Skylab
Reviewerus Prolificus
I received the Novo last week, and have listened to if on and off for 5 days.
The Novo is enjoyable to listen to. It’s nicely transparent, very detailed without being too bright, and had very controlled, deep bass. In general I felt the Novo represents may of the positive traits of solid state, without too many of downsides. It does lean just a little more to the bright, light side than I prefer personally, and so good headphone matching is important. The Novo sounded better with my Kenwood K1000 than it did with the Beyer DT990.
The soundstaging was excellent. Well defined, stable, and believable. Both width and depth were good, but not great, but excellent for the price of this amp.
The amp is basically neutral, again leaning just a hair to the light and lively side, but it's not too bright. It creates no unnatural sibilance. On good female vocals, like on Alison Krauss’s “Wouldn't Have Made Any Differenced”, vocals were reproduced well, with no extra sizzle.
I briefly compared the Novo to the Travagan's White, with the IMod as the source. The primary difference between them is that the White, as stock has a slightly warmer sound signature. The Novo has the slightly more forward, and I believe slightly more extended, treble. But if you have warm-sounding headphones, or just prefer a slightly crisper overall sound, the Novo might be your preference. In any case, the Travagans White was not embarrassed by the comparison with the Novo - they are not all that far apart, but currently they are pretty close in price as well, and I do think the Novo gets the edge.
Now the hard part- I think the $400 Head-Direct EF1 is a better sounding amp. It is simultaneously both more detailed and smoother, with less edge and a more relaxed, musical sound. I know that Miguel feels the Novo is the better of the two, but while I respect Miguel's opinion, I already know that he and I do not always hear things the same way
.
The fact remains, however, that I think the Novo is an excellent sounding, very competitively priced amp that people will enjoy immensely. It is better suited for people who value a lighter, brighter sound, but it will reward such people with excellent transparency, imaging, and powerful bass reproduction.
Big thanks to Miguel for the chance to listen to the Novo.
The Novo is enjoyable to listen to. It’s nicely transparent, very detailed without being too bright, and had very controlled, deep bass. In general I felt the Novo represents may of the positive traits of solid state, without too many of downsides. It does lean just a little more to the bright, light side than I prefer personally, and so good headphone matching is important. The Novo sounded better with my Kenwood K1000 than it did with the Beyer DT990.
The soundstaging was excellent. Well defined, stable, and believable. Both width and depth were good, but not great, but excellent for the price of this amp.
The amp is basically neutral, again leaning just a hair to the light and lively side, but it's not too bright. It creates no unnatural sibilance. On good female vocals, like on Alison Krauss’s “Wouldn't Have Made Any Differenced”, vocals were reproduced well, with no extra sizzle.
I briefly compared the Novo to the Travagan's White, with the IMod as the source. The primary difference between them is that the White, as stock has a slightly warmer sound signature. The Novo has the slightly more forward, and I believe slightly more extended, treble. But if you have warm-sounding headphones, or just prefer a slightly crisper overall sound, the Novo might be your preference. In any case, the Travagans White was not embarrassed by the comparison with the Novo - they are not all that far apart, but currently they are pretty close in price as well, and I do think the Novo gets the edge.
Now the hard part- I think the $400 Head-Direct EF1 is a better sounding amp. It is simultaneously both more detailed and smoother, with less edge and a more relaxed, musical sound. I know that Miguel feels the Novo is the better of the two, but while I respect Miguel's opinion, I already know that he and I do not always hear things the same way
The fact remains, however, that I think the Novo is an excellent sounding, very competitively priced amp that people will enjoy immensely. It is better suited for people who value a lighter, brighter sound, but it will reward such people with excellent transparency, imaging, and powerful bass reproduction.
Big thanks to Miguel for the chance to listen to the Novo.
