gundam91
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2003
- Posts
- 542
- Likes
- 13
I know that many people have been inquiring about this amp from China. I had read the review on Positive Feedback and had inquired about it on the board on several occasions, but no one seemed to have heard it firsthand. When I found out that my friend could get me one for a good deal in China, I decided to take the plunge.
First, let me write some background about myself. I listen to a variety of music from Jazz to Classical to 80’s alternative to Chinese. But these days, mainly Jazz from the 50s and 60s. To this point I primary interest has been on speaker-based systems (for the past 12 years). My focus on assembling my systems has been tonal accuracy, details, and imaging (soundstage width/depth). I’ve been thinking about adding a pair of headphone to my system for a while as I enjoy late night listening sessions, but my wife does not. With a baby on the way, I thought this would be a good time to finalize that plan. I had settled on a pair of Sennheiser HD600s basically based on the good reviews on all the different magazines and the price. The only two criteria I had for the amp was that it must be tube based as I believe the combo of solid state amp and electrostats (Senn HD600) would sound too bright, based on past experience with Martin Logan speakers and the price range should be under or around US$1,000. Originally I had considered the ASL MG Head DT and the Music Fidelity X-Can V3. Both had received pretty good reviews from the like of Stereophile/The Absolute Sound. I then thought about the Earmax, which I had heard at the Stereophile Show in SF several years ago. At last year’s Stereophile Show in SF, I searched high and low, hoping to hear some good headphone setups the software vendors usually set up for show-goers to listen to CDs. Unfortunately, there was only a guy with several pairs of Stax and Shure pushing their new earphones. When I ventured onto the Head-Fi website several months ago, I got a really good education on how many good amps are out there. After “studying” tons of information, I had come up with a short list of amps that I would want to try out, these included the Audio Valve RKV MkII, Singlepower MPX3 and PPX3, the Earmax Pro, the Rudistor RP5, and also a max-out PPA (I know, it’s a solid state amp) since so many people had sung praises about it. During the last mini-meet in San Jose, I brought my digital front end to the meet and had the opportunity to borrow several amps to try on my system. Of all the amps I tried, I thought the Emmeline had an overemphasis in the nidbass region that made it sounded somewhat artificial. The PPA had good extension at both ends with tight, contolled bass, but it sounded bright, very typical SS sound. The three amps that impressed me were the RKV, the prototype SDS Labs/PPA hybrid amp by Head-Fi members amb & morsel, and the Singlepower MPX3. I fell in love with RKV’s luscious midrange. Fenale vocal on RKV had me dropping my jaw to the floor. The Singlepower MPX3 had a balanced presentation with speed and good control of the bass for a tube amp, and it was magical with reproducing solo pianos. The SDS Labs prototype also had a very balanced presentation, and good “slam”. Both are a tad on the warmer side of neutral. I would say the MPX3 edges the SDS Labs prototype slightly in the midrange area. The Cyber 20 did not come into the picture until a friend e-mailed me the review of the Cyber 20 on the positive feedback website, it peaked my interest as the reviewer ended up replacing his Earmax with the Cyber 20 at the end of the review. And the price was really good, so I asked a friend of mine living in Shanghai to check out for me the price in China.
My friend contacted Opera Audio’s authorized dealer in Shanghai and found out the price for this amp in China was listed at RMB 2,500 (US$315), and can be haggled down based on how good your haggling skill is. My friend ended up special ordered a 120V unit (China has 220V outlets) and just paid the list price + RMB 100 ($12) for express delivery to him. My unit survived two trips as a check-in luggage first from Shanghai to Seattle then from Seattle to San Francisco with another friend who was in town for a business trip from Shanghai.
The unit was packed in double boxes. When I opened the box, I was surprised to find a pair of white cotton gloves and a manual written in simplified Chinese. I browsed through the manual quickly just to make sure I don’t end up doing something I would regret. Then I donned the white gloves and took out the Cyber 20 and its outboard power supply. The unit itself is pretty heavy, the power supply even heavier. I was surprised to find that the tubes were already plugged in place while in the box, and they didn’t break off during the trip.
