SparkoS Aries headphone amp
Oct 4, 2022 at 9:21 PM Post #301 of 355
Thanx xtiva, I seen you had one can't wait for mine,
Why did you get rid of yours I see you got a new beast now.
Had too many amps then and to recoup some money sold it but ended up spending more..

traded with Susvara + some cash for the Aries with Ben... :frowning2:

so trying to save money turned out to be spending all my savings... :frowning2:
 
Oct 5, 2022 at 12:31 AM Post #302 of 355
Introduction – Who Am I?
Who am I? Why am I writing this review? Most recently, I have chosen to go by the name PajamaSLAM – though you might know me as MichRT across various forums. My audio journey started back in 2006 or so. With 512mb of 128kb/s WMA files in my pocket, I popped open a set of JVC Marshmallow earbuds (a cheap bullet style IEM with foam tips) and realized that music can sound better than I had previously heard it. I found a way to emotionally connect with tracks and albums that I hadn’t before and experience the music I already loved with a greater sense of joy and feeling.

“Every part of the chain matters”, or so I’m often told. I’m inclined to agree. Transducers are important to musical fidelity and sound reproduction. What tells those transducers what and how to sing is just as important.

My headphone listening setup is modest: Consisting of the Exogal Comet Plus DAC, the Eddie Current Black Widow 2 headphone amplifier, and a Sennheiser 580/600/800. I also use my DIY Sangaku amplifier with various mods (including Sparkos op amps), depending on my mood or music choice. My comparisons in this review were done using my Exogal Comet Plus DAC with the Sparkos Aries amplifier. Music tracks I used were either FLAC from my personal library or streamed via Apple Music Lossless.

Introduction Redux – Who is Sparkos?
“Sparkos Labs specializes in high end audio components, design, and gear. It's the culmination of a lifetime passion for audio, and electronic design and engineering. From its humble beginnings back in the late 1900's in the loft of the family shed all the way up to the present day, it's the birthing ground for all of the fodder that is constantly churning in my head” (Andrew Sparks).

I met Andrew and learned of Sparkos through my amp building escapades. I tested Sparkos op amps in various pieces of equipment, settling on their use in my DIY Sangaku amplifier build. I loved what they did for the sound there. When the opportunity arose to try Sparkos’ “first piece of actual audio gear”, the Aries amplifier, I got in line. Thank you, Andrew, for the opportunity to try this piece of kit! I enjoyed my time with it. Here is some of my thoughts.

Aries Headphone Amplifier and Preamp
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The Great
✅ - Noise floor is silent - No hum or hiss with 300ohm Sennheiser headphones or with my small assortment of IEMs

✅ - Touchscreen UI is easy to figure out. On screen buttons are large enough and lag is non-existent

✅ - Volume and L/R pan are done via stepped attenuators with smooth feedback. In 'Low' and 'Med' gain, the volume is very usable and allows fine granularity even with 100% output from my DACs balanced out. Makes it easy to pair different headphones.

✅ - Clean, neutral sound output. Top end is resolving and not harsh. The soundstage is airy and wide. Bass slams hard without bloom or bleed. Auto Clip Protection is a nice feature.

The OK
➖ - The only headphone output is a ¼ TRS jack. This is fine for most people, but a 4pin XLR jack (even if not true double-ended) would be nice to have.

➖ - The 3.5mm front panel jack is an input. This is a great feature, but the only notation that it’s an input is the blue color of the jack. for those that remember the green/blue/pink/yellow/orange/black 3.5mm jack color notation – your time has come. Otherwise, a quick readthrough of the specs will orient you.

The Nitpicks
❌ - The amp is a bit on the large side, might make placement a bit difficult in some scenarios.

❌ - The touchscreen UI jumps back to the default/home/volume screen after an option is selected. Makes it a bit cumbersome to alter more than one setting (such as gain and input), but that may not be an issue for most.

❌ - ‘High’ gain doesn’t play nice with powerful input source gear, as the auto clip protection kicks in quickly. This is with both SE and balanced inputs.

