PART FOUR—THE REVIEW
Here at last is the review I’ve been promising. I hope it was worth the wait! Please assume all comments refer to the HR-2 equipped with the original AD797 op-amps. Rather than repeat things I’ve already said in my Initial Impressions, this review will focus on completing the picture, and putting those observations into context.
MY SET-UP
Kenwood Sovereign DV-5700 DVD-A player---> Virtual Dynamics Reference ICs--->Emmeline HR2 (with AD797s)--->Sony MDR-R10 headphones
MY MUSIC PREFERENCE
"Rock"/”Pop”-- some alternative rock, some classic rock, some punk, some electronic, some 60's soul, some singer-songwriters, some folk, some blues, and some country. Expanding into jazz and classical. I currently have a collection of around 1400 CD/SACDs/DVD-As (although thousands more have cycled through it), almost all are rock/pop. I have maybe 40 jazz discs, and 20 classical.
MY “LISTENING STYLE”
Headphone listening and music appreciation are not things I typically do as a background activity while doing something else. When I listen, most often you’ll find me stretched out in the big comfy chair with lights dimmed and eyes closed, cat in the lap, focusing solely on the music (which will be playing nice and loud). I feel this “listening style” affects the way I evaluate equipment and helps determine those sonic attributes that are most critical at this level of concentration/relaxation.
You can’t have unnatural grain, hash, etching or stridency in the upper frequencies—you’ll be especially aware of them and tire out too easily. OTOH, you can’t have something that’s too dark, hazy or unfocused because imaging and soundstage (and things associated with them) become crucially important, as you’re trying to let your brain actually “picture” the performance. Instrument separation, the sense of “air” and space around each instrument, and the recreation of the ambience of the room in which it was recorded, also increase in importance. Thus, I am biased in favor of components that enhance my particular listening experience, which is largely influenced by my listening style.
UPDATES, CORRECTIONS AND ELABORATIONS
The first thing I want to do is respond to some of the things I stated in my Initial Impressions, about which I have either changed my opinion somewhat or simply have more to say.
1. “I wrote down I detected a slight metallic flavor to the music, but I can't yet confirm.”
I no longer hear whatever it was that I was reacting to there.
2. “The Emmeline has a very rich and reverberant quality to it. If you find the CD3000 and other closed phones to be too "reverberant" you might object to this amp, because it enhances that effect. It retrieves a lot of ambient noise associated with the production of loud sounds in live acoustical space. This is adding to the impact of those sounds in my ear.”
I should have avoided the use of the word “reverb”; that’s misleading. What I was reacting to here turned out to be the excellent imaging capability of the Emmeline, coupled with the sheer sense of “presence” that sounds have throughout the spectrum. I’ll go into more detail later.
3. “I have noticed a slight tendency for hard cymbal hits to sound somewhat splashy from time to time. I don't know yet whether I will feel the amp is just letting me hear how the splashy cymbal was actually recorded, or whether that is an artifact of the amp itself. I've only noticed this splashiness a few times on certain CDs. Can't draw any conclusions yet but I'll be keeping an ear out.”
The HR-2 is very open-sounding for a solid state device, with an amzing top-end that can have real bite when fed accordingly. This amp has a sort of “unfettered” quality to it, allowing splashy cymbals to come through loud and clear, but not distorted. Once I adjusted to this presentation, I came to really appreciate the highs of the Emmeline, and found it to be very realistic, and definitely not “rolled off”, that’s for damn sure.
4. “On the downside, I wonder whether that extra "electricity" and extra attack, and generally lively balance of the Emmeline may come to be a cause of listening fatigue over time. All I can tell you for now is that I've been listening at 3-4 hour clips with hour breaks between, and I have not yet become fatigued and I like to listen LOUD!”
In all my hours and hours of listening, I have never become fatigued listening to the Emmeline. On the contrary, the HR-2 makes me want to keep my phones on longer!
OK—on with the review already!