The unit is well built, solid ¼” thick anodized aluminum front plate with a very heavy volume knob and a high/low impedance switch. The back consists of a pair of gold plated RCA jacks and connector for the power supply. The only complains I have are:
1/ both the amp and the outbound power supply sit on three pucks, two up front and one in the back. When I tried to swap out the tubes, the amp would tilt over easily.
2/ The chassis is of a light creamy gray color. It made the amp look somewhat cheap. I wish it were painted black. But from the front, all you will see is silver front plate.
The amp came with a pair of the Russian 6n14n (6pi14pi) tubes and one Electro Harmonix 12AU7. I immediately tested the tubes in my TV-7DU tube tester. The pair of Russian 6n14n tubes was not matched. Prior to listening, I installed Pearl Tube Coolers on all three tubes. (Latest version with Carbon Fiber Sleeves)
My first impressions were that the amp sounded pretty good, good detail, good wide soundstage, and good dynamics. It sounded somewhat bright and thin. My immediate thought was that this sounded like a solid state amp. The amp has a switch for high- and low-impedence. I tried both settings with my HD600 and a pair of Grado SR-60. Surprisingly, I did not agree with Positive Feedback that low-impedance setting sound better. For the remaining review, I just left it at high-impedance setting. The background was dead silent, even when I turned the volume knob all the way up, pitch black, not a hint of any hum. The volume does drop when you plug two headphones into the amp. I let the amp burned in for over 10 hours using XLO/Reference Recordings Burn-in CD. It still sounded bright to my ear. After doing some research on Head-Fi.org, I suspect the cause to be the Russian tubes. I immediately swapped out the tubes with a set of the Russian 6n14n-EB and an RCA 12AU7 cleartop. I let the amp burned in for another 10 hours or so. It helped reduced some of the brightness, but not by much. I later swapped the Zu Mobius cable with the Cardas cable, and that made a big difference. I think the Zu Mobius was too revealing and did not work well with this combination. I also tried the Clou Red Japis. It sounded congested as the soundstage was “squeezed in”. Overall, the Cardas cable seemed to be the best match.
A pair of GE 7189As (gray oval plate) which I had purchased on eBay arrived few days after the amp did. They passed the test on my TV-7DU tube tester as a matched pair. So, I immediately plugged them into the amp, with some high-temperature resistant silicone o-rings. I let the tubes warm up for about 20 minutes before listening. Oh, my lord! What a difference. The smoothness was still there, but the brightness was gone. The midrange magic of tubes was definitely there. The dynamic range was not as good as with the Russian tubes. The bass is typical of tube amps, on a sluggish side. But the overall tonal balance and presence gave a sense of realism, and the amp sounded more musical.
I had spent a good amount of time with the SinglePower MPX3 and the Audio Valve RKV MkII at the San Jose meet. In my system, Cyber 20’s sound signature is somewhere between these two fine amps. It’s speed and extension on both ends doesn’t quite approach that of the MPX3, but sounded slightly warmer in the midrange than the MPX3. But female vocals did not sound quite as seductive as the RKV MkII. With NOS tubes, I would say this SET amp exhibits all the virtues typically associated with tube amps. These assessments are based on what I remembered from the meet, so another round of side by side comparison would be required to verify these assessments.
Associate Equipment:
Sonic Frontier SFT1 (transport)
Mark Levinson #36 (DAC)
Seismic Sink CD Sink (for SFT1)
Audio Selection Cones (for ML#36)
1 ½” thick wood block (for Cyber 20)
Powercords: MIT Z-Cord II (Cyber 20); John Rische DIY PCs for SFT1 & ML#36
PowerVar 1200 AC Conditioner
Standesign Rack.
