I just heard my FA-12 order shipped today. I will report back once I have spent some time with it after break-in.
Flux Lab Acoustics FA-10, FA-10 Pro, FA-12, FCN-10 & FA-12s Amplifiers - Summit-Fi for the People?: Reviews, Impressions & Discussion
- Thread starter teknorob23
- Start date
Awesome. Mine was supposed to arrive today but it did not unfortunately. I'm hoping it will be here tomorrow
Wow I spoke too soon. It's 8pm here but UPS just delivered my amp. I'll take some pics and upload them soon
The red looks really nice, better than some other pictures I've seen. I've connected both the balanced and single ended outputs of the ADI-2 to the FA-12 but will be using it in balanced with my 4z. Also that box in the bottom left corner is my streamer in case you're wondering
The red looks really nice, better than some other pictures I've seen. I've connected both the balanced and single ended outputs of the ADI-2 to the FA-12 but will be using it in balanced with my 4z. Also that box in the bottom left corner is my streamer in case you're wondering
Congrats, the Red does look really nice! I got my FA-10 pretty early on when it was Ford Model T Black only.
Why connect both SE and XLR though? The RME is identical either way.
Because I can't output to the 1/4" jack on the FA-12 using the balanced connections. I have to use the single ended inputs for 1/4" jack and balanced inputs for xlr jack. Bit of an odd design but I will mostly use this amp balanced anyways however I don't have a balanced cable for the 800s yet which is what prompted me to connect both rca and xlrs.
Lohb
Headphoneus Supremus
Lead time on FA-10 down to 2 weeks from 1 month...woo hoo !
What made you go for the fa-10?
Lohb
Headphoneus Supremus
It has the headroom for everything up to HE-6.
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Fegefeuer
Headphoneus Supremus
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nice, that's a beautiful red tone.
Jimmyblues1959
500+ Head-Fier
The red looks really nice, better than some other pictures I've seen. I've connected both the balanced and single ended outputs of the ADI-2 to the FA-12 but will be using it in balanced with my 4z. Also that box in the bottom left corner is my streamer in case you're wondering
Congrats! Very interested in hearing listening impressions regarding how the FA-12 sounds with the Sennheiser HE 800s.
Jimmyblues1959
500+ Head-Fier
I'm enjoying the FA-12 so far. I've mostly used it with the LCD-4z (balanced) and HD800s (single ended) but I've also connected Drop Ether Cx (balanced) and the Drop 6xx (balanced). I have an adapter coming for the 800S 4.4mm cable this week so will be able to see if they sound any better balanced out of this amp.
I've been having a bit of trouble getting impressions together as there's been a bunch of changes in my setup recently. I'm not sure that all of these should make big sonic differences but they are still changes. I've been switching between the 800S and the 4z, two fairly different headphones and it takes a bit to adjust to the sound signature after switching. I switched to a new cable for my 4z, the Norne Silvergarde S3-C with a 4 pin xlr, from the Wywires platinum 1/4" cable. Lastly this is the first time that I've run the 4z off a fully balanced amplifier.
Also to better understand my impressions you should know the amps that I've moved through over the past year. However, my dac, the ADI-2 has been a constant in my setup. I started with the Drop 789 which I settled on after all the hype about it's performance. That amp surprised me with it's transparency but the down side to that was hearing more flaws / issues with the music I was used to. Then I heard about the RebelAmp which is a 1w class A amp also made in Ukraine. I think they're related to Flux Lab Acoustics but I haven't found a clear answer on this. This amp offered similar resolution to the 789 but tamed the treble and offered a bit more bass impact. The build quality of this amp is also significantly better than the 789. Now I'm onto the FA-12. My reasoning for purchasing this amp despite already owning the RebelAmp is that I wanted a fully balanced class A amp with more power output. I was intrigued by the FA-10 too but given that most of my headphones are easier to drive ( apart from the 800S which I had not ordered yet ), I settled on the FA-12.
Initial impressions for the FA-12 is that it's similar in tonality to the RebelAmp. Meaning that it has a warm tone, has good bass impact and extension, and is resolving but not to the point of being fatiguing. I have not yet gone back to the RebelAmp and compared but there are a couple of differences that I started to pick up on. It's possible that these differences are placebo / caused by other changes in my set up but I'll list them anyways. I've been noticing more details on the edge of the music (left and right of the image). This might be because I've been paying more attention to the stage after trying out the 800S but either way I feel like I'm hearing more details in the music. Also I think the treble is more present / extended with this amp. When I first tried the 800S (on the RebelAmp) I quickly decided to add a bass shelf via the ADI-2 at 100hz and 5db. This made it easier to switch back to the 4z and also made it more enjoyable listening to electronic, pop, metal, etc. Recently using the 800S with the FA-12 I haven't felt the need to enable the bass shelf. This leads me to believe that the FA-12 has better bass impact, extension, and texture then the RebelAmp but I won't know for sure until I go back and listen to that amp again.
I think the pairing with the 800S is better than with the 4z since the 4z is already an exciting sounding headphone with a strong bass presence. However with this current setup I still will reach for the 4z with electronic music, and other more modern recordings, or when I just want to relax and enjoy the music. The 800S is still an enjoyable headphone but it definitely excels at more acoustic music and the increased treble presence brings out more details that I'm not used to hearing on the 4z. It's not that they're not there on the 4z I think it's just a difference in tonalities that causes certain things to pop out more on one headphone than the other.