REVIEW
The Emmeline proved to be a slippery little sucker to get a solid hold on because it has a habit of switching off the analytical part of my brain, and sucking me into whatever I happened to be listening to, which speaks very highly of the amp. Also, it tends to sound very different with different recordings, making it hard to predict which of my CDs would sound optimal through the Emmeline. Time and again I was surprised at which CDs sounded better than I’d ever heard them before and which ones I’d heard done better by other amps. There seemed to be little pattern I could easily detect.
If you like a hazy, breezy, floaty, soft, rolled, or polite sound, this is not the amp for you (although adding the OPA627s might help). This is a very dynamic, nimble and fast amp, with amazing rhythm, timing and pace. It’s not warm, sweet, or romantic like a tube amp. While it doesn't have the peculiar "magic" of a tube amp, this is solid state done right, maximizing all those things that solid state does better than tubes. This amp has extremely high bandwidth, and is very full-resolution. I think this has the potential to be off-putting at first depending on what amp you’re coming from, but once you go through the psychological burn-in process, you may be seduced by it as I was, and find your old amp suddenly sounds “un-involving” and “veiled”.
If I had to estimate, I would say that 7 out of 10 of my CD/SACDs/DVD-As sounded better than I’d ever heard them before through the HR-2, with 3 out of 7 sounding significantly better. On the remaining 3 out of 10 CDs, I felt I had heard them sound better on other amps. Still, 7 out of 10 is a pretty darn good batting average! But it is not the case in my experience, with my set-up, that the Emmeline simply slew everything I threw at it, or that it was so good it was clearly superior to anything I’d ever heard before on everything. Compared to other amps in the same general class/category that I’ve owned such as the Berning MicroZOTL, Headroom MOH, Earmax Pro, my Denon, and several Melos’s, I think the Emmeline has the edge for me in terms of pure musical enjoyment out of my R10s. But I don’t want to over-state the distance between the Emmeline and those other amps, and lead the reader to think it’s some huge gulf. Those are all great amps in their own right, with their own special strengths. In short, the Emmeline competes very well with these other amps, and in some ways, I feel outpaces them. Its $875 price tag is an excellent value. I expect the HR-2 will satisfy a wide variety of headphone geeks, sound great with a wide variety of cans, and provide plenty of enjoyment to listeners of all music styles.
SOURCE MATCHING
Over time, I came to feel that the Emmeline was simply more faithful to the source recording of almost any amp I’ve heard, most of the time. I believe that the Emmeline with AD797s is giving it to me exactly as it is, for better or worse. Each disc sounded very distinct, with the differences in recording quality and mastering quality being highlighted more than any other amp I’ve owned. As I have said in the past, a good source is a must with this amp. My source is a $1200 DVD-A player, nothing to sneeze at, but my impression from the Emmeline is that it would let an even better source shine through even more.
It’s a little back-assward to pick an amp, then pick a source, but I would avoid any source that’s known to be “bright”, “sibilant”, strident or hashy. The Emmeline does not provide you with any “veil” or “fog” to protect your ears, and does not hold you at arm’s length from the sound to admire it from a safe distance. A high-quality source is required to prevent the potential for listening fatigue. You have been warned!
CABLE MATCHING
For interconnects, I would avoid using anything with silver conductors to hook up the Emmeline, unless it is peculiarly mellow for a silver cable. Nice, fat, copper cable is probably best bet to maximize the Emmeline sound. This amp sounds fabulous with my Virtual Dynamics Reference ICs. The basic sound of the HR-2 goes hand-in-hand with the Virtual Dynamics signature sound.
Then there is the issue of fancy power cables. Sadly, I did not have a spare VD cord to try on the Emmeline, just to check. As I reported earlier in this thread, Ray Samuels is a bit skeptical about the need for fancy power cables given the high-quality of the HR-2s power supply. My own personal hunch is that a Virtual Dynamics cable would sound just fantastic on the Emmeline. Someone will need to experiment in the future and report back.
