SPL PHONITOR X & E

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by gbeast, Dec 24, 2016.

  1. colhd

    colhd Acquaintance

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    Thanks for that, hasn't seen that one.

    Whether I get the Phonitor depends on what I do wrt a DAC, that's my priority, and I have been getting some help here regarding that decision (MOTU, Prism etc). That will determine budget for a pre. And selling some other stuff which I have been lazy with.
     
  2. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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  3. colhd

    colhd Acquaintance

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    That would make an impressive looking unit but I can't see me needing 3 balanced outputs anytime soon!

    As for impressions, I will post when I think I have something useful to add. Lots to do before then.
     
  4. Zurvv

    Zurvv Acquaintance

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    I'm mainly use the Phonitor has a pre. How i can use any remote is super helpful
    I'm super loving that the Phonitor comes with trigger out too!!
    (also.. yeah. meters.. they look cool :) )

    note, anyone can use the trigger out even if your devices don't support it. You can get a power strip that can support it.
    I'm using the Niles AC-3.
    That way when i power off the Phonitor it shuts off the Schiit amp that is shoved under my desk.
    [​IMG]

    UPDATE: It doesn't seem to be working (the trigger that is) - i wonder if they did something funky. 12v triggers should be generic.
    I opened a ticket with them.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2021
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Are you using a 3.5mm mono cable?
    edit: also the manual states specifically it is used with the s800 amp, not that it's a generic 12v trigger... (I only ever tested with the s800, I don't have any other gear with the trigger)
     
  6. Zurvv

    Zurvv Acquaintance

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    i didn't get it for the tigger.. but i was pumped when i saw it. I asked SPL about this. I'm not sure what would be worse... that it only works with their amp or it is generic and my unit is broken :p
     
  7. Zurvv

    Zurvv Acquaintance

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    To get the Phonitor X to trigger other devices you need to bridge a resistor. (it is outputting a non-slandered voltage for a trigger. Phonitor x normally has less that 100mA out at trigger 12V output.)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    I'm bad at soldering and that would likely leave marks too.

    I just put a wire there and it worked fine. I'm going to tape it in place.
    My fall back was to use a trace pen, but it wasn't needed.

    Very easy mod to get the SPL Phonitor X to use a standard trigger.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2021
  8. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    @Zurvv
    Interesting! Did you reach out to SPL or figure it out yourself?
     
  9. elwappo99

    elwappo99 Friend

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    A Solid State Shootout?


    Welp… I’ve been working on this far too long so I’m just going to toss it out here. I’m not sure where to put this, but this is the spot that inspired me so here to we go.


    I had a Master 11. I didn’t find anyone who had both of these amplifiers at the same time, save for one person who comfortably declared they were 100% identical in sound. Great! Perfect! I’m all set. Except… The Master 11’s headphone amplifier… well it wasn’t umm….well it sounded umm different. Especially compared to the Liquid Platinum and THX 789. And so I had a nagging feeling to get a Phonitor. Well, as time goes on, I’ve now got a collection of solid state amps here and thought it was due for a comparison.

    In their respective price brackets, I think all of these are good. The fact that I’ve got them here, and I’m sitting to write out a review means they mark a benchmark for their categories. I usually just churn through amplifiers. After sitting here for a few hours swapping 4 pin XLRs back and forth my honest opinion is that I’m really splitting hairs here.

    I’m not going to jump into each amplifier’s functionality, quirks, inputs, outputs, preamps, specifications, dimensions, weights, colors, county of origin, and middle name, because I feel like most of these amplifiers have solid reviews by solid reviewers floating around. If I point out anything specific about these aforementioned, it’s because I think the reviews didn’t adequately cover it. Also the SE vs balanced functionality of each unit could be an entire discussion on its own, but I won’t get into this. None of these get particularly hot, with the Master 11 getting “warm” at best.




    Source: Lynx AES 16e - Schiit Yggdrasil

    Headphones: HD800 (mostly), Hifiman HE-6, Audeze LCD-X, Hifiman HE-1000


    Calibrate to 88db +/- 0.2 HD800. Amps left on for an hour before I started. Everything running balanced.

    LCX – 12 oclock– Low Gain

    THX 789 – 2 oclock– Low Gain

    IHA-6 - 11 oclock– Low Gain

    Phonitor – 10 oclock - Low Gain

    M11 – 42


    General thoughts on individual units:

    THX 789 – I’m going to use this as the sound signature “reference”. I wince at saying “reference”, but this unit seems to land somewhere in the middle ground of the other units for sound signature, so it makes a good point to compare things to. Also, I think at this point it’s a fairly common amplifier that people have heard.


    HE-6 Power: Treble pierces on this one. Vocals sound thinner and a bit more dull compared to other amps. Bass is thinner which is probably contributing to that.


    Planar Power: OK. Better than the Liquid Carbon, but behind everything else. With heavier drivers the bass sounds more present than the LCX, but kind of flabby. Imaging starts to lose composure as well

    Good pairings: IEMs and anything sensitive.

