Prima luna update: Ok strictly listening to 8 ohm taps and on my atticus... I had to scrape my jaw off the floor. I think this may have been the greatest headphone listening experience I've ever had. Absolutely beautiful tone with a rich clarity and full midrange tube magic that made me not want to move and completely immersed me in the music. The bass was exactly to my taste... it was not laser precise and ultra fast but it was also not sloppy or car bass like/boomy. It was full, round, weighty and gave a great solidity too the music without dominating the rest of the frequency ranges. The PL amp absolutely transformed my atticus and I had no idea this intersection of clarity, detail but at the same time raw musical flow was possible from this or any headphone!
Going to bottlehead there was absolutely no comparison. It sounded smaller, weaker, less 3-dimensionality. Surprisingly I think the bottlhead was actually tonally a bit cooler and not was colourfully rich as the PL. I felt the PL actually had this beautiful warm touch on brass especially when I listened to Delfeayo marsalis that made his trombone sound natural, musical and very enjoyable.
Going to pass + moreplay... the bass is faster, more see through, more incisive but not as solid and weighty/thick. Vocals and mids are drier but the soundstage is just as big and the detail and clarity overall is possibly just a small step beyond the PL amp (although I am not wanting for detail at all). The pass moreplay is just overall more see through and crystalline whereas the PL sound is more honey and web like... more cohesive in its sonic portrait... less distinct and more as if the elements of the music are working in a complementary fashion to portray the inner beauty of the music.
