[Sam Spade]

First off, I neglected to mention that Zach at ZMF uses the SparkoS Aries as his solid-state reference when tuning his headphone designs. He also owns a HeadAmp GSX mk2, but tells me he uses the Aries over it "9 times out of 10". That's certainly high praise from a respected 3rd party who has no skin in the game (if anything, it's a competitor for his Pendant amp).

I add that just to give you an idea that your Verite probably makes a superb match with the Aries. I have not checked out those latest AT woodies but your mention of "highly resolving, neutral, and transparent" is pretty much the exact description of this amp.

I've heard the Phonitor X somewhat briefly, but not the XE. Honestly I don't even know what the differences are. As has pretty much always been my experience with SPL products, I liked but didn't love the Phonitor X. My quick impression is that it's just a good general performer with a slightly warm, vague presentation, good for most headphones and genres without any particular standout trait. Not a bad choice by any means but also not as compelling as some others in that price range. You;ll note I did not include it in my recent Darko roundup of 4 higher-end headphone amps, despite it fitting perfectly in terms of price. That should tell you something.

I know we've discussed this but it would be great to add the buurson soloist or conductor 3x to this group of reviews. I assume the bursons are slightly cheaper?

This comes from a person with a Sparko Aries and burson conductor 3x ref who has been too lazy to compare them myself they both sound unbelievable and when i put them on i lose motivation to test lol. Also the burson is perfect for my home system with the DAC remote and connectivity options. In contrast the chord Qutest and aries combo on my desk is no frills pure performance. Dont need bluetooth, wifi or a remote when everything is in arns reach

 

[Sam Spade]

Most reviews of this amp seem (yours and others) to be focused around pairings with dynamic headphones. Curious as to if there's any reason for this, and how you found it paired with harder to drive planars like your Susvara?

 

[Sam Spade]

.

 

[project86]

I know we've discussed this but it would be great to add the buurson soloist or conductor 3x to this group of reviews. I assume the bursons are slightly cheaper?

This comes from a person with a Sparko Aries and burson conductor 3x ref who has been too lazy to compare them myself they both sound unbelievable and when i put them on i lose motivation to test lol. Also the burson is perfect for my home system with the DAC remote and connectivity options. In contrast the chord Qutest and aries combo on my desk is no frills pure performance. Dont need bluetooth, wifi or a remote when everything is in arns reach

The thing about my recent amplifier roundups from Darko Audio, is that it involved having all of them here at the same time to compare/contrast. Even though my goal wasn't to have a direct shootout, comparing each one against the others in every aspect, I still wanted to get a feel for how well they stack up against one another overall. It's hard to say "this amp definitely had the best treble of the bunch" unless you can actually go back and forth to be sure. Even if I'm being diplomatic and saying "treble is the biggest strength of this amp", the point remains.

All this to say I've sent those amps back and so it would be hard to evaluate the Burson stuff in the same context. Plus I just don't find myself all that interested in Burson at this stage, and more importantly neither is Darko - and what the Editor wants, the Editor gets...

Regarding Aries and planar headphones - must just be a coincidence that I spoke more about dynamic pairings. It is fantastic with planars too. I particularly enjoyed the limited edition LCD-24 with it, though most everything sounded great. I wouldn't call it a top-5 Susvara amp as it isn't quite potent enough for that, but still quite enjoyable overall.

 

[Sam Spade]

The thing about my recent amplifier roundups from Darko Audio, is that it involved having all of them here at the same time to compare/contrast. Even though my goal wasn't to have a direct shootout, comparing each one against the others in every aspect, I still wanted to get a feel for how well they stack up against one another overall. It's hard to say "this amp definitely had the best treble of the bunch" unless you can actually go back and forth to be sure. Even if I'm being diplomatic and saying "treble is the biggest strength of this amp", the point remains.

All this to say I've sent those amps back and so it would be hard to evaluate the Burson stuff in the same context. Plus I just don't find myself all that interested in Burson at this stage, and more importantly neither is Darko - and what the Editor wants, the Editor gets...

Regarding Aries and planar headphones - must just be a coincidence that I spoke more about dynamic pairings. It is fantastic with planars too. I particularly enjoyed the limited edition LCD-24 with it, though most everything sounded great. I wouldn't call it a top-5 Susvara amp as it isn't quite potent enough for that, but still quite enjoyable overall.

I understand the comparison issues. My initial casual thoughts are the burson has more grunt than the Aries. But The Aries drives my 200 ohm LCD4s LCDxc and LCD3 well

 

[Palyodgree]

I recently took delivery of the Sparkos Lab Aries ,with the short time I’ve had with the Aries my immediate thoughts are it’s a huge bang for the buck , the performance is just unbelievable for the price ,,..
I’m currently waiting for decent interconnects and a power cord to be delivered so no doubt there will be much more to be discovered....

 

[Sam Spade]

Most reviews of this amp seem (yours and others) to be focused around pairings with dynamic headphones. Curious as to if there's any reason for this, and how you found it paired with harder to drive planars like your Susvara?

I can say it drives LCD4 and LCDxc effortlessly and the result is mindblowingly good. Astonishingly detailed and still completely musical.