Build quality is great on the FA-12. It feels very solid and I like that I can place the ADI-2 on top without blocking the vents on the right side of the amp. The amp does get warm over time but it's not uncomfortably warm like the first generation Schiit Lyr that I used when I got into this hobby. The switches on the left side feel nice but they don't seem to lock into place as well as they did on the RebelAmp. The switches stay in the position I select just fine, they just don't feel as crisp. The volume wheel is a bit easier to turn than the RebelAmp and is a big step up from cheaper pots that you find on amps like the 789. I'm not sure I understand the whole relay implementation but I like hearing the clicks as I go through the range of volume. I've been using this amp in medium gain when running balanced and high gain when running single ended with the 800S. I have plenty of play in the volume knob and generally have been listening around 12 o'clock.
That's all I can think of at the moment but I will come back and post impressions after trying the RebelAmp again. Also if you have any questions, let me know / PM me and I'll try and answer them for you.
I've been having a bit of trouble getting impressions together as there's been a bunch of changes in my setup recently. I'm not sure that all of these should make big sonic differences but they are still changes. I've been switching between the 800S and the 4z, two fairly different headphones and it takes a bit to adjust to the sound signature after switching. I switched to a new cable for my 4z, the Norne Silvergarde S3-C with a 4 pin xlr, from the Wywires platinum 1/4" cable. Lastly this is the first time that I've run the 4z off a fully balanced amplifier.
Also to better understand my impressions you should know the amps that I've moved through over the past year. However, my dac, the ADI-2 has been a constant in my setup. I started with the Drop 789 which I settled on after all the hype about it's performance. That amp surprised me with it's transparency but the down side to that was hearing more flaws / issues with the music I was used to. Then I heard about the RebelAmp which is a 1w class A amp also made in Ukraine. I think they're related to Flux Lab Acoustics but I haven't found a clear answer on this. This amp offered similar resolution to the 789 but tamed the treble and offered a bit more bass impact. The build quality of this amp is also significantly better than the 789. Now I'm onto the FA-12. My reasoning for purchasing this amp despite already owning the RebelAmp is that I wanted a fully balanced class A amp with more power output. I was intrigued by the FA-10 too but given that most of my headphones are easier to drive ( apart from the 800S which I had not ordered yet ), I settled on the FA-12.
Initial impressions for the FA-12 is that it's similar in tonality to the RebelAmp. Meaning that it has a warm tone, has good bass impact and extension, and is resolving but not to the point of being fatiguing. I have not yet gone back to the RebelAmp and compared but there are a couple of differences that I started to pick up on. It's possible that these differences are placebo / caused by other changes in my set up but I'll list them anyways. I've been noticing more details on the edge of the music (left and right of the image). This might be because I've been paying more attention to the stage after trying out the 800S but either way I feel like I'm hearing more details in the music. Also I think the treble is more present / extended with this amp. When I first tried the 800S (on the RebelAmp) I quickly decided to add a bass shelf via the ADI-2 at 100hz and 5db. This made it easier to switch back to the 4z and also made it more enjoyable listening to electronic, pop, metal, etc. Recently using the 800S with the FA-12 I haven't felt the need to enable the bass shelf. This leads me to believe that the FA-12 has better bass impact, extension, and texture then the RebelAmp but I won't know for sure until I go back and listen to that amp again.
I think the pairing with the 800S is better than with the 4z since the 4z is already an exciting sounding headphone with a strong bass presence. However with this current setup I still will reach for the 4z with electronic music, and other more modern recordings, or when I just want to relax and enjoy the music. The 800S is still an enjoyable headphone but it definitely excels at more acoustic music and the increased treble presence brings out more details that I'm not used to hearing on the 4z. It's not that they're not there on the 4z I think it's just a difference in tonalities that causes certain things to pop out more on one headphone than the other.
Build quality is great on the FA-12. It feels very solid and I like that I can place the ADI-2 on top without blocking the vents on the right side of the amp. The amp does get warm over time but it's not uncomfortably warm like the first generation Schiit Lyr that I used when I got into this hobby. The switches on the left side feel nice but they don't seem to lock into place as well as they did on the RebelAmp. The switches stay in the position I select just fine, they just don't feel as crisp. The volume wheel is a bit easier to turn than the RebelAmp and is a big step up from cheaper pots that you find on amps like the 789. I'm not sure I understand the whole relay implementation but I like hearing the clicks as I go through the range of volume. I've been using this amp in medium gain when running balanced and high gain when running single ended with the 800S. I have plenty of play in the volume knob and generally have been listening around 12 o'clock.
That's all I can think of at the moment but I will come back and post impressions after trying the RebelAmp again. Also if you have any questions, let me know / PM me and I'll try and answer them for you.
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Lohb
Headphoneus Supremus
Nice, I also have the Ether CX and that one seems tricky to get synergy with, for whatever reason. Be interested in how those 2 react when you have a bit more time with them together.
teknorob23
Member of the Trade: Network Acoustics
Obvs slightly different tuning but i found the ether c1.1 were my favourite pairing to date with fa12, much better than with 10. The 12 adds a nice bit of body and some top end extension/ sparkle to the c’s
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