[Luckbad]

Ahh! This might be an example of people hearing the numbers then. I haven't even looked at their published specifications (I tend not to until I've formed an opinion).

 

[Luckbad]

This is the beginning of a lovely evening. "A Beautiful Friendship" in the component synergy, as well as the first album of the night (Bucky Pizzarelli and Alexis Cole). The Maestro Dobel Diamante tequila is an ode to the incredibly clean transparency of the RME ADI-2 DAC feeding the SPL Phonitor XE. It's a neutral reference setup without becoming dry and lifeless, just like the night's beverage.

 

[RobertSM]

Sharing one too. My new Violectric V850 arrived and I was finally able to hook it up last week. I find the pairing of the V850>Phonitor X to be excllent. Measured authority across the frequency spectrum with fine detail and separation. Very resolving but not to the point of being cold or sterile. Maybe a ever so slight hint of warmth?

I find the Violectric V850 to be 2 or maybe even 3 levels above, performance wise- the internal DAC192 module I was using prior. I'm very pleased and happily enjoying the Phonitor is a fun new way.

 

[music_man]

This is now my favorite solid state amp! It sounds sublime with Utopia and Z1R. I have not tried any other yet. I am going to say the Z1R on the Phonitor XE is more preferable to me than my HE-1! That is just me of course. I know many people would give a kidney for an HE-1. Me, personally this is end game. Of course I will not stop but I easily could here. I had the Benchmark HP4 alongside it and it is also a great amp. I just vastly preferred this. I see many have been for sale. I guess it is an acquired taste. If it was some junk they would not be selling thousands of them for $3,000 each. It is good enough for studio use. Which is it's target market. I love it to death but YMMV. As always my disclaimer is you must listen for yourself. Although I am not sure why so many people do not like it. I am in love with it. Maybe they had wrong headphones. From the Utopia and Z1R I feel it is a match made in heaven. I have many other I can try and I will eventually. Right now it is so good I can't take them off. I was hungry like 2 hours and refused to go to the kitchen because I was so entrenched in the sound! For the record I find the Violectric nimbus 4+ to be 3-5 steps behind. This just goes to show everyone's ears and preferences are different. You must listen. I personally find this to be the crème de la creme Can't fault me for that. It is for me not anyone else. You may just hate it, many do. Certainly not I. Personally with the given headphones I feel there is no better. Even in tubes. Many shall disagree and that is absolutely fine. It is up to you for yourself, not me. I am just relating my experience. The Violectric 850 may be better than the DAC in the X but the XE is much better. I am using a loaded MSB Select DAC II with mono power bases for my DAC anyways. It is a headphone amplifier not a DAC. Yes I feel it is good enough that is deserves a $130,000 DAC, Well I just happen to have it anyways. I would at least use the likes of DAVE however. Using the internal DAC is really going to short change it IMO. As the above poster realized an outboard DAC is definitely in order here. I would not even consider the DAC in the XE let alone the X. I do not mean to be a snob but if you want the best sound.... I fully agree with his feelings soundwise. Although mine is warmer. The HP4 is very sterile and clinical. Very exacting like a surgeons scalpel. I did not like it at all. The Phonitor is also very resolving but has great PRAT too. The head stage is huge before even touching the crossfeed or matrix IMO.

 

[music_man]

As stated here it is indeed better with RCA in and 1/4" out. I do not feel that means it is a bad amp. I do feel it should be used the best way possible however. Although that is indeed strange because usually balanced is better. I think I know why though. It is dual mono and not actually balanced. Hence the higher noise floor on the XLR. Although I am not sure any other amp has a noise floor this low. I measured over 150DB! it says 135.5. Furthermore my unit has no gaps you can see in and is well built. XE weighs 11.4# and others only 9.5#. I believe if you do not need a preamp or recording only features the XE is the best one. I demo'd them all. Plus plug for phones in back was a big plus for me. Also DAC 768, DSD. It is their newest unit as well. Same price as X with DAC. I feel this can be end game for some people. I love it and find no shortcomings. Although many others do. I take it these are not very popular for whatever reason. Maybe because they are mainly for recording monitoring. It sounds fantastic to me though through the Utopia and Z1R. I had to flip switch 2 on as my DAC outputs +0DBV. I did not have nearly enough gain with dip 2 off. I do not need dip 1 on. With proper gain coming in it is fine. Volume all the way, no source, no noise whatsoever. Even the HPA4 had a bit of noise in that situation. Now with some break in, of course only has gotten even better. I feel it will crush most amps(even tube) right out of the box. Those are just my personal feelings. YMMV.

