SPL Phonitor x Headphone Amplifier Review

[@wavetheorysound]

About the sound of crossfeed (recording messed up that part)... It makes the biggest difference for older music that hard pans large parts of the music to one side or the other. The x's crossfeed reduces the pressure that places on the ears and makes the Soundstage a bit more realistic. It narrows the stage to varying degrees with the setting chosen. It also reduces the bass quantity. It's going to depend on the user as to whether the trade off is worth it. However, IMO there is a small amount of music out there that truly benefits from crossfeed so other that checking for its effectiveness, I didn't use it.

[@SKY11211213]

I recently got a used Phonitor 2 and it is a blast due to it's soundstage and more bass and treble on the Neumann NDH30. I love it. Other headphone sound different. I think the Sony MDR M1ST has more visible back earcup sounds bounce more often in less appealing songs, quality-wise. For 900€ since I am German it is a 10/10. It is brighter but I FREAKING LOVE IT. To me it is brighter but as a comparison: Sennheiser HD600 (I do not like the headphone that much but HD 6xx are great) will get to the max before it might go bright. Same with NDH30. Bass for the Phonitor 2 got way deeper. I used a Topping A90 which is softer than probably something like THX amps and lacks bass resolution, reverb is less and treble is with the Sony MDz R50 minidisc player, exploding in harshness on Gabber music from Netherlands. Phonitor 2 is not exploding. It is more of a paring issue. I do not know what DAC would be fun for me and sine my FiiO Q5s lost its battery due to spicy pillow forming.... I went with the R50 on recording-paused and it is perfect LINE OUT.

[@delta9k]

Thanks for the review. I've always liked the look of that amp, it reminds more of one of my amateur radio HF transceivers than a headphone amp.

[@dmarcus1260]

I kind of wish I would have bought this headphone amp years ago. The reason I didn't is because the crossfeed, stereo/mono, speaker angle are features I would never use. After watching this review however I realize this is probably the headphone amp that best matches my sonic preferences. I like the fact that the soundstage and the resolution is higher than the Ferrum stack. The Ferrum stack, although sounds good, lacks the "wow" factor especially in the high end. I bet the Gustard X26 Pro DAC would make a great pairing with the Phonitor X.

[@gli7utubeo]

I find the Phonitor (XE) pairs very well with a Meze Empyrean and a Sony MDR-Z1R. To my ears, it tightens the bass and improves imaging and makes vocals more natural. An Audeze LCD4 is also very fine with it, also benefiting from a more transparent bass and sweeter highs. All of these are using single-ended 1/4-inch headphone cables (with the Sony-Kimber cable on the Z1R).

[@nitraM321]

compared to what ?

[@martinlian5208]

useful info, thank you

[@booom4849]

I have currently paired DT990s 600 Ohm with this amp and they sound great, also nice bass although sometimes I wanna boost it a bit. I wonder if you set the jumpers on the backside to +12/+22/+24 dB? Actually this was my first amp which could drive these headphones to satisfaction, some cheaper ones struggled with them a lot! What you described, I should definitely checkout the HD6xx though. Also since you say the amp emphasizes high frequencies, I guess that's a signature/property of the 120 Volt technology which follows the signal very quickly. I also have the SPL phono pre amp, which has this tendancy even more so and just realized by putting a lower voltage device in-between, the signal then flows a touch more mellow. So yeah, maybe the DAC you were listening to was bright? If I connect the RME DAC to it, I wouldn't call the sound bright, in fact pretty balanced.

[@callmevil]

Exactly, he didnt adjust the dip switches for the headphones that he found to not work well with the phonitor

[@nickmimi3631]

The quality of the bass is top notch w/ vintage rock, and the other soft genre’s, I wanted to emphasize that. Great quality review 👍

[@wavetheorysound]

Thanks! I think your point is fair. The bass that's present is very detailed and textured. It's just lean and not very slammy. When that's not important to the music, it can be great.

[@RajivKumar-fn9xw]

Like your no BS straight forward review style, will be great if you can review the Burson Soloist 3x Performance.

[@iikatinggangsengii2471]

its pretty strong actually, sounds like highend daps, good dongle

[@TerraBlacc1]

Nice review, I was lucky enough to have been able to demo this along with the Phonitor Director, my own Quad ERA-1, and an HD820 a few years back. It was the first time I had felt offended by the response of an amp. To me, this amp sounded like a flat instrument, and while I was previously really interested with it, I quickly moved on with my life. I feel like your experimentation and review redeems it a bit, or at least what I perceived from it, but I am still incredibly happy I did not buy this one blind.

