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Gramophone Dreams #57: Ferrum OOR headphone amplifier and HYPSOS power supply Page 2

According to Matuszak, output power into 32 ohms is about approximately 9.5Wpc balanced. It's around 8.3W into 50 ohms and 2W into 300 ohms, both balanced (footnote 2).

On the left of the OOR's front panel is a four-pin XLR headphone output; to its right is a ¼" (6.3mm) output jack followed by a flat knob switch for choosing the RCA or XLR input; that's followed by another knob switch for choosing –4dB, +6dB, or +16dB of balanced gain or, in single-ended mode, –10dB, 0dB, or 10dB of gain. With the Susvara and Abyss headphones, I used balanced at +16dB.

Listening to OOR
I…

Fyne Audio F500SP loudspeaker

In my April 2020 review of Fyne Audio's inexpensive F301 standmount loudspeakers, I wrote, "The Fyne F301s impressed with their exceptional rendering of soundstage width and depth, reasonably wide dynamic range, extended low end (for their size), and exuberant, I-can't-stop-spinning-records presentation. The Fynes presented a finely layered, spatially convincing soundstage with images that were solid, if small."

Upon receiving Editor Jim Austin's assignment to review the Fyne F301's big brother, the F500SP, an upgraded version of the company's F500 model, I wondered if listening would…

Fyne Audio F500SP loudspeaker Page 2

The F500SPs were texture kings. They captured the sound of a wire brush circling a plastic drumhead; of air rushing through a metal saxophone; of the resounding rasp of a vibraslap; of the bristling character that distinguishes a Fender Telecaster from a Stratocaster.

Parasound's Hint 6 Halo extracted clarity from the F500SP, but the combination produced glare that left my ears ringing. The Hungarian Heed Audio Elixir proved a warmer and more liquid match, fleshing out the speaker's low end and producing a more balanced tonal palette. The Schiit Audio Ragnarok 2 made the best match yet…

Fyne Audio F500SP loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-way, bass-reflex loudspeaker with coaxial tweeter/midbass driver and down-firing port with diffuser. Drive-unit complement: 6" (150mm) "IsoFlare" point-source driver with multifiber bass/midrange cone with "FyneFlute" surround, 1" (25mm) magnesium-dome compression tweeter with neodymium magnet system. Crossover frequency: 1.7kHz. Crossover type: Biwired, passive, low-loss, 2nd-order low-pass, 1st-order high-pass. Frequency response (–6dB in a typical room): 42Hz–34kHz. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier…

Fyne Audio F500SP loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: Kuzma Stabi R turntable/4Point tonearm, EMT TSD 15 N Super Fineline moving coil phono cartridge.
Preamplification: Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono.
Integrated amplifiers: Ayre EX-8 2.0, Heed Audio Elixir, Parasound Hint 6 Halo, Audio Ragnarok 2.
Power amplifiers: LKV Research Veros PWR+.
Loudspeakers: GoldenEar BRX, Polk Audio Legend L100.
Cables: Interconnect: Two-meter Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: 8' pair Auditorium 23. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF, manufacturers' own.
Accessories: One pair 24" Sanus…

Fyne Audio F500SP loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, an Earthworks microphone preamplifier, and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Fyne Audio F500SP's farfield behavior, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for its nearfield responses. I left off the grille for the measurements. I used Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.

Fyne Audio specifies the F500SP's sensitivity as a high 90dB/2.83/m. My estimate was 87dB(B)/2.83V/m. The F500SP's impedance is specified as 8 ohms; I found that the impedance magnitude (fig.1,…

Revinylization #26: Two Charles Mingus LPs

In the annals of jazz, Charles Mingus—bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, unique, headstrong, and deeply influential in every category—occupies the transit point between Duke Ellington and the post-'60s avant-garde, a station he carved out deliberately. He venerated Ellington—his sophisticated rhythms and tonal colors, but also his attention to melody, harmony, and structure—and went beyond him (careened down a different path) in expressing emotion, chaos, and anger; it's these elements that the avant-gardists took from him, while abandoning (to a degree that intrigued but also…

ReDiscoveries #2: Joe Henderson, Blue Note and Beyond

Called "the phantom" by fellow musicians and dubbed the "bearded, goateed astronaut of the tenor sax" by a close friend, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, the enigmatic Joe Henderson recorded five albums for the Blue Note label that are uniformly regarded as jazz classics. Mosaic Records has gathered those records—Page One, Our Thing, In 'n Out, Inner Urge, Mode for Joe—plus Henderson's sideman dates and alternate takes for Blue Note for a limited-edition, five-CD box set, The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions (Mosaic Records MD5-271).

Henderson's music on Blue Note is cerebral but…

Questyle Audio M12 portable USB D/A headphone amplifier

There are words that, for reasons I can't fathom, I cannot stand. One such is "dongle." So when Bluebird Music's PR rep emailed me to ask if I would be interested in reviewing a new dongle from Chinese company Questyle Audio, I shuddered. But I must admit that "dongle" rolls off the tongue a lot more readily than "portable USB D/A headphone amplifier." I put aside my grammatical quibble and agreed to a review.

The M12
Priced at $139.99, the tiny, 2"-long M12 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphone Amplifier with DAC features a case machined from aluminum. On one end is a USB-C port. On the other is a…

Questyle Audio M12 portable USB D/A headphone amplifier Page 2

The Questyle did equally well with hi-rez PCM files. I am slowly ripping my LPs to 24/192 files using the Ayre QA-9 A/D converter. A favorite Beach Boys album is Holland (Brother/Reprise K54008), and the M12 reproduced the dropped-octave synth bass notes on "The Trader" with an excellent combination of low-frequency clarity and weight. The cloud of voices behind Carl Wilson's lead vocal was positioned well back in the soundstage. I was startled anew by the girl saying "Hi" into my left ear before the song starts.

Comparisons
At $139.99, the Questyle M12's price falls…