MIT MI-330HE Interconnect
MIT MI-330 Reference Digital Interface Cable
Sennheiser HD600 + Cardas/Zu Mobius/Clou Red Japis replacement cables
This system was part of my second system which was in the room that we converted into the baby’s room. I packed away the preamp (ARC LS-1), the amp (Pass Lab Aleph Os), and the speakers (Unity Audio Signature 1s). The original system sounded very different than my reference system, in that this system is more musical (in relative terms), it had the warmth usually associated with the tube equipment, and is more laid back. I would attribute this characteristic to the amp (Pass Lab Aleph Os). I enjoy listening to female jazz vocals on this system.
My reference system consists of the following component:
Analog Front: Michell Orbe SE + SME V + Shelter 901 + Cardas Golden Reference cable
Digital Front: Mark Levinson #37 (transport) + Genesis Digital Lens + Sonic Frontier SFD2 MkII
Amplification: ARC PH3 SE (phono) + ARC LS2B MkII + Mark Levinson #333.
Speakers: Thiel 3.6
Cables: Illuminati D-60 digital/Kimber KCAG (analog)/MIT MI-330 Proline balanced/Transparent Ultra
PS Audio PP300; Ultimate Outlet 20A; Audio Prism ACFX; Electra Glide Reference II PCs on digital fronts; John Rische DIY PCs on phonostage; two separate dedicated 20A AC line.
Test CDs:
Jane Monheit – In the Sun
Tsai Chin – Chance Encounter (this CD, piano solo + vocal, was the rave in Asian Hi-End circle for the past few years. The music was great, and the recording was excellent. It was a standard demo CD at every hi-fi store and every Hi-Fi show, JVC XRCD2 reissue).
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (JVC XRCD2 reissue)
Yo-Yo Ma – Solo
Update:
I have had the Cyber 20 in my system for about 3 weeks now. During that time, my son was born. Contrary to what I thought it would be, I hadn’t turned on my headphone amp at all during that time, but my main system has been on almost 24/7. He’s still got the day/night mixed up. So he’s usually wide awake between 1am and 3am. I played a lot of classical music for him, and he seems to like piano sonatas the best. They really keep him calm at those hours.
I have assembled quite a bit of 6BQ5 tubes in the past 3 weeks including some current productions: Electro Harmonix, JJ/Tesla, Ei (Yugoslavia), and some NOS: GE, Sylvania, RCA, Raytheon, Mullard. I have not had a chance to try them all yet as I’ve only had the opportunity to turn on the headphone amp twice in the past three weeks. I liked the sound of the GE 7189A (USA). I had just fired up the amp the other night with a pair of Sovtek EL84Ms which I borrowed from a friend. I would assume that these had been burned in previously. I allowed the amp to warm up playing a CD for about 45 minutes before listening to them. To my surprise, these tubes sounded darn good, unlike the Sovtek 6DJ8/6922 tubes which had received bad reputation for sounding bright and lean. I had paired the Sovteks with an RCA 12AU7A cleartop. The word luscious comes to mind in the midrange. The amp did not sound so analytical as it had before with those Reflektor 6n14n tubes. I was impressed with the excellent overall tonal balance as well. The bass is a tad more sluggish, (softer?) when compare to the 6n14n tubes, but it sounded great with that acoustic jazz bass, really brings out the luscious wood sound.
I think this amp is a good contender in its list price range (US$699). It’s a hell of an amp at US$350. I am hoping to have a chance to bring this amp to one of the local meets so I can compare it with some other amps. The amp responds significantly to tube rolling. Depending on what your taste in music is, I think you can find a set of right tubes to tweak the sound to your liking. If you get one and you listen mostly to classical music, jazz, or acoustical music, take out those Reflektor tubes and replace them with either the Sovtek EL84M which can be had for about $20/matched pair or some NOS tubes. I think it’s a must. If you listen mostly to Rock, I think those Reflektor tubes would do just fine, but you might find ear fatigue an issue after listening for a period of time.
