wae5
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2006
- Posts
- 837
- Likes
- 12
After rapidly upgrading from MKIII to MKIV to SE my order was finalized on Tuesday, June 26th and I received the MKIV SE today.
I embarrassed to say this but up to a few hours ago I thought my Pany receiver was as good as some of the best “boutique’ amps that are so dearly loved here. I believed this without ever actually hearing any of these but trusted my ears and my 40 years experience of loving and seeking excellent sound. I got my Lambda Pros in ‘82 so I can’t be all bad.
Anyway, my MKIV SE came today and I immediately consigned the Pany to the closet. I thought the best way to christen my new four eyed friend was to play a celebratory piece like Malcolm Arnold’s Overtures on Reference Recordings. I have only one comment: For the very first time I was able to precisely place the percussion in space. By this I mean I could tell which instruments were in front and which were behind the others and how they were laterally arrayed in space. I've never heard such spatial detail before.
Using HD600s I have the (smooth) volume control set at 12 out of 100- that's 12 out of 100, not 12 noon. This amp kicks butt.
I placed two Radio Shack indoor/outdoor temperature probes next to the bigger tube on the right which I think is the warmest part of the chassis. After running for more than 3 hrs it’s a constant 31.4/33.0C (88.2F) and the ambient temperature is 21.9C. Everything else is slightly warm (almost cool) to the touch.
In the initial pictures the MKIV SE looked like it had a bale of hay stuck on its backside. This has become much more refined and now looks like dark charcoal suede. This is a very understated and handsome amp.
I want to thank Dave from LD who patiently acted as midwife through my fulminating upgraditsus and was able to make my ever escalating desires become real.
It may help if you know I have K501s, K701s (my favorite phone before I got HD600s), Ety4P/S which I rarely use and Lambda Pros which I never use and listen to what I call audiophile classical recordings, concentrating on Mozart Opera (esp.Cosi fan Tutte) Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich and 20th century composers like Elliott Carter, Martinu, Lutosławski and anyone else who's able to make seemingly disorganized orchestral chaos sound interesting and exciting.
After listening for several more hours I'm overwhelmed by this amps trans spectral detail and transparency. For my initial listening I'm using HD600s which are sometimes described as veiled. Well, there are no veils here and there's an obvious synergy between the MKIV SE and the HD600s. I wonder if the MKIV SE was voiced using the HD600? In any case it's a marriage made in China.
Since my experience with excellent headphone amps is nil, I cannot hope to answer your questions in the sublime and knowledgeable way Skylab would, but I'll try my best to muddle through.
I embarrassed to say this but up to a few hours ago I thought my Pany receiver was as good as some of the best “boutique’ amps that are so dearly loved here. I believed this without ever actually hearing any of these but trusted my ears and my 40 years experience of loving and seeking excellent sound. I got my Lambda Pros in ‘82 so I can’t be all bad.
Anyway, my MKIV SE came today and I immediately consigned the Pany to the closet. I thought the best way to christen my new four eyed friend was to play a celebratory piece like Malcolm Arnold’s Overtures on Reference Recordings. I have only one comment: For the very first time I was able to precisely place the percussion in space. By this I mean I could tell which instruments were in front and which were behind the others and how they were laterally arrayed in space. I've never heard such spatial detail before.
Using HD600s I have the (smooth) volume control set at 12 out of 100- that's 12 out of 100, not 12 noon. This amp kicks butt.
I placed two Radio Shack indoor/outdoor temperature probes next to the bigger tube on the right which I think is the warmest part of the chassis. After running for more than 3 hrs it’s a constant 31.4/33.0C (88.2F) and the ambient temperature is 21.9C. Everything else is slightly warm (almost cool) to the touch.
In the initial pictures the MKIV SE looked like it had a bale of hay stuck on its backside. This has become much more refined and now looks like dark charcoal suede. This is a very understated and handsome amp.
I want to thank Dave from LD who patiently acted as midwife through my fulminating upgraditsus and was able to make my ever escalating desires become real.
It may help if you know I have K501s, K701s (my favorite phone before I got HD600s), Ety4P/S which I rarely use and Lambda Pros which I never use and listen to what I call audiophile classical recordings, concentrating on Mozart Opera (esp.Cosi fan Tutte) Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich and 20th century composers like Elliott Carter, Martinu, Lutosławski and anyone else who's able to make seemingly disorganized orchestral chaos sound interesting and exciting.
After listening for several more hours I'm overwhelmed by this amps trans spectral detail and transparency. For my initial listening I'm using HD600s which are sometimes described as veiled. Well, there are no veils here and there's an obvious synergy between the MKIV SE and the HD600s. I wonder if the MKIV SE was voiced using the HD600? In any case it's a marriage made in China.
Since my experience with excellent headphone amps is nil, I cannot hope to answer your questions in the sublime and knowledgeable way Skylab would, but I'll try my best to muddle through.
