SPL Phonitor 2 ?

[teashea]

I need a headphone amplifier with a LR balance control. I found this one at Sweetwater. There does not seem to be a review of this one on ASR. Does anyone have any comments?

Thanks

 

[Blumlein 88]

SPL Phonitor X *Updated* Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

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...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is the DAC and Headphone combo. Cannot say for sure, but a good bet the headphone section is same or similar. So look at the headphone amp measurements in the latter half of this review.

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.

 

[teashea]

SPL Phonitor X *Updated* Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

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...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is the DAC and Headphone combo. Cannot say for sure, but a good bet the headphone section is same or similar. So look at the headphone amp measurements in the latter half of this review.

Thank you.