[nfandi]

Then is the "3-4 weeks" estimate on headphone.shop to take with a grain of salt?

If you’ve already reserved one from the first batch then that would seem to be reasonable, though Alex commented yesterday that the actual date has still not been confirmed. If you’ve reserved one from the second batch then that promise date is looking very optimistic and very unlikely. And if you’ve not reserved from any batches so far you will have a much longer wait. However if you just want to audition Magna or Immanis at the headphone.shop Thomas should have one of each available from the first batch. I confirm that as a SHOULD have and not a definite WILL have. Thomas is now away for a couple of days but should be available from Wednesday onwards.

 

[simorag]

in post #70 Aleks says Immanis does not need a big warm sounding amp to complement their tonal balance. So I’m wondering what the already much bigger, fuller-sounding Immanis will sound like when being driven by your big warm sounding amp? Any idea when you might be able to share your thoughts with us or is it still ‘as yet unknown’? And of course if the Hyperion is very similar to the VM in tonal characteristics I’m wondering if this could be leading to too much ‘warmth’ when partnered with Immanis.

To my personal taste - admittedly biased towards warmer-than-neutral tunings - the Immanis still needs an amp that tames down their treble energy and reinforces the upper bass / lower midrange, not so much differently to when I had the SR1a and did a long list of auditions to find a good matching amp and/or EQ. With the AIC-10 and the Mullard tube I am close, but not yet there, so as I am not willing to replace the Riviera anytime soon I may need to resort to EQ. Anyway, I will wait for my new DAC and several more hours of experience before moving ahead with this.

The CA-1a with coffee-bean pads on the VM-1a (triode mode) with some aptly selected vintage tubes had both fuller body and smoother top end, and was actually overall more aligned to my tonal balance personal tastes than the Immanis. However, it could not match the Immanis bigger and deeper soundstage, resolution, speed, clarity and overall out-of-the-head experience.

The deep reach of the bass combined with the shockingly fast transients are a blast, with some recordings.

It's been a while since my last listening of this album, but yesterday I stumbled into it with the Immanis and it made me laugh out loud.

 

[nfandi]

To my personal taste - admittedly biased towards warm-than-neutral tunings - the Immanis still needs an amp that tames down their treble energy and reinforces the upper bass / lower midrange, not so much differently to when I had the SR1a and did a long list of auditions to find a good matching amp and/or EQ. With the AIC-10 and the Mullard tube I am close, but not yet there, so as I am not willing to replace the Riviera anytime soon I may need to resort to EQ. Anyway, I will wait for my new DAC and several more hours of experience before moving ahead with this.

The CA-1a with coffee-been pads on the VM-1a (triode mode) with some aptly selected vintage tubes had both fuller body and smoother top end, and was actually overall more aligned to my tonal balance personal tastes than the Immanis. However, it could not match the Immanis bigger and deeper soundstage, resolution, speed, clarity and overall out-of-the-head experience.

The deep reach of the bass combined with the shockingly fast transients are a blast, with some recordings.

It's been a while since my last listening of this album, but yesterday I stumbled into it with the Immanis and it made me laugh out loud.

​

Good input as usual. I’m wondering what Mitch at AccurateSounds would make of the Immanis and whether he thinks he could improve it with convolution filters like he did with the SR and CA, personal preferences may say otherwise. I’m hoping someone will provide him with the opportunity in the not too far future. I was also wondering on your journey to your Riviera if you tried the Trafomatic Primavera. The reviewer believes the Primavera is the very best Tube Amp for headphones but did say that at Munich 2023 the Riviera was the closest to the Primavera albeit a little smaller in scale. Although he does also say that it‘s physically huge, acts as a room heater in winter and virtually unusable if you have warm/hot summers, and consumes 280 watts whether playing music or idle. I was enjoying the review until I read those things.

 

[Fafner]

If you’ve already reserved one from the first batch then that would seem to be reasonable, though Alex commented yesterday that the actual date has still not been confirmed. If you’ve reserved one from the second batch then that promise date is looking very optimistic and very unlikely. And if you’ve not reserved from any batches so far you will have a much longer wait. However if you just want to audition Magna or Immanis at the headphone.shop Thomas should have one of each available from the first batch. I confirm that as a SHOULD have and not a definite WILL have. Thomas is now away for a couple of days but should be available from Wednesday onwards.

