Airist Audio Heron 5 Amplifier
Powerful Solid-State Amplifier
A single-ended amplifier from newcomer Airist Audio, the Heron 5 caused quite a stir at this year’s CanJam expo—and for good reason. It boasts discrete circuits, outputs with both low and high impedance, and a high power output of 5 watts at 32 ohms. Combined with the company’s proprietary stealth shielding technology, which shuts out electromagnetic interference, the result is class-A performance and clear, detailed sound. A custom stepped attenuator and matched resistors deliver precise volume control, and thanks to the aircraft-grade aluminum chassis, your machine will never be too hot to touch.
Note: This drop is limited to 7 units. At checkout, you can choose between 110V and 220V power options. Please note that the units from Airist Audio's first production run used a different stepped attenuator that presented a few issues, but that this was limited to the first few units sent for early reviews. All units since have featured the improved V2 attenuator.
Quality Build, Exceptional Sound
The Heron 5’s power transformer is rated for more than five times the power it draws, and the discrete voltage regulation is 100 times more responsive than chip-based circuits. The signal path is low-loss, designed without coupling capacitors or a DC servo standing in its way, and an added soft-start circuit protects your headphones, just in case. Along with extended bandwidth, this amplifier has excellent frequency linearity: Within the audio range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz, the frequency response varies by less than 0.05 dB, and it stays within 0.2 dB across the 1 Hz to 100 kHz range. Finally, the Heron 5 is phase-perfect, resulting in a wide and luminous soundstage.
To learn more, check out this review.
Specs
- Airist Audio
- Chassis: Aircraft-grade aluminum
- Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz +/- 0.05 dB; 1 Hz – 101 kHz +/- 0.2 dB
- Phase response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz +/- 2°
- Noise floor: < -100 dBm (0.1 picowatts)
- THD + N at 1 kHz: 0.0015%
- Dynamic range: ≥ 130 dB, 20 Hz – 20 kHz A-weighted
- Signal-to-noise ratio at 1 kHz: 132 dB A-weighted
- Crosstalk: < -80 dB, 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- Gain: 12.5 (22 dB)
- Power output: 5 W at 32 ohm
- Inputs: 1 pair RCA, 1 pair XLR
- Outputs: 1 low-impedance ¼ in (6.3 mm), 1 high-impedance ¼ in (6.3 mm)
- Power consumption: 65 W max, 10 W nominal
- Dimensions: 13 x 11 x 3.9 in (33 x 28 x 8.5 cm)
- Weight: 14 lb (6.4 kg)
Shipping
Estimated ship date is Mar 6, 2018 PT.
Payment will be collected at checkout. After this product run ends, orders will be submitted to the vendor up front, making all orders final.
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