[bdh]

While there are a few threads for AmpsAndSound amps in the Full-size Amps section of Head-Fi, I felt each of these components deserve to be represented here in Summit-Fi.

In order to make more sense, I'll do this review in chronological order. And sorry up front if you feel I'm too verbose.

It starts out with the death of my beloved Eddie Current Balancing Act 45\2a3, that I've had for over a decade. The 40kHz board that powers the 45-tube heaters died, and the shop I sent it to can't find a replacement.

While I haven't given up hope yet, with no idea when or if it will be fixed, I purchased an AmpsAndSound Kenzie Ovation due to not being able to find another 45-based headphone amp, and I saw some comments that they thought Ovation's sound was more 45-like than 300B-like, which can only be a good thing from my experience.


AmpsAndSound Kenzie Ovation 2.0

The Ovation is a Single-Ended Triod (SET) with a 5751\12ax7 input tube and a pair of 1627 output tubes.
It's hand-built, point-to-point wired, with discrete premium components and extra-large custom transformers. There are five taps off the output transformers, resulting in five headphone jacks of different impedances.
The amp normally ships with a stepped attenuator, but I requested the Alps potentiometer instead for reasons described below.

The case and aesthetics are well-built and appealing, but with a utilitarian vibe compared to other uber amps. I don't mean showing off the transformers -- that's perfectly fine and impressive -- it's that every interface is part of the top-plate: the power receptacle, the input RCA jacks, the headphone jacks, the speaker posts, power and output switches, and volume knob. I can see how it reduces production costs.
For me though, the design and location of inputs and outputs are perfectly placed for my setup. But I could understand how it may not be in other people's setups that need the cables to go out the back of the amp. And besides aesthetics and cable management, there could potentially be issues with pressure on cable joints and RCA jacks by having to connect everything top-down onto the amp, especially if using thick, heavy, high-end cables.
I can imagine a design like this keeps the build costs down as well, which is a plus for the customer.

For great photos of this and other amps from a variety of different angles, AmpsAndSound's website does a far better job than I could manage.


My Setup

I listen mostly to ripped and downloaded FLAC files via JRiver Media Center, but also listen with Youtube Music streaming now and then as well.
I use ASIO4All and various JRiver Media Center settings to bring out the best sound and music of the system that I can. Including using the parametric equalizer.
It would take a page or two to list and describe all the settings used and what they do, but years of A-B testing and long-term listening means I know what I'm doing, and that it makes a very significant improvement to the sound and music. It takes a few seconds to disable all those adjustments and listen to the music and components in their 'pure' form, match the volume, and I there's no way I want to listen without my adjustments.
All amps, sources, etc. say they produce 'flat' responses, yet all of them sound different, and many significantly. And no headphone is 'flat'. Not that I want flat. I want amazing -- whatever the output signal looks like. And EQ'ing by ear to a tenth of a DB, among other things, gets me that.

From the computer, the data goes to a Chord Hugo TT2 DAC. Sometimes I have cross-feed enabled, sometimes I don't.
From the DAC, I use balanced-to-single-ended (XLR->RCA) cables from Signal Cable.
From the amp, I primarily use a ZMF Verite-Closed headphone, with premium copper cable, and worn in a non-standard configuration to increase the engagement of the music. I'm constrained to using closed headphones due to other people in the room, even though I work from home currently. Yes I have a LCD-2.2 and Beyer T1, and have had Grado's, but don't want to spend serious cash on uber-expensive cans I won't be able to use to the fullest.

Other current and previous gear can be found in my signature at the bottom of the page.


My Philosophy

When reviewing audio components and even music to a degree, I normally consider the following major aspects:
- Sound
- PRaT
- Musicality
- Emotion
- Headstage \ Soundstage
- Instrument and voice separation
- Life-like presence and 'air\bloom'
- Presence of any harshness or long-term fatigue

The combination of the second, third, and fourth qualities I usually refer to as 'engagement', and they're the attributes that me listen to music rather than sound or gear. They're also what keeps me from becoming bored or distracted after listening for awhile. I expect and have achieved those aspects being present even at the lowest volumes, though listening at the music's 'natural' volume, or what I perceive it should be, is what I prefer.

The reason I list those first four aspects separately is because I've heard many times 'perfect' sound that had zero PRaT, musicality, and emotion to it. The sound was technically 'perfect', even astonishingly so, but totally lifeless. That's not music to me.
I've also often heard music that has only one or two of those attributes as well.
My goal though of course, is to have them all.

While I consider clarity important, it's more of a minor aspect compared to these other characteristics, and comes into play in the life-like attribute rather than end in itself. And I definitely do not like a hard or hot treble that gives the illusion of clarity.


Sound

The shipping input tube of the Ovation is a JJ Audio 5751. It's garbage. While I understand why AmpsAndSound and other amp manufacturers ship cheap tubes like that, I think it really does them a disservice to their amps and to the customer to not at a minimum direct them to get a better replacement tube as soon as possible.
If I was stuck with the default sound and had no way to change it, I'd have sold the amp after the first week. It's that lackluster and boring in my opinion.

The reason I point that out is because I've heard people here and elsewhere say that a great amp should sound great right out of the box without requiring tube-rolling. And I don't disagree. Which is why I said manufacturers do a huge disservice to their customers by shipping crap tubes.
Seriously. Think of solid-state amp designers and manufacturers. Do you think they take great pains to design their circuits, spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on components, and then right before shipping stick in the cheapest, most generic transistor they can buy for the heart of their amp? The most critical component to the sound of the amp?! No, that would be completely ridiculous. So why do they do that when it comes to tube amps?

I've tried dozens different models, makes, and years of input tubes, including various 12sn7's and 6J5's with adapters. (Thanks @Deyan!) While all were better than the shipped JJ 5751, nothing stood out as great sounding, none of them really involved me in the music or sounded lifelike. Even some of my favorite Amperex Bugleboy 12ax7's and other top tier tubes. It wasn't until I tried a specific Amperex Bugleboy that the music made me smile.
Suddenly the music was fully engaging. The sound, the image, the headstage were huge for headphones. There was air around everything and the sound was very lifelike.

And for the four months I've had this amp, it's still the only tube I have worth listening to in this amp. It isn't just marginally better -- it's vastly better.

For a more detailed comparison, everything sounds bigger with this Bugleboy. The soundstage, the voices, the height and width. The images clearly extend out of my head in all directions, except in the back. Putting in the other tubes, especially the 12sn7 types, shrinks the soundstage to mostly fit within my head. It's a big improvement over the Balancing Act as well.

The bass with this amp (and this tube) goes the deepest I've ever heard with headphones. How much of that is due to the bigger than normal transformers, I couldn't say. The bass is very eerily similar to the texture, tone, and resonance of the bass from a really high-quality full-range speaker or with a sub-woofer. Which I can tell you is much more present in the music compared to typical headphone listening, but is still completely balanced with the music. I can't believe I've been missing that all this time.

Everything in the music is balanced and nothing stands out -- and yet everything stands out if you decide to listen for it.

While the PRaT and musicality were very much present, and the music was immensely exciting and beautiful, the other emotional aspects I wanted weren't present. However, with some very careful and specific EQ'ing I managed to get it nearly equal to the Balancing Act, which would often bring tears to my eyes it was that overwhelming.

Some additional comparisons I've done, for example using RCA->RCA Signal Cables from the Hugo to the amp rather than the XLR-RCA Signal Cables, the sound and soundstage closed up significantly.
Moving down in impedance from the 300 ohm Hi-Z headphone jack, (there are five impedances directly tapped from the custom output transformers: 300, 100, 32, 16, 8), shrinks the sound and soundstage and adds perceived distance from the music. For me, there's such a large difference in soundstage and musical enjoyment, I don't listen on any output other than high-z with my ZMF's. In other words, the great thing about having these outputs with different impedences is not that I can listen to different presentations with the same headphones, but rather this amp can play sound the best with a wide variety of headphones with different impedences. If the amp only had one 32 Ohm output, I would have no clue what I was missing without a 300 Ohm output. And it's a big difference.

