[FYFL]

Phonitor2 doesn’t appear to editorialize signal that’s coming in from the source to its own DNA. With that being said, I would point in direction of source own signature as a suspect.

Ability to clearly expose changes of source components were on display with my latest upgrade of operating system for PS Audio DirectStream DAC. Differences between previous OS “Windom” and “Sunlight”, which is the latest OS, was quite a revelation. And Phonitor2 broke down those differences with incredible ease.
Difference was so grand that it could easily fool anyone into thinking that they’re listening to a different DAC.
Point is, Phonitor2 doesn’t lie and it’s a capable “microscope” into your audio chain. I don’t know if anyone could claim Phonitor DNA to be the most neutral or linear. But it’s close IMHO.

 

[bvhme]

Wow, they weren't kidding with the labels disappearing. I've had this brand new unit for 4 days. At this rate the faceplate will be unintelligable by Monday

 

[FYFL]

Wow, they weren't kidding with the labels disappearing. I've had this brand new unit for 4 days. At this rate the faceplate will be unintelligable by Monday

I’m not sure what’s going with that silkscreen indicators/labels fading away in such a rapid pace? I had mine for months and no sign of lettering fading.
There are only two explanation for this. Inconsistent QC or sandpaper like fingers. Perhaps, little bit of both. Lol

When I talked to them a while back, they assured me that this ^^^ is a non issue anymore.

But I agree. That shouldn’t be an issue with components in this price range.

 

[bvhme]

I'm crossing my buttery soft -- not anything like sandpaper -- fingers that they just put on one of their ancient face plates and are willing to replace mine. Otherwise, this is might be one of my poorest purchase decisions in quite a while, and I'm quite the idiot.

 

[Galapac]

I'm crossing my buttery soft -- not anything like sandpaper -- fingers that they just put on one of their ancient face plates and are willing to replace mine. Otherwise, this is might be one of my poorest purchase decisions in quite a while, and I'm quite the idiot.

Contact SPL and they will help you out. You have to dig into their site but there is a support page where you have to open a ticket and they will be in contact with you.

I'm in the States and my process was long and involved as I had to go through a U.S. distributor to order the part but I got the face plate.
I had the option to put it on myself or send my Phonitor Xe in.
Since I no longer had the box so I opted to put it on myself. Bad idea.

When I got it opened it looks like this, so as you can see, no easy way to get the front plate off without having them do it for you.
I decided that if I sell it, which I do not plan on doing, I will give the new face plate along with it so the next person can have it installed.

 

[tomwoo]

Contact SPL and they will help you out. You have to dig into their site but there is a support page where you have to open a ticket and they will be in contact with you.

I'm in the States and my process was long and involved as I had to go through a U.S. distributor to order the part but I got the face plate.
I had the option to put it on myself or send my Phonitor Xe in.
Since I no longer had the box so I opted to put it on myself. Bad idea.

When I got it opened it looks like this, so as you can see, no easy way to get the front plate off without having them do it for you.
I decided that if I sell it, which I do not plan on doing, I will give the new face plate along with it so the next person can have it installed.

I guess you could ask SPL's engineers to give you a detailed instruction to safely replace the faceplate without breaking anything?

 

[FYFL]

I guess you could ask SPL's engineers to give you a detailed instruction to safely replace the faceplate without breaking anything?

I doubt it.

 

[FYFL]

I'm crossing my buttery soft -- not anything like sandpaper -- fingers that they just put on one of their ancient face plates and are willing to replace mine. Otherwise, this is might be one of my poorest purchase decisions in quite a while, and I'm quite the idiot.

I was kind of joking. But seriously….. I don’t have any of those issue. So perhaps, I should consider myself lucky. Truth is, I am pretty gentle with it. Especially toggle switches. As those are potential failure point from my experience.

 

[Zurv]

I just ordered a Phonitor X (no DAC.. )
Is it wrong that the main reason i got this was because of the meters....
I also needed something that isn't using tubes. There is something really dumb about running a full PrimaLuna EVO 400 @ 425w+ to have my Office apps beep at me.

So Phonitor X PRE to Schiit Aegir or Phonitor for gaming headphone use or something.
I also have a new DAC coming and it is hard to test out a new dac when everything I have has tubes in it.

I'm planning to split my XLR off the DAC. One going to the Phonitor and one to the WOO WA22

Question, are there any reviews with measurements other than ASR super pointless review. Really? old beat up unit and only at max gain? Hell, this headphone amp has super powerful with out the extra levels of gain (let a lot the max one)
It also kinda bugs me that SPL keep ninja upgrading the unit... so it isn't clear to me if i'm reading a review of the unit I'm getting.
Do we know when they last updated the unit?

 

[bvhme]

I, sadly, had to send my Phonitor X 768XS back. It had the rubbing off letters and it needed to be repaired by the factory. I chose to return the unit outright and get a refund.

I really liked this beautiful unit and the DAC sounds great. Not only that, but I could not pick out the 768XS versus the RME ADI-2-DAC-FS on it's 'SD Slow' DA, Filter which I think is a great compliment. The amp is a bit 'warmer' than the Benchmark HPA4 I have here but sounds incredible. The VU meters are just so nice and them going red when the unit is muted is such a beautiful feature.

I was continuously a bit afraid of shorting the amp by hot plugging a jack cable.

Finally, I have come into a 'as new' used XE that I plan to finish my testing and comparing the amp on, so a fuller review might still come. The XE does not have the text rubbing off issue.

 

[Galapac]

I, sadly, had to send my Phonitor X 768XS back. It had the rubbing off letters and it needed to be repaired by the factory. I chose to return the unit outright and get a refund.

I really liked this beautiful unit and the DAC sounds great. Not only that, but I could not pick out the 768XS versus the RME ADI-2-DAC-FS on it's 'SD Slow' DA, Filter which I think is a great compliment. The amp is a bit 'warmer' than the Benchmark HPA4 I have here but sounds incredible. The VU meters are just so nice and them going red when the unit is muted is such a beautiful feature.

I was continuously a bit afraid of shorting the amp by hot plugging a jack cable.

Finally, I have come into a 'as new' used XE that I plan to finish my testing and comparing the amp on, so a fuller review might still come. The XE does not have the text rubbing off issue.

That depends on when it was manufactured as my Xe had the letter rubbing off issue. I got the DAC for free so I can't complain and they did send me a new front plate but I cannot install it without taking the whole thing apart so I will save it and if I sell it, the new front plate wilt go with it.

 

[sacguy231]

Anyone know if the silkscreen/lettering issue is limited to just the X and XE? or does it also impact the Phonitor 2?

 

[FYFL]

Anyone know if the silkscreen/lettering issue is limited to just the X and XE? or does it also impact the Phonitor 2?

I won't generalize, but no issues so far. However, I would imagine that silkscreen process is the same throughout the entire line......Why some ppl have issues and some don't is puzzling to say the least.

 

[FYFL]

I would also add that Phonitor2 is aimed at pro-audio side of the audio industry. So perhaps, that might be a factor? It's just silly to imagine inconsistency based on that logic.

 

[sacguy231]

I would also add that Phonitor2 is aimed at pro-audio side of the audio industry. So perhaps, that might be a factor? It's just silly to imagine inconsistency based on that logic.

Yeah, who knows. As I scrolled through the forums where people were reporting issues I noticed they were all XE and X models, did not recall seeing anyone sharing pics of a 2 with the issue.