I had the opportunity of receiving the Palaios Wooden Amp as part of a tour. Since I had several other amps I decided to take the opportunity to compare the amps I had on hand. Here are my impressions.
Palaios Wooden Amp vs. C&C BH vs. Leckerton Audio UHA-6S vs. Fiio E11 vs. internal amp in the DX50
Source DX50 with various songs though line output. Earphones DUNU DN-1000 and the Fischer Amps Fa 4e xb,
With the comparisons, the Leckerton UHA-6S is the clear winner and the most expensive of the indivual amps I compared, but the internal amp of the DX50 is so close that I can’t see using the Leckerton with it on the go. Of the other amps that were cheaper, the C&C has better detail and resolution then the Palaios. The Palaios is better than the Fiio E11 in detail and resolution. Bass impact was better on the C&C, than followed by the Palaios and finally the Fiio.
Still, something felt wrong, I felt as if I was missing something with this little amp. So I changed the source, this time to the Cowon Z2, surprisingly, the Palaois started to show off a smart mastery of mids that was equal to the C&C and certainly better than the Fiio. Still detail was behind the C&C , and I thought separation on the C&C was better as well.
My final ranking, would be Leckerton, internal Amp on the DX50, C&C BH, Palaios Wooden Amp, and finally the Fiio E11.
The Palaios Wooden Amp gave a nice presentation with Mids, bass was underwhelming at times and not as resolving as other sources. Highs seemed a bit rolled off.
What I liked about the Palaios? As stated above, Mids were done really nice, especially when coming through the Cowon, also the wooden appearance was rather neat.
Thanks for letting me participate in the tour of this interesting little amp. It should be on its way to the next member of the tour tomorrow.