HEADPHONE MATCHING
I predict the HR-2 will sound great with any headphone. It gives me the feeling that it has power to burn; I doubt there is any phone out there shy of the K1000 it could not drive. That, of course, is just idle speculation, as I don’t happen to have any other cans on hand besides my Sony R10s. That said, I'm going to go ahead and speculate on 3 likely candidates as partners for the HR-2 that I have owned previously:
1. Sennheiser HD600. If you are searching for a high-resolution amp to “wake up” those HD600s from their (and your) slumber, put this at the top of your short list. IMO, the wooly HD600 could really use some extra “kick” to open them up, and I suspect the Emmeline is just the amp for the job. Hopefully, after the Chicago meet, Members with HD600s can confirm performance with HR-2. An upgraded headphone cable would also be mandatory, methinks.
2. Sony CD3000. If you are on the borderline in thinking your CD3K’s have “too much” up top, or if they cause you listening fatigue on your current amp, the fullness of the Emmeline might push them over the edge for you. OTOH, if you just don’t understand what all the fuss is about with regard to the CD3000’s so-called “jacked-up” treble, I think the HR-2 would make them a fabulous companion. The sheer openness and resolution of the CD3000s combined with the sheer open-ness and resolution of the HR-2 should take you to dizzying heights, and leave you agog. This set-up is not for the faint of heart, methinks.
3. Audio-Technica ATH-W2002 (and presumably the W1000). This should be another outstanding combination. I just bet the bass performance of the W2002 with DADs combined with the sheer heft and slam of the HR-2 would leave bassheads cross-eyed and painless. The fullness in the middle of the Emmeline should also help boost the W2002’s midrange performance. I imagine this would be a great combo, too.
ONE WORD REVIEW GAME
If I had to pick one word to describe the HR-2, it would be “vivid”. Plugging your cans into the Emmeline HR-2 is like plugging into your own musical world. The HR-2 is best enjoyed with eyes closed. You are transported and taken away, and your spirit physically enters the world of the recording. The Emmeline really puts on a show for you. I said this before, but this amp has a very “live” sound. You are in the room with the musicians. No, I mean they’re really there, actually playing for you-- go ahead, reach out and shake their hands! The HR-2 has a “holographic” quality that I just love, and is very addicting. Tone and timbre in my system are excellent, it sounds just like real life.
CROSSFEED? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ CROSSFEED!
Some of today’s solid state dedicated headphone amps come with a crossfeed circuit that allows the amp to slightly blend the left and right channels. The effect of this manipulation of the signal is to try to close the gap in the middle of the soundstage that most headphones have. In a way, this is sort of “cheating” to compensate for an inherent weakness in the headphone experience. Yes, crossfeed is a nice extra feature to have, so long as it can be defeated, and removed from the signal path if you desire. Purists of course scoff at the idea of adulterating the signal, “ruining” stereo separation, and adding extra components to the signal path. In any case, I think crossfeed can be a good feature for the right headphones, but there’s a trade-off, as in all things audio!
One of the best features of the Sony MDR-R10 is its absolutely astounding soundstaging capabilities. With the R10s (and to a lesser extent the CD3000), crossfeed is not nearly as crucial to obtaining good imaging. In fact, next to the R10, other cans have no soundstage. This is partly due to their incredible high-resolution, the shape of the enclosures (designed by computer), and the fact that the Sony’s drivers are canted slightly outward so the drivers face your ears more like speaker cones in front of you. The net effect of all this is to provide what I thought was a seamless soundstage from right to left without any gap in the middle whatsoever. Then I got the HR-2.
One of the HR-2’s biggest strengths (and major hot-button for me) is its amazing soundstaging capabilities. Not necessarily in terms of absolute soundstage size from left to right or up and down, but in terms of the way it makes two separate channels strapped to two separate ears able to complete the illusion of a single, connected, integrated seamless image. This is one realistic and well-shaped soundstage that has amazing depth to it and incredible ability to localize sounds. The HR-2 facilitates my imagining of the soundstage and where each musician is standing in the room. It’s really something to “see”. There is absolutely zero gap in the middle of the soundstage with my R10s.
The Emmeline’s ability to create this seamless soundstage I imagine will pay off with other cans as well. In my mind, it makes the potential objection to the HR-2 that “it doesn’t have crossfeed” not nearly so significant. Anyway, I wouldn’t be put off from the Emmeline due to its lack of this somewhat controversial feature.