    So so pairings: Anything that had a bright edge to begin with. Wasn’t a big fan with the HE-1000

    Off the cuff notes: tinny sound around cymbals, and doesn’t capture the same decay detail as Phonitor X. Treble has a certain “grain” to it that isn’t as clear as the IHA-6 or Phonitor X.


    Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X – This is the Massdrop unit. This thing is a classic.

    Signature vs THX 789 - Overall warm tonality. Midbass/bass is the emphasis. Treble is less, and also rolls off early.

    Bass control isn’t as good as the THX unit. It was hard to get a handle of the bass quantity vs the 789 at first, because the LCX’s bass isn’t as controlled, which made the bass seem to be much more emphasized. There is a bit more bass (not subbass), but also it isn’t as controlled.


    Why the hell do I still have this unit then? It’s a f'ing fun amp to listen to. Throw any headphone on and just listen for a few hours with 0 fatigue and its sounds better than the vast majority of opamp designs I’ve listened it.


    HE-6 Power: Sounds OK. The usual bass thinness that comes from being underdriven kind of balances the sound on this. But doesn’t grab the resolution the HE-6 is capable of.

    Planar Power: Falls behind everything else. Doesn’t have the control over the drivers and the lingering bass on the LCD-X becomes dominant.

    Good pairings: Brighter headphones. I don’t tend to have a bunch of

    So so pairings: Not great with sensitive IEMs. Anything warmer sounding (e.g. Audeze) will end up sounding syrupy thick.


    Off the cuff notes: Soundstage seems to lose its composure when there’s a lot going on, and isn’t best to start with. Instrument separation also isn’t as strong as others. Doesn’t have typical grain from vocals and instrument. Treble rolls off and vs THX, and the bass is more present, but also not as detailed.


    Cayin iha-6

    Off the cuff notes: The treble emphasis makes it hard to really understand how detailed it is. SS about the same as the THX, but iha-6 more articulate in separation. Even though it has a bit more treble it isn’t as fatiguing as the Schiit Jot was. Maybe partly because it isn’t as grainy sounding. There’s more treble energy than the THX, but it’s much more refined and cleaner sounding. W/ LCD-X the bass is only second to the M11 in terms of control. Slightly better attack/decay compared to the Phonitor. Can have a slightly metallic timbre to natural strings and vocals, but the Yggdrasil hides most of that.


    HE-6 Power: Probably one of the best I’ve heard the HE-6 on in terms of raw power. Good bass control and treble. But the treble peak + HE-6 treble emphasis could get really fatiguing. Probably a good candidate for some eq love.


    Planar Power: I think this is where the unit shines. With most planars headphones this unit seems to have more control in bass decay than everything except the M11. It edges the Phonitor on slightly more demanding planar headphones.

    Good pairings: Audeze LCD-X, LCD-2C, and Sennheiser HD650/HD600

    So so pairings: HE-1000


    M11 -

    Off the cuff notes: There’s so much to like about this thing, but it just sounds so off. Like I’m not sure how anyone could hear this amp and not go “uhhhhhhhhhhhhh double check the cables”. Gobs of power, fully balanced, balanced preamp, remote, and a great DAC to boot. Problem is this thing ends up with this weird fuzzy sound that persists in all listening.


    Treble is right where I want it to be for general listening. It’s rolled off, but not too bad. Unfortunately, the entire treble is really plagued by this blurry fuzzyiness. There seems to be tons of potential here, but the low level detail retrieval is marred. Midrange is much the same.


    Bass is hard to describe. There is a strange mix of being both bloated and controlled. It isn’t the same overbloated bass of something like the Liquid Carbon X. There’s this really clean tight bass underneath this heavy haze and fuzziness (don’t know how else to describe it).


    Imaging and soundstage are really strange and what sticks out the most. The soundstage depth has collapsed and is very thin. At the same time the width is really wide. To the point where on the HD800 it’s hard to pinpoint individual instruments because they come from such a wide area. Oddly enough, this works pretty well with the HD600.


    HE-6 Power: Probably the only headphone amplifier I’ve heard that I’d throw the HE-6 on and not feel the need to power up the Schiit Aegir.


    Phonitor X


    HE-6 Power: Better than the THX and LCX, but sounds thin in the bass when the volume is cranked. OK for lower volumes.

    Planar Power: Plenty of power for middle of the line efficient planars. I really don’t like the gain switches on this unit. Higher gain sounds very strained and like a treble monster.

    Good pairings: Modded HD800 with this is really a top of the line resolution combo.

    So so pairings: HE6 gets a bit strained

    Off the cuff notes: Depth of soundstage is top of class. Instrument separation is excellent. Bass quantity is perfect with excellent detail and decay.





    Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon – This is the original Cavalli Audio Release

    Compared to the Massdrop version – This thing gets noticeably warmer. I could put stuff ontop of the Massdrop version, but no this one. Better detailing is quickly apparent. The Massdrop version clearly has more bass quantity, but after listening for awhile, it seems to me like it’s due to lack of control of the bass. The Massdrop version’s bass seems a bit flabby/soft. The real loser in the trade off is the midrange. The Cavalli Audio version has much clearer presence in the midrange, where the Massdrop version the bass sounds like its bleeding in too much.