FrankC
PS - My 2000ok HP-100A amp has been at Eric's place since it's arrival. I have not had a chance to compare it to Cyber-20 side by side. That will be another project down the road.
First, let me write some background about myself. I listen to a variety of music from Jazz to Classical to 80’s alternative to Chinese. But these days, mainly Jazz from the 50s and 60s. To this point I primary interest has been on speaker-based systems (for the past 12 years). My focus on assembling my systems has been tonal accuracy, details, and imaging (soundstage width/depth). I’ve been thinking about adding a pair of headphone to my system for a while as I enjoy late night listening sessions, but my wife does not. With a baby on the way, I thought this would be a good time to finalize that plan. I had settled on a pair of Sennheiser HD600s basically based on the good reviews on all the different magazines and the price. The only two criteria I had for the amp was that it must be tube based as I believe the combo of solid state amp and electrostats (Senn HD600) would sound too bright, based on past experience with Martin Logan speakers and the price range should be under or around US$1,000. Originally I had considered the ASL MG Head DT and the Music Fidelity X-Can V3. Both had received pretty good reviews from the like of Stereophile/The Absolute Sound. I then thought about the Earmax, which I had heard at the Stereophile Show in SF several years ago. At last year’s Stereophile Show in SF, I searched high and low, hoping to hear some good headphone setups the software vendors usually set up for show-goers to listen to CDs. Unfortunately, there was only a guy with several pairs of Stax and Shure pushing their new earphones. When I ventured onto the Head-Fi website several months ago, I got a really good education on how many good amps are out there. After “studying” tons of information, I had come up with a short list of amps that I would want to try out, these included the Audio Valve RKV MkII, Singlepower MPX3 and PPX3, the Earmax Pro, the Rudistor RP5, and also a max-out PPA (I know, it’s a solid state amp) since so many people had sung praises about it. During the last mini-meet in San Jose, I brought my digital front end to the meet and had the opportunity to borrow several amps to try on my system. Of all the amps I tried, I thought the Emmeline had an overemphasis in the nidbass region that made it sounded somewhat artificial. The PPA had good extension at both ends with tight, contolled bass, but it sounded bright, very typical SS sound. The three amps that impressed me were the RKV, the prototype SDS Labs/PPA hybrid amp by Head-Fi members amb & morsel, and the Singlepower MPX3. I fell in love with RKV’s luscious midrange. Fenale vocal on RKV had me dropping my jaw to the floor. The Singlepower MPX3 had a balanced presentation with speed and good control of the bass for a tube amp, and it was magical with reproducing solo pianos. The SDS Labs prototype also had a very balanced presentation, and good “slam”. Both are a tad on the warmer side of neutral. I would say the MPX3 edges the SDS Labs prototype slightly in the midrange area. The Cyber 20 did not come into the picture until a friend e-mailed me the review of the Cyber 20 on the positive feedback website, it peaked my interest as the reviewer ended up replacing his Earmax with the Cyber 20 at the end of the review. And the price was really good, so I asked a friend of mine living in Shanghai to check out for me the price in China.
My friend contacted Opera Audio’s authorized dealer in Shanghai and found out the price for this amp in China was listed at RMB 2,500 (US$315), and can be haggled down based on how good your haggling skill is. My friend ended up special ordered a 120V unit (China has 220V outlets) and just paid the list price + RMB 100 ($12) for express delivery to him. My unit survived two trips as a check-in luggage first from Shanghai to Seattle then from Seattle to San Francisco with another friend who was in town for a business trip from Shanghai.
The unit was packed in double boxes. When I opened the box, I was surprised to find a pair of white cotton gloves and a manual written in simplified Chinese. I browsed through the manual quickly just to make sure I don’t end up doing something I would regret. Then I donned the white gloves and took out the Cyber 20 and its outboard power supply. The unit itself is pretty heavy, the power supply even heavier. I was surprised to find that the tubes were already plugged in place while in the box, and they didn’t break off during the trip.