 

[Luckbad]

I tried XLR in/out and RCA in+1/4" out both via the RME ADI-2 DAC (which I find equally good with both outputs). I farted around for a few hours to figure out which was better and decided they were equally good.

The better input is likely dependent on your DAC.

The better output is a wash. If you need maximum power the XLR is the obvious choice. The SE output technically has a few prettier numbers in the spec sheet but the specs on both outputs are nuts.

The other objective advantage to XLR out is that you won't accidentally short your amp.

If you forget to pause the music or mute it when you plug in/out the SE jack, you can blow the amp.

 

[music_man]

Permanently in back with custom silver extension cable so no worries there. That is why I picked the XE. I don't need a preamp, have one. I feel the RCA and 1/4" is a bit better as do others but I understand your feeling. XLR specs are actually worse. This is not surprising as the amp is not truly balanced. It is dual mono. Which is actually better IMO. Part of how it hits -150DB noise floor. It is honestly a very lovely amp IMO but YMMV. Most do not like it, hence this being only 12 pages. Plus the XE is newest model with best DAC and some improvements to the amp itself they do not wish to mention just yet but I got it out of them. If it says anything XE is 11.4#, others are 9.5# weight. So there is definitely something more in the XE or better casework. I would guess both as there is no gap on mine and seems very well made. Not as fancy as the HPA4 but sounds better IMO. It is a $2,800 amp so unlikely any type of garbage even if not ones specific "taste"

 

[Luckbad]

I imagine this thread is only 12 pages long because most have never heard a Phonitor other than the Mini (which was bad). We audiophiles tend to be reluctant to embrace pro audio when it tries to cross over into our territory. SPL has done a heck of a job with the latest generation of their consumer amplifiers. Indeed, I believe this is the best solid state headphone amplifier I've had the pleasure to listen to for any extended period. The only threat to that title would likely be the latest and greatest from ECP Audio.

Regarding the volume levels you require, what headphones and DAC are you using? With the Sennheiser HD650s, I would suffer permanent hearing damage if I were to max out the volume of the single-ended output. If you require maximum volume from the single-ended output with your headphones, you would almost certainly benefit from the power increase of the XLR outputs (if only because you won't suffer from distortion and such from wild power swings).

 

[music_man]

No, I just had to flip dip switch 2. It is fine now. I am currently using all SE. It does seem to sound better. Before the meters did not even move. It was switch 2 solved it. I love this thing. It is like Genelec Speakers. Never hear Audiophiles mention them but they are outstanding IMO. My speakers are also pro audio and most people have never even heard of them. although when they hear them they are impressed. It is just our bedroom system. they are Amphion Argon 3. Not the 'S' model. That is less expensive and not nearly as good. For their size I will never trade them. Well, unless something was better but I doubt it. Very happy I took a chance on the Phonitor. You are correct it is not the same as the Mini which is not very good. I guess Benchmark is the same too. Seldom mentioned but it was also a great amp, just not to my liking. I can see people afraid to drop 3 grand plus on something they never even heard of. Most people will not take that chance. OH well, it is the best SS amp I ever heard too.

 

[RobertSM]

No, I just had to flip dip switch 2. It is fine now. I am currently using all SE. It does seem to sound better. Before the meters did not even move. It was switch 2 solved it. I love this thing. It is like Genelec Speakers. Never hear Audiophiles mention them but they are outstanding IMO. My speakers are also pro audio and most people have never even heard of them. although when they hear them they are impressed. It is just our bedroom system. they are Amphion Argon 3. Not the 'S' model. That is less expensive and not nearly as good. For their size I will never trade them. Well, unless something was better but I doubt it. Very happy I took a chance on the Phonitor. You are correct it is not the same as the Mini which is not very good. I guess Benchmark is the same too. Seldom mentioned but it was also a great amp, just not to my liking. I can see people afraid to drop 3 grand plus on something they never even heard of. Most people will not take that chance. OH well, it is the best SS amp I ever heard too.