Regarding the 1628 output tubes. I have variety of models\brands, but the differences between them are relatively small. Some were slightly clearer, while others a touch more 'tubey' or you can say 'romantic', but there was one make that I like better than the others, and it wasn't the TungSol's. It is just more engaging than the others.

Just about everything effects the sound with this system, and each option and decision from the JRiver Media Center settings, to the pad orientation of the headphones builds on each other so that what I hear, will likely sound significantly different than what someone else will hear. The difficulty in finding an excellent input tube is a case in point. However, I know what great sound and great music sounds like, and this is it.

It's just a joy to listen to music with this setup. With both critical, conscientious listening, 'background' music while I do my job, or just losing myself in the music and simply enjoying pure musical bliss.

There are only two negative issues I've observed so far. One is that with the sound so grain and fatigue free, along with the nature of such a big vibrant sound, it's really easy to listen at too loud a volume without realizing it.
The second issue is hiss. For some reason, with the Hugo TT2 plugged into the amp, there is some significant hiss by the time I turn the volume to the 40% point. I've tried different outlets, same outlets, cheater plugs, pure single-ended, etc., but can't solve the problem. And I know it's just the Hugo, because when I use the Havana or other source, I can barely hear any hiss or hum at all. I also don't hear any hiss with the Hugo on any other amps, including another AmpsAndSound amp.
Of course I could turn the sound down around the 20% mark and turn the Hugo volume up, but I found I prefer the amp set at around 45% volume, despite the hiss. I just find the music with volume set at that level more exciting than otherwise. So much so, that I'll gladly live with the hiss, which I often don't notice.



Ayon HA-3 MkII

My favorite output tube is the 45. To me the 45 produces the most holographic, solid, and real seeming images of instruments and voices I've heard. There's a focus to the music other tubes don't quite have, including the 1628's in the Ovation. While the Ovation has great imaging and much wider and bigger images than the Balancing Act 45 does, I was still wanting my 45's back.

One day, while browsing the Head-Fi Classifieds, I saw an amp called the Ayon HA-3 MkII for sale, which I'd never heard of before. It's a high-end amp based on 45 tubes for the output and a pair of 12au7's for the inputs. Finally I gave in an purchased the amp.

It comes with a pair of large custom Emission Labs Mesh 45's that sound better than the regular EML Mesh 45's, which I find already sound better than any other NOS 45's I've tried. Based on my listening of the 45's, some 2a3's, and a rectifier, Emission Labs is one of the only modern tube manufacturers that makes better sounding tubes than the top NOS tubes. And of course, they know that and charge accordingly.

The Ayon is a two-piece unit with a dedicated non-tube power supply connected to the amp via a custom umbilical. The case is made out of a thick solid metal and everything about it is high-class.

When I first listened to the HA-3, the thoughts that came to mind were: refined, high-end, smoooooooth, and a bit boring. The sound stage was also somewhat narrower than the Ovation, but it did have that extra solid image of singers and instruments that I love about 45's.
I figured I could fix the boring issue, which I have. And figured I could open the sound up some with some top-tier NOS 12au7's, but with mixed success.

I had never heard an amp that made music this smooth, and still wonder how it's doing it. When I popped in the NOS 12au7's, there really wasn't much of a change in sound or music. Popping in another pair resulted in the same thing -- not much of a change. How is that possible? When I change input tubes on the Ovation or any other tube amp I've had, changing input tubes always makes a noticeable audible difference. Especially going from modern tubes to top-tier NOS tubes. Are Ayon's 12au7 modern sourced tubes that good, like the EML 45's?

I fixed the engagement issue with carefully adjusted EQ settings so that it equals and sometimes exceeds the Ovation. And after critically listening to the highs, it has all the details the Ovation has, it just presents it in a smoother texture. While the Balancing Act had a more refined sound than the Ovation, it didn't have that smoothness of the Ayon. It's hard to describe, but in my mind, I think of Ayon's sound as top-of-the-line 'high-end audio' sound.

Apparently the difference between the HA-3 MkI and MkII versions is that they added an additional high impedance output to the MkII version. As with the differences in tubes, there isn't nearly as big a difference between the normal and hi-z outputs on the Ayon as there is on the different outputs of the Ovation -- sound-wise, engagement-wise, and soundstage-wise. Whether that's due to the hi-z of the Ayon being 600 Ohms and the hi-z of the Ovation being 300 Ohms, and the output impedance of the ZMF VC being 300 Ohms, or the actual implementations between the two amps, I couldn't say.

Additional differences between the Ovation and Ayon are that the Ovation has a more forward, intimate sound with more transparency, perceived excitement, and slam. The Ovation has a wider soundstage, but the Ayon has a taller soundstage and bigger sounding, more solid sounding, point-sources of the voices and instruments. The Ovation has more air to the music, giving it a more you-are-there feel.

One interesting thing about the Ayon is that the tubes do not get very hot. If the amp is on and I'm not listening, I can keep my finger on either input or output tubes without it being uncomfortably hot. After a listening session, I can still touch the tubes, but holding them their can get a little uncomfortable. I assume it's because they designed it to run the power low for whatever reason, but I also assume this means that the life of the tubes will be extra long. I also assume that's the reason the output power is only .5V rather than the max 1.5V that 45-tubes can output.

I've gone back and forth as to which amp I would sell, but each time I listen to one I think 'I can't sell this!' I want to keep them both. And maybe I will. Or eventually maybe not. But if I had to keep only one right now, it would be the Ovation.



Merason Frérot DAC

Recently I've been able to get back into dedicated 2-channel speaker listening, and the MHDT Havana DAC I used previously just wasn't cutting it with the Horning Pericles Ultimate speakers I picked up. On the lookout for a new DAC, (the Lampizator's being a bit more than I want to pay, what with the amp and yet more additional tubes, not to mention plenty of other new high-end expensive dacs out now), I saw this article that piqued my interest:
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2021/06/13/merason-frerot-dac-with-pow1-lpsu-review/

Analog-like digital sound without spending big bucks? I had to try it after reading some other reviews to confirm it could be legitimate.

The DAC arrived before the LPS, and due to circumstances I tried it with my headphone system before my speaker system. Holy Cow! Even before any break-in, it was significantly better than the Chord Hugo TT2. To my ears and in my opinion. Even after a week of listening and still needing more burn-in, there's no way I can go back to the Hugo.
The Frérot is more detailed, more musical, more interesting, more refined, has more instrument separation, more excitement, and yes, is more analog sounding. Or to put all that together, it's just more real sounding. It's a joy to listen to in comparison to the Hugo, and I loved the Hugo and didn't think I was missing anything.

The only aspect I could say I like about the Chord over the Merason is that there is more bass weight with the Chord, which I can only conclude is caused by the Merason having much more defined and realistic sounding bass. Because it does. And of course I easily added the bass weight I prefer back to the music via very targeted EQ frequency adjustments, so of course it doesn't bother me in the least.

Once the Merason Linear Power Supply POW1 arrived, I was expecting it to take the sound to the next level. However, after several days and some back and forth between using the LPS and just the wall-wart power supply, it's not that easy. With plenty of break-in still to go, the only few differences in sound between the two power supplies I've noticed so far is that with the wall-plug the sound is more forward and exciting, and with the LPS the sound is less forward, a little less exciting, but more refined.

What this translates to between the Ovation and Ayon amps in the chain with this Dac is that with the Linear Power Supply powering the Merason and using the Ayon is the least best combination. With the wall-wart PS, which adds a more forward sound and more excitement, music with the Ayon is great. It's especially good with Classical, Opera, Jazz, vocal, etc.

The wall-wart PS and Ovation combination has a very forward presentation due to the forwardness of the DAC and forwardness of the amp combined. And with the LPS, the sound has a more typical sound-stage distance. Both sound awesome. What this translates to is that with the Ovation I have the choice between forward and non-forward sound when I want or when certain albums sound better one way or the other. Yes, I can kind of do that with choosing a lower-impedance output jack on the Ovation, but there are detriments to the sound quality when doing that that I don't want to live with. And now don't have to.