[@jarjared3522]

I would argue due to the flat sound it gives you an accurate assessment of a headphone's sound. That would be great if you are a reviewer.

[@bensolorio76]

Good review as always! Can't wait for the g111 mk2, heard you mention it on the podcast

[@callmevil]

19:45 those high wattage at higher ohms applies only for the quarter inch jack and your dt880s are on xlr..’

[@ilikehiking]

I wish more headphone amps had the crossfeed feature since it makes so much sense. Music is almost always mixed with speakers for speakers, so even if certain instruments aren't hard panned to one side the sound will still be unrealistic. Soundstage wise I often feel like I'm standing in the middle of the band instead of in front of the band like with a good set of speakers. I did demo this amp, and I also felt that it lacked on the low end so I did not end up buying it.

[@heyguyslolGAMING]

I have one of these in my bathroom paired w/ the 6xx for when I'm sitting on the thrown taking care of business.

[@wavetheorysound]

Clearly you should have gone with Schiit

[@blejzerosamigos6115]

Thanks for the video great job. I just have one question about your chain your Source in particular. Sounds to me like it is your weakest link (computer were never meant to be audio dedicated devices) did you ever consider or tried something like bluesound node or ifi streamer? Thanks again.

[@wavetheorysound]

The Singxer SU-2 cleans most of that up. Even so, I've used iFi Zen Stream and the spdif outputs on 3 different DAPs to compare to what the SU-2 is doing and think the SU-2 is right there with those solutions. That said, it's still likely that I'll get a performance boost by using a higher end streamer. That's just not in the cards right now. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@seasterl]

You mentioned it paired well with the Senn HD6XX but didn’t circle back to say anything about pairing with the HD800. Also, any comments about using with Grado GS1000 or Audeze LCD-X. Thanks!

[@XEOXERT]

Thanks a lot for a nice comprehensive review. Did you try this amp with Final D8000 Pro, which you`ve reviewed previously on this channel ? I`d like to know please, if it`s a great match with these headphones, or should I look elsewhere ? How`s the bass quality, slam and visceral presentation of the low end and overall dynamics, resolution, image separation, micro/macro details and soundstage ? I`d be very grateful for your opinion on this amp driving Final D8000 Pro headphones please. Thank you.

[@wavetheorysound]

Sry I did not have them at same time.

[@carminedesanto6746]

Saw this with the Focal Stella’s at the Toronto Audiofest this past weekend...it was great ..but is it worth the money….🤷🏻‍♂️

[@vonBaronX]

You need do review of Niimbus, it will blow you away.

[@nitraM321]

isn't wattage supposed to go DOWN when impedance goes up ?, oh and you pointed at the matrix setting, saying it's crossfeed, it's not, that setting allows to select the width of the soundstage and makes this a unique product, if i understand it correctly

[@bullcompost]

I think I might have seen some dip switches at the bottom. Am I right? Do they affect gain/sensitivity? Would bad pairings improve moving the switches? Anyone can comment, please? Cheers.

[@hdsarma]

What's your impressions about Burson headamps like Soloist 3xp or Conductor.

[@bigreed43]

I have owned this for a little over a year and I tell you with certainty that the single ended sound better than balanced. I read somewhere that the amp wasn't truly balanced and that made me switch. if you haven't given it back try single ended.

[@bigreed43]

I also own the Wells Audio Milo which btw also sounds better single ended. The Milo is brighter with a smaller soundstage. I reluntantly had to admit I prefer the Phonitor X over the Milo.

[@Michael_mki233]

Almost wish you'd had an Abyss in for a bit to test with it, given how it was so headphone dependent.

[@wavetheorysound]

Hmmmm. I haven't seen SPL on Abyss' recommended amps list...

[@nitraM321]

i don't think it has enough power for the Abyss or Susvara's,, but those figures are suspect as they seem to say they have more watts the higher the impedence

[@davestevens4193]

Nice review. My AGD Master 9 weighs 32 lbs. Sometimes bigger is better (and for about half the price).

[@coolbepis9301]

The AGD absolutely cannot compete with the SPL unit. Sorry.

