Singxer SA-1 / Balanced Amplifier Fully Discrete Class A - beyond THX 888 ?!

[gonzalo1004es]

Magna Hifi has confirmed to me that V2 has the gain switches in the bottom of the amp, the description (surely from the manufacturer) is misleading, unfortunately.

 

[Hypops]

Does anyone have good experience pairing a power amplifier with the singxer? I just got a pair of kef ls50 meta on my desk and would to combine the pre-amp of the singxer with a nice power amp.

So far loving it using the singxer as pre-amp with using a very old integrated amp as a power amplifier. But i think a real power amplifier would be better. Would be nice to stay below 500 on the budget

I tried it in my living room setup for S’s & G’s. Didn’t do anything one way or the other for the sound, but it did take away remote volume control. The only reason I can see for using the Singxer as a preamp is purely for convenience (because you need the headphone output as well as a separate power amp for speakers).

 

[oldson]

watched a youtube review on this amp where the reviewer implied that this amp does not perform well at low volume levels.
this would be a deal breaker for me.
any opinions on this ?

i thought class A amps did not suffer from this issue!

 

[Shane D]

watched a youtube review on this amp where the reviewer implied that this amp does not perform well at low volume levels.
this would be a deal breaker for me.
any opinions on this ?

i thought class A amps did not suffer from this issue!

I thought that with the logarithmic volume knob that it was idea for sensitive headphones. That was the only reason that I was looking at it.

I wonder if you were watching a head banger? The volumes some people listen at is insane to me.

 

[oldson]

I thought that with the logarithmic volume knob that it was idea for sensitive headphones. That was the only reason that I was looking at it.

I wonder if you were watching a head banger? The volumes some people listen at is insane to me.

no head banger.
it was "Passion for sound". really like his reviews, btw.

 

[Shane D]

no head banger.
it was "Passion for sound". really like his reviews, btw.

I think I had already watched his review, but now I will have to go back and re-watch.

 

[oldson]

he makes the comment very early on in the video . maybe i misinterpreted?

 

[Shane D]

he makes the comment very early on in the video . maybe i misinterpreted?

To me that was the plus of the unit. Although now I am leaning more towards the S17 Pro.

 

[Hypops]

watched a youtube review on this amp where the reviewer implied that this amp does not perform well at low volume levels.
this would be a deal breaker for me.
any opinions on this ?

i thought class A amps did not suffer from this issue!

Haven't noticed anything myself. I regularly switch between headphones of varying sensitivities and resistances, so I use a pretty wide range on the volume knob. Also, "low volume levels" is entirely dependent on the headphones/IEMs you will be using, so this doesn't mean anything in and of itself (for example, on low gain, I generally listen to my Elegias with the knob at about 9 o'clock and my HE6's at about 3 o'clock).

Measurements of the SA-1 also show remarkably low distortion figures and channel imbalance throughout its power output range (and at both gain settings). Remember, too, that if you are listening at lower volumes, you are highly unlikely to hear the slightly greater distortion because, well, you're listening at lower volumes. The real thing to check in this respect is people who use highly sensitive, high impedance IEMs on this amp (which I don't). If their experience is good, then you know you're probably good with ranges on the lower end of the volume knob.

Lastly, this amp is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. It can vary wildly depending on the source voltage, the input type (RCA vs XLR), the gain setting, the output impedance setting, and your headphone specs. In particular, the various inputs and gain settings each have totally different gain amounts which all greatly affect how much juice you get, to say nothing of the headphones you use. Lots and lots of variables with this amp. One can't simply say something like "this amp does not perform well at low volume levels." It makes no sense.

EDIT: Also, despite the advertising, this is actually a class AB amp, not class A.

 

[Shane D]

he makes the comment very early on in the video . maybe i misinterpreted?

I just re-watched half the video and you are correct. However, as I mentioned earlier, he is a head banger. At least relative to me.
My listening Peaks at 72-74 Db's. His listening Averages 83Db's. Damn that is loud! He had to get up to 12:00 for his preferred volume

I would likely be Very happy at 9:00/9:30/10:00/10:30, depending on the music, with most of my headphones. And to me that is a selling point.

For instance this week I am using my CFA Cascades with the iFi Pro iCAN and I can't get up to 9:00 with anything. Depending on the music, I am between 8:00-8:30 on the volume dial in low gain.

Of course I am a quiet listener, which is different than many folks on here.

