Comments on Profile Post by Phantaminum

  1. gaspasser
    gaspasser
    Is it warm and gooey like a killer s’more?
    Jun 2, 2020
    tommytakis and JK47 like this.
  2. Phantaminum
    Phantaminum
    Mmm s'mores. As much as I love a warm and gooey sound this is totally the opposite. With the default tubes, it has a nice touch of euphony while keeping most if not all of the dynamics, and speed of a solid state amp. Adding a Mullard gives a bit more warmth but nothing that sacrifices details. If I owned the SW51+ and wanted to jump up to a top tier tube amp I would for certain look at Pendant.
    Jun 2, 2020
    Cryptowolf, obsiCO, Jinxy245 and 3 others like this.
  3. gaspasser
    gaspasser
    Good to know, the amp&sound amps I’ve heard are very S’mores like. Is this replacing Studio Jr.?
    Jun 2, 2020
  4. Phantaminum
    Phantaminum
    Studio Jr. being kept for speaker duty. I'm still burning in the 300B tubes. The EML 300Bs have settled down but the Psvanes need another 100 hours. The sound goes from great to wtf in a span of a week. Feels like I'm dating someone bipolar.

    I'll have short write up of the Studio Jr as headphone amp in about another two weeks.
    Jun 2, 2020
  5. tommytakis
    tommytakis
    @Phantaminum I've been curious about this amp for a while since Zach had a major part in tuning it, but barely any impressions on here :( How is the front/back layering compared to big boi Eddie Current/DNA stuff?
    Jun 2, 2020
  6. Phantaminum
    Phantaminum
    The comparison depends on the type of power tube being used in the Studio Jr. I say Studio Jr.because out of the box the ZMF Pendant does this really well with the default tubes. The EML 300B staging is flatter than the Pendant and I've rolled several sets of 396A/2C51 driver tubes. I came to the conclusion that's the characteristic of those power tubes. I'd rather listen to the Pendant than the Sjr with the EMLs in.
    Jun 2, 2020
    Cryptowolf likes this.
  7. Phantaminum
    Phantaminum
    Now the Psvanes 300bs are a different story. It has a deeper and wider sound stage than the Pendant but the Pendant gets very close to it's front to back layering. The thing that surprised me most was the clarity of the Pendant. Very vivid images. Personally this amp really hits it out the park with its price to performance ratio.
    Jun 2, 2020
    Cryptowolf likes this.