The unit is well built, solid ¼” thick anodized aluminum front plate with a very heavy volume knob and a high/low impedance switch. The back consists of a pair of gold plated RCA jacks and connector for the power supply. The only complains I have are:
1/ both the amp and the outbound power supply sit on three pucks, two up front and one in the back. When I tried to swap out the tubes, the amp would tilt over easily.
2/ The chassis is of a light creamy gray color. It made the amp look somewhat cheap. I wish it were painted black. But from the front, all you will see is silver front plate.
The amp came with a pair of the Russian 6n14n (6pi14pi) tubes and one Electro Harmonix 12AU7. I immediately tested the tubes in my TV-7DU tube tester. The pair of Russian 6n14n tubes was not matched. Prior to listening, I installed Pearl Tube Coolers on all three tubes. (Latest version with Carbon Fiber Sleeves)
My first impressions were that the amp sounded pretty good, good detail, good wide soundstage, and good dynamics. It sounded somewhat bright and thin. My immediate thought was that this sounded like a solid state amp. The amp has a switch for high- and low-impedence. I tried both settings with my HD600 and a pair of Grado SR-60. Surprisingly, I did not agree with Positive Feedback that low-impedance setting sound better. For the remaining review, I just left it at high-impedance setting. The background was dead silent, even when I turned the volume knob all the way up, pitch black, not a hint of any hum. The volume does drop when you plug two headphones into the amp. I let the amp burned in for over 10 hours using XLO/Reference Recordings Burn-in CD. It still sounded bright to my ear. After doing some research on Head-Fi.org, I suspect the cause to be the Russian tubes. I immediately swapped out the tubes with a set of the Russian 6n14n-EB and an RCA 12AU7 cleartop. I let the amp burned in for another 10 hours or so. It helped reduced some of the brightness, but not by much. I later swapped the Zu Mobius cable with the Cardas cable, and that made a big difference. I think the Zu Mobius was too revealing and did not work well with this combination. I also tried the Clou Red Japis. It sounded congested as the soundstage was “squeezed in”. Overall, the Cardas cable seemed to be the best match.
A pair of GE 7189As (gray oval plate) which I had purchased on eBay arrived few days after the amp did. They passed the test on my TV-7DU tube tester as a matched pair. So, I immediately plugged them into the amp, with some high-temperature resistant silicone o-rings. I let the tubes warm up for about 20 minutes before listening. Oh, my lord! What a difference. The smoothness was still there, but the brightness was gone. The midrange magic of tubes was definitely there. The dynamic range was not as good as with the Russian tubes. The bass is typical of tube amps, on a sluggish side. But the overall tonal balance and presence gave a sense of realism, and the amp sounded more musical.
I had spent a good amount of time with the SinglePower MPX3 and the Audio Valve RKV MkII at the San Jose meet. In my system, Cyber 20’s sound signature is somewhere between these two fine amps. It’s speed and extension on both ends doesn’t quite approach that of the MPX3, but sounded slightly warmer in the midrange than the MPX3. But female vocals did not sound quite as seductive as the RKV MkII. With NOS tubes, I would say this SET amp exhibits all the virtues typically associated with tube amps. These assessments are based on what I remembered from the meet, so another round of side by side comparison would be required to verify these assessments.
Associate Equipment:
Sonic Frontier SFT1 (transport)
Mark Levinson #36 (DAC)
Seismic Sink CD Sink (for SFT1)
Audio Selection Cones (for ML#36)
1 ½” thick wood block (for Cyber 20)
Powercords: MIT Z-Cord II (Cyber 20); John Rische DIY PCs for SFT1 & ML#36
PowerVar 1200 AC Conditioner
Standesign Rack.
