jgonino
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Posts
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I have listened to all three of these, and I wanted to list some comparisons and impressions for all to read.
I am not affiliated with any company, and I am going state my honest opinion whether it makes others happy or not.
And now, the review!
Singlepower Audio PPX3-6CG7 (>$600 New)
-Running 3 GE 6GU7 tubes, with my DX1000's
Let me start off by saying this amp is the best looking of the three. It has a black aluminum case that looks really clean and professional. It runs VERY hot, but does not overheat. It does have a small fan on the bottom, but mine never needs to turn on. This thing is build well, and will not break, period.
Bass: The bass response on this amp is excellent. It drives the DX1000 with authority, and reaches the lowest of lows in any music. The bass on this amp is very smooth, and integrates will into the sound.
Mids: The singlepower really lets the tubes shine through, and the mid-range on this amp shows that. They are liquid smooth, and sound very full and lush. The guitars still have a good amount of crunch, and are just a touch aggressive. This sound suited my music well (Metal), and thus made it a good choice.
Highs: I think this is one of the best parts of this amp. In a word, they are perfect. Not to forward or bright sounding, and smooth as silk like the rest of the amp. Crash cymbals and high-hats have a nice splash to them, and you can hear them clearly over the rest of the music.
Soundstage: This amp creates a wonderful immersing sounstage that will complement any headphone that has similar qualities. I found my DX1000 matched well in this regard. I heard things coming from the different parts of the 'stage', like the drums dead center, and the guitars on both sides. I heard the backing vocals coming from almost behind my head at times, and brass instruments are easy to place around your head. One of this amps strong points.
Bada PH-12 ($569 including shipping new)
-Stock chinese tubes, DX1000 and AKG K701
I picked this amp up on a whim, and was expecting a lot from it. I found that while it was a good amp, it was no where near as good as the SP PPX3 to me.
Bass: The bass on this amp was very full, and had some serious punch. The only problem is, it intruded into the rest of the sound, and made everything sound a bit muddy. I found it had a but of a mid-bass hump, and did not have as large of a sound when compared to the PPX3
Mids: This is where the amp is at its best. It had a very warm response here, and let the music shine through. The K701 really picked up on this, and sounded wonderful with all of the music I tried with it. I found that guitars had a very lively sound, and were quite aggressive sound. They had body, and made me shiver a few times.
Highs: This amp has a lot of air in the high end. Again, it is a good match with the 701 in this respect. The DX1000 did not pair well with this amps high end response. It sounded very sibilant, and had a touch of harshness with cymbals.
Comparisons to the Millet max: (Average build price ~$200)
I had the chance to listen to a Millet Max at the Lawrence, KS meet a few weeks back. I came away generally impressed.
The setup was a Denon CDP (07 flagship model) running two identical outputs to my PPX3, and the millet. The same RCA cables were used, and both power cables were generic. Billinkansas let me use his little switch box to listen to 2 amps through one pair of headphones via a small relay switch. I used my DX1000 for this test. I was not told which amp was the up/down position, so I was truly flying blind here. I had the volume matched by someone else, to make it even.
I am going to catch hell, but here it goes: I could not tell ANY difference between the two amps. They both had impressive sound-staging, bass, mids, and highs, and sounded amazing with a variety of music. When I was asked to pick one, I picked the Millet once, and the PPX3 another time. Basically, they are dead even to me. The only difference being the MASSIVE gap in price, with the PPX3 costing me around $475 used, and the Millet costing 240 total to build brand new.
I hope this helps some people make a good decision, and feel free to ask questions. Also, this is my first real review, so please go easy on me.
I am not affiliated with any company, and I am going state my honest opinion whether it makes others happy or not.
And now, the review!
Singlepower Audio PPX3-6CG7 (>$600 New)
-Running 3 GE 6GU7 tubes, with my DX1000's
Let me start off by saying this amp is the best looking of the three. It has a black aluminum case that looks really clean and professional. It runs VERY hot, but does not overheat. It does have a small fan on the bottom, but mine never needs to turn on. This thing is build well, and will not break, period.
Bass: The bass response on this amp is excellent. It drives the DX1000 with authority, and reaches the lowest of lows in any music. The bass on this amp is very smooth, and integrates will into the sound.
Mids: The singlepower really lets the tubes shine through, and the mid-range on this amp shows that. They are liquid smooth, and sound very full and lush. The guitars still have a good amount of crunch, and are just a touch aggressive. This sound suited my music well (Metal), and thus made it a good choice.
Highs: I think this is one of the best parts of this amp. In a word, they are perfect. Not to forward or bright sounding, and smooth as silk like the rest of the amp. Crash cymbals and high-hats have a nice splash to them, and you can hear them clearly over the rest of the music.
Soundstage: This amp creates a wonderful immersing sounstage that will complement any headphone that has similar qualities. I found my DX1000 matched well in this regard. I heard things coming from the different parts of the 'stage', like the drums dead center, and the guitars on both sides. I heard the backing vocals coming from almost behind my head at times, and brass instruments are easy to place around your head. One of this amps strong points.
Bada PH-12 ($569 including shipping new)
-Stock chinese tubes, DX1000 and AKG K701
I picked this amp up on a whim, and was expecting a lot from it. I found that while it was a good amp, it was no where near as good as the SP PPX3 to me.
Bass: The bass on this amp was very full, and had some serious punch. The only problem is, it intruded into the rest of the sound, and made everything sound a bit muddy. I found it had a but of a mid-bass hump, and did not have as large of a sound when compared to the PPX3
Mids: This is where the amp is at its best. It had a very warm response here, and let the music shine through. The K701 really picked up on this, and sounded wonderful with all of the music I tried with it. I found that guitars had a very lively sound, and were quite aggressive sound. They had body, and made me shiver a few times.
Highs: This amp has a lot of air in the high end. Again, it is a good match with the 701 in this respect. The DX1000 did not pair well with this amps high end response. It sounded very sibilant, and had a touch of harshness with cymbals.
Comparisons to the Millet max: (Average build price ~$200)
I had the chance to listen to a Millet Max at the Lawrence, KS meet a few weeks back. I came away generally impressed.
The setup was a Denon CDP (07 flagship model) running two identical outputs to my PPX3, and the millet. The same RCA cables were used, and both power cables were generic. Billinkansas let me use his little switch box to listen to 2 amps through one pair of headphones via a small relay switch. I used my DX1000 for this test. I was not told which amp was the up/down position, so I was truly flying blind here. I had the volume matched by someone else, to make it even.
I am going to catch hell, but here it goes: I could not tell ANY difference between the two amps. They both had impressive sound-staging, bass, mids, and highs, and sounded amazing with a variety of music. When I was asked to pick one, I picked the Millet once, and the PPX3 another time. Basically, they are dead even to me. The only difference being the MASSIVE gap in price, with the PPX3 costing me around $475 used, and the Millet costing 240 total to build brand new.
I hope this helps some people make a good decision, and feel free to ask questions. Also, this is my first real review, so please go easy on me.
