[TheSnafu]

Are those fins around tubes removable ?

 

[kmirror]

That's it? No one else has any impressions to offer 5 years after it's release?

Hi there, I've just bought Aurium, I'll post my impressions in the coming weeks, still need few listening sessions to burn-in my gear, below please find my setup:
Streamer: SOtM sMS-200
DAC: Chord Qutest
Headphone Amp: Pathos Aurium
Headphones: Focal Clear

 

[vlach]

Hi there, I've just bought Aurium, I'll post my impressions in the coming weeks, still need few listening sessions to burn-in my gear, below please find my setup:
Streamer: SOtM sMS-200
DAC: Chord Qutest
Headphone Amp: Pathos Aurium
Headphones: Focal Clear

Good. Out of curiosity, which amp did you use before?

 

[kmirror]

Good. Out of curiosity, which amp did you use before?

None, to be honest, this is my first, serious audio setup, but before buying Pathos, I tested Clear's with Woo Audio WA7 and Naim DAC v1

 

[abirdie4me]

Hi there, I've just bought Aurium, I'll post my impressions in the coming weeks, still need few listening sessions to burn-in my gear, below please find my setup:
Streamer: SOtM sMS-200
DAC: Chord Qutest
Headphone Amp: Pathos Aurium
Headphones: Focal Clear

So, any impressions to share about the Aurium?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Can anyone tell me how wide this amp is?
I found dimensions on the web but different from eachother. It should be either 20 or 23 cm wide ...

 

[gannjunior]

Can anyone tell me how wide this amp is?
I found dimensions on the web but different from eachother. It should be either 20 or 23 cm wide ...

Just misured in real time now
20,1 cm

 

[AppleheadMay]

Just misured in real time now
20,1 cm

Awesome, thanks man! On those websites they always mix up width and length.

Any chance anybody here has on for sale in Europe?

 

[kmirror]

Hi Guys,

Below please find my thoughts on the Pathos Aurium headphone amplifier.

Introduction

My purchase of Pathos Aurium was highly correlated with headphones I own i.e. Focal Clear.

I listened to the whole setup using Roon software and playing hi-res audio files as well as Tidal (both CD quality and MQA stream).

Below please find my setup:

Laptop (i7, 16GB RAM, SSD) – Roon Core

Roon Control – iPad mini

Streamer – SOtM sMS-200

USB cable - WireWorld Ultraviolet 7 USB

DAC – Chord Qutest

RCA – KBL Sound Fluid HD

Headphone Amp – Pathos Aurium

Headphones – Focal Clear



Build

Pathos Aurium is a hybrid headphone amplifier with a pair of 6922 tubes and MOSFET solid state devices.

On the front panel you will find two buttons (on/off and input selection) and four LED lights indicating the input selected (the first from the left is assigned to XLR input while the remaining three for RCA inputs).

On the back there are XLR and RCA inputs, balance and gain control.

With Clear’s I have my gain/impedance knob set to the maximum level. To be honest I have not checked other settings as these were recommend by the seller to use with Clear’s. This headphone amplifier does not have any issues with driving Clear’s and I bet would easily drive 300 ohms headphones as well.

I find the build quality of Aurium as very solid. The producer recommends to warm the amp for ~20 minutes before listening.



Sound Quality

I was looking for a solution that would warm my Focal’s and that is exactly what I found in Aurium. The second thing that Aurium added to my setup is more bass. I find the Clear’s are soft in terms of lower bass and overall sound fulfilment. Aurium brings these features to the table and improves overall experience with Focal Clear. Pathos Aurium keeps a very detailed nature of Clear’s while adds a tangible amount of sound density.

I like this amplifier a lot, its transparent, lovely, rich and smooth. I find it rather on the warmer side compared to a little coldness of Focal Clear. As a result, the combo presents an excellent balance. With Aurium the music becomes more ‘meaty’ contrary to other amps I listened with Clear’s, such as Woo Audio WA7 and Naim DAC V1 (however those were used as DAC/amp combo so it is difficult to fully compare as I do not know what Chord Qutest would add to it).


Conclusion

In my opinion Pathos Aurium is worth every penny. Given that this is my first serious headphone amplifier and the price level I do not find any sound quality drawbacks. Listening to music is very enjoyable with this amp, I’ve spent a numerous of 3-4h listening sessions.

