It’s a colorful sounding amplifier, it has a slightly warmer tonality and impresses if you looking for an alive and vivid experience. »

 

[teknorob23]

Interesting, however THX / A90 are analytical amps, ideally they would have to be compared to FA-10 Pro.

Here is an interesting comparison between A90 and FA-10 :

https://soundnews.net/amplifiers/headphone-amps/topping-a90-review-resetting-the-trend/

« Flux Lab Acoustics team wanted something different, they wanted to offer that magical Class-A sound, that unique topology and sound signature that less and less manufacturers are working with. Sadly, due to newer legislation and regulations of power consumption all over the globe, Class-A amps will slowly start disappearing from the Hi-Fi landscape. Class-A is having an efficiency of only about ~35%, everything else is transformed into heat that goes to waste. When it comes to sound, FA-10 and most of the class-A amps are all about midrange presence, about hard-slamming bass, about being natural sounding, without a single trace of digitus or brightness. FA-10 is indeed boosting a bit the low-end (bass) and the midrange, it also calms down the treble area by few notches. FA-10 is a warmer and a smoother sounding amplifier, it is all about having a bold sound with a heavy tonality. FA-10 is still the most powerful headphone amplifier with those 16 Watts under its belt. That power translates into an amazing punch and slam into the eardrums, you need to hear to believe that slam with some snappy music. It’s a transient monster when it comes to faster executed notes.

These two designs can’t be compared, it’s an apple vs oranges thing. I personally love both designs, FA-10 works a lot better for simply enjoying your music without thinking about small details, stage size depth, frequency and so on. FA-10 brings more emotions from your tunes and highlights them. It’s a colorful sounding amplifier, it has a slightly warmer tonality and impresses if you looking for an alive and vivid experience. »

I agree 100%. I have a £6k active genelec monitors and sub which i use for work. They are a warts and all accurate tool, but they're not what you could call pleasurable to listen too. You can hear everything in mix often to the detriment of the track you are listening too, with bad or less than optimal recordings sounding at best distracting at worse, straight unlistenable. The FA10 & 12 as with all hifi are tuned to be musical, make the music exciting to listen too and kind of bridge the gap between the studio recording and placing the listener in front or among the players in a live performance. Choosing the amp is then down to match your personal prefences.

I find the FCn10 to be plenty revealing, transparent and in linear, even if thad line is drawn slightly above a completely flat frequency response. I get levels of detail that i get from my studio set up, but in much more cohesive package. I can tune into the detail for critical listening or let mix wash over me and enjoy the music as a whole, which is harder in the studio.

I struggle a little bit to understand why audio enthusiasts/ music lover's should want something to sound like an amp of headphones used in a studio. Are they listening to music for the love and pleasure it can bring or are they in it to enjoy the technicalities of reproduction. I'm not saying the latter is wrong, this is a hobby and each of us completely entitled to approach the hobby in what ever way brings us the most enjoyment, it just doesnt float my personal one man boat.

 

[gancanjam]

Interesting, however THX / A90 are analytical amps, ideally they would have to be compared to FA-10 Pro.

Here is an interesting comparison between A90 and FA-10 :

https://soundnews.net/amplifiers/headphone-amps/topping-a90-review-resetting-the-trend/

« Flux Lab Acoustics team wanted something different, they wanted to offer that magical Class-A sound, that unique topology and sound signature that less and less manufacturers are working with. Sadly, due to newer legislation and regulations of power consumption all over the globe, Class-A amps will slowly start disappearing from the Hi-Fi landscape. Class-A is having an efficiency of only about ~35%, everything else is transformed into heat that goes to waste. When it comes to sound, FA-10 and most of the class-A amps are all about midrange presence, about hard-slamming bass, about being natural sounding, without a single trace of digitus or brightness. FA-10 is indeed boosting a bit the low-end (bass) and the midrange, it also calms down the treble area by few notches. FA-10 is a warmer and a smoother sounding amplifier, it is all about having a bold sound with a heavy tonality. FA-10 is still the most powerful headphone amplifier with those 16 Watts under its belt. That power translates into an amazing punch and slam into the eardrums, you need to hear to believe that slam with some snappy music. It’s a transient monster when it comes to faster executed notes.

These two designs can’t be compared, it’s an apple vs oranges thing. I personally love both designs, FA-10 works a lot better for simply enjoying your music without thinking about small details, stage size depth, frequency and so on. FA-10 brings more emotions from your tunes and highlights them. It’s a colorful sounding amplifier, it has a slightly warmer tonality and impresses if you looking for an alive and vivid experience. »

Good summary on FA-10 !

 

[gancanjam]

I agree 100%. I have a £6k active genelec monitors and sub which i use for work. They are a warts and all accurate tool, but they're not what you could call pleasurable to listen too. You can hear everything in mix often to the detriment of the track you are listening too, with bad or less than optimal recordings sounding at best distracting at worse, straight unlistenable. The FA10 & 12 as with all hifi are tuned to be musical, make the music exciting to listen too and kind of bridge the gap between the studio recording and placing the listener in front or among the players in a live performance. Choosing the amp is then down to match your personal prefences.

I find the FCn10 to be plenty revealing, transparent and in linear, even if thad line is drawn slightly above a completely flat frequency response. I get levels of detail that i get from my studio set up, but in much more cohesive package. I can tune into the detail for critical listening or let mix wash over me and enjoy the music as a whole, which is harder in the studio.

