[tuatara]

Finally got round to borrowing my friends SXH2 for a couple of days and having spent a few hours with it can now post some impressions.

My thoughts are based on owing a SXH1 since April 04. I'm not qualified to make any judgements on the technical aspects of the amp, all I've done is plug it in and listen.

Dimensionally the 2 is exactly the same as 1 but the alloy face plate is nice and I'd love to see the amp done entirely in that style. The small blue led is nice but as I never turn my amp of it's never really an issue what state it's in.
The rear panel layout is again the same except for the gain switch.

As soon as I plugged the 2 in and put on my phones I could tell a differences, the sound seemd to be more 'fleshed out', not necessarily more detailed, better presented if that makes sense.Perhaps authority would be a better term.

It seemed to work really well with my W1000s and in fact I've spent most of the time listening via that combination rather than the RS1s. The ATs have always sounded good on instruments to me but weaker with some vocals, with this new setup there was a noticable improvement in that area.

Complex prog rock(YES)sounded very good, nice presentation of bass lines and drums. Acoustic tracks from Son House to Richard Thompson all sounded richer making the V1 sound leaner . I dont think the V2 is 'coloured', rather its getting more of the message out.

The bass felt a bit deeper and the highs crisper. Two male vocals(Buddy Miller and Martin Simpson) I listen to alot have always had a slight edge or grain to the voice via my SXH1 but with the 2 they became much cleaner.

Most of the time I use the amp in low gain mode and volume level about 10 oclock. The new bigger(about time) volume knob felt very smooth and had a very progressive feel to it without any sudden jumps in volume or loss of sound quality.Much better than my V1.

For me the SXH2 is a definite step up from the previous version, I love it with the ATw1000s, a very nice combination . It also worked fine with the RS1s but I feel it brings more to the ATs.

 

[Sovkiller]

I have a few questions:
How is the bass compared to the SXH-1, and the highs?? Same extension, less, better??? Details??? Now the more important, IMO one of the strenghs of the SXH-1 is the very nice and right soundstage, do this new one has the same soundstage???

 

[tuatara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller I have a few questions: How is the bass compared to the SXH-1, and the highs?? Same extension, less, better??? Details??? Now the more important, IMO one of the strenghs of the SXH-1 is the very nice and right soundstage, do this new one has the same soundstage???

I feel that there are improvements in all areas.
I'm a firm believer in source first so it wont add anything that isn't there, just does a better job of presenting what's available..
I'd get one tomorrow if I wasn't goiung to loose so much on my SXH1, there're a few of them coming up 2nd hand here and with a small market they're not easy to quit.

As I said in my ealier post I know they did much more for the W1000s than the Grados. Vocals sounded much cleaner without loosing impact and there was plenty of clean,deep, tight bass with both phones.

I think Perreaux have done a good job of improving the amp, the big question is going to be the export price, especially in the States, dont know if that's been finalised yet.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuatara I feel that there are improvements in all areas. I'm a firm believer in source first so it wont add anything that isn't there, just does a better job of presenting what's available.. I'd get one tomorrow if I wasn't goiung to loose so much on my SXH1, there're a few of them coming up 2nd hand here and with a small market they're not easy to quit. As I said in my ealier post I know they did much more for the W1000s than the Grados. Vocals sounded much cleaner without loosing impact and there was plenty of clean,deep, tight bass with both phones. I think Perreaux have done a good job of improving the amp, the big question is going to be the export price, especially in the States, dont know if that's been finalised yet.

Well I still consider the SXH-1 as a very good amp, I evne own one, and it also presents what is there very well IMO, just that would like a little more puch in the bass dpt. But with a good recording and a good source it will represent what is there very well....

 

[Kush_]

So how does the SXH2 compare to the SXH1 purely in terms of bass punch/impact?

 

[tuatara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kush_ So how does the SXH2 compare to the SXH1 purely in terms of bass punch/impact?

I feel there's a bit more. I dont have any modern bass heavy records so dont know how it goes with them, but acoustic double bass has good depth and punch and certainly the W1000s gained more lower end with the SXH2.


With 4 to 5 hours listening I've done with 2 I think it is a better amp than the previous version, in some areas the differences may be slight but they're there.

 

[Mikey01]

That was a very nice review.

 

[warubozu]

Thanks for the initial review, if the price is right I may consider picking one up.