[arnaud]

I have recently been shopping for a new headphone amp. Not really an upgraditis but more of a desire for different sound flavor. I am lucky in that I live in a place where I can get easy access to a variety of headphone gear.

I thus went to audition gear with my Utrasone Edition 9 headphones, looking for something that would make me want to part with my current amplifier (Meier Audio Opera).

Among the Jazz records I am currently using for sampling gear:
- Ben Webster and Oscar Perterson "Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson"
- Diana Krall "Girl in the other room"
- Oscar Peterson Trio "We get requests"
- Tord Gustavsen Trio "Being There", "The Ground", "Changing Places"
- Sample CD "This is K2 HD Sound"
- e.s.t. "Viaticum"
- Avishai Cohen "Gently Disturbed", "Continuo"
- Rusconi Trio "Stop and Go"
- Charlie Bird "at the Village Vanguard"
- Rebecca Pidgeon "The New York Girl's Club"

For "rock", recently I've been using stuff from Feist, Yael Naim, Beck, Ayo, Suzanne Vega...

Below are results from 1-2 hours A/B comparisons in the stores. CD players ranged were mid-range Denon / Marantz (~SA13-S1).

The amps I sampled:
- My amp: Meier Audio Opera (referred as Opera below), now discontinued: Meier-Audio
- Intercity MBA-1: available only on the Japanese market, solid feel: MBA-1/MBA-1S Dual Monaural Balanced Amplifier
- Lehmann Audio Black Cube Linear (referred as BCL below): Lehmann audio - Products - overview
- Luxman P-1 (referred as P-1 below): now available in the US, gorgeous looking: ƒ‰ƒbƒNƒXƒ}ƒ“Š”Ž®‰ïŽÐbƒz[ƒ€»•iî•ñbƒwƒbƒhƒtƒHƒ“ƒAƒ“ƒvP-1 - LUXMAN
- Rudistor RPX-100 (referred as RPX-100 below): not so gorgeous looking but the sound, what a sound: Balanced Headphone Amplifier, RPX-100,Balanced preamplifier , RudiStor, Rudi Stor, Hiend, Hi-end

Now the results... Again, note that this is in store, with Edition 9 (single ended), no perfect level matching, A/B type comparisons (so only a rough brush of the sonic attributes of a given amp).

Intercity MBA-1 vs. Meier Audio Opera & Lehmann BCL:
- Note: CD player is Marant SA13-S1: Marantz Japan | SA-13S1
- Intercity amp has more impact than Opera but less than the BCL
- MBA-1 sounds bright with unnatural mids
- Overall, the MBA-1 is a bit mid-fi sounding compared to the Opera and BCL

Lehmann BCL vs. Meier Audio Opera:
- The BCL has more impact than the Opera
- The soundstage on the BCL is wider but less deep than Opera (Opera has characteristics of a tube amp in that regard)
- Overall, the BCL sounds more dynamic, agressive (but not harsh)
- Opera is very relaxed sounding in comparison but sounds more refined
- BCL sounds less veiled, cymbals have nice long decay on the BCL
- BCL sounds more articulate, instruments seem to emerge more easily from the background
- Overall it feels like the Opera is about sounding warm and refined while the BCL is more in your face

Luxman P-1 vs. Lehmann BCL:
- The BCL has better control of the bass
- The Lehmann is more articulate, similar impression as when compared against the Opera

Rudistor RPX-100 vs. Lehmann BCL:
- The BCL has more impact than RPX-100
- RPX-100 renders room reverberation more prominently, which is very nice when listening through the Edition9 Headphones
- RPX-100 has more body than BCL which is also nice with the Edition 9
- RPX-100 sounds more relax, natural than the BCL
- The BCL is definitely brighter sounding yet not in a negative way ( it is not harsh, spashy treble)


Conclusions:
- The Rudistor amp is definitely a good match for my Edition 9 headphones. But it is very expensive, especially considering the sinergy is just with one of my headphones. For instance, I briefly used the Sennheiser HD650 in the RPX-100 / BCL comparison. With the HD650, I much preferred the BCL as it would wake up the HD650 (too slow / warm sounding through the RPX-100)
- The Opera and BCL are rather close in quality. They just have different priorities in terms sound reproduction. I actually purchased the BCL because at the moment I feel it matches well with my Edition 9 (hence put the Opera for sale).
- This is more of a side step than an upgrade. Actually, at home I could compare the DAC of the Opera to that of the BCL (I bought the USB version). The Opera was at a disadvantage because its DAC output was going through preamp section of Opera + interconnects prior to feeding the BCL. Still, when listening to the Opera DAC through the BCL amp, it still sounded much more resolving yet refined than the BCL built-in DAC. So considering the functionalities (cross-feed, input selector), I should say I even downgraded by bying a BCL

. But well, I was in for a change and the BCL has the sound I want at the moment.
- The Intercity MBA-1 is not my cup of tea, I guess it is too revealing and may not be the best amp for the Edition 9.
- The Luxman P-1 is a nice sounding amp, close in character to the Opera in fact. But it does not wow me like the BCL did.

Well, this probably does not read too well, but those who don't get the chance to audition gear much, may find some use in this, hopefully!

arnaud.

 

[Akabeth]

Nice.

It's very informative. OP, Thanks for the write-up.

 

[anadin]

Did you find a change in the Lehmann Audio Black Cube Linear Headphone Amplifier through burn in, if so how long before you noticed a change.


Thanks for the info it was a great read.

 

[Aimless1]

Thanks Arnaud. Nice comparison.