[bizkid]

Hi fkclo, could you come to any conclusions on the phonitor vs the meier symphony?

 

[fkclo]

As at today I have clocked 440 hours on my Phonitor, and I think it is now time to share some of my impressions. The Phonitor actually settled down pretty well after 150 hours. From 200 hours onward I have not been able to detect further changes.

I uses two main sources with the Phonitor. One is my Nagra CDP and the other one is the Valab NOS DAC taking USB signal from my iMac's Lossless files. For serious listening I was using the Nagra as my main source.

Most of the hours were spent on other purposes - burning in my Valab NOS DAC, my new ESW10JPN, DT48E, K701 (newly arrived after recabling by RAL), and other new acquisitions etc. But I also took the time to do some serious listening and all I can say is that the Phonitor is definitely a reference class headphone amp. A true reference that one can use it as the benchmark. It is the most neutral headphone amp I have ever listened to. But contrary to my worries, the Phonitor is not at all analytical or "monitor / lab class" as I thought initially. It has all the magic to create a dead quiet background, give me all the speed and headroom I would ever want, and yet manage to present the music as one coherent piece with all music nodes having its own place and space, displaying a clear, realistic sonic picture of the recording, presented in the most natural manner one could image.

Listening to the Phonitor is not stressful at all as some might expect of listening to a "pro-class" headphone amp. Music just flows, without coloring introduced by the amp, and no artifacts or exaggerations. Having spent quite some time and money on this hobby, I know very well that achieving these special qualities is a tall order which very few amps accomplish, but the Phonitor just delivers in spades.

The Phonitor is so resolving that it can easily reveal the less obvious information contained in your recordings - good and bad. It reveals tape noise and any imperfections of the recording ruthlessly but on the other hand, not in a way to irritate you. It can honestly tell the truth about the recording venue, the ambience and echos of a church, or the vivid, cosy atmosphere in a smoky jazz club, put the instruments and artists in a virtual space around me that sounds so realistic. Sound stage is 3 dimensional, right-proportioned, and almost set a new definition of "reality" in dynamic headphone listening (except the K1000).

I won't say the Phonitor will suck me into the music, but it allows me to just forget the amp, and let me clearly hear the voicing of different headphones from the recordings.

I tried some low impedance headphones (the Grado HHF-1 in Ebony cups, Audio Technica ESW10JPN, Ultrasone Edition 9, and the Grados HP1) and all sound great - I don't need the dim switch. The HP1 sounds a bit dry compared to others, and less seducing compared to what I hear through my EAR HP-4. For power hungry headphones like the HD650 or K701, the Phonitor simply does an effortless job.

As I am not a recording professional, nor do I listen to speakers, I did have some problems using the speaker simulation features. I tried different switches and have had some fun - and yes, I can hear some subtle difference, but not to the extent that make me think - wow! The cross feed is however extremely good and adds to the naturalness of the music. I think my main handicap is that I lack a reference point - something that can only be obtained by spending a long time in the studio, or in listening to and playing with speakers. But this does not trouble me too much, as I am quite contend just by how the Phonitor sounds.

Is it worth it ? When the Phonitor was first introduced the Euro was still strong and converted to USD the price is a bit prohibitive. But still it is close to a Corda Symphony. (I paid 1,100 Euro vs 990 Euro for the Symphony ). Granted, the Symphony comes with a very nice DAC and pre-amp function whereas the Phonitor performs just one function and takes only one input (balanced or unbalanced via XLR jacks). But for the price, you bought first class sonic performance, very neat design and exceptional "Made in Germany" build quality, and the reputation of SPL in the pro-gear industry. Pretty good deal in my opinion.

So, the Phonitor is not going anywhere. I am giving it a permanent home, and will use it as the "standard" against which I will compared all other amps and headphones.

F. Lo

 

[bizkid]

Very interesting! Thanks for your post. That's also pretty much the same as i would describe the phonitor, you hit it spot on

 

[fkclo]

Thank you, bizkid.

I just edited the original post to specify what sources I was using. I just got a Chord QBD76 and would like to see how the Phonitor sounds in the new year.

F. Lo

 

[Kees]

Thanks.
You describe it exactly as I remember it.

 

[John_H88]

Great review - and very similar observations here.

 

[Dreadhead]

Can't wait to get my review sample

 

[Audio-Omega]

Is it better than your balanced amps ?

 

[Dreadhead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio-Omega /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it better than your balanced amps ?

I haven't received my sample as yet since the distributor has not been able to keep them in stock. Hopefully they will ship me one this week.

 

[djork]

does it drive the k1000? if it does, how well can it do?

 

[fkclo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by djork /img/forum/go_quote.gif does it drive the k1000? if it does, how well can it do?

I finally get the time to try the Phonitor with a pair of AKG K1000. My AKG 1000 was serial #11111 (yes, 5 aces) and recabled in 18g Jena Labs Ultrawire. I used a 4 pin XLR to TRS adaptor made for me by Alex from Apuresound, using of course the V3 cable.

With my new rig configuration, the Phonitor is now being fed from my Chord QBD76 DAC through a pair of Kimber Select KS-1121 balanced interconnect. The Nagra CDP serves as transport. The Phonitor receives the balanced output from the Chord DAC.

I played two CDs so far.