I agree. As long as I've been on Head-Fi I've noticed some brands are more popular than others. SPL, as a brand doesn't seem to get much attention as others. Who knows why. But, I'm also a big fan of the Phonitor amp and of the SPL brand.

I see we also have more in common as you mentioned Genelec and I too also really love that brand. I think up and down their offerings are all very very soild and they make some of the best active speakers. They cater to the sound engineers and studio folks as you know. But I think they have many models that would suit the audiophile and Head-Fi community.

 

[buzzlulu]

If you forget to pause the music or mute it when you plug in/out the SE jack, you can blow the amp.

Is this true?

 

[elwappo99]

As stated here it is indeed better with RCA in and 1/4" out. I do not feel that means it is a bad amp. I do feel it should be used the best way possible however. Although that is indeed strange because usually balanced is better. I think I know why though. It is dual mono and not actually balanced. Hence the higher noise floor on the XLR. Although I am not sure any other amp has a noise floor this low. I measured over 150DB! it says 135.5. Furthermore my unit has no gaps you can see in and is well built. XE weighs 11.4# and others only 9.5#. I believe if you do not need a preamp or recording only features the XE is the best one. I demo'd them all. Plus plug for phones in back was a big plus for me. Also DAC 768, DSD. It is their newest unit as well. Same price as X with DAC. I feel this can be end game for some people. I love it and find no shortcomings. Although many others do. I take it these are not very popular for whatever reason. Maybe because they are mainly for recording monitoring. It sounds fantastic to me though through the Utopia and Z1R. I had to flip switch 2 on as my DAC outputs +0DBV. I did not have nearly enough gain with dip 2 off. I do not need dip 1 on. With proper gain coming in it is fine. Volume all the way, no source, no noise whatsoever. Even the HPA4 had a bit of noise in that situation. Now with some break in, of course only has gotten even better. I feel it will crush most amps(even tube) right out of the box. Those are just my personal feelings. YMMV.

This does make sense. The xlr output is not truly balanced. After back and forth with spl engineers the most I could figure is that the xlr output has a higher gain.

Is this true?

Yup. I would either turn the volume to 0 or switch the toggle to mute before removing the plug.

 

[music_man]

It is not truly balanced. It is dual mono. The XLR has a higher noise floor but still lower than most. So in essence you are correct. The all SE should sound the same as the XLR. However I and some others feel RCA in and 1/4" out sounds slightly better. Either way it sounds fantastic before you even mess with the crossfade or matrix. Once you tune those, really nothing is as good. Other amps have a crossfade but not implemented this well IMO. Some said the Phonitor II is better with more controls. Honestly you would only be using those controls if recording. The XE is the newest model and I feel it sounds slightly better than the X. This is possible and they did not say so because they certainly put a better DAC in it. I really do not think there is any better SS amp as of now. YMMV. The Benchmark HPA4 is more precise but to fatiguing and very bright and sharp. I needed something that was about half a rack space. I was very surprised I felt it was much better than my RSA DarkStar. I also felt it is better than my GS-X. I have all the way up to the HE-1. I would rather use this with first the Z1R and custom cable and Second the Utopia with custom cable. The PRAT, toe tapping is phenomenal. I have it on Stillpoints. Odin II RCA'S, and Crystal Cable Future Dream Power cord I just got. It is pretty much broken in now but it did not change much like most pro gear. I am using an Axios silver SE cable with it. It fits both headphones. I love it. That is all I can say. I was exclusively listening to loudspeakers but now headphones again. Due to this. They really sound like speakers with the controls.

Yes, if not mute the plug can smoke it. Odd for pro gear. One issue is it learns the remote not vice versa. so the remote is controlling amplifier while it is controlling the Phonitor too. So I just unprogrammed it. I just set it where I want it and sit back.

 

[buzzlulu]

Has anyone had any experience getting the Phonitor from Headphones.com? I dealt with them back in Tyl's day 20 years ago however not recently. They seem to state a 365 day return policy which seems ridiculous and not too believable. They also do not have a telephone number to call and verify this return policy as well. I am usually not trusting of places which do not have telephone numbers.
It would seem like a good way to demo this unit.

 

[music_man]

I do not order from any place that does not have phone number, address, and actual Email not a web form. That is just me YMMV. Although I think in general that is a good way to play it safe. Year return but no phone number? Good luck with that! If it is something $5 whatever but not 3 Grand.