    [​IMG]
     
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    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
  10. Claud

    Claud Living the ORFAS dream

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    Sold my Phonitor E and bought a Violectric HPA V550.
     
  11. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    A random post for information purposes. I've had my Phonitor 2 for years now, but never tried using the XLR preamp outputs on the back to drive a headphone as they are reportedly able to do so for balanced output, before they made the X/etc variants. Well I finally got the bits and bobs to put the cable together (had it for years, I should say I finally bothered to make it).

    It's all mounted in a rack right now and I don't want to take it all apart to adjust the dip switches on the bottom so the XLR outputs are lower than the headphone jack right now, but even cranking it max on my HE-6 which is a stupid test there's no clipping and it's clean. It sounds better from the headphone jack, but that's probably just volume trickery messing with my perception.

    Anyhow, I'll update if I get around to more testing, but my only other balanced headphone right now is a 600 ohm HD25-13 so that's not a good test either.
     
  12. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Ok got a JAR 660 in the house. There's background noise so not really dedicated listening.
    Balanced off the Phonitor2 seems to have more lower end whomp compared to the headphone jack, though I'm not sure if that's from more energy or if it's loosy goosier.
     
  13. Collusion

    Collusion Friend

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    I tried my Phonitor 2's balanced outputs with Focal Clear's a couple years ago. I bought an adapter that converted the two XLR outputs to one 4-pin XLR, so I could use Focal's stock cable.

    There might have been an advantage in soundstage and layering, but I was let down by now elevated and maybe even bloated bass. The Focal's have an impedance of 55 ohms and I bet the output impedance of the preamp output is highish, which might just explain this. I preferred the headphone output.

    Nowadays I have an SPL Phonitor e, which has a balanced 4-pin XLR output as well. As far as I can tell, both Phonitor 2 & e have an identical sound quality through the TRS output. But I do prefer the Phonitor e via the balanced output, as it seems to have a better soundstage to my ears, without any of the downsides I discovered with Phonitor 2's preamp outputs.
     
  14. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I just swapped back and forth between the 150 ohm JAR 660 and the 600 ohm HD25-13.

    With the 600 ohm HD25, it is noticeably more v-shaped on the XLR output. Bottom end simply feels louder. Top end isn't louder, but actually the clarity feels better.

    With the JAR 660, the low end does feel looser though it thwomps a tiny bit more. Top end feels the same.
     
  15. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    Yep - Phonitor 2 XLR outputs are 75 Ohms (scroll all the way down to specifications here), which with the Clear's impedance bump in the bass will result in ~5 dB elevation there cf. its TRS output (0.18 Ohms output Z).
    Phonitor e balanced headphone output is 0.36 Ohms cf. its TRS of 0.18 (specs here).
    The 660's bass impedance bump (presuming the JAR mod hasn't changed it markedly) is of similar magnitude to the Clear's, but starting from a baseline of ~150 Ohms vs the Clear's ~55 it'd be less responsive to a 75 Ohm vs 0.18 Ohm output Z contrast. I haven't found an impedance profile for the HD25-600, but being that high it'd be surprising if its bass impedance bump alone was responsible for what you're hearing.
     
  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I wouldn't say the differences are entirely due to impedance. Probably just component matching as it were, or in this case front side vs backside. I've got a different cable/adapter in the front vs the back. Most likely there's different circuitry on the XLRs compared to the TRS.

    I did try cranking it though and the XLRs go surprisingly high without clipping. Definitely much more than your typical source preamp output.
     
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  17. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Decided to make an offer on a used red X. I really want to play with x-feed and @Armaegis glowing review of it’s preamp performance pushed me over the edge. Let’s hope it’s still available…
     
  18. wbass

    wbass Friend

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    Am I remembering correctly that you were also considering the BHA-1?

    I believe the Phonitor circuit is unique in that it puts the most wattage into 300ohms and trails off on either side of that. Could be why it's been repped for the Senns over the years.
     
  19. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Yep was considering the Bryston but the HD600 is my main hp and the remote is nice. And the sexy red… well well.
     
  20. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Well been listening to the X for several days both as hp amp and pre and it’s very transparent. Not much to say it’s like my hp’s and speakers are hooked up straight to my Yggdrasil.
    Did have a groundloop issue since it’s not really balanced but that got solved.

    But there is a problem with one of the vu meters, the left one has a resting position close to 30 instead of being on 0 or the notch if you will. It does not go lower even if the amp is totally powered down. Looking at pics of the inside i see two trimpots and was thinking maybe they can be used to adjust it but i suspect it’s a mechanical adjustment somewhere or the dial is just damaged.

    Contacted spl today but no response yet because of the weekend.

    Other than that the unit is mint and works flawlessly. Even the print is pristine.

    Happy with my purchase and i consider the quest to consolidate pre and hp amp a success.
     
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