MIT MI-330HE Interconnect
MIT MI-330 Reference Digital Interface Cable
Sennheiser HD600 + Cardas/Zu Mobius/Clou Red Japis replacement cables
This system was part of my second system which was in the room that we converted into the baby’s room. I packed away the preamp (ARC LS-1), the amp (Pass Lab Aleph Os), and the speakers (Unity Audio Signature 1s). The original system sounded very different than my reference system, in that this system is more musical (in relative terms), it had the warmth usually associated with the tube equipment, and is more laid back. I would attribute this characteristic to the amp (Pass Lab Aleph Os). I enjoy listening to female jazz vocals on this system.
My reference system consists of the following component:
Analog Front: Michell Orbe SE + SME V + Shelter 901 + Cardas Golden Reference cable
Digital Front: Mark Levinson #37 (transport) + Genesis Digital Lens + Sonic Frontier SFD2 MkII
Amplification: ARC PH3 SE (phono) + ARC LS2B MkII + Mark Levinson #333.
Speakers: Thiel 3.6
Cables: Illuminati D-60 digital/Kimber KCAG (analog)/MIT MI-330 Proline balanced/Transparent Ultra
PS Audio PP300; Ultimate Outlet 20A; Audio Prism ACFX; Electra Glide Reference II PCs on digital fronts; John Rische DIY PCs on phonostage; two separate dedicated 20A AC line.
Test CDs:
Jane Monheit – In the Sun
Tsai Chin – Chance Encounter (this CD, piano solo + vocal, was the rave in Asian Hi-End circle for the past few years. The music was great, and the recording was excellent. It was a standard demo CD at every hi-fi store and every Hi-Fi show, JVC XRCD2 reissue).
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (JVC XRCD2 reissue)
Yo-Yo Ma – Solo
Update:
I have had the Cyber 20 in my system for about 3 weeks now. During that time, my son was born. Contrary to what I thought it would be, I hadn’t turned on my headphone amp at all during that time, but my main system has been on almost 24/7. He’s still got the day/night mixed up. So he’s usually wide awake between 1am and 3am. I played a lot of classical music for him, and he seems to like piano sonatas the best. They really keep him calm at those hours.
I have assembled quite a bit of 6BQ5 tubes in the past 3 weeks including some current productions: Electro Harmonix, JJ/Tesla, Ei (Yugoslavia), and some NOS: GE, Sylvania, RCA, Raytheon, Mullard. I have not had a chance to try them all yet as I’ve only had the opportunity to turn on the headphone amp twice in the past three weeks. I liked the sound of the GE 7189A (USA). I had just fired up the amp the other night with a pair of Sovtek EL84Ms which I borrowed from a friend. I would assume that these had been burned in previously. I allowed the amp to warm up playing a CD for about 45 minutes before listening to them. To my surprise, these tubes sounded darn good, unlike the Sovtek 6DJ8/6922 tubes which had received bad reputation for sounding bright and lean. I had paired the Sovteks with an RCA 12AU7A cleartop. The word luscious comes to mind in the midrange. The amp did not sound so analytical as it had before with those Reflektor 6n14n tubes. I was impressed with the excellent overall tonal balance as well. The bass is a tad more sluggish, (softer?) when compare to the 6n14n tubes, but it sounded great with that acoustic jazz bass, really brings out the luscious wood sound.
I think this amp is a good contender in its list price range (US$699). It’s a hell of an amp at US$350. I am hoping to have a chance to bring this amp to one of the local meets so I can compare it with some other amps. The amp responds significantly to tube rolling. Depending on what your taste in music is, I think you can find a set of right tubes to tweak the sound to your liking. If you get one and you listen mostly to classical music, jazz, or acoustical music, take out those Reflektor tubes and replace them with either the Sovtek EL84M which can be had for about $20/matched pair or some NOS tubes. I think it’s a must. If you listen mostly to Rock, I think those Reflektor tubes would do just fine, but you might find ear fatigue an issue after listening for a period of time.
FrankC
PS - My 2000ok HP-100A amp has been at Eric's place since it's arrival. I have not had a chance to compare it to Cyber-20 side by side. That will be another project down the road.
. 