A while ago I tested the SPL Phonitor X which did not do well. Turns out the DAC in that unit was the older generation. And I did not know about dip switches underneath the unit which sets the headphone gain. This review remedies both. New units sell for US $2,999 now.
This unit is in silver which makes it easier to see the labels:
Needless to say this is a gorgeous looking desktop product, albeit a large one. Back panel shows that the unit can be used as DAC, pre-amp and/or headphone amplifier:
In this review I focused on DAC and headphone amplifier subsystems.
Phonitor X New DAC Measurements
The new DAC indeed performs quite a bit better:
Still, given the cost, the performance is quite low compared to even budget offerings:
Baseline noise is rather high -- a problem that you will see in measurement after measurement:
Distortion is not competitive either:
Jitter is excessive:
Linearity is not great due to high level of noise:
Headphone Measurements
I started with the DIP switches set to off which gives it the lowest gain (almost unity gain):
This is again well below where the front runners are:
Noise performance once again is not great:
Frequency response is flat enough but I expect better:
Most important here is the power vs distortion+noise. So let's start with 300 ohm load:
We have a ton of power here if you can tolerate higher noise and distortion.
Going down to 32 ohm load causes sharp increase in distortion and very early:
Sweeping the load we see how it doesn't low low impedances that demand current as opposed to voltage that it is designed to provide:
I am not happy with the sharp rise in distortion at lower impedances. Planar magnetic headphones are going to suffer. But if you have a 300 or 600 ohm headphone, this thing sings. And sings really loud!
Listening Tests
I started with my everyday Dan Clark Stealth headphone. Was saddened that anything past medium level of loudness resulted in audible distortion in the form of garbling. Its low impedance and demand for power is not a fit for Phonitor. I switched to Sennheiser HD 650 with its 300 ohm impedance and now the unit was happy to drive it to very loud volumes with excellent fidelity.
Conclusions
We have improvements across a number of areas here relative to the older unit I tested. Alas, the main story of this unit has not changed. Its design uses high voltage rails which means it is optimized to drive high impedance loads. With anything else, its performance suffers. Its DAC is now "fine" but nowhere near state of the art. Considering how much you are paying for this unit, you want to have much better performance than a unique niche. Yes, the case is lovely but you don't listen to the case.
I can't recommend the SPL Phonitor X. I hope they revamp this architecture and make it more performant.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
This unit is in silver which makes it easier to see the labels:
Needless to say this is a gorgeous looking desktop product, albeit a large one. Back panel shows that the unit can be used as DAC, pre-amp and/or headphone amplifier:
In this review I focused on DAC and headphone amplifier subsystems.
Phonitor X New DAC Measurements
The new DAC indeed performs quite a bit better:
Still, given the cost, the performance is quite low compared to even budget offerings:
Baseline noise is rather high -- a problem that you will see in measurement after measurement:
Distortion is not competitive either:
Jitter is excessive:
Linearity is not great due to high level of noise:
Headphone Measurements
I started with the DIP switches set to off which gives it the lowest gain (almost unity gain):
This is again well below where the front runners are:
Noise performance once again is not great:
Frequency response is flat enough but I expect better:
Most important here is the power vs distortion+noise. So let's start with 300 ohm load:
We have a ton of power here if you can tolerate higher noise and distortion.
Going down to 32 ohm load causes sharp increase in distortion and very early:
Sweeping the load we see how it doesn't low low impedances that demand current as opposed to voltage that it is designed to provide:
I am not happy with the sharp rise in distortion at lower impedances. Planar magnetic headphones are going to suffer. But if you have a 300 or 600 ohm headphone, this thing sings. And sings really loud!
Listening Tests
I started with my everyday Dan Clark Stealth headphone. Was saddened that anything past medium level of loudness resulted in audible distortion in the form of garbling. Its low impedance and demand for power is not a fit for Phonitor. I switched to Sennheiser HD 650 with its 300 ohm impedance and now the unit was happy to drive it to very loud volumes with excellent fidelity.
Conclusions
We have improvements across a number of areas here relative to the older unit I tested. Alas, the main story of this unit has not changed. Its design uses high voltage rails which means it is optimized to drive high impedance loads. With anything else, its performance suffers. Its DAC is now "fine" but nowhere near state of the art. Considering how much you are paying for this unit, you want to have much better performance than a unique niche. Yes, the case is lovely but you don't listen to the case.
I can't recommend the SPL Phonitor X. I hope they revamp this architecture and make it more performant.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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