First is CD on Nino Rota's piano music. (V10003, Naive, France). For those who are not familiar with Nino Rota, think GodFather - he was the one who create the music for a number of classical movies. ( Nino Rota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

It is indeed a challenging test to the Phonitor - first it is piano - which is not easy to be reproduced in its full glory and complexity through a solid state amp. Second, is the recording itself - this French CD is remarkably well recorded - and the music passages are complex enough to challenge most hardware and human ears.

I have the volume set to around 12:30 o'clock on the Phonitor to give a good volume out of the K1000, and the rest of the time I was submerged into the music. The Phonitor just let the K1000 sing - beautifully. I can hear all the details, and harmonics characteristic of piano, the depth of the sound stage and the precise spatial positioning of the instruments on stage. The timing is perfect - so good that I can easily relate the key press on the piano to the sound I hear - giving a very true feeling of a virtual live performance.

While everything is near perfect with the Phonitor, I missed some of the weight ( very slightly so ) that I get from my Woo Audio 5. But the difference is every so little that once I switched off the analytical part of my brain the music takes over and I was just happy.

The 2nd CD I tried was one of my favorite - "Ten Tenors, Ten Colors" which is a great collection of great tenor sax players performance by venus. (TKCV-35404). This CD was made in Japan and is a real audiophile CD.

Under the Phonitor-K1000 combo, the recordings come to live and it is a real joy to listen. The recording level of this CD ( mixed and mastered using Venus 24 bit Hyper Magnum Sound) is higher than average so I get very good volume on the K1000 with the knob just less than 11 o'clock. What I hear is full bodied sound, a lot of micro details, and important for jazz, textured and layered bass that is simply impressive. Again, the Phonitor "disappeared' in the audio chain, and I was just listening to the CD so accurately reproduced through the K1000.

I was pleasantly surprised at what the Phonitor has done with my K1000. I was not expecting much at the beginning knowing how hard it is to drive the K1000 well. As it turned out this is so far the best I have heard from the K1000 out of a solid state amp.

F. Lo

 

[fkclo]

I was asked by a few members about Phonitor vs. Symphony (as I owned both). So, I think it may be useful to some others who have the same question in mind to share my thoughts here.

Originally I thought about writing a detailed comparison but never find the time to do it. So, instead of letting the idea drag I would try a short version.

I clocked over 520 hours on the Phonitor and over 430 hours on the Symphony so it is fair to say both are fully settled in.

Based on what my old pair of ears can hear, the Phonitor is even more neutral than the Symphony, and also a tad more resolving. The Phonitor seems also to have more muscle to provide the head room and speed which I once said was the best I have ever heard. But the key strength of the Phonitor is in the overall presentation of music - which provides a true and coherent sonic picture with precise sound stage and imaging that is second to none. Amazing transient response with no loss of details (esp. micro details) and realism are all amongst the best, if not The Best, of what I have heard so far.

The Phonitor is ruthlessly revealing - and will honestly tell me the quality of the recordings and anything upstream of it. It also allows me to appreciate the true character of the headphones I listen. On the other hand, it is not edged or cold. It conveys the emotions of the performer in its true form which is, in my opinion, some achievement that many others have tried but failed.

The Phonitor's 6 step adjustable cross-feed function is the best I have ever heard ( amongst the cross-feed implementation by HeadRoom, Xin, Meier-Audio, and Grace Design). Here, the Symphony cross-feed comes as a close second, but with less control.

While the Phonitor is half a step ahead of the Symphony on sonic performance, the Symphony is more versatile in terms of features. The Phonitor, being a single purpose gear, just can't compare. In particular, the DAC of the Symphony is remarkably good that I think anything less than $500-800 would come close.

While both share some similarity in the sonic footprint, the Phonitor and Symphony are, after all, targeting at different user segment. So, it is not a matter of which one is better overall - it all boils down to what we want for the very close price.

F. Lo

 

[bizkid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fkclo /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Phonitor is ruthlessly revealing - and will honestly tell me the quality of the recordings and anything upstream of it.

This is absolutely true. I was using a highend mastering AD/DA in my studio well above 4000US$ and the phonitor revealed it's coloring nature i never noticed through my already very good O300 monitor speakers. That does not mean you'll need a super expensive source, actually just using my sony 818 through the phonitor was less colored than the mentioned DAC. The phonitor will definately show you anything that is wrong with your upstream.

I also made the experience that it's best to use -30dB output on the DAC1, to lower it's own noisefloor. Usually you do the opposite to max out the S/N ratio before amping the signal but the phonitor seems to be more noise free as the already very clean DAC1. Compared to using -10dB i found the -30dB setting using the same final volume on the phonitor (measured) more transparent.

Besides that i'm able to ABX differences of 0.1dB EQ in foobar with the DAC1->phonitor->a2000x rig.

 

[Audio-Omega]

Is Phonitor better than Rudistor RP010 ?

 

[Snacks]

Why did I read this?

Francis, I saw this amplifier in your picture on the LISA III thread, and I remember saying to myself "wow what an interesting looking piece of gear". It has a World War sort of classiness to it; reminds me of the old military style communications equipment. Really classy looking, like something you can hide in plain sight with your other military paraphernalia and it would sort of go unnoticed...hmm...on second thought I could use something like that

Just so happens it sounds good to boot.

I guess the million gazallion dollar question is **drumroll** Do you see yourself needing to acquire any more reference amplifiers to satisfy, any perceived, gaps left by your newly acquired gear?


In closing, I would say enjoy yourself, but it seems that you already are.

Have fun with your new gear!