 

[Palyodgree]

Its a curious thing why the Sparkos Lab headphone amplifier hasn’t received more attention on this site then it has ,,.I thought the goals of most everyone in this hobby is striving for better sound quality , this amplifier certainly nails this home .
Sure the Aries will not appeal or work well in everyones system however for me the Aries is one of the biggest bang for the buck component I have ever purchased.

Over the past five months I’ve been using the headphone section of my dac while making a decision on a dedicated headphone amplifier I think back just weeks ago roaming around YouTube and stumbling upon a review of the Sparkos Lab Aries, I listened carefully what was said then went to Sparkos web page and read the other reviews. For me reviews are a compass to components and I take reviews lightly however the next day I found myself placing an order , my headphone system sitting in a home made rack on wheels beside my lazy boy is complete,...

 

[Sam Spade]

Its a curious thing why the Sparkos Lab headphone amplifier hasn’t received more attention on this site then it has ,,.I thought the goals of most everyone in this hobby is striving for better sound quality , this amplifier certainly nails this home .
Sure the Aries will not appeal or work well in everyones system however for me the Aries is one of the biggest bang for the buck component I have ever purchased.

Over the past five months I’ve been using the headphone section of my dac while making a decision on a dedicated headphone amplifier I think back just weeks ago roaming around YouTube and stumbling upon a review of the Sparkos Lab Aries, I listened carefully what was said then went to Sparkos web page and read the other reviews. For me reviews are a compass to components and I take reviews lightly however the next day I found myself placing an order , my headphone system sitting in a home made rack on wheels beside my lazy boy is complete,...

Awesome welcome to the club.

Potential downsides for some buyers:
-No remote
-cost
-size
-aesthetics it looks like a pretty generic black box, not flashy industrial design say like chord or burson
-cost
-no remote

I havent tested it but even if it smashes my burson conductor for SQ its not finding a place in my main system due to no remote.

EDIT the Qutest + aries SQ is better than the conductor 3X ref I think. But not by a lot. And it is more expensive. And the burson appears to have more power and a remote.

 

[Palyodgree]

Sam thank you for the big welcome, I appreciate that ,...I would say whats up stream of the dac will definitely make a difference to what you hear and for me further down stream the Aries is the icing on the cake .

 

[Sam Spade]

Sam thank you for the big welcome, I appreciate that ,...I would say whats up stream of the dac will definitely make a difference to what you hear and for me further down stream the Aries is the icing on the cake .

Well welcome to headfi buy im a small fish here. I mainl meant welcon to the Spark aries club

Btw what components/ headgear/music types are you into? Amd are you useing it as a preamp too?

 

[Nostoi]

I'd agree with all this: tremendously overlooked TOTL amp. A real sleeper, which is surprising in some respects, given it's the SS amp of choice for Zach of ZMF (@zach915m) to test his headphones on.

I pair it with my ZMF VC via a Hugo 2 and the results are immensely satisfying - resolving, precise, but musical. Every headphone I've put through it sounds absolutely stellar.

As for downsides, the lack of remote doesn't really affect me because the amp sits on my desk. Aesthetically, it's certainly rather functional - and I do wish there was a digital VU meter - but I sort of like the old school build. I stick Skeletor on the top of mine to spice things up.



I would say the downside for some people is that amp is a no BS approach; it will reveal flaws in your system, from source upwards. However, if your system and sources are "audiophile" quality, then the amp is going to reward you.

 

[Palyodgree]

Well welcome to headfi buy im a small fish here. I mainl meant welcon to the Spark aries club

Btw what components/ headgear/music types are you into? Amd are you useing it as a preamp too?

The line up of components is listed , I may regret not getting the full option Aries though at the time of placing my order I just wanted a dedicated headphone amplifier , I’m happy and content.

 

[Sam Spade]

As for downsides, the lack of remote doesn't really affect me because the amp sits on my desk.

agreed. I'm scared to try it in my main system though, incase it smashes the Burson C3X

Its lack of upgradability. What are you going to replace Sparko pro opamps, voltage regulators and power supplies with?

It doesn't look like a luxury product, that might affect its sales, but not my decision to buy

Its simply sublime, and with the Qutest and LCD4s it extracts details beyond compare. And it's still so musical.

I am having to fiddle with the gain and the chord output voltage to avoid clipping the aries input stage. haven't quite settled on a perfect solution yet. Input welcome

 

[Nostoi]

agreed. I'm scared to try it in my main system though, incase it smashes the Burson C3X

Its lack of upgradability. What are you going to replace Sparko pro opamps, voltage regulators and power supplies with?

It doesn't look like a luxury product, that might affect its sales, but not my decision to buy

Its simply sublime, and with the Qutest and LCD4s it extracts details beyond compare. And it's still so musical.

I am having to fiddle with the gain and the chord output voltage to avoid clipping the aries input stage. haven't quite settled on a perfect solution yet. Input welcome

If you're getting any clipping, you should ensure the Chord dac is at line level mode. Otherwise manually lower the volume on the dac and incresse the gain on the amp.