Doing many different comparisons, regardless of any combination I choose, I always prefer the Merason over the Chord. No hesitation. No question. And it sure makes me wish to hear the Frérot's much more expensive big brother, the Merason DAC1, which costs the same as the Hugo TT2. There's a link to the review of the DAC1 in the linked PTA article above.
And I would love to hear the Hugo TT2 with M-Scaler against the Frérot as well. And against a Lampizator, and Yggdrasil, and many more. But I can't. So which of all these great dacs would I think is best for listening? I have no idea unfortunately. And I don't worry about it. I didn't worry about it before. I just enjoy the music the best I can.

One additional note with the Frérot and Ovation is that since the Frérot doesn't have volume control like the Hugo, I have to use the amp's volume control or the JRiver Media Center digital volume control. I found I prefer the JRiver sound at 100%, and now adjust the amp's volume dial to control volume levels, which means the dial is always somewhere around the 5-10% area, unlike the 40% area I preferred with the Hugo. Audio component synergies can be strange sometimes. But regardless, like the Havana, the Merason does not cause any hiss with the Ovation like the Hugo does. So another great benefit to using the Merason.



AmpsAndSound Mogwai SE v1.5

I have a couple of James Burgess 45-tube based amps I used with my previous open-baffle Emerald Physics speakers. They are not quite powerful enough to drive the Horning speakers with loud rock music, so I've been looking for a more powerful tube amp. It so happened that the amp I found was a used AmpsAndSound Mogwai SE.

It came with a variety of output tube makes and models and a couple of 6SL7 input tubes. I also already had some vintage NOS Mullard EL34's and some newer Russian 6550 tubes. After trying all the different types on-hand, I greatly preferred the KT66's. Much better sound, more exciting, and a more holographic soundstage than all the others.
I also purchased some more tube adapters from @Deyan to try some other types of input and output tubes.

In my headphone system, the Mogwai has a similar SET sound as the Ovation, but just not quite as good or euphonic. But it does have ten times the output power if your headphones need that. Or your speakers can run on 8W of power.

I have no doubt I can get the Mogwai to sound even better than it currently does with the right tubes and settings, but because I need it for my speakers, I'm going to tailor it for that.



Final Thoughts

Some of you will likely be put off that I use source software settings and a digital equalizer to tailor the sound. (Oh no, the horror!) But I use that with all sources, amps, and headphones where I can, because based on the very specific settings that I use, I hear a clear and significant improvement to the music. If the sound is not clearly better, both immediately and with long-term listening, I don't change it. Each change is often small, but all of them build upon each other to produce something great. I don't care what the Luddites or so-called purists around here say -- I'm open to trying anything and everything I can to get the best sound out of a system that I can.

I have never heard better sound and music with headphones than I am getting now, and I'd put it up against any system out there for musical enjoyment. I'm not writing this to convince anyone to buy any of this gear -- I could care less if anyone does or not. I wrote this review to provide a data point for people looking to purchase high-end equipment, as well as to give back to the community that I use to make my own purchase decisions with. I think Head-fi is a great place and community!



Small selection of songs I often use for comparison purposes (in no particular order)

(Various) - Short Trip Home - BT (Instrumental)
Isaac Stearn, Mehta - Brahms: Violin Concertos - Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61
Don Ross - Robot Monster - It's Fun Being Lucky
Eva Cassidy - Wonderful World - How Can I Keep From Singing?
Eva Cassidy - Live At Blues Alley - Tall Trees In Georgia
Eva Cassidy - Live At Blues Alley - Oh, Had I A Golden Thread
Devendra Banhart - Goin' Back
Tinariwen - Matadjem Yinmixan
Tinariwen - Walla Illa
Keston Cobblers Club - Almost Home
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree - Monster Love
Grateful Dead - Reckoning [Live] - The Race Is On
James - Out To Get You
Alela Diane - To Be Still - Dry Grass & Shadows
Alan Lomax Collection - Southern Journey V. 3: 61 Highway Mississippi - Po' Boy Blues
Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy - Ring Them Bells
Bob Dylan - Love And Theft - Summer Days
Bob Dylan - Love And Theft - Mississippi
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn - Sankofa
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn - Tupelo Honey
Marcus Miller - Silver Rain - La Villette
Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back - Jesus Is On The Main Line
Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back - 99 and 1/2
Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini - Bleeder
The Clash - London Calling - The Card Cheat
The Clash - London Calling - Rudie Can't Fail
Dave Brubeck - Weep No More
Califone - Roots & Crowns - Sunday Noises
Califone - Roots & Crowns - The Orchids
Assembly - January EP - Slow G Reel
Assembly - January EP - Haapavesi, Wedding Day
Muse - Absolution - Hysteria
Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Session - Ask Me No Questions
Carla Bruni - Quelqu’un M’a Dit - Quelqu’un M’a Dit
Ferrick, Melissa - Freedom - Freedom
Hot Tuna - FestivaLink presents Hot Tuna at MerleFest 4/28/06 - Good Shepherd
Verdi - Kleiber - La Traviata

 

[helljudgement]

Thanks for putting the time in for a thorough review and comparison. It is rare to see people who have owned EC and A&S so your insights are definitely valuable for the community. Rather unfortunate that your old Balancing Act decided to conk out as there really isn't much 45 amps in the market. Craig is mostly retired and I still think it is a huge loss for the community when he decides shut down.

Great to see other manufacturers like A&S stepping up their game and the Ovation is one of the few amps in their lineup that I have strong interest in particularly due to being a SET amp and it's lower output. Most amps these days are voiced with planars in mind and can be a tad too much for my dynamic driver headphones like ZMF. A dynamic driver headphone driven by a good SET amp is one of the most euphonic experience I've heard.


I do have a couple of questions hopefully you can clarify them.

1. Regarding your dac output, why do you choose to use XLR of TT2 instead of directly using the RCA out? I seem to recall seeing in Chord's FAQ page that their dacs are inherently single ended and going balance is going to sound worse so your thoughts on soundstage does seem perplexing. Is this only happening with the the Ovation or does it happen with you older EC amps?


2. A basic question but how do you classify/measure PRaT? I'm aware of the term Pace, Rhythm and Timing but never quite get what it actually means and how people actually quantify or judge them so would appreciate some clarity here.

3. Is there a difference in noise performance between each tab from 300 down to 32Ohm. I've read comments about noise issues from earlier A&S models so am curious to see if this has been rectified.

 

[bdh]

I do have a couple of questions hopefully you can clarify them.

1. Regarding your dac output, why do you choose to use XLR of TT2 instead of directly using the RCA out? I seem to recall seeing in Chord's FAQ page that their dacs are inherently single ended and going balance is going to sound worse so your thoughts on soundstage does seem perplexing. Is this only happening with the the Ovation or does it happen with you older EC amps?

I just did some comparisons between using the XLR->RCA cables vs RCA->RCA cables between the Hugo and Ovation. The differences are quite significant, and I'd agree with Chord to the extent that I hear some distortion, which is disappointing. In that statement you posted, they don't describe how the sound is worse, but distortion is what I hear with my unit.

On the other hand, even with the distortion, the balanced output sounds so much better than the single-ended output. The instrument sounds are bigger, the overall sound is more enveloping, more liquid sounding, more emotional and exciting. Out of the RCA outputs it does sound more 'focused', but I think that's more a symptom of the sound not being as big or enveloping, and it's more dull and boring in comparison. And while many audio differences are subtle, there's nothing subtle about these differences -- it's very noticeable.

I tried the RCA->RCA connection with three different cables: Synergistic Research Alpha Sterling, Signal Cable (same as the XLR-RCA cable), and the massively unwieldy Synergistic Research Tesla Apex.
While improvement in sound quality (following the listed cable order) was very noticeable, the description of the sound between balanced and single-ended remained more or less the same.