 

[Hypops]

he makes the comment very early on in the video . maybe i misinterpreted?

You misunderstood. I just rewatched the video. Lachlan was talking about his own user error. He didn’t properly volume match the Singxer to the amps he was using as points of comparison. He was so accustomed to turning his volume knobs on other amps to a particular point on the dial that he did the same (in low gain) for the Singxer, but it sounded less "alive” compared to other amps.

His story at the beginning of the video was about how retailers will often stack the deck by cranking up the volume on something they want to fool people into thinking sounds better versus something else quieter (our brains interpret louder music as having better audio quality). He then realized that he actually wasn't listening as loudly on the Singxer as on his comparison amps and adjusted the volume knob accordingly. "Problem" solved.

Nothing to do whatsoever with the audio quality of the Singxer. He just goofed.

 

[Plieb]

he makes the comment very early on in the video . maybe

You misunderstood. I just rewatched the video. Lachlan was talking about his own user error. He was so accustomed to turning his volume knobs on other amps to a particular point on the dial that he did the same (in low gain) for the Singxer, but it sounded less "alive” compared to other amps. His story at the beginning of the video was about how retailers will often stack the deck by cranking up the volume on something they want to fool people into thinking sounds better versus something else quieter (our brains interpret louder music as having better audio quality). He then realized that he actually wasn't listening loudly enough and adjusted the volume knob accordingly. "Problem" solved.

Nothing to do whatsoever with the audio quality of the Singxer.

Yes its logrithmic and hence starts to get incrementally much louder at high volume levels. However some reviewers complained that the high gain level of 11db balanced is not high enough and recommended a balanced dac of 6 volts. I also think that the amp is a bit underpowered. My 1 watt Rebel amp appears to have more headroom than the singxer.

 

[Hypops]

Yes it’s logrithmic and hence starts to get incrementally much louder at high volume levels. However some reviewers complained that the high gain level of 11db balanced is not high enough and recommended a balanced dac of 6 volts. I also think that the amp is a bit underpowered. My 1 watt Rebel amp appears to have more headroom than the singxer.

It’s more complex than that, even. This amp gets downright labyrinthine. The gain levels are dependent on the gain setting, the particular input, and the particular output. Even more, each combination of gain setting and input has its own max input voltage. In order to maximize output power and minimize distortion, I use a variable output DAC to RCA with the Singxer on low gain (which allows me to go as high as ~7V on the RCA input). Counterintuitively, this means that I actually get a higher SPL on low gain via RCA than on high gain via XLR. That difference matters a lot for hard-to-drive headphones.

The longer I have it and the more equipment I’ve used it with, the stranger (and unexpectedly flexible) this amp proves to be.

 

[raif71]

It’s more complex than that, even. This amp gets downright labyrinthine. The gain levels are dependent on the gain setting, the particular input, and the particular output. Even more, each combination of gain setting and input has its own max input voltage. In order to maximize output power and minimize distortion, I use a variable output DAC to RCA with the Singxer on low gain (which allows me to go as high as ~7V on the RCA input). Counterintuitively, this means that I actually get a higher SPL on low gain via RCA than on high gain via XLR. That difference matters a lot for hard-to-drive headphones.

The longer I have it and the more equipment I’ve used it with, the stranger (and unexpectedly flexible) this amp proves to be.

I pair this amp with a Gustard P26 preamp to get more headroom. I hate the SA-1 gain switches at the bottom. I set the gain switches to low and the volume to max. I'm happy to be using only the preamp's volume to control the sound. The DACs that are paired with the preamp are the Gustard X16, Denafrips Ares II and Audio-GD R2R 11.

 

[Hypops]

I pair this amp with a Gustard P26 preamp to get more headroom. I hate the SA-1 gain switches at the bottom. I set the gain switches to low and the volume to max. I'm happy to be using only the preamp's volume to control the sound. The DACs that are paired with the preamp are the Gustard X16, Denafrips Ares II and Audio-GD R2R 11.

Adding a preamp is in my long-term upgrade plan, and I’ve actually been researching that exact preamp. Is it a good match for the Singxer? Are the separate input and output gain adjustments useful, or just a gimmick?

And, yeah, there’s no real way to defend the choice to put those gain switches on the bottom of the Singxer amp. Thankfully, in my current setup (with a Chord Mojo 2 feeding it over RCA) I can just leave it in low gain all the time for all of my headphones, including the beast (Hifiman HE6).