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Impressions
Soundstage and treble air are probably my favorite bits sound-wise. The amp lets some top-end elements like the symbols and brighter noise in Lizzy McAlpine's album Five Seconds Flat really shine in a way that is not fatiguing. The track Reckoner from Radiohead’s album In Rainbows was similarly impressive, demonstrating the amps’ ability to cohesively and decisively keep instruments and textures separated and concise. I didn't find electronic or pop music harsh, which is nice. In piano heavy tracks from the likes of Ben Folds and ZUTOMAYO, the Aries brought piano notes more forward than I'm used to from BW2 or my Sangaku DIY. They weren’t unnatural sounding, mostly the opposite, though the decay seemed slightly truncated compared to what I am used to. The Aries was able to flex its soundstage muscle and did some neat things with every track I threw at it – spacious and full of air.

With HD 600 (2022, Silver Screen, fresh OEM pads)
I found the Sennheiser HD 600 (and 580 for that matter) to pair well with the Aries. It’s treble refinement and soundstage added some depth to tracks such as Graduate by Third Eye Blind. alt-j’s album An Awesome Wave felt fresh and clear, with satisfying bass note slaps. At times I did sense a slight metallic edge to some of the vocal beats, and missed the mild bloom and pleasing decay from Sangaku at times. Overall, the Aries amplifier created a pleasant listening experience that I can recommend with these headphones.

With HD 800
This is a notoriously difficult headphone to pair. Mine is a silver (OG) 17k s/n, for those that care. Overall, I do not think Aries is a good pair for many HD 800 owners. Pop tracks like Owl City and Carli XCX came off a bit harsher than I prefer, even for the 800. Bass slam and texture were quite nice however, which kept me reigned in for a while. In the end it was not a particularly good match in my setup with these headphones.

Special Mentions
If you need a dedicated amp for your Sony MDR XB500, this is the ticket. Every positive the amp brings helps with one of that can’s faults – Do you need more soundstage air? You got it. Treble refinement? Take some. Bass slam? Thrown in spades. While a bit silly and certainly a guilty pleasure, the XB500 was easily my favorite headphone to use with this amplifier. You haven’t heard Crosty by Polyphia until you’ve heard it here.

My small collection of IEMs didn’t hiss or hum when used with the Aries. With lower input volumes and the ‘Low’ gain option, volume steps were usable. Not many go down this path, but for those that choose to - know that Aries delivers.

Final Thoughts
I like the Aries amplifier! It is resolving and, in a few ways, makes a good contrast to my personal gear. It's an achievement to say the power supply, audio circuitry, and even the firmware are made by Andrew and his team in house. They should be proud! Immense respect for the skills developed and the steps taken to get to where they are today.

If you are looking for a clean, neutral, and resolving solid-state amplifier with a plethora of options (and made with love), the Sparkos Aries amplifier might be your ticket to enjoying your music that much more. I’m excited and eager to see what the future holds for Sparkos. Thanks again Andrew! Keep on jammin.
 
Oct 5, 2022 at 12:21 PM Post #303 of 355
Below is my mini review of the Sparkos Labs Aries. Since there is no showcase page for this amp I posted it here. Enjoy!

INTRO and BUILD

First, I want to thank Andrew at Sparkos Labs for letting me take part in the Aries tour. Upon first listen I knew this amp was going to be special. Before I jump into the sound, I would like to share a few details about the unit. The unit I’m reviewing is the fully loaded version of the Aries. There are two pairs of RCA inputs, one pair XLR inputs, and one set of RCA and XLR preamp outputs on the rear of the unit.

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(Taken from the Aries Website)

On the front of the Aries there is one front panel input, one headphone output, large balance and volume knobs, and a touch screen display.