Unfortunately I'm not queued anywhere.

 

[nfandi]

Unfortunately I'm not queued anywhere.

Unfortunately I'm not queued anywhere.

If you definitely know that you want to buy Magna or Immnanis then you should make contact with Thomas on Wednesday as soon as you can. If you just want to listen to them then you need to ask Thomas to contact you as soon as he has his demo version available. If you’re not aware already Magna and Immanis make their first appearance in the US next weekend at NY CanJam. This is likely to trigger more interest from our cousins across the pond and so if you are seriously interested in them give Thomas your name as soon as you can and get your name on the list before Alex hopefully receives a barrage of orders from the US. (Not sure a headphone at this price point ever will receive a ‘barrage’ of orders, but who knows?)

 

[normie610]

I’m wondering what Mitch at AccurateSounds would make of the Immanis and whether he thinks he could improve it with convolution filters like he did with the SR and CA, personal preferences may say otherwise. I’m hoping someone will provide him with the opportunity in the not too far future.

I was wondering the same. Perhaps @Aleksandar R. has plans to collaborate with Mitch?

 

[mimaximax]

To my personal taste - admittedly biased towards warmer-than-neutral tunings - the Immanis still needs an amp that tames down their treble energy and reinforces the upper bass / lower midrange, not so much differently to when I had the SR1a and did a long list of auditions to find a good matching amp and/or EQ. With the AIC-10 and the Mullard tube I am close, but not yet there, so as I am not willing to replace the Riviera anytime soon I may need to resort to EQ.

@Aleksandar R. How does the Immanis respond to EQ? Even better than SR1a or do the pads prevent it to perform at the same level?

 

[nfandi]

@Aleksandar R. How does the Immanis respond to EQ? Even better than SR1a or do the pads prevent it to perform at the same level?

It’s a good question. Always best to hear what the designer has to say. The CA-1a responded very well to Mitch‘s convolution filters and use of a bass shelf or not, and so I’m hoping the Immanis will be the same. The Immanis is well-vented and I would not expect EQ to cause any problems, but with the multi-driver set-up and the different material of the pads it could be different. It should also be remembered by owners that any over-enthusiatic use of bass-boost and possible damage of the drivers is not so easily fixed now. With the SR you could simply replace the ribbons; with the Immanis you have to replace the entire cup, the ribbons are no longer user replaceable.

 

[yyzSB]

I’m glad you posted something ‘cos I thought of a couple of things I wanted to ask you. Are you already in line waiting for promise date and delivery info or are you waiting for more feedback from NY CanJam? I‘m interested because you’ve been such a vocal supporter of the SR1 and CA1 with the VM-1a and how good they really are that I was just thinking forward to when we get to read your actual experience with either Magna or Immanis. With VM-1a no longer available I‘m considering the Hyperion GE as one of my alternatives to replace my HSA-1b mainly because in post #69 Aleks describes the VM in Triode Mode and the Hyperion as being very, very similar, almost identical, and in post #70 Aleks says Immanis does not need a big warm sounding amp to complement their tonal balance. So I’m wondering what the already much bigger, fuller-sounding Immanis will sound like when being driven by your big warm sounding amp? Any idea when you might be able to share your thoughts with us or is it still ‘as yet unknown’? And of course if the Hyperion is very similar to the VM in tonal characteristics I’m wondering if this could be leading to too much ‘warmth’ when partnered with Immanis. This I can easily try with an audition at my dealer along with a session with the envy. To try a tube pre-amp with the Bliss will not be at all practical to arrange and so I may be entirely dependent on other people’s experiences and thoughts for this.

I know of 2 VM-1a that are available for sale. One in Sacramento CA with a guy I know from Audiogon and Danny.

Late last night I was listening to the CA-1a | VM-1a | James Brown - Motherlodde album. Just amazing. I was thinking if the new gear is better than what I have now, that is ridiculous.

 

[nfandi]

I know of 2 VM-1a that are available for sale. One in Sacramento CA with a guy I know from Audiogon and Danny.

Late last night I was listening to the CA-1a | VM-1a | James Brown - Motherlodde album. Just amazing. I was thinking if the new gear is better than what I have now, that is ridiculous.