To sum up, I highly recommend it, especially to Focal Clear owners.

Pros

· Rich and dynamic

· Very detailed

· Precision

· Sound density

· Great soundstage

· Lovely midrange

· Bass power

· Modern design

· Simple to use and setup

· High build quality

· Sound quality/price ratio

Cons

· No remote control



Music

Below please find a list of albums I listened.

Ada Morghe, Pictures, FLAC 24/44.1

Anna Maria Jopek/Branford Marsalis, Ulotne, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

The Black Keys, El Camino, Tidal MQA 24/44.1

Bob Dylan, Oh Mercy, DSD64

Buddy Guy, The Blues is Alive and Well, FLAC 24/96

Chris Stapleton, Traveller, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

Dave Brubeck Quarter, Time Out, FLAC 24/176.4

Diana Krall, Turn Up the Quiet, FLAC 24/192

Dido, Still On My Mind, FLAC 24/44.1

Eric Clapton, Unplugged, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

Gregory Porter, Take Me to the Alley, FLAC 24/96

Hans Zimmer, Live in Prague, Tidal MQA 24/48

Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

Jeff Goldblum/The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, The Capitol Studios Sessions, Tidal MQA 24/44.1

Joe Bonamassa, Sloe Gin, FLAC 16/44.1

Kinga Glyk, Dream, Tidal MQA 24/96

London Grammar, Truth Is a Beautiful Thing, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

Madeleine Peyroux, Secular Hymns, Tidal MQA 24/96

Marek Napiórkowski, WAW-NYC, Tidal FLAC 16/44.1

Melody Gardot, Live in Europe, Tidal MQA 24/48

Norah Jones, Begin Again, FLAC 24/96

Olafur Arnalds/Alice Sara Ott, The Chopin Project, Tidal MQA 24/96

Rebecca Pidgeon, The Raven, DSD128

Susan Wong, Close to Me, DSD64

Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet, December Avenue, Tidal MQA 24/88.2

Youn Sun Nah, She Moves On, FLAC 24/96

 

[CRITICALSHOT]

If I run the tape out into my Atmos Receiver will it pass the the sound of the tubes or will it be just a pure pass through?

 

[Akull]

Bought this baby to warm a little my LCD-4z and i got that exactly,love this thing,it's beautiful....

My setup:
Computer (foobar 2000) - USB - adi 2 dac - RCA - marantz pm 14s1 se (preamp) - RCA - pathos aurium - Lcd-4z (15ohm)
Although LCD-4z are 15 ohms they can drink a lot of juice from PAthos Aurium......

 

[Marutks]

does this amp sound good with ZMF Verite?

 

[Marutks]

does this amp sound similar to T4 ?

 

[Thompsonkirk]

I spent a day comparing Aurium to Rogue RH-5, both of them hybrids, with classical recordings - an interesting comparison! The Rogue sounded warmer and more tubey, and the Pathos more like what the sound engineers probably intended. It presented a natural ‘unwarmed’ lower midrange, and a lovely/delicate/airy upper midrange, going into treble. (I won’t comment on highest frequencies because my hearing rounds them off.)

An interesting sidelight: Dealer supplied a Transparent Super RCA interconnect, and the Pathos sounded weak with it. It mated much more happily with a middle-aged Synergistic Alpha Sterling DS. I’ll be using it with copper cables, yet to be chosen.

I concluded that the Rogue sounded beguiling, but probably not as truthful. The Pathos Aurium was more to my taste in classical sound - besides being $1K less. They’re several years old but holding their own!

My test recordings were snares at the beginning of Mahler 5 for detail, and bass (SFSO DSD); more Mahler 5 and Prokofiev Lt. Kije for winds and bass (DSD remaster); and violinist Vilde Frang’s new Paganini/Schubert recording (PCM192) for higher frequencies and plucked strings.

Both headphone amps were well broken in with stock tubes. Associated equipt: iMac, older Transparent USB, RME adi-2 DAC, Transparent and Synergistic RCAs (mentioned above), Focal Utopia.

 

[montanari]

Great!
I love the utopia from the rogue.
I had for few days at home the aurium. In that period I had the lcd3 and didn t like the combo at all
Too slow and no grip
I m very curious to try with the Focal.
Even if for what I remember the pathos is warmer than the rogue..