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(Taken from the Aries Website)

To turn the Aries on, hit the lower right hand corner of the unit. That’s where the power button is located. Yes, it’s integrated into the touch screen. Key features of Aries amp like input selection and gain are handled through the touch screen display with customizable screen colors. Simply hit the “settings” icon in the lower left corner of the unit to bring up a sub menu system. Once selected here are the options:

1662238721424.png

The options are pretty self-explanatory. The Input button lets you select RCA1, RCA2, XLR or Front. The Swap Controls button gives you the option to swap the large knobs on the front. In “normal mode” the balance control is on the left and the volume control is on the right. Hitting the reverse button swaps the two. Mute is well… mute. It kills the volume. Selecting the Gain button brings up 4 options. There are three gain settings and a Clipping Detection button. Low gain adds (+10dB), medium gain adds (+20dB), and high gain adds (+30dB). The clipping detection button is unique as a selection. Most amps have this type of protection built in. The Aries lets you turn it on/off and it works. More on this later...

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SPECS and INTERNALS

The volume controller is a 64-step relay switched attenuator with 0.1% tolerance thin film resistors. To eliminate the clicking sound of normal relays, the Aries uses a Reed relay switched stepped attenuator. The volume controller is smooth and quiet. The volume increases/decreases by 1dB per step and it will automatically mute with the volume is all the way down.

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A few specs about the Aries are:
  • 0.5 Watts RMS into 300 ohms, 2.8 Watts RMS into 32 ohms
  • < 0.1 Ohm Output Impedance
  • High Damping Factor
  • 16 - 300 Ohm Headphone Impedance
  • 355mA Peak, 14V Peak Output Capability
  • 2Hz - 350 KHz -3dB Bandwidth
  • 120V/240V 50Hz / 60 Hz AC Power Capability
  • Dimensions: Width 12.5" Height 4.0" Depth 12.5"
The Aries is very well built. The aluminum housing feels great in hand. The unit itself is hefty. The Aries is made up of what I think are some of the finest op-amps I’ve heard. There are two pairs of SS2590 pro level discrete op-amps making up the input and outputs stages. The SS3601’s and SS3602’s discrete op-amps handle the XLR inputs and drive the preamp stage. There are no capacitors in the signal path. Potential harmful DC offsets are handled by a DC servo. The power supply is regulated by a pair of Sparkos Labs discrete voltage regulators, and the toroidal power transformer is shielded with Mu Metal for extremely low magnetic field pick up and hum.

1662238837877.png
(Taken from the Aries Website)

SOUND

Now that the background information is out of the way, let’s talk about how the Aries sounds. My chain is an iPad Pro with a Core Power Technologies USBe Perfect to the Chord Hugo M-Scaler feeding a Chord DAVE. RCA out into a Schiit Lokius then RCA out to the Aries. Since I was currently using my Pioneer SE-Master 1’s they’ll be first up on the Aries.

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The SE-Master 1’s love clean power. The Aries delivers just that. Listening to Steel Pulse’s “No Satan Side”, the SE-Master 1’s sound is open and spacious. I can hear the finest details in the music. Cymbals and chimes have excellent reverb and echo. The bass is rhythmic with very good layering. Instrument separation and imaging is also praiseworthy. Every musician seems to be occupying their own space in the recording. The sound is crisp, snappy and dynamic. The spatial cues seem to be all around me and not boxed in. The Aries has nice depth and width to its soundstage.

The sound out of the Aries is very balanced. No frequency seems to standout. The bass has nice impact and punch while sounding deep. There’s no boomy or boxy bass here. The midrange is sultry and nuanced. Vocals sound clear and upfront where they should be. The treble has very good brilliance to it without sounding sibilant.

To me, the Aries just sounds right. It’s transparent enough to play nicely with my DAVE and this is a very hard feat to do. I’ve sold some very good amps because the drop off is sound quality going from listening to the DAVE direct to using the DAVE as a DAC feeding an external amp is too great.

Next up are my T+A Solitaire P’s. They require a little more power than my SE-Master 1’s. I increased the gain from low to medium. Wow, do these headphones sound musical. The bass is very articulate, fast and impactful. The midrange is natural, involving, and full bodied with just enough forwardness in the presentation to make listening very enjoyable. P.R.A.T. is off the charts laudable with Solitaire P’s and Aries. Listening to Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing” is a toe tapping experience.