Hi yyz, I think if I was going to buy a VM I would go direct to Solaja, the manufacturer. The amp is still available to buy according to their website and even if not they’d probably build one to order if the parts are all available. However, the downside for me is that it is a direct drive amp that was designed specifically for the SR and CA and does not support any other driver types; that‘s why I chose the HSA-1b. Alex has confirmed that the VM is still good with Immanis and Magna, though you may have trouble with the volume settings when using the Immanis if you like to listen at medium to low volume settings with the SR/CA. Other than that you should be fine, and yes, I can categorically tell you that the Magna and Immanis sound better in terms of bass extension, weight and fullness of sound. How that translates for you and your ears with your VM and whether you prefer the way the ‘old ones’ sound or not will be entirely personal to you. But I do look forward to reading about it when you get there.

 

[SteveM324]

I like the idea and will certainly explore this type of option. The WA23 has great visual appeal but I also wonder how much of what I would pay is for the aesthetics and not the sound quality. When I look at what the price might be in Europe, not taking into account exchange rate variances, I’m looking at c. €11,000 (20% VAT) for the WA23 and €4,000 for the Bliss. If I’m going to spend this kind of money I’d much rather do it through my dealer and not via personal imports from the US. We have several very good makers of tube amps here in Europe that must be investigated and I must say that the price of the WA23/Bliss combination suddenly makes the Feliks Envy seem like a bargain. But thanks again for adding to my thought processes.

Actually I use the WA23 by itself as a headphone amp and as a preamp to my Enleum 23R. I also use a Audio By Van Alstine FET Valve CF vacuum tube preamp (much less than $3K) for my Bliss. I'm sure there are a lot of high quality tube preamps available in EU that don't cost as much as the WA23. I didn't buy the WA23 to use it as a preamp but one day it occurred to me to try it as a preamp to my 23R. The results were a big improvement to the 23R. I'm not recommending to anyone to go out and buy a WA23 to use as a preamp (that would be absolutely crazy). I bought it strictly for using it as a headphone amp and it's fantastic just for that. Anyway, I don't want to derail this thread anymore than I already have. Send a PM if you have any questions.

 

[SageM]

Good input as usual. I’m wondering what Mitch at AccurateSounds would make of the Immanis and whether he thinks he could improve it with convolution filters like he did with the SR and CA, personal preferences may say otherwise. I’m hoping someone will provide him with the opportunity in the not too far future. I was also wondering on your journey to your Riviera if you tried the Trafomatic Primavera. The reviewer believes the Primavera is the very best Tube Amp for headphones but did say that at Munich 2023 the Riviera was the closest to the Primavera albeit a little smaller in scale. Although he does also say that it‘s physically huge, acts as a room heater in winter and virtually unusable if you have warm/hot summers, and consumes 280 watts whether playing music or idle. I was enjoying the review until I read those things.

I've spoken with Mitch at AccurateSounds. Once we take care of all the orders on the books, I'll be sending him both Magna and Immanis. Once the filters are ready, they will be available on our site.

 

[SageM]

I know of 2 VM-1a that are available for sale. One in Sacramento CA with a guy I know from Audiogon and Danny.

Late last night I was listening to the CA-1a | VM-1a | James Brown - Motherlodde album. Just amazing. I was thinking if the new gear is better than what I have now, that is ridiculous.

Alex and I have been consulting with Solaja on 2 new headphone/speaker amps. One is based on the VM (EL34) platform and the other a 300B type. If all goes well, I may have one (not sure which) at Axpona, in Chicago.

 

[nfandi]

I've spoken with Mitch at AccurateSounds. Once we take care of all the orders on the books, I'll be sending him both Magna and Immanis. Once the filters are ready, they will be available on our site.

Hi Danny, that‘s excellent news. Chris at AudiophileStyle would be another good one to get involved; he absolutely loved his SR with Mitch’s filters. I think also that @Torq was planning to attend NY CanJam this coming weekend, with a specific mention of wanting to see the new Phones. Have a great time in New York.

 

[SageM]

Hi Danny, that‘s excellent news. Chris at AudiophileStyle would be another good one to get involved; he absolutely loved his SR with Mitch’s filters. I think also that @Torq was planning to attend NY CanJam this coming weekend, with a specific mention of wanting to see the new Phones. Have a great time in New York.

Yes, Chris will be reviewing Magna and Immanis. Looking forward to seeing Torq in New York. Should be a really fun show. I can't wait!