I hear the same with the Ayon. Since the Balancing Act was balanced, I went XLR->XLR with it, but I did hear similar differences. However, although the BA had balanced headphone outputs, I always preferred the single-ended headphone output for headphones. I found there wasn't enough instrument\vocal focus for me with the end-to-end fully balanced audio chain.

I just tried the same experiment with the Merason and Ovation and the comparison held as well, albeit the differences between the balanced out and single-ended out are not quite as large, and there was no distortion going XLR->RCA like there is with the Hugo. Also the Merason sounds better in every way.

(Why no one seems interested that there may be a DAC that costs $1300, and an additional $900 for the optional external LPS Power Supply, that sounds much better than the $6000 Chord Hugo TT2 is curious to me. Yeah, I know I'm only one opinion here, along with the opinions of some professional audio reviewers elsewhere, but I'd think there'd be one or two people in that crowd with deep enough wallets to at least try it. Oh well, their loss.)

2. A basic question but how do you classify/measure PRaT? I'm aware of the term Pace, Rhythm and Timing but never quite get what it actually means and how people actually quantify or judge them so would appreciate some clarity here.

Regarding PRaT, actually I do measure it surprisingly, but the way I measure it is both a physical and mental effect. Wanting to tap my toe or heel would be the lowest level. Followed by head bobbing. While my mind 'hooks' into the bass and sub-bass that needs to be near perfect. All the way to the top of the scale, where especially when there's maximum emotion involved in the sound and music, it's almost like being compelled to move my whole body the music is so overwhelming. It really is a sight to behold. However just think of it more like a professional piano player playing some massive piano concerto, and they're in their own world, at one with the music -- but more movement.

For me, musical emotion is separate from PRaT, as no amount of PRaT has ever made me want to cry when listening to music. And emotion is much harder to configure in my system than PRaT.

Unfortunately for a lot of people, getting decent PRaT is just a lucky happenstance of getting random audio components that 'synergize'. And for a few, that lack of musical satisfaction becomes a constant stream of buying and selling in the hopes of finding that elusive synergy.

For me, while component choice is important, getting great PRaT is a much more deliberate exercise than synergy.

The terms 'musical' or 'musicality' I consider separate as well, although it's very much related to PRaT and emotion, as well as to the concept of liquid-sounding music that simply flows with uncanny ease. And another related description -- 'fun' sounding audio. But for me, I'd basically sum it up as simply meaning how much I want to keep listening to the music. Even with great 'sound', I've heard music range from I'm bored and don't care to keep listening, to my mind keeps wandering off to other things after awhile, to this sounds very good but I'm done for now, to I just HAVE to listen to one more song!

But people have their own definitions I'm sure.

As far as the litteral definition of PRaT, I don't know how those words (Pace, Rhythm, and Timing) were chosen so don't know how they actually relate to the common meaning of the term in most audio contexts.

3. Is there a difference in noise performance between each tab from 300 down to 32Ohm. I've read comments about noise issues from earlier A&S models so am curious to see if this has been rectified.

As far as the different impedances, it really depends on the impedance of the headphones as well. With my 300 Ohm ZMF VC's, it sounds best using the 300 Ohm High-Z output, and each step down in impedance makes the sound smaller, less intimate, and less engaging. And there's less volume, so I need to bump up the volume a bit each step down. On the other hand, my IEM's sound best with the 32 Ohm output.

Now for noise, for both headphones and IEM's I hear the least noise at High-Z and the most at Low-Z. And I hear more noise with the IEM than the headphones. With the ZMF at High-Z, I barely hear any noise at all. The only way to really compare is to turn the amp off.
And of course tube choice and DAC used will effect audible noise as well.

I'd have to have an earlier model and my model to evaluate the noise levels between the two -- but especially with the Merason DAC, I have zero issue with noise and my ZMF's.

 

[helljudgement]

On the other hand, even with the distortion, the balanced output sounds so much better than the single-ended output. The instrument sounds are bigger, the overall sound is more enveloping, more liquid sounding, more emotional and exciting. Out of the RCA outputs it does sound more 'focused', but I think that's more a symptom of the sound not being as big or enveloping, and it's more dull and boring in comparison. And while many audio differences are subtle, there's nothing subtle about these differences -- it's very noticeable.

That seems rather odd to have such a disparity between single ended and balanced out for a dac that is natively single ended but I guess there could potentially be some variances between each amp/dac combination.

Why no one seems interested that there may be a DAC that costs $1300, and an additional $900 for the optional external LPS Power Supply, that sounds much better than the $6000 Chord Hugo TT2 is curious to me. Yeah, I know I'm only one opinion here, along with the opinions of some professional audio reviewers elsewhere, but I'd think there'd be one or two people in that crowd with deep enough wallets to at least try it. Oh well, their loss.

Psychologically we would like to think more money = better so there is definitely a factor there to consider. Plenty of great dacs nowadays each offering their own brand of house signature so certain dac may not work in their system regardless of price. Personally I'm more than happy to stick with the Schiit Bifrost for use with my EC and DNA amps. It is plenty resolving and has a signature that isn't too clinical for my taste albeit a tad dark in terms of overall tonality compared to the Qutest or RME dac which are priced similarly. But having heard the Wavedream Signature, the huge improvement in overall separation and stage depth in particular lead to an increase in overall enjoyment for me. Never have I heard something so uncongested and open. Before that I don't think there's any dac more than 10x the price of a Bifrost that could convince me to switch over. Granted I'm not one who have much opportunity to test dacs so my sample size might be a bit small.

Regarding PRaT, actually I do measure it surprisingly, but the way I measure it is both a physical and mental effect. Wanting to tap my toe or heel would be the lowest level. Followed by head bobbing. While my mind 'hooks' into the bass and sub-bass that needs to be near perfect. All the way to the top of the scale, where especially when there's maximum emotion involved in the sound and music, it's almost like being compelled to move my whole body the music is so overwhelming. It really is a sight to behold. However just think of it more like a professional piano player playing some massive piano concerto, and they're in their own world, at one with the music -- but more movement.

For me, while component choice is important, getting great PRaT is a much more deliberate exercise than synergy.

Still a bit blurry for me but I sort of understand your train of thoughts here. I'm guessing it kinda relates to how the overall system affects speed and dynamics of the system. Too slow may result in a dull and soft sound whereas too fast may ended up overshooting and lacking impact sounding flat. To that I can sort of understand how keeping the optimal "Pace, Rhythm and Timing" is important and integral to achieving a great sound. Hopefully that makes sense to you and is in line without own definition.

Now for noise, for both headphones and IEM's I hear the least noise at High-Z and the most at Low-Z. And I hear more noise with the IEM than the headphones. With the ZMF at High-Z, I barely hear any noise at all. The only way to really compare is to turn the amp off.
And of course tube choice and DAC used will effect audible noise as well.

Great to hear that the noise level is at least manageable. I've used DNA and EC amps and is amazed at their silence during operation even with my sensitive iems so it's good knowing the A&S is at least keeping the noise inaudible with headphones.

 

[asaprod]

Selling my ovation, if anyone on here is interested, let me know

 

[asaprod]

Oh and it’s obviously also in the classified section

 

[bdh]

For those who are still or ever searching for the promised magic sound of high-end audio that is completely amazing, here are some of my ways of getting everything I can out of a system.

I seem to be cursed with hearing every single 'flaw' in music playback and in every part of the frequency spectrum. I say flaw, but whether my standard is absolute and universal, or just personal preference, I can't say, but the end result coincidentally is always the most realistic sound I can get from a system.
It's also the most exciting and beautiful.

My internal standard also seems to be a complete full-range speaker system, down to the lowest possible bass, and highest high. And most headphones do not sound like full-range speakers. And of course they can't give you the same soundstage and size as speakers either, unless possibly using a Realizer, which I've never heard.

I still have the Ayon and AmpsAndSound Kenzie Ovation amps, and with constant tweaks have managed to achieve sound quality and satisfaction far beyond when I wrote this review near the beginning of the year, and anything else I've ever heard. Words cannot do it justice.

