SPL Phonitor X Review (DAC & Headphone Amp)

[amirm]

1. Why do you say its a balanced headphone amp? Isn't it unbalanced?

Because it is balanced input and output which is all you should care about. How it works internally is not anything we should care about if it measures well.

 

[amirm]

2. Which gain settings did you use for this test?

I didn't see a gain switch on it. Is there one?

 

[AnalogSteph]

The strongest point of this unit would seem to be that you can vaporize 300 and 600 ohm cans if need be. Not very well-balanced otherwise. Not sure how many K340 or K240DF owners are left out there.

Speaking of gain, how much is there? Quite a bit, I imagine.

 

[Deolum]

I didn't see a gain switch on it. Is there one?

Thanks for your reply.

It should have some dip switches on the bottom. Enabling some of those will boost it from 0dB up to +24 dB resulting in a massive audible distortion.

I use it exclusively for low to medium hard to drive headphones. On the standard 0dB it struggles to drive my HD250 Linear 600 Ohm on 2V input. I have to turn the volume completely up sometimes with low volume classical music tracks. Increasing the gain over 0dB results like i said in a massive audible distortion.

If the stated output power is for the +24 dB setting it's quite missleading as i don't think it delivers a clean signal in this mode. By no means do i think this amp is able to drive a HE-6 but i think it performs very well with low-medium hard to drive headphones so i'm confused that your measurement says the opposite but thats maybe because it's on higher gain?

Concerning the balanced question:

Why is an internally unbalanced amp with balanced in and outputs considered balanced? As far as i know there is no benefit of using balanced connectors in an internally unbalanced amp.

The opposite is actually the case. Using balanced connectors in an unbalanced device should result in measurable distortion. The XLR output on the Phonitor X has no practical use and should measure worse than the SE output. Thats why the Phonitor 2 has no XLR output. The XLR output was only added to the Phonitor X as a hifi device to please the hifi crowd who likes to run their phones with XLR. The XLR output is supposed to sound worse than the SE input.

 

[Tks]

I mostly agree, with a few exceptions including RME, Apollo, Genelec and a handful of others.

That goes without saying of course. Though even they, aren't state of the art (though ADCs from RME seem to be; but since we're not too rife with ADC reviews, it's tough to really know).

Apollo seems okay, nothing to write home about.

While Genelec I would agree are good in the speaker realm, though with the new gen stuff from Revel & Co., I think they could be doing better, seeing as how their designs are active speakers. And with active, they shouldn't be running toe to toe with passive designs in my view, especially considering the newer Genelecs that are coaxial seem to also have that inherent design advantage on top of being active.

But speakers are beyond the topic here, and almost all of them seem to be a game of darts (along with headphones) up until the last decade or half decade when folks like Genelec started to bring objectively great performing stuff. But some of their pre-coaxial stuff isn't all that great in my view for the price. And by that fact, I wouldn't expect their "Pro" stuff to be much better, since they seem to push performance with their entire portfolio, and not be like some annoying companies, that artificially segment the fruits of their R&D.

But speakers are another ball game in general that I feel have tons of room for improvement in the general sphere (along with things like headphones). So "state of the art" seems to be too much of a moving ball to then take an assessment of the general spread of pro gear that is usually made, and then used for years and not often replaced. To me, "Pro" production studios at least, when I see they aren't sporting something like floor standing Revel's, and are just making use of active monitors - it makes me realize their standards are low enough to where non-state of the art AMPs or DACs make sense. But maybe it's just me, and a stupid idea I have about the industry. For me, if I had client's walk into my studio, and I didn't have literally one of the best objectively verifiable speakers, it wouldn't sit right with me knowing I can't rock the socks off when playing back something to my clients, and have to rely on simply bookshelfs, especially if the demo area is large enough.

 

[pozz]

Well that is very, very disappointing... I've got to stop letting shiny red things catch my eye. I purchased it in red because it was the only color they had that was refurbished; I prefer silver. (Really, I do.) It saved me about $800 over new but turned out ot be a bad decision anyway...

I'm going to contact both the seller and SPL and point them to this review and ask for comment. This unit is either still broken or poorly designed. In any case it is not a keeper.

Thanks Amir for the very quick turn around. I wanted it to measure well so badly but alas it was not meant to be. I guess in this price range Benchmark and RME really are it.