[@compadre9783]

​​@@coolbepis9301I tend to disagree. Audio GD is smooth in rhe highs with similar amount of details. The sound stage could be a bit smaller, but more natural. The tonality of Audio GD is definitely more natural with proper bass and slam. Spl sounds more like a mastering tool.

[@coolbepis9301]

The phonitor is dead neutral. It doesn't reduce the bass or emphasize treble. I assume you're comparing it to a warm amp? If you want to hear an actual bright amp, listen to the gsx mkii.

[@Devilishishish]

How did the MM-500 sound like? but since I like sub-bass you turned me away from it and waiting for new violectric hpa 222 (which should be old 281 I think)

[@wavetheorysound]

Phonitor will increase the size of the MM-500's "bubble around the head" staging and bring out some more detail. The slam and rumble decrease. To my ear that makes MM-500's already forward 3khz region come across as even more forward...it's not actually more forward just sounds that way because of less overall body to the sound.

[@Devilishishish]

@@wavetheorysound thanks for response! hopefully you will also get the new Violectric hpa 222 to compare when it comes out

[@callmevil]

Hmm I guess you didn’t adjust the dip switches.

[@tdfmike3915]

Can you please explain? Im considering a used phonitor x or xe for my heddphone 2

[@callmevil]

@@tdfmike3915 there’s dip switches under the Phonitor to adjust the amp’s gain up to +22 db. The exact switch configuration is in the manual that spl makes available on their site. Watch the VU to know if you need to decrease its sensitivity or not after that

[@tdfmike3915]

@@callmevil thanks! Now that I think about it it makes a lot of sense... I assume you want the vu to be somewhere in the middle for your headphones or play around with it at least once to figure it out... I thought the vu was only for showing how much hearing loss I need to compensate on each side 😉

[@callmevil]

@@tdfmike3915 yes the vu meter is for leveling L n R, but for the above is more to make it less sensitive cause itll peak a lot if left on default with the hedd ;)

[@dixter1652]

for the price I'd take the Burson Conductor 3xGT ...

[@zanza_the_rewolverine]

With Audeze mm500?

[@jamesong9408]

In the "What is Crossfeed?" section, you mentioned that in the "Sound" section, you would address how X-feed sounds. Did I just miss it?

[@wavetheorysound]

I pinned a comment addressing this.

[@jamesong9408]

@@wavetheorysound Thank you. You do great work on this channel.

[@gli7utubeo]

If you need to change the fuse (or change the fuse to change the voltage) see this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3rNh61_ocqdh68 This is the type of fuse needed (available from Amazon or Grainger): 1A 250V / 5x20mm Fuse / 1 AMP 250 Volts/Fast Blow/Lot of 10 Brand: Cooper Bussman The fuse compartment is on the back of the unit next to the power cord inlet. You need a small screwdriver to pry out the fuse compartment (as shown in the video). SPL uses a fast-blow fuse but it is my understanding that a slow-blow one with the same specifications is also acceptable if needed.

[@Saturnin-sm7od]

Why would I spend so much on this unit??? I Prefer to buy the 1000 competing unit and put a full OUNCE OF 24K GOLD in my pocket. Putting the ounce of gold on top of the preamp makes it sound so much better and clearer, and the quality and shine, wow!

[@Saturnin-sm7od]

SPL Phonitor looking for dumb dumbs who do not know what to do with their $$... wouldn't it be cool if they could also include an SPL Phonitor Power plug elite with the unit for an extra 2500? 6 gauge copper will just raise your dumb dumb game to the next level.

[@Saturnin-sm7od]

I've gotten an inheritance and I don't know what to do, thank SPL... maybe a snazzy box for the unit made out of balsam wood, for an extra 1500, takes the sound quality to a higher stratosphere!! I'll take 10 units, cause you know its going to be a collectors item!

[@ronmaass4430]

Put it on a shelf in camera view and point out unit. Your going to drop it. I would not give you my unit for review.

[@wakkowarner8810]

Most people giving gear to reviewers, pay the reviews with the gear.

[@supergwizzo]

The other gear is colored. Bass inhanced ! All you young dont know what to do with real gear ! 😮 😅😊

[@arthurhaywood2184]

My only experience with SPL has been at shows. I have to admit that I’m not impressed with their presentation. Definitely headphone dependent.