Based on past experience, I really don't expect anyone to believe me or to even to bother trying what I'm going to describe, but I don't want it to go to waste just in case someone does.


First let me state that this requires using a Windows computer as your digital music player.


ASIO4ALL

I don't exactly know what this program's intended use is, but I found that running the ASIO4ALL Offline app on my computer before starting my music player has some interesting properties.
There are four different sliders and a couple of checkboxes.
Two of the sliders deal with buffer sizes, and two for input and output latency.

Just by the descriptions, you'd think none of those should have any effect on the music playback, but I found that they do.

I found that the Buffer Size and Latency settings change the emphesis of the beat of the music. I could change the percieved emphesis to the guitar instead of the drums or bass, or to the backbeat, or to other instruments, or to other aspects of the music.

I also found if I ran multiple instances of ASIO4ALL, it would accentuate the beat as well.

My only explanation and theory is that these settings seem to slightly change the phase of some aspect of the digital music. And the reason I came to that conclusion is that changing the values has a consistent pattern to it that cycles like a clock. At least that's my best analogy.
And I've found that effect is not limited to ASIO4ALL, but some of the settings in the music players as well. So it must be something inherent in the handling of digital music, and blows away the notion that 'bits-are-bits' as they flow through the software and hardware, no matter how much you think they should.

After much experimentation, I found there was a certain combination of the slider settings that didn't emphasize any one aspect of the music, but emphasized all aspects at once. And I could either mentally focus on one aspect really easily, or just enjoy all of them together.

I also found the with the Buffer Offset, it music always sounded best with the slider to the furthest right, whether I could set the 'Use Hardware Buffer' or not, and if I could use the Hardware Buffer, that would sound better as well.

And I found the Always Resample 44.1kHz to 48kHz sounded better.

And I found running three instances of ASIO4ALL gives the most PRAT and interest to the music, and that I shouldn't run more than three instances.

Here is a screenshot:

Here is the link: https://www.asio4all.org/index.php/project/history/


I've been using v2.8 for well over a decade. At some point they changed the interface and lost some settings in later versions, so I've stuck with v2.8 all this time.

And the effects have been consistent on many different computers, audio setups (speaker and headphone), and with Audio players like Foobar 2000 and my current JRiver Media Center.

One final word is that I found they should be started before launching the music player, and if you make a setting change, you need to close your music player, close all but one instance of ASIO4ALL, make the change, close the last ASIO4ALL so the change is saved. Then run the three instances again and restart the player.

Why it must be started before the player, I don't know. Why it doesn't any of what it does, yet has the same consistent effect, I don't know.



MUSIC PLAYER

I currently use JRiver Media Center v29. I switched many years ago from Foobar 2000 because I found it sounded better out of the box, and had a better equalizer and other unique sound adjustments.

I use the WASAPI Audio Device specific to the Dac I have plugged in, rather then the default DirectSound device.

In the Device Settings, I use the defaults.

In the DSP and output settings UI, for the Bricasti M1 DAC I'm using with my headphone systems, I found mapping the Output Sampling rate to 352,800 Hz clearly sounds the best, even though the Dac supports a maximum of 384,000 Hz.
The Dac also supports DSD, but changing the output decoding to any of the DSD formats clearly sounded inferior. I don't yet have any music in native DSD format to try.

With the Merason Frerot Dac in my speaker system, an output sampling setting of it's max 192,000 Hz clearly sounds the best.

In the DSP Effects UI, I'm use the 'Recording Studio' Environment setting with a value of 1 for all systems.
And in the Surround Field setting:
Kenzie: Subtle enhancement
Ayon: Pronounced enhancement
Speakers: None

Up till now I've only used none or subtle for the Surround Field settings, as I found anything more sounded overdone and unnatural.
However, with the Ayon and it's #45 output tubes, which have a narrower width, taller height, and less layering than the Kenzie, I wasn't satisfied with the narrower sound. So I tried all sorts of things to fix it.
Tubes didn't change it, so I focused on the digital player settings.

Just setting the Surround Field settings stronger than Subtle sounded unnatural and too diffuse. Running four instances of ASIO4ALL with a higher Surround Field setting fixed some of the problem, but running four instances bothers my ears.

However, I recently updated JRiver from v25 to v29, and when I was looking through the settings, I found a new one called "VST buffer size (not zone-specific)" in the Advanced section of the Options dialog. I have no idea what the setting is actually for, but knowing how many of the buffer settings do effect the sound, I tried changing it.
And changing it did effect the sound relatively significantly. The default value is 256, but 128 sounded more focused, which alleviated diffuse sound of the higher Surround Field settings. However, the 128 value also reduced the openness of the sound too much. I also noticed the different values also significantly effected where the emphasis of the PRAT is in the music.

Wondering why the UI showed only those values as options, I poked through files and the Windows Registry and found where that value is stored: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\J. River\Media Center 29\Properties | VST Block Size
Manually changing the values, I discovered it has a similar cyclic nature as some of the other digital settings have, and quickly found the PRAT was best at Hex values 0xab, 0xca, 0xe7-0xe8, and 0x106. So a cyclic rate of about 0x1e and a half. However, the lower the value the more closed-in and focused the sound became.

I found 0xe7 (231 decimal) sounds the best -- a little more focused but still with an open sound.
Keep in mind the manual Registry change of this value is reset anytime you do a save (press OK button) of the JRiver Options dialog, so I need to set the VST Buffer value back to 0xe7 in the Registry if I ever need to do a save.

But also in my experiments to fix my lack of satisfaction with the Ayon's sound, with the higher Surround Field settings, I noticed I preferred an ASIO4ALL Output Latency Compensation value of 1008 rather than the 992, I'd been using all these years.
With that final setting change, the sound with the Ayon was 'perfect'. It's really incredible sounding. Far beyond the ultra smooth and boring sound with no adjustments at all.

Equalization:
Like I said, I feel cursed with being unsatisfied without 'completely perfect' sound. With short- medium- or long-term listening, I can eventually hear when something is not quite right everywhere along the spectrum down to the tenth of a dB. And it'll keep bothering me until I fix it.
Here are a few screenshots to give an example of what I do to get 'perfect' sound.

Notice there are a lot more settings in the bass area than the treble. It's much harder to get the bass right than the other frequencies.
And what's not shown in the UI are the various Q (Bandwidth) settings for each frequency. All these frequencies with their levels and Q values were all chosen by ear for a specific reason. And they all matter. Not only do they control the frequency spectrum, they were chosen for the effects on the punch, the fullness and weight, the to alleviate harshness or fatigue, to add excitement and emotion, to enhance musicality and liquidity.

I can make a couple of tenth of a DB changes and give myself ear-fatigue. Or make a change and while noticed at first, I'll discover over time they it caused a different problem that needs to be fixed. I find changes in the upper treble area are very prone to fatigue. There are a lot of cause and effect as well as unknown aspects to this.

If you experiment enough and get good enough to understand what's going on, you see patterns and can quickly focus and fix problem areas. But occasionally I do hear a problem, but don't know the cause and have to go up or down the spectrum until I find the right area and maybe need to do some experiments to find the right fix.
It's all really surprising, fascinating, and fun. I rarely find it frustrating, unless it's taking me days or weeks to find the fix for something.

Also notice big bumps or dips at any one frequency are virtually non-existent. Non-parametric equalizers sound like crap, and give equalizers the bad reputation they often deserve in high-end audio circles because they often use a sledgehammer to fix things rather than targeted little taps.

Using the equalizer, I am able to make the sound so pleasant and relaxing it can make me start nodding off in a matter of minutes. Which has its place, but that's not the kind of music I like to listen to. So I found that splitting a single frequency into two or three nearby frequencies, often with one or two with a Q of 4 and the other with a Q of 5 provides more engaging music, and it sounded fuller and more realistic.