REMIXED AND REMASTERED?
The more I listened to the HR-2, the more I felt I was hearing the music and the mixes as the artist intended for the first time. I have a weakness for well-recorded rock/pop with great “production values”, and very carefully constructed mixes. I enjoy it when a skilled record-maker uses the tools of his trade to mess with my mind, scare the bejesus out of me, or make me feel like I’m generally stoned and disoriented. I love “trippy” music or albums that have been “psychedelicized” by canny artists/producers, and feel that this type of music is especially suited to headphones.
But the problem with these types of recordings is that they are all extremely complex, composed of literally dozens of tracks, instruments, and vocals. The ability to resolve all of that information and present it all in a coherent, well-proportioned fashion so it sounds like actual *music* is no mean feat. With the HR-2, you get to hear these carefully-constructed tracks as they were meant to be heard. It’s almost like hearing your favorite music mixed and mastered properly for the first time. Effects and sounds that are supposed to produce a certain effect in the listener, actually do. Moods that are supposed to be inspired by the music are actually created. Albums you thought too busy and overproduced, make perfect sense when they’re all held together correctly and given the proper presentation as they are through the HR-2.
The Emmeline experience brings me much closer than ever before to replicating the sound of a great speaker system in a real room through the more limited medium of headphones. The HR-2 makes all those scattered tracks, instruments, and sounds cohere into a whole that can be quite awe-inspiring with the right material. I’d call this quality “musicality”. Yeah, saying that a component is “musical” is just about the most vague and useless comment you can make, but there you go. Bottom line is that tracks I used to skip on some CDs I now listen to all the way through. The Emmeline makes it all so appealing, so real, and well, “musical”. In short, the Emmeline reminds you of just how amazing and mysterious the pure experience of sound can be.
WHERE’S THE TAPE HISS?
One of the most bizarre attributes of the HR-2 is its seeming suppression of the sound of tape hiss on analog recordings. Where does it go? With The Emmeline, I am much less aware that I’m listening to a recording, and feel more like I’m witnessing an event. Somehow, in the Emmeline’s presentation of this amazing soundfield, tape hiss becomes much less pronounced. It’s like the amp is pulling so much information off the master tape that the small matter of tape hiss is muted somewhat in relation to the music which is blooming all over the place.
I suspect this all has to do with the Emmeline’s fantastic ability to distinguish between loud and soft sounds. It doesn’t compact everything into a narrow band, shoring off dynamic peaks and boosting low-level info to a similar plane as the music. I also believe that the ability to play soft sounds soft and loud sounds loud contributes to the sense that everything has been mixed and mastered correctly that I spoke of a moment ago. I think this quality of being able to accurately portray subtle shadings in volume can be as important to good sound reproduction as the ability to reveal subtle shades of tone and timbre, yet is often overlooked.
In any case, when you hear this amp, you’ll see that suppression of tape hiss does not mean the amp is truncating sound or has a high noise floor. With the AD797 this amp extends forever in all directions, is dead quiet, very detailed and extremely “vivid”.
CLOSING REMARKS
I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Ray Samuels Emmeline HR-2. I think this amp represents an excellent value at $875. The HR-2 performs well on all styles of music, and should appeal to a broad spectrum of headphone enthusiasts. In particular, with the AD797 chip set, I can see lovers of rock ‘n roll, and all rhythm-based music gravitating toward this amp. This amp can rock harder than you can, I’m pretty sure of that. But the HR-2 is not all about brute force. Its pure resolution will bring out all the subtle sounds and tones of acoustic-based music, providing a rich, realistic environment that you can close your eyes and dissolve into.
I am going to see if I can twist Ray's arm to let me hang on to it for a little while longer! (OK, a lot while longer
). Sadly, I'm not in a position right now to purchase, and I have to keep reminding myself that I am supposed to be saving up for the Cary. I can tell you, though, it will be a sad, sad day around here when I must pack up the HR-2 and ship it back.
Mark
