[dstarr3]

Based on reports from head-fi, youtube reviewers, and other forums the THX and Singxer amps sound very different right? An op-amp based linear amp sounds different from a Class A discrete amp?

So then why did I hear no difference at all when listening to them against another? Literally no difference, zero, identical sound. Do you believe this is because my ears are defective? Or because I volume matched them with an instantaneous switcher?

I mean, if you can't hear a difference, more power to ya. Certainly simplifies your shopping experience.

 

[hundreth]

I mean, if you can't hear a difference, more power to ya. Certainly simplifies your shopping experience.

Defective ears then, got it.

I do agree with your conclusion. Happy listening.

 

[hottyson]

I couldn't agree more, our brain is not a precision tool, far by it, plus auditory memory is not something you can rely on, I've fooled myself before until I've done a proper A/B test to see what's what. Topology doesn't change sound signature, an amp's job is to act like a gain wire, if it sounds different then it wasn't designed / built properly (with the exception of tubes).

I don't rely on auditory memory. I have a collection of all of those amplifiers and I A/B them.

 

[Alex May]

So then why did I hear no difference at all when listening to them against another? Literally no difference, zero, identical sound. Do you believe this is because my ears are defective? Or because I volume matched them with an instantaneous switcher?

I personally did A/B comparison of the SA-1 vs Drop THX 789. The sound signature is almost the same but the difference is in the micro dynamic and the way it influences the soundstage and separation of the instruments. You simply may not know what to listen for. You might pay attention to color or frequency spectrum and legitimately say there is no difference. Although, it still depends on the music material. Maybe you just listen to the music that is not presenting you audible changes. Alternatively, your headphones may not be wide and detailed enough in order to physically respond to these differences. As already said, this makes your shopping decisions easier. The whole chain should be commensurate with each other in terms of technicalities. Otherwise, the quality of the resulting sound will be determined by the bottleneck in your chain. Look for the bottleneck - the cheapest and/or less quality element in your whole chain. I didn't even mention your hearing abilities yet

I'll give an example using optical lenses for cameras. The Drop THX is like a telephoto lens. And the SA-1 is more like a normal 50mm lens or even slightly towards a wide-angle. Though the primary object in the resulting photo might look absolutely the same, the background is different in the way it either closes in like a solid wall or backs up and separates in 3-dimensional space. This is the main difference between these amplifiers from my A/B experience.

 

[ic257]

I wish I had golden ears like yourself to hear all of these subtle differences between those amplifiers.

I volume match A/B tested my Singxer SA-1 against a $150 THX AAA One and they sounded absolutely identical. Before doing this, I experienced massive differences between them.

I do really like the Singxer amp for its power, build, and feature set. Though based on all the reports here I’d have expected it to sound very different from an op amp based linear amp.

Link to that switch box?

 

[NascentAP]

I personally did A/B comparison of the SA-1 vs Drop THX 789. The sound signature is almost the same but the difference is in the micro dynamic and the way it influences the soundstage and separation of the instruments. You simply may not know what to listen for. You might pay attention to color or frequency spectrum and legitimately say there is no difference. Although, it still depends on the music material. Maybe you just listen to the music that is not presenting you audible changes. Alternatively, your headphones may not be wide and detailed enough in order to physically respond to these differences. As already said, this makes your shopping decisions easier. The whole chain should be commensurate with each other in terms of technicalities. Otherwise, the quality of the resulting sound will be determined by the bottleneck in your chain. Look for the bottleneck - the cheapest and/or less quality element in your whole chain. I didn't even mention your hearing abilities yet

I'll give an example using optical lenses for cameras. The Drop THX is like a telephoto lens. And the SA-1 is more like a normal 50mm lens or even slightly towards a wide-angle. Though the primary object in the resulting photo might look absolutely the same, the background is different in the way it either closes in like a solid wall or backs up and separates in 3-dimensional space. This is the main difference between these amplifiers from my A/B experience.

