With Todd's encouragement, I'm bringing this thread back to life. Why? Because the Luxman P-1u is the only piece of headphone gear that has motivated me to do something like this.
At the moment, I have two (yes, two, I like them so much) Marantz SA8004 SACD/CD players, a Woo Audio WA6SE headphone amp with the upgraded Sophia whatever-it-is-that-looks-really-impressive-in-photographs tube, and Sennheiser HD650 and HD600 and Beyerdynamic DT770Pro80 headphones. I use the 650s the most. The 770s are mainly for movies or for when I need to block the sound of the dishwasher or the washer and dryer or the kid on the ATV next door. I have Cardas 300B Microtwin interconnects. Music? All kinds except country & western and gospel.
I'm 55 years old and have had so much audio gear over the years that it makes me sick. I can count the really outstanding stuff on the fingers of one hand. A pair of Quads, a pair of ProAc Response (2.5, I think it was) speakers, The Senn HD580/Jubilee/600/650 family. These things all strike me as classics. Things for the ages, things that are probably beyond debate when it comes to their inherent goodness or "rightness". The Luxman P-1u fits my definition of a classic - much to my surprise.
I'll toss into the classic category my last headphone system, and the one that the Luxman P-1u has replaced, the Stax Omega2Mk.II and the 007TII amp. I really do think that the folks who suggest that the various Omegas only truly come to life with (very, very expensive) aftermarket amps are correct. After awhile, the Stax, with the standard Stax amps, become, eh, a tad boring. As others have pointed out, the dynamics can be found wanting. But, even though I could probably afford it (at least if I could make do with used cars), there's no way that I could be comfortable sitting next to a $5500 +/- amp sourced from a company of one who, no matter how dedicated and how much a genius, is prone, as we all are, to driving into trees or going insane or skipping the country or dying in a terrorist incident. Then, if it broke, I'd have a $5,000 piece of nice sculpture. Or so I feared. At $3,000 in the U.S., the Luxman pushes my comfort level when it comes to a headphone amp. But it justifies that discomfort.
When I first listened to the P-1u, it was in the context of wanting to improve upon, or at least change from, the Stax system. I had the Woo WA6SE and the Woo WA5-LE, and had ordered the Luxman from Todd on a whim. I fully expected the well-built and impressive Woos to sound better, and I fully expected to stiff poor Todd and send the P-1u back within the 30 day trial period.
But no. From the beginning, the Luxman was special. As Todd himself points out, this amp is compelling. You keep reaching for it. My wife and I both found ourselves wanting to listen to the Luxman rather than the Woos. btw, the Woos sound great; they are tremendous amps in their own right, and we may keep the WA6SE for a second system we like it so much. But, in the end, it's a second system, not the prime system.
The P-1u makes me not miss the Omegas and it puts out of mind the thought of pursuing electrostatic nirvana. The Luxman solves the problem that I tried to solve by moving beyond the stock Stax system: the HD650s are more dynamic than the Stax.
The Luxman sound? The best that I can come up with is "sophisticated". Sophisticated, refined, luscious, compelling, intriguing, rich. Delicate when the music is delicate. It sounds effortlessly powerful, like a car with a large, unstressed engine idling, even when playing full-bore. It sounds as if it has ample reserves. It's the Jeeves of headphone amplifiers, standing by your side, gently clearing his throat.
None of this is ever boring, for two reasons: 1) the P-1u bangs out the bass when the bass is really there on the recordings; and 2) the most startling thing of all about this amp: detail.
When I first heard the Luxman I knew its sound signature was for me and I knew that I couldn't keep my hands off it. But I had a sneaking suspicion that, given its sophisticated and refined sound, that perhaps large quantities of recorded detail were being sloughed off, lost forever. But no. I can't emphasize this enough: the Luxman P-1u presents more detail than I have ever heard from any headphones before.
I'm sure we could debate how important this kind of thing is or isn't to musical enjoyment, but I have never heard so many background guffaws, mumblings, angry remarks or jokes (Miles Davis), half-suppressed coughs (poor Paul Desmond on a cut from TIME OUT). But I've also never heard the delicacy of Roy Orbison's vibrato the way I do through the P-1u: in his later years, just before his passing, the vibrato was there all the time; it is poignant and tragic and telling on the MYSTERY GIRL album, at least on the OOP MFSL version). I have never heard the acoustics of recording venues the way I have through the Luxman: echoes, crowd noise. Listening to Herbie Mann's LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD is an archeological expedition of the highest order: "Play it!" as someone shouts from the crowd. Or SINATRA AT THE SANDS. Wow.
Finally, perhaps what is most important to me personally, as you can tell by my Senns: it does all this without the least hint of listener fatigue. It makes even poorly-recorded and compressed material listenable, while allowing audiophile recordings to shine. Nasty things that I could enjoy only with the Stax before I can now enjoy with dynamic headphones, even the DT770s when need be. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, early Beatles recordings, certain Mercury Living Presence recordings (sorry, but some are mighty shrill) - no problem. You can hear that they suck but you can still enjoy them.
Is the P-1u perfect? Yes. But that doesn't mean it's for everybody.
Some people would prefer that detail be thrust forward more vigorously and less subtly. The P-1u is not dark, but some folks would prefer a brighter presentation. Some would prefer the electrostatic sound, which is, in its own way, very different and compelling. I even know some listeners who like a rawer sound, which works well with many kinds of music. But these are all a reach, to be honest. The P-1u does everything well.
So why isn't this Luxman a hot item on Head-Fi? I'm sure it isn't.
I think its gorgeous but plain looks are part of the problem. It is from the minimal school of design. Think Judd. Think Pawson. Think Tadao Ando. In some circles, this minimalism is considered the highest of the high end. The Luxman P-1u is an ingot, heavy and with thick plates, and it's large - it's a full-sized component! - but it may be considered "too plain" by a lot of folks. I think most people would prefer the looks of the various Woo Audio products. A part of me does. They're dramatic.
I also think that this Luxman P-1u invites no discourse. Like Jeeves, it's silent. (Deeply silent: this thing has the deepest, darkest black background that any electronic component can have and still be ON.) There will be no fuss. There is no interaction beyond the volume control. No tube swapping. No Sophias. No swearing. No "what's next?" No heat, even; it not only doesn't get warm with extended listening, the top of it is actually cool to the touch.
The P-1u, it seems, is an end-of-game component, at least for those with only one headphone system. I suspect that many of those who have purchased them have quietly left the forums and are listening to music. They damn well should be.