Martin

Money spent on educating us all

 

[pozz]

The strongest point of this unit would seem to be that you can vaporize 300 and 600 ohm cans if need be.

Actually laughed out loud here.

 

[m8o]

I love VU meters. Lots, lots of VU meters ....

As my wife used to say about my first Shiba Inu that I used to call "my super model" -- as she was the most beautiful dog I ever had or saw, but also had some pretty serious emotional and mental issues -- "Looks aren't everything!". Just like this here. Good looking. With some serious flaws.

 

[UNow42]

I didn't see a gain switch on it. Is there one?

There are some DIP switches underneath: https://spl.audio/wp-content/uploads/Phonitor_x_2003_BA_EN.pdf
look at p.27

 

[Dueprocess]

I was very interested in the Bryston crossover for a while as well for similar reasons, but opted for something different in the end (buying active speakers and subs with DSP built in).

I had considered the Bryston 10B, as well. I'm hoping to get the SPL measured now, if possible, as this review gives pretty substantial reason to doubt their dynamic range specs (which they claim are a product of their 120v rails / voltair tech).

I have a pair of Rythmik G22s, and I was hoping to splurge on some JBL 4349s to stack on top of them, but maybe active is the way to go if I can't find a crossover that doesn't compromise DAC / preamp / power amp dynamic range (I suppose this is an issue w. active speakers anyway, but at least you can move on when the time comes by just swapping the speakers out, and you aren't stuck w. a component chain dependent on a separate crossover that doesn't meet the specs of the other components).

 

[ShiZo]

I almost purchased this instead of my benchmark hpa4. Guess I got lucky with that one?

 

[amirm]

It should have some dip switches on the bottom. Enabling some of those will boost it from 0dB up to +24 dB resulting in a massive audible distortion.

Oh, why oh why they put switches underneath a box when they have so much room on the face panel? Anyway, I will look to see what it is set to.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

A second thought on this: This shows (unless we have a defective unit) that many people don't hear many flaws of their gear, so much for alleged "golden ears"

Or, perhaps, it shows that 'bad' measurements do not mean 'bad' sound.

 

[respice finem]

Actually it once happened to me many years ago, when comparing CD with an early lossy SONY format - in a (of course not blind) test, I clearly favoured the CD sound - until it occurred to me, I got the switch positions wrong Since then I know I can't hear many things (which is sometimes good to know).

 

[Xyrium]

Like everyone else, I'm disappointed in the results. I wonder how much the "refurbish" impacted it though. I never owned an SPL product, but they are reasonably well regarded. That said, the only thing "certified" about this one is the insanity of the pricing given the results. Hopefully the owner can get some answers from the reseller.

 

[restorer-john]

I think the lesson from this is twofold.

1. Dont buy anything red
2. Find out what @Martin has and is planning to buy, then buy something else!

I agree! @Martin please post your short list of potential purchases so we know what not to buy.

Shiny red things are clearly honey traps for all of us.

 

[Martin]

I agree! @Martin please post your short list of potential purchases so we know what not to buy.

Shiny red things are clearly honey traps for all of us.

1. RME ADI-2 Pro FS R
2. Schiit Jotunheim w/AK4490 DAC module
3. Benchmark HPA4

Martin

 

[Helicopter]

1. RME ADI-2 Pro FS R
2. Schiit Jotunheim w/AK4490 DAC module
3. Benchmark HPA4

Martin

I would love to see Amir's review of the Jot 2.

 

[Martin]

I would love to see Amir's review of the Jot 2.

I may just buy the Jotenheim 2 next because it is so cheap and if it measures poorly it would only cost me return shipping + $24.95 (5% restocking fee) to return it.

Martin

 

[RobS]

Thanks for your reply.
Why is an internally unbalanced amp with balanced in and outputs considered balanced? As far as i know there is no benefit of using balanced connectors in an internally unbalanced amp.

The opposite is actually the case. Using balanced connectors in an unbalanced device should result in measurable distortion. The XLR output on the Phonitor X has no practical use and should measure worse than the SE output. Thats why the Phonitor 2 has no XLR output. The XLR output was only added to the Phonitor X as a hifi device to please the hifi crowd who likes to run their phones with XLR. The XLR output is supposed to sound worse than the SE input.

Exactly. Was about to post the same thing.