I can relate. It was difficult to discern differences between SA-1 and A90 (which is similar to THX789 from what I understand) with something like Sundara and HD6xx, which are HPs that I started out with. It wasn't until Arya and He6V2 that I started to notice differences that are subtle but really changes the soundscape once you realize they are there. DACs also make a big difference in this regard, which was countercurrent to my own initial bias

 

[hundreth]

I personally did A/B comparison of the SA-1 vs Drop THX 789. The sound signature is almost the same but the difference is in the micro dynamic and the way it influences the soundstage and separation of the instruments. You simply may not know what to listen for. You might pay attention to color or frequency spectrum and legitimately say there is no difference. Although, it still depends on the music material. Maybe you just listen to the music that is not presenting you audible changes. Alternatively, your headphones may not be wide and detailed enough in order to physically respond to these differences. As already said, this makes your shopping decisions easier. The whole chain should be commensurate with each other in terms of technicalities. Otherwise, the quality of the resulting sound will be determined by the bottleneck in your chain. Look for the bottleneck - the cheapest and/or less quality element in your whole chain. I didn't even mention your hearing abilities yet

I'll give an example using optical lenses for cameras. The Drop THX is like a telephoto lens. And the SA-1 is more like a normal 50mm lens or even slightly towards a wide-angle. Though the primary object in the resulting photo might look absolutely the same, the background is different in the way it either closes in like a solid wall or backs up and separates in 3-dimensional space. This is the main difference between these amplifiers from my A/B experience.

Thanks for the detailed reply and explanation.

For added context, I was searching for those soundstage and depth related differences. I let my normal library of music play throughout an entire day switching back and forth. I was not using specific test tracks.

Also, I did much of my testing with Focal Clears - which are much more resolving than the 6XX. Neither of them are super soundstage kings, so maybe that's a factor. I'm also running everything through a Motu M2, which is not an audiophile DAC, but very neutral and low distortion. I don't believe anything in my system is enough of an outlier to be an outright bottleneck, but I'm sure opinions differ.

Photography is one of my hobbies, and I can very much relate to the depth of field differences you're describing. The thing is, I can easily see the larger bokeh, blur, and facial distortion changes between focal points of lenses.

I've been fascinated by the entire subject around well measuring solid state amps and how they sound. I tried getting the two most different sounding amps as described. One being lean, harsh, soulless, analytical (THX) and the other being soft, rolled off, smooth (Singxer).

At the very least, I will say these claims are highly exaggerated. I find calling the THX amp soulless disingenuous to say the least and a disservice to many getting into this hobby and starting out with a quality product. These differences should be put into context, and hyperbolic terms like "soulless" are not helpful.

 

[NascentAP]

Thanks for the detailed reply and explanation.

For added context, I was searching for those soundstage and depth related differences. I let my normal library of music play throughout an entire day switching back and forth. I was not using specific test tracks.

Also, I did much of my testing with Focal Clears - which are much more resolving than the 6XX. Neither of them are super soundstage kings, so maybe that's a factor. I'm also running everything through a Motu M2, which is not an audiophile DAC, but very neutral and low distortion. I don't believe anything in my system is enough of an outlier to be an outright bottleneck, but I'm sure opinions differ.

Photography is one of my hobbies, and I can very much relate to the depth of field differences you're describing. The thing is, I can easily see the larger bokeh, blur, and facial distortion changes between focal points of lenses.

I've been fascinated by the entire subject around well measuring solid state amps and how they sound. I tried getting the two most different sounding amps as described. One being lean, harsh, soulless, analytical (THX) and the other being soft, rolled off, smooth (Singxer).

At the very least, I will say these claims are highly exaggerated. I find calling the THX amp soulless disingenuous to say the least and a disservice to many getting into this hobby and starting out with a quality product. These differences should be put into context, and hyperbolic terms like "soulless" are not helpful.