Keep in mind doing this by ear is not just about sound levels. Many of these EQ changes effect PRAT, fatigue, emotion, and various other critical aspects of the music listening experience, so the listening is all-encompassing.
Also keep in mind, the hardware, tubes, cables, pads, headphone positioning, all effect the sound, and most time in ways beyond what can be accomplished with EQ and other settings. But I've also found every system I've heard has lots of shortcomings that these settings have drastically fixed and improved.

My Horning speakers have a bit of fatiguing hardness in the 7000-5000 Hz area to my ears, so I have a mostly -.1 dB dips, with a gradual -.2 to a few -.3 db dips to alleviate it. On good recordings, it sounds like the singers and players are right in my room, with no fatigue.

If you think a dac, amp, headphone, etc. designer can make changes of this tiny magnitude by swapping in different resisters, capacitors, transformers, magnets, windings, designs, etc., you obviously don't know how these things are designed, manufactured, and work.
'Flat' is meaningless at this level of fractional DB, Hz, and Q settings. Nor is 'flat' necessarily the target. My ears or your ears should be the ultimate target. And no microphone-based or other auto-DSP system can come close to target the sound at this level.
Even most tube changes require some modification in EQ settings. A component change can be more significant. As evidence of my description to fix my perceived problems with getting the Ayon to sound like I believed it could.

Anyway, the sound and music through my headphone and speaker systems is miles beyond anything else I've heard. And I am overwhelmingly happy with them and satisfied. And I could care less if people things this is ridiculous or not, as I know what I am hearing, and if you were here in person I could A-B and point every change out to you, and you would believe.

And of course YMMV -- Your-Milage-May-Vary. You may or may not hear the same things I hear due to components, ears, experience, etc. If you don't, don't worry about it, I won't. If you have further questions, go ahead an ask.

 

[dfiled]

@bdh thank you for this awesome review!

When you say that you only managed to get a sound you liked from a “specific Amperex Bugleboy,” were you saying that the specific tube you had in your hand was the only one that worked for you, or is was it a variant of the Bugleboy that others could buy to try and replicate your experience?

 

[bdh]

@bdh thank you for this awesome review!

When you say that you only managed to get a sound you liked from a “specific Amperex Bugleboy,” were you saying that the specific tube you had in your hand was the only one that worked for you, or is was it a variant of the Bugleboy that others could buy to try and replicate your experience?

Sorry, it's been a busy month.
It is a Amperex 1961 Shortplate Bugleboy specifically. However, I did get some Phillips Miniwatt Redtip (hospital grade) tubes that I do like better, which have a richer and more refined sound without losing the detail. I also tried some other high-end tubes, but those two are the only ones I'd use if I have the choice. I can overstate enough how important the choice of tubes are in a tube amp, and effect the sound that EQ'ing or other changes can't compensate for. With the vast majority of tubes out there being dull, boring, and uninspiring, it can be intimidating and potentially expensive to try even of few of the best.

 

[TheR0v3r]

While there are a few threads for AmpsAndSound amps in the Full-size Amps section of Head-Fi, I felt each of these components deserve to be represented here in Summit-Fi.

In order to make more sense, I'll do this review in chronological order. And sorry up front if you feel I'm too verbose.

It starts out with the death of my beloved Eddie Current Balancing Act 45\2a3, that I've had for over a decade. The 40kHz board that powers the 45-tube heaters died, and the shop I sent it to can't find a replacement.

While I haven't given up hope yet, with no idea when or if it will be fixed, I purchased an AmpsAndSound Kenzie Ovation due to not being able to find another 45-based headphone amp, and I saw some comments that they thought Ovation's sound was more 45-like than 300B-like, which can only be a good thing from my experience.


AmpsAndSound Kenzie Ovation 2.0

The Ovation is a Single-Ended Triod (SET) with a 5751\12ax7 input tube and a pair of 1627 output tubes.
It's hand-built, point-to-point wired, with discrete premium components and extra-large custom transformers. There are five taps off the output transformers, resulting in five headphone jacks of different impedances.
The amp normally ships with a stepped attenuator, but I requested the Alps potentiometer instead for reasons described below.

The case and aesthetics are well-built and appealing, but with a utilitarian vibe compared to other uber amps. I don't mean showing off the transformers -- that's perfectly fine and impressive -- it's that every interface is part of the top-plate: the power receptacle, the input RCA jacks, the headphone jacks, the speaker posts, power and output switches, and volume knob. I can see how it reduces production costs.
For me though, the design and location of inputs and outputs are perfectly placed for my setup. But I could understand how it may not be in other people's setups that need the cables to go out the back of the amp. And besides aesthetics and cable management, there could potentially be issues with pressure on cable joints and RCA jacks by having to connect everything top-down onto the amp, especially if using thick, heavy, high-end cables.
I can imagine a design like this keeps the build costs down as well, which is a plus for the customer.

For great photos of this and other amps from a variety of different angles, AmpsAndSound's website does a far better job than I could manage.


My Setup

I listen mostly to ripped and downloaded FLAC files via JRiver Media Center, but also listen with Youtube Music streaming now and then as well.
I use ASIO4All and various JRiver Media Center settings to bring out the best sound and music of the system that I can. Including using the parametric equalizer.
It would take a page or two to list and describe all the settings used and what they do, but years of A-B testing and long-term listening means I know what I'm doing, and that it makes a very significant improvement to the sound and music. It takes a few seconds to disable all those adjustments and listen to the music and components in their 'pure' form, match the volume, and I there's no way I want to listen without my adjustments.
All amps, sources, etc. say they produce 'flat' responses, yet all of them sound different, and many significantly. And no headphone is 'flat'. Not that I want flat. I want amazing -- whatever the output signal looks like. And EQ'ing by ear to a tenth of a DB, among other things, gets me that.

From the computer, the data goes to a Chord Hugo TT2 DAC. Sometimes I have cross-feed enabled, sometimes I don't.
From the DAC, I use balanced-to-single-ended (XLR->RCA) cables from Signal Cable.
From the amp, I primarily use a ZMF Verite-Closed headphone, with premium copper cable, and worn in a non-standard configuration to increase the engagement of the music. I'm constrained to using closed headphones due to other people in the room, even though I work from home currently. Yes I have a LCD-2.2 and Beyer T1, and have had Grado's, but don't want to spend serious cash on uber-expensive cans I won't be able to use to the fullest.

Other current and previous gear can be found in my signature at the bottom of the page.


My Philosophy

When reviewing audio components and even music to a degree, I normally consider the following major aspects:
- Sound
- PRaT
- Musicality
- Emotion
- Headstage \ Soundstage
- Instrument and voice separation
- Life-like presence and 'air\bloom'
- Presence of any harshness or long-term fatigue

The combination of the second, third, and fourth qualities I usually refer to as 'engagement', and they're the attributes that me listen to music rather than sound or gear. They're also what keeps me from becoming bored or distracted after listening for awhile. I expect and have achieved those aspects being present even at the lowest volumes, though listening at the music's 'natural' volume, or what I perceive it should be, is what I prefer.

The reason I list those first four aspects separately is because I've heard many times 'perfect' sound that had zero PRaT, musicality, and emotion to it. The sound was technically 'perfect', even astonishingly so, but totally lifeless. That's not music to me.
I've also often heard music that has only one or two of those attributes as well.
My goal though of course, is to have them all.

While I consider clarity important, it's more of a minor aspect compared to these other characteristics, and comes into play in the life-like attribute rather than end in itself. And I definitely do not like a hard or hot treble that gives the illusion of clarity.


Sound

The shipping input tube of the Ovation is a JJ Audio 5751. It's garbage. While I understand why AmpsAndSound and other amp manufacturers ship cheap tubes like that, I think it really does them a disservice to their amps and to the customer to not at a minimum direct them to get a better replacement tube as soon as possible.
If I was stuck with the default sound and had no way to change it, I'd have sold the amp after the first week. It's that lackluster and boring in my opinion.