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Up next are the Elites. The first thing that jumps out at me is the sound of the pairing is not as magical as it is on the Solitaire P’s. The midrange seems to be sitting back from the rest of the sound. It is not as forward sounding as I like my music. I’m not sure how much of this is the headphone or amp. The synergy is not quite there.

Bass is big and lively. No EQ is needed here. I did attempt to balance out the midrange with the rest of the sound using EQ. Even with that I’m not sure I like this pairing.

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COMPARISONS

One comparison I wanted to make is to pit the Aries against the Soloist 3X GT. I also have a Trafomatic Head 2, but didn’t really listen to it during my short time with the Aries. My Soloist is equipped with Burson’s own V6 Vivids, Sparkos Labs SS2590 Pro and Sonic Imagery Labs 994Enh-Ticha op-amps. One of each per channel. The Soloist 3X GT is fed by an RME ADI-2 DAC.

From a sound stand point, the Aries and Soloist 3X GT are more similar than different. The biggest difference is in design philosophy. The Soloist 3X GT is fully balanced in a dual mono symmetrical configuration. It has more power output, 8 watts (XLR) / 4 watts (SE) into 32 Ohms. Compared to 2.8 Watts RMS into 32 ohms of the Aries. As a result, the Soloist 3X GT sounds airier, more spacious, a bit more resolute, and transparent with better macro and micro dynamics than the Aries.

I have to add that the Burson does benefit from the upgraded op-amps. Transients are little bit snappier and the clarity is improved throughout the frequency spectrum. With that said, the Aires is right there in performance. The bass on both is tight, well defined, and offers plenty of punch. The Burson can be made to play bass deeper and downright thunderous depending on op-amp configuration. The midrange on both is clear, nuanced, and textured. Both amps have nice weight to their sound. I give a slight edge to the Soloist 3X GT for sounding fuller with more body.

The treble on both is top notch. They’re extended with no glare or fatiguing sound. Neither have a clinical sound. They are both precise and have nice leading edges to the notes. I love this type of aggression on my amps. They both make music come alive and sound realistic.

Both amps deliver the goods. The Soloist 3X GT edges ahead for me because it has more drive, it’s more flexible in its tuning with customizable op-amps, has slightly better detail retrieval, and comes with a balanced output. The balance output is not a knock on the Aries by any means. Its single ended output may just be the best I’ve ever heard on an amp. It’s very true to the source.

CONCLUSION

One issue I encountered with the Aries is it clipped on me. The unit went from medium gain back down to low gain when I was pushing it with the Solitaire P’s. I’m not sure what happened. The input voltage is only 3 volts out of the DAVE. I was only at -5 dB on the volume dial. The good news is that it only happened once. Needless to say, the active clipping software works!

The Sparkos Aries sounds amazing. The bass is very good without the need for EQ. It's the most surprising aspect about the amp along with how spacious it sounds. The sound is lively, dynamic, and fast. My only quibble is its only a single ended amp. Majority of my headphones are equipped with balanced cables. So, I had to dig out my adapter. It’s no major concern, but it may be a minor inconvenience for some. For those looking for quality amplification, the Sparkos Aries should be right at the top of your list. It competes with some of the best solid-state amps that I’ve heard or owned.

The price does put in the mix with some really great sounding amps, including my Burson Soloist 3X GT and Flux Labs Volot. For a first amp, the Sparkos Labs Aries left me quite impressed. Awesome job Andrew!

An excellent thorough review.

You indicate that your Burson Soloist 3X GT is modded with one each per channel Burson’s own V6 Vivid, Sparkos Labs SS2590 Pro, and Sonic Imagery Labs 994Enh-Ticha op-amps. I'm interested in maybe doing the same mod to the Soloist.

A few questions: Is this solely a plug-and-play operation, just changing out the op-amps, or is there more involved? The current standard version of the Soloist contains all V6 Vivid op-amps, so that one op-amp needn't be changed. And which circuit positions do each of the other 2 brands of op-amps (Sparkos and Sonic Imagery) go into?

