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Comparison review of this amp vs the Schiit Fulla 2. Burn-in has commenced, set up ready to go;
I am using a custom Rhodium plated 3.5 pin-to-gold/rhodium pop on RCA's, with some lovely silver plated copper flat braided cable by PlusSound Audio,(Poetic series custom stereo build). This one is 18 inches long as, I want plenty of length for various set-ups, yet not too much so that impedance gets stiffer.
Got 30+ hours to wait...but I can already tell you that this amp has the same quality build and attention to detail that I have come to expect from JDS Labs. Clean build, matte case,(no fingerprint magnet here!), all jacks and buttons and knob in a very practical arrangement for easy and intuitive access. Set up took me exactly 2 minutes, after I got it out of the very nice and protectively assembled package. Kit is complete with power plug, as listed. You can see the size of the thing as compared to the Fulla and the headphones and my iPad Pro,(Big Version). I got the Standard, as I have that crazy preference for higher resistance cans. The gain switcher button is right up front next to that little red light. WHICH, btw, I prefer to blinding blue. Especially at bed-time, where blue light actually pushes sleep the wrong direction....Thank You for THAT, JDS Labs!
stay tuned.....
* I know I know...some people don't think amp run-in matters- I feel that it does, and, if I am just having placebo effect, well, my option, right? ;)
BTW...you should be pleased as punch with this O2. I am so impressed with how powerful it is and how nicely it presents. If it can do justice to my 600ohm BeyerDs, it will handle almost anything with aplomb!
PART 1: I will be adding to this post series as I experience more sets of cans on this LOVELY little amp.
First impressions; as already mentioned, I love the build quality of this powerful little amplifier. It's assembled VERY well, and the layout of the buttons and knobs etc. is very comfortable and easy to manage, even in the dark when reaching above one's head. It's GOOD that the gain button is adjacent to the volume knob, for instance. I PREFER MATTE FINISHES. I rather hate fingerprint magnets, the urge to compulsively polish shiny surfaces of smudges kind of messes with some of the joy, if you catch my drift. And then I hesitate to touch the thing again....okay enough about it, but, YOU KNOW.
First cans, and vs. the Schiit Fulla, as the Fulla, I think, is representative of the amp class and in a similar cost bracket, with similar user purposing. Kind of Music chosen; (Yes, I copied this list from the Topping, because it's THE SAME LIST I ALWAYS USE),Lots of classical with much strings, voice, Beethoven through Bernstein and Glass. Lots of electronic music a la Wollo, Boddy, Roach, Serrie, etc. Much Leo Kottke guitar happiness, with some Bluegrass and Appalachian schtuff tossed in. Classical piano. Silk Road Ensemble. Popular and Rock, from Joplin to Foo Fighters to Neil Young to classic Santana, to The Killers to Maroon 5 and so on. Jazz and Blues , Muddy Waters, early Severin, Puente. I don't really do Rap, Dub, or Hip-Hop, although I did run a little Black Eyed Peas and Outkast through it. My musics were chosen to represent the spectrum and check out what this Amp offers in the way of clarity, speed, presentation of details and ability to translate input from my iPad and iPhone. (NOT from a computer, as there is no DAC.)
The Cans; The Fostex X Massdrop THX00 mahogany and the Beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohms. I could actually stop with these, (but I don't want to), because this rather represents the range of drive power required, and two distinctly DIFFERENT sound signatures. Nearly OPPOSITE, although I did choose these Fostex because they tend to be a tad more neutral and the tweek a'la Massdrop was to tame the bass a bit. RIGHT AWAY- the Fostex were very pleasantly served by the O2 on the first day, the easy presentation and tonality we love in our Fostex was handily managed by the O2. Ran them on low gain setting, as high gain is a) definitely unnecessary, and b) was kind of blaring and harsh when the cans were overpowered. (EXPECTED) Day 2, mounted the 880's on it,(couldn't wait any longer), and was IMMEDIATELY impressed by how easily these 600 ohm cans were managed by the O2, EVEN ON LOW GAIN. Detail, which is what I love with BeyerD's, was absolutely present through the frequency ranges, vocals were CLEAR, strings, percussion, all lucidly presented without anything being noteable as harsh or strident. And on the 880's detail only became MORE with high gain setting, again, not presented harshly or inappropriately balanced in any way. I can honestly state, especially given my PERSONAL preferences in music listening, that this is producing a very transparent and authoritative sound, and that's before my 30-hour run-in had been managed.
I'm not going to say anything silly about stage or headspace, etc. as I believe that's what the headphones do...as long as the amplifier meets the power need of the cans. The Fostex were not overwhelmed, the 600 ohm 880's were not under-served, not even remotely. As I have already said, you can even power the 880's on low gain and lot lose really much. High gain only enhances clarity.
Oh, and before I forget- let me mention SPEED, just a bit here. This is a FAST little amp. Something that i feel shines out with the sequencer music heard in pieces by Klaus Schultz, Ian Boddy, and the like. NEVER ONCE, did I feel like I was hearing any drops of anything from musics that I am quite familiar with. Not at any range, not with any genre. Can hear finger squeaks on strings, for instance, intakes of breath. Nothing incorrectly attenuated, EVER, even on harder to drive headphones.And we have to admit that 600 ohms is DEFINITELY in the harder to drive end of things.
VS The Fulla; The Fulla, being quite nice it it's own right, is simply outshone by the O2. Not quite as fast, definitely not as powerful. The Fostex do not present quite as cleanly, the 880's do not sound as crisp. Volume adjustment when playing the 880's needs to be MUCH higher, nearly at 3/4 for everything to be audible that is audible with the O2 on low gain setting at 1/2. The O2 features a gain switcher, the Fulla does not. Fulla is input to a 3.5 jack, I went with the O2 desktop model which employs RCAs....which I believe always improves the input sound quality because it's just MORE electron flow available, less impedance at the input, less risk of crosstalk. So there's THAT....... In any case, I can say that I already prefer this amp to the Fulla, although the Fulla is definitely more portable with a slightly smaller footprint and a bit less finicky inputting. I wouldn't strap either of them to my iPhone.
Coming in Part 2; A few more headphones. ..probably not necessary, but maybe helpful for those newer-to-the-audiophile world who have different cans and might want more information. Something to help with decisions or just understanding what we are talking about with specific equipments.
Especially when they wake up this drop again....given the number of requests already, I can't see them NOT.
Hoping this helps ANYONE, or is, at least, a decent read....
cheers!
I hope that you end up being as happy with your amp as I am with mine.
I plan to start the Sennheiser/Grado arm of this review tonight...should get it posted up by tomorrow sometime, and hope that it will help you have a handle on what you can expect from your Senns with this amp.
:)