The reason I point that out is because I've heard people here and elsewhere say that a great amp should sound great right out of the box without requiring tube-rolling. And I don't disagree. Which is why I said manufacturers do a huge disservice to their customers by shipping crap tubes.
Seriously. Think of solid-state amp designers and manufacturers. Do you think they take great pains to design their circuits, spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on components, and then right before shipping stick in the cheapest, most generic transistor they can buy for the heart of their amp? The most critical component to the sound of the amp?! No, that would be completely ridiculous. So why do they do that when it comes to tube amps?

I've tried dozens different models, makes, and years of input tubes, including various 12sn7's and 6J5's with adapters. (Thanks @Deyan!) While all were better than the shipped JJ 5751, nothing stood out as great sounding, none of them really involved me in the music or sounded lifelike. Even some of my favorite Amperex Bugleboy 12ax7's and other top tier tubes. It wasn't until I tried a specific Amperex Bugleboy that the music made me smile.
Suddenly the music was fully engaging. The sound, the image, the headstage were huge for headphones. There was air around everything and the sound was very lifelike.

And for the four months I've had this amp, it's still the only tube I have worth listening to in this amp. It isn't just marginally better -- it's vastly better.

For a more detailed comparison, everything sounds bigger with this Bugleboy. The soundstage, the voices, the height and width. The images clearly extend out of my head in all directions, except in the back. Putting in the other tubes, especially the 12sn7 types, shrinks the soundstage to mostly fit within my head. It's a big improvement over the Balancing Act as well.

The bass with this amp (and this tube) goes the deepest I've ever heard with headphones. How much of that is due to the bigger than normal transformers, I couldn't say. The bass is very eerily similar to the texture, tone, and resonance of the bass from a really high-quality full-range speaker or with a sub-woofer. Which I can tell you is much more present in the music compared to typical headphone listening, but is still completely balanced with the music. I can't believe I've been missing that all this time.

Everything in the music is balanced and nothing stands out -- and yet everything stands out if you decide to listen for it.

While the PRaT and musicality were very much present, and the music was immensely exciting and beautiful, the other emotional aspects I wanted weren't present. However, with some very careful and specific EQ'ing I managed to get it nearly equal to the Balancing Act, which would often bring tears to my eyes it was that overwhelming.

Some additional comparisons I've done, for example using RCA->RCA Signal Cables from the Hugo to the amp rather than the XLR-RCA Signal Cables, the sound and soundstage closed up significantly.
Moving down in impedance from the 300 ohm Hi-Z headphone jack, (there are five impedances directly tapped from the custom output transformers: 300, 100, 32, 16, 8), shrinks the sound and soundstage and adds perceived distance from the music. For me, there's such a large difference in soundstage and musical enjoyment, I don't listen on any output other than high-z with my ZMF's. In other words, the great thing about having these outputs with different impedences is not that I can listen to different presentations with the same headphones, but rather this amp can play sound the best with a wide variety of headphones with different impedences. If the amp only had one 32 Ohm output, I would have no clue what I was missing without a 300 Ohm output. And it's a big difference.

Regarding the 1628 output tubes. I have variety of models\brands, but the differences between them are relatively small. Some were slightly clearer, while others a touch more 'tubey' or you can say 'romantic', but there was one make that I like better than the others, and it wasn't the TungSol's. It is just more engaging than the others.

Just about everything effects the sound with this system, and each option and decision from the JRiver Media Center settings, to the pad orientation of the headphones builds on each other so that what I hear, will likely sound significantly different than what someone else will hear. The difficulty in finding an excellent input tube is a case in point. However, I know what great sound and great music sounds like, and this is it.

It's just a joy to listen to music with this setup. With both critical, conscientious listening, 'background' music while I do my job, or just losing myself in the music and simply enjoying pure musical bliss.

There are only two negative issues I've observed so far. One is that with the sound so grain and fatigue free, along with the nature of such a big vibrant sound, it's really easy to listen at too loud a volume without realizing it.
The second issue is hiss. For some reason, with the Hugo TT2 plugged into the amp, there is some significant hiss by the time I turn the volume to the 40% point. I've tried different outlets, same outlets, cheater plugs, pure single-ended, etc., but can't solve the problem. And I know it's just the Hugo, because when I use the Havana or other source, I can barely hear any hiss or hum at all. I also don't hear any hiss with the Hugo on any other amps, including another AmpsAndSound amp.
Of course I could turn the sound down around the 20% mark and turn the Hugo volume up, but I found I prefer the amp set at around 45% volume, despite the hiss. I just find the music with volume set at that level more exciting than otherwise. So much so, that I'll gladly live with the hiss, which I often don't notice.



Ayon HA-3 MkII

My favorite output tube is the 45. To me the 45 produces the most holographic, solid, and real seeming images of instruments and voices I've heard. There's a focus to the music other tubes don't quite have, including the 1628's in the Ovation. While the Ovation has great imaging and much wider and bigger images than the Balancing Act 45 does, I was still wanting my 45's back.

One day, while browsing the Head-Fi Classifieds, I saw an amp called the Ayon HA-3 MkII for sale, which I'd never heard of before. It's a high-end amp based on 45 tubes for the output and a pair of 12au7's for the inputs. Finally I gave in an purchased the amp.

It comes with a pair of large custom Emission Labs Mesh 45's that sound better than the regular EML Mesh 45's, which I find already sound better than any other NOS 45's I've tried. Based on my listening of the 45's, some 2a3's, and a rectifier, Emission Labs is one of the only modern tube manufacturers that makes better sounding tubes than the top NOS tubes. And of course, they know that and charge accordingly.

The Ayon is a two-piece unit with a dedicated non-tube power supply connected to the amp via a custom umbilical. The case is made out of a thick solid metal and everything about it is high-class.

When I first listened to the HA-3, the thoughts that came to mind were: refined, high-end, smoooooooth, and a bit boring. The sound stage was also somewhat narrower than the Ovation, but it did have that extra solid image of singers and instruments that I love about 45's.
I figured I could fix the boring issue, which I have. And figured I could open the sound up some with some top-tier NOS 12au7's, but with mixed success.

I had never heard an amp that made music this smooth, and still wonder how it's doing it. When I popped in the NOS 12au7's, there really wasn't much of a change in sound or music. Popping in another pair resulted in the same thing -- not much of a change. How is that possible? When I change input tubes on the Ovation or any other tube amp I've had, changing input tubes always makes a noticeable audible difference. Especially going from modern tubes to top-tier NOS tubes. Are Ayon's 12au7 modern sourced tubes that good, like the EML 45's?

I fixed the engagement issue with carefully adjusted EQ settings so that it equals and sometimes exceeds the Ovation. And after critically listening to the highs, it has all the details the Ovation has, it just presents it in a smoother texture. While the Balancing Act had a more refined sound than the Ovation, it didn't have that smoothness of the Ayon. It's hard to describe, but in my mind, I think of Ayon's sound as top-of-the-line 'high-end audio' sound.

Apparently the difference between the HA-3 MkI and MkII versions is that they added an additional high impedance output to the MkII version. As with the differences in tubes, there isn't nearly as big a difference between the normal and hi-z outputs on the Ayon as there is on the different outputs of the Ovation -- sound-wise, engagement-wise, and soundstage-wise. Whether that's due to the hi-z of the Ayon being 600 Ohms and the hi-z of the Ovation being 300 Ohms, and the output impedance of the ZMF VC being 300 Ohms, or the actual implementations between the two amps, I couldn't say.

Additional differences between the Ovation and Ayon are that the Ovation has a more forward, intimate sound with more transparency, perceived excitement, and slam. The Ovation has a wider soundstage, but the Ayon has a taller soundstage and bigger sounding, more solid sounding, point-sources of the voices and instruments. The Ovation has more air to the music, giving it a more you-are-there feel.

One interesting thing about the Ayon is that the tubes do not get very hot. If the amp is on and I'm not listening, I can keep my finger on either input or output tubes without it being uncomfortably hot. After a listening session, I can still touch the tubes, but holding them their can get a little uncomfortable. I assume it's because they designed it to run the power low for whatever reason, but I also assume this means that the life of the tubes will be extra long. I also assume that's the reason the output power is only .5V rather than the max 1.5V that 45-tubes can output.