My bad for the interjection but this was not my impression. I've never listened to THX amps but A90 (which is also described as soulless and clinical) and SA-1 are more similar than different. I did A/B like the previous poster and my impression was that SA-1 adds a bit of warmth with less intense treble but the main difference was that the soundscape from SA-1 had contours whereas A90 was relatively flat if that makes any sense. This became more obvious once I moved onto R2R dac ie Ares II in which I felt like I was inside the soundscape with music/sound all around me. My prior dac E30+A90 combo presented music akin to a dome screen; the music sounded flat and projected onto a flat dome screen. Just sharing my experience and its cool if yours is different

 

[jonathan c]

My bad for the interjection but this was not my impression. I've never listened to THX amps but A90 (which is also described as soulless and clinical) and SA-1 are more similar than different. I did A/B like the previous poster and my impression was that SA-1 adds a bit of warmth with less intense treble but the main difference was that the soundscape from SA-1 had contours whereas A90 was relatively flat if that makes any sense. This became more obvious once I moved onto R2R dac ie Ares II in which I felt like I was inside the soundscape with music/sound all around me. My prior dac E30+A90 combo presented music akin to a dome screen; the music sounded flat and projected onto a flat dome screen. Just sharing my experience and its cool if yours is different

Well said !

 

[NascentAP]

Well said !

Amazingly, I came across a review of D90SE by lycos who put up this image that captures exactly what I hear. My topping device wasnt D90se but E30+A90 but I basically hear the same when comparing the E30 and Ares II driven by SA-1. I am more assured of my "subjective" interpretation of sound given that another person perfectly (and more effectively) illustrated what I am hearing.

 

[Lolito2]

Amazingly, I came across a review of D90SE by lycos who put up this image that captures exactly what I hear. My topping device wasnt D90se but E30+A90 but I basically hear the same when comparing the E30 and Ares II driven by SA-1. I am more assured of my "subjective" interpretation of sound given that another person perfectly (and more effectively) illustrated what I am hearing.

Denafrips has even more depth than shown there, and the topping is even flatter but more detailed and crisp. Truly great graphic though. Can't speak about the bifrost though, i have not tested it.

 

[P1ayer]

Sennheiser fans, I advise you to try Lehmann amplifiers. This bundle wins in everything . In combination with a dark source, this is only a + for this bundle. Lehman will add dynamics and transparency, the dark side will only be a plus. I really like the sound of this bundle, I advise everyone to try it, you can use a clone from Aliexpress, but it's still better to switch to a better copy or original. After purchasing a high-quality Lehmann clone, I use sa1 only for active monitors, because there is an xlr output. I compared the sound for the hd600 by balance and 6.3., I don't want to listen after lehmann. Lehman gives a full sound, detailed and transparent with good dynamics, and a natural scene where the singer stands IN FRONT of you, and does not dissolve around the contour as it was with SA. I love vocals and midrange frequencies, it does not relate to SA, from such a sound that increasing the sound brings discomfort, not pleasure.

 

[kadinh]

Looking forward to more Jot2 and A90D comparisons!

 

[Riversalt]

Sennheiser fans, I advise you to try Lehmann amplifiers. This bundle wins in everything . In combination with a dark source, this is only a + for this bundle. Lehman will add dynamics and transparency, the dark side will only be a plus. I really like the sound of this bundle, I advise everyone to try it, you can use a clone from Aliexpress, but it's still better to switch to a better copy or original. After purchasing a high-quality Lehmann clone, I use sa1 only for active monitors, because there is an xlr output. I compared the sound for the hd600 by balance and 6.3., I don't want to listen after lehmann. Lehman gives a full sound, detailed and transparent with good dynamics, and a natural scene where the singer stands IN FRONT of you, and does not dissolve around the contour as it was with SA. I love vocals and midrange frequencies, it does not relate to SA, from such a sound that increasing the sound brings discomfort, not pleasure.

Could you give more details?
I'm really interested in buying it, but I've seen very bad aliexpress copies damaged, I wouldn't know how to buy a high quality clone, do you have a purchase link?
What would be dark font you talk about?

 

[kadinh]

after much deliberation between the Jot2 and SA-1, I ended up pulling the trigger on the SA-1 from Apos. should be here next week.