CHORD Alto Headphone/Power Amp Review

[amirm]

How do you select inputs and outputs?

You push the corresponding globes. It changes color and you hear a relay click.

 

[amirm]

Then why it rotates?

I think it is a part they used in other products where the rotation is used for something. But not here.

 

[kemmler3D]

Do any headphones require this sort of power?
Just wondering what the use case is?

A few really crazy headphones need inordinate power... they also tend to cost a crazy amount, so there's at least some market for this thing.

As for the device itself, just kind of weird for the price. (to me.)

Even if this was $400 instead of $4K the performance (unless you need absurd wattage for your cans) isn't worth it to me.

Also, Mr. Chord, Rob Watts, claims he can hear noise down to -300dB. I guess this device must drive him crazy, for him this is a nuclear bomb going off compared to the minimum he can hear. I imagine he would actually have an aneurysm and die if he tested it with IEMs.

 

[mc.god]

Line level bypass Line level bypass allows the XLR outputs to bypass the volume control on the front of the unit. This allows you to connect another Alto in the chain or send the signal on further down the line to an alternative piece of equipment.

Now you decide, will your next 4.3K go for ANOTHER Alto or for a shining Innuos USB Reclocker?

 

[Rja4000]

Thanks for this review.

What a strange product.
Isn't that just a speakers integrated amp with a pair of headphones connectors ?

Wouldn't we get similar or better results with any good low power low gain (10dB ?) speakers amp for a fraction of that price ?

 

[Scrivs]

I’m really struggling to reconcile the recommendation this time.
From it’s Fisher-Price looks, infantile UI, to it’s stunning IMD performance, hell no.

Was Chord’s design house and EEs drunk and/or stoned whilst cobbling together this abortion of an April Fools joke?

 

[shuppatsu]

Was Chord’s design house and EEs drunk and/or stoned whilst cobbling together this abortion of an April Fools joke?

Have you seen the DAVE? That's kind of their thing. Kind of a power move in a way, shows that someone can be so rich they don't mind paying top dollar for Captain Nemo's ayahuasca trip gone bad.

 

[wwenze]

Why can't they just put the speaker connectors left speaker on left and right speaker on right...

 

[shuppatsu]

Can we hence forth refer to thei company as "Dis-Chord-ant"

What is dis? A Chord for ants???

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Its worth to mention that there is remote provided and volume control is motorized one.

 

[Scrivs]

My three year old nephew could use this thing as a sort of “Whack-A-Mole” toy, what, with all the brightly hued, random jeweled lights that pop up on the front

 

[mc.god]

My three year old nephew could use this thing as a sort of “Whack-A-Mole” toy, what, with all the brightly hued, random jeweled lights that pop up on the front

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

A few really crazy headphones need inordinate power... they also tend to cost a crazy amount, so there's at least some market for this thing.

Similarly there’s a market for crazy high powered amps for inefficient speakers.

I guess what I’m getting at is that I’d be surprised if a speaker amplifier that measured this badly would get a recommendation just because it was high powered (caveat, I haven’t read every review so I may well be speaking out of my hat).

 

[GD Fan]

Its worth to mention that there is remote provided and volume control is motorized one.

Still not changing my vote.

 

[MRC01]

IMO, with headphone amps power isn't that important and is generally overrated as a feature. 250 mW is enough to drive most headphones loud enough to cause hearing damage. If you have an unusually inefficient headphone like the HE-6, then sure you need more power. But that is the exception, not the norm. From that perspective, this Chord product is obscenely overpriced. For the same price you can get a pair of SOTA headphones and a much cleaner amp and DAC to drive them.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Disappointed in Amir's review. It doesn't show us what is going on at -300 db. Every Chord owner knows that is the most important part.

 

[BeeKay]

I hope we at least see the LED lightshow in the video review? It must be so much better than the typical AliExpress LED strips. Which you can expect at that price.

 

[amirm]

I hope we at least see the LED lightshow in the video review? It must be so much better than the typical AliExpress LED strips. Which you can expect at that price.

Unfortunately they don't blink or anything with music. That, would have been cool!

 

[voodooless]

Specs say:

THD (Speakers):

0.003 % into 4 Ω

THD (Headphones):

0.001 % into 100 Ω

Signal-to-noise:

120 dB

It doesn’t meet a single one of these

The Alto’s ULTIMA topology introduces the company’s dual-feed-forward error-correction technology, which monitors and then immediately corrects signals before the output stage.

I’d say, back to the drawing board…

I really don’t understand the recommendation. The x3800h doesn’t get one because of it’s relatively poor DAC performance despite being excellent otherwise, but the Chord despite it’s poor distortion, does?

What they basically did is build a poorly performing speaker amp, added some headphone jacks to it and called it a day.. just get a Topping B100 and add the jacks. You’ll get the power and the lack of distortion.

 

[godmax]

I really like this rare kind of reviews where Amir personally enjoys or recommends a device despite its shortcomings in measured performance - despite no one expecting him to do so