Thanks
 
Oct 6, 2022 at 1:53 AM Post #305 of 355
Oct 6, 2022 at 11:48 AM Post #307 of 355
An excellent thorough review.

You indicate that your Burson Soloist 3X GT is modded with one each per channel Burson’s own V6 Vivid, Sparkos Labs SS2590 Pro, and Sonic Imagery Labs 994Enh-Ticha op-amps. I'm interested in maybe doing the same mod to the Soloist.

A few questions: Is this solely a plug-and-play operation, just changing out the op-amps, or is there more involved? The current standard version of the Soloist contains all V6 Vivid op-amps, so that one op-amp needn't be changed. And which circuit positions do each of the other 2 brands of op-amps (Sparkos and Sonic Imagery) go into?

Thanks
It's plug and play. Take out the current V6 vivids and insert your op-amp of choice. The Soloist 3X GT is a dual mono design and uses three op-amps per channel. When you change an op-amp on the right channel, then same one needs to be changed on the left channel. You can actually put the aftermarket op-amps in any position you want. It's going to come down to user preference as to which configuration sounds the best to them.
 
Nov 6, 2022 at 9:43 AM Post #309 of 355
This amp have almost everything in check like Linear regulated power supply, very low noise shielded linear supply on top of that, Reed relays for excellent durability, build.
Just think that they should have included Xlr jack for convenience.
 
Nov 6, 2022 at 1:17 PM Post #310 of 355
This amp have almost everything in check like Linear regulated power supply, very low noise shielded linear supply on top of that, Reed relays for excellent durability, build.
Just think that they should have included Xlr jack for convenience.
Yes, if it had a "convenience" XLR output I would own one. The Aries is that good.
 
Nov 13, 2022 at 5:43 PM Post #311 of 355
Hi there,

Just sold my Cayin HA-6A and looking to get the Sparkos Aries, if anyone in Europe is selling it please let me know!

Thanks!
 
Nov 14, 2022 at 10:50 AM Post #312 of 355
This amp have almost everything in check like Linear regulated power supply, very low noise shielded linear supply on top of that, Reed relays for excellent durability, build.
Just think that they should have included Xlr jack for convenience.
Unfortunately, in order to do the balanced output right so as to significantly improve the signal/noise ratio, power output and linearity by use of balanced circuitry from in to out, Sparkos Labs would have to incorporate an entire balanced set of op-amps, beefed up power supply, and do the conversion for the single ended output jack at the end, which would slightly degrade the single ended output because of the extra summer circuit placed in the signal path at the end of the balanced chain. It would be a complete redesign and raise the price considerably, in addition to costing a lot for the R&D.
 
Dec 2, 2022 at 5:32 AM Post #313 of 355
Hello.. what's the most impressive part of this amp? since the inputs /outputs? are individually buffered...the op-amps can be changed,

so what does it mean?

you can change/tune the sound for the XLR input with a pair op-amps from another brand
 
Dec 6, 2022 at 11:56 AM Post #314 of 355
Hello.. what's the most impressive part of this amp? since the inputs /outputs? are individually buffered...the op-amps can be changed,

so what does it mean?

you can change/tune the sound for the XLR input with a pair op-amps from another brand

The most impressive aspect of this headphone amplifier is its sheer superb sound quality. The bass is excellent - it goes very low and full and is always tight. As for midrange and treble, it's rich and full and hyper-defined in a realistic way; the background is so black and open, notes just seem to appear out of the void. It causes a lot of those spooky "is he here in front of me" moments.
 
Dec 6, 2022 at 4:30 PM Post #315 of 355
Hello.. what's the most impressive part of this amp? since the inputs /outputs? are individually buffered...the op-amps can be changed,

so what does it mean?

you can change/tune the sound for the XLR input with a pair op-amps from another brand
The Sparkos is mind blowingly good sound quality. Perhaps slightly better than my Burson Conductor. But close
 

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