I've gone back and forth as to which amp I would sell, but each time I listen to one I think 'I can't sell this!' I want to keep them both. And maybe I will. Or eventually maybe not. But if I had to keep only one right now, it would be the Ovation.



Merason Frérot DAC

Recently I've been able to get back into dedicated 2-channel speaker listening, and the MHDT Havana DAC I used previously just wasn't cutting it with the Horning Pericles Ultimate speakers I picked up. On the lookout for a new DAC, (the Lampizator's being a bit more than I want to pay, what with the amp and yet more additional tubes, not to mention plenty of other new high-end expensive dacs out now), I saw this article that piqued my interest:
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2021/06/13/merason-frerot-dac-with-pow1-lpsu-review/

Analog-like digital sound without spending big bucks? I had to try it after reading some other reviews to confirm it could be legitimate.

The DAC arrived before the LPS, and due to circumstances I tried it with my headphone system before my speaker system. Holy Cow! Even before any break-in, it was significantly better than the Chord Hugo TT2. To my ears and in my opinion. Even after a week of listening and still needing more burn-in, there's no way I can go back to the Hugo.
The Frérot is more detailed, more musical, more interesting, more refined, has more instrument separation, more excitement, and yes, is more analog sounding. Or to put all that together, it's just more real sounding. It's a joy to listen to in comparison to the Hugo, and I loved the Hugo and didn't think I was missing anything.

The only aspect I could say I like about the Chord over the Merason is that there is more bass weight with the Chord, which I can only conclude is caused by the Merason having much more defined and realistic sounding bass. Because it does. And of course I easily added the bass weight I prefer back to the music via very targeted EQ frequency adjustments, so of course it doesn't bother me in the least.

Once the Merason Linear Power Supply POW1 arrived, I was expecting it to take the sound to the next level. However, after several days and some back and forth between using the LPS and just the wall-wart power supply, it's not that easy. With plenty of break-in still to go, the only few differences in sound between the two power supplies I've noticed so far is that with the wall-plug the sound is more forward and exciting, and with the LPS the sound is less forward, a little less exciting, but more refined.

What this translates to between the Ovation and Ayon amps in the chain with this Dac is that with the Linear Power Supply powering the Merason and using the Ayon is the least best combination. With the wall-wart PS, which adds a more forward sound and more excitement, music with the Ayon is great. It's especially good with Classical, Opera, Jazz, vocal, etc.

The wall-wart PS and Ovation combination has a very forward presentation due to the forwardness of the DAC and forwardness of the amp combined. And with the LPS, the sound has a more typical sound-stage distance. Both sound awesome. What this translates to is that with the Ovation I have the choice between forward and non-forward sound when I want or when certain albums sound better one way or the other. Yes, I can kind of do that with choosing a lower-impedance output jack on the Ovation, but there are detriments to the sound quality when doing that that I don't want to live with. And now don't have to.

Doing many different comparisons, regardless of any combination I choose, I always prefer the Merason over the Chord. No hesitation. No question. And it sure makes me wish to hear the Frérot's much more expensive big brother, the Merason DAC1, which costs the same as the Hugo TT2. There's a link to the review of the DAC1 in the linked PTA article above.
And I would love to hear the Hugo TT2 with M-Scaler against the Frérot as well. And against a Lampizator, and Yggdrasil, and many more. But I can't. So which of all these great dacs would I think is best for listening? I have no idea unfortunately. And I don't worry about it. I didn't worry about it before. I just enjoy the music the best I can.

One additional note with the Frérot and Ovation is that since the Frérot doesn't have volume control like the Hugo, I have to use the amp's volume control or the JRiver Media Center digital volume control. I found I prefer the JRiver sound at 100%, and now adjust the amp's volume dial to control volume levels, which means the dial is always somewhere around the 5-10% area, unlike the 40% area I preferred with the Hugo. Audio component synergies can be strange sometimes. But regardless, like the Havana, the Merason does not cause any hiss with the Ovation like the Hugo does. So another great benefit to using the Merason.



AmpsAndSound Mogwai SE v1.5

I have a couple of James Burgess 45-tube based amps I used with my previous open-baffle Emerald Physics speakers. They are not quite powerful enough to drive the Horning speakers with loud rock music, so I've been looking for a more powerful tube amp. It so happened that the amp I found was a used AmpsAndSound Mogwai SE.

It came with a variety of output tube makes and models and a couple of 6SL7 input tubes. I also already had some vintage NOS Mullard EL34's and some newer Russian 6550 tubes. After trying all the different types on-hand, I greatly preferred the KT66's. Much better sound, more exciting, and a more holographic soundstage than all the others.
I also purchased some more tube adapters from @Deyan to try some other types of input and output tubes.

In my headphone system, the Mogwai has a similar SET sound as the Ovation, but just not quite as good or euphonic. But it does have ten times the output power if your headphones need that. Or your speakers can run on 8W of power.

I have no doubt I can get the Mogwai to sound even better than it currently does with the right tubes and settings, but because I need it for my speakers, I'm going to tailor it for that.



Final Thoughts

Some of you will likely be put off that I use source software settings and a digital equalizer to tailor the sound. (Oh no, the horror!) But I use that with all sources, amps, and headphones where I can, because based on the very specific settings that I use, I hear a clear and significant improvement to the music. If the sound is not clearly better, both immediately and with long-term listening, I don't change it. Each change is often small, but all of them build upon each other to produce something great. I don't care what the Luddites or so-called purists around here say -- I'm open to trying anything and everything I can to get the best sound out of a system that I can.

I have never heard better sound and music with headphones than I am getting now, and I'd put it up against any system out there for musical enjoyment. I'm not writing this to convince anyone to buy any of this gear -- I could care less if anyone does or not. I wrote this review to provide a data point for people looking to purchase high-end equipment, as well as to give back to the community that I use to make my own purchase decisions with. I think Head-fi is a great place and community!



Small selection of songs I often use for comparison purposes (in no particular order)

(Various) - Short Trip Home - BT (Instrumental)
Isaac Stearn, Mehta - Brahms: Violin Concertos - Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61
Don Ross - Robot Monster - It's Fun Being Lucky
Eva Cassidy - Wonderful World - How Can I Keep From Singing?
Eva Cassidy - Live At Blues Alley - Tall Trees In Georgia
Eva Cassidy - Live At Blues Alley - Oh, Had I A Golden Thread
Devendra Banhart - Goin' Back
Tinariwen - Matadjem Yinmixan
Tinariwen - Walla Illa
Keston Cobblers Club - Almost Home
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree - Monster Love
Grateful Dead - Reckoning [Live] - The Race Is On
James - Out To Get You
Alela Diane - To Be Still - Dry Grass & Shadows
Alan Lomax Collection - Southern Journey V. 3: 61 Highway Mississippi - Po' Boy Blues
Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy - Ring Them Bells
Bob Dylan - Love And Theft - Summer Days
Bob Dylan - Love And Theft - Mississippi
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn - Sankofa
Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light 'Til Dawn - Tupelo Honey
Marcus Miller - Silver Rain - La Villette
Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back - Jesus Is On The Main Line
Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back - 99 and 1/2
Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini - Bleeder
The Clash - London Calling - The Card Cheat
The Clash - London Calling - Rudie Can't Fail
Dave Brubeck - Weep No More
Califone - Roots & Crowns - Sunday Noises
Califone - Roots & Crowns - The Orchids
Assembly - January EP - Slow G Reel
Assembly - January EP - Haapavesi, Wedding Day
Muse - Absolution - Hysteria
Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Session - Ask Me No Questions
Carla Bruni - Quelqu’un M’a Dit - Quelqu’un M’a Dit
Ferrick, Melissa - Freedom - Freedom
Hot Tuna - FestivaLink presents Hot Tuna at MerleFest 4/28/06 - Good Shepherd
Verdi - Kleiber - La Traviata

Reading up on the Ayon, excellent review(s)

PS. The Merason dac’s are very musical. If you want to “upgrade” they benefit greatly IMHO from using a DDC