I struggle a little bit to understand why audio enthusiasts/ music lover's should want something to sound like an amp of headphones used in a studio. Are they listening to music for the love and pleasure it can bring or are they in it to enjoy the technicalities of reproduction. I'm not saying the latter is wrong, this is a hobby and each of us completely entitled to approach the hobby in what ever way brings us the most enjoyment, it just doesnt float my personal one man boat.

FCN10/FA10 to your point is not for critical studio monitor listening. I do not listen to lot of Lossless, DSD, Master quality music in Classical & Orchestra genre, but listen to ton of music which are in Tidal HiFi quality , CD quality and few decades older International music in EDM/Pop/Rock genre and this is bit forgiving and many sub standard res song you throw at it sounds nice. I sometime even listen to Youtube songs as they are not available in Tidal, with Flux and still sound inoffensive & decent without punishing me hard. So in that aspect i see this amp to be in my rotation as a clinical amp will not cut it for low res songs

 

[teknorob23]

friday night gate crasher..

 

[jaredn13]

I get my FA-10 sometime today according to DHL. Going to pair it with the RME. I'll be comparing it to the SMSL stack directly. LCD2C for music, the HD700 is use mostly for gaming and video calls.

Whichever stack wins I'll be selling the loser. I'm curious to see if the SMSL stack @ $500 can keep up with the FA-10 + RME @ over $2000. I'm not a critical listener, so I'm guessing it might be pretty close.

 

[Slim1970]

I get my FA-10 sometime today according to DHL. Going to pair it with the RME. I'll be comparing it to the SMSL stack directly. LCD2C for music, the HD700 is use mostly for gaming and video calls.

Whichever stack wins I'll be selling the loser. I'm curious to see if the SMSL stack @ $500 can keep up with the FA-10 + RME @ over $2000. I'm not a critical listener, so I'm guessing it might be pretty close.

That’s my plan as well. I will pair my FA-10 with my RME. My FA-10 shipped today and I can’t wait to get it. I’m very curious as to what you think of the sound. Post some sound impressions when you get a chance

 

[Slim1970]

friday night gate crasher..

That’s a nice collection of amps you have there. What do you think of the A90 compared to the Flux Labs products?

 

[Wesley88]

So I have a Schiit Bifrost 2 and ZMF Eikons. Looking at purchasing the Flux FA-12 or Burson Soloist 3XP after returning my Violectric V280 due to a buzzing issue. I know the FA-12 is still quite new and the Soloist isn't even out yet, but if anyone has any input on synergy, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Harmonyx]

So I have a Schiit Bifrost 2 and ZMF Eikons. Looking at purchasing the Flux FA-12 or Burson Soloist 3XP after returning my Violectric V280 due to a buzzing issue. I know the FA-12 is still quite new and the Soloist isn't even out yet, but if anyone has any input on synergy, that would be greatly appreciated!

Great question!

The special offer on the Soloist 3X ends by the 15 Sep and it is a beautiful looking unit. I was torn myself between the FA-12 and Soloist 3X but, after chatting with some people that have demo'd the Burson Conductor, I'm still planning on ordering a Flux FA-12 (should suit my preferences / needs more and slightly easier on the wallet).

Would love to hear others' opinion or comparison who have got experience with the newer line of Burson gear.

 

[jaker782]

Very interested in trying one of these amps. I recently acquired an HE-6se and think the FA-10 might be a great pairing. Anyone running one of these with an HE-6?

 

[manishex]

Z released his review for the FA-12S, the cheaper ($500) single ended version of the FA-12

 

[Harmonyx]

Great exposure for Flux Labs. Z gave an overall positive review but not much detail in regards to how it sounds...
"He really likes this amp"
"Adds a touch of warm Class A beauty to your music"
"Wipes the floor with the Jottenhein"
"Arguably better option than THX 789"
"Might be a permanent fixture on his new desk to replace the Rebel amp"
As mentioned, he doesn't describe the sound character in depth, or which headphones pair well, but he gave a very positive general impression and applauded their entry into the market at the $500 price range.

 

[omniweltall]

Z released his review for the FA-12S, the cheaper ($500) single ended version of the FA-12

Thanks for the heads up.

Great exposure for Flux Labs. Z gave an overall positive review but not much detail in regards to how it sounds...
"He really likes this amp"
"Adds a touch of warm Class A beauty to your music"
"Wipes the floor with the Jottenhein"
"Arguably better option than THX 789"
"Might be a permanent fixture on his new desk to replace the Rebel amp"
As mentioned, he doesn't describe the sound character in depth, or which headphones pair well, but he gave a very positive general impression and applauded their entry into the market at the $500 price range.

Better than Jot or THX 789 is not something that is useful at all. What is interesting is how this measures up with the big boy SS amps. Otherwise, at this price, it is not attractive enough.

I never expect much from Z. I like him, but not for his ears. He never had much to say about sound. And he doesn't have much experience with expensive amps. He plays around mostly at Jot level or lower. Anyway, I still enjoy his reviews. He's got an interesting personality and fun to watch. And (as far as I know) at least he is honest about his reviews.

 

[Slim1970]

Great exposure for Flux Labs. Z gave an overall positive review but not much detail in regards to how it sounds...
"He really likes this amp"
"Adds a touch of warm Class A beauty to your music"
"Wipes the floor with the Jottenhein"
"Arguably better option than THX 789"
"Might be a permanent fixture on his new desk to replace the Rebel amp"
As mentioned, he doesn't describe the sound character in depth, or which headphones pair well, but he gave a very positive general impression and applauded their entry into the market at the $500 price range.

My FA-10 will be here by the weekend. So I’m sort of interested in what he has to say to about it. His review of the FA-12S was very positive but there wasn’t a lot of input about its sound.