Audez'e LDC2 and Cavalli Audio Liquid Fire tube headphone amplifier: The orthodynamic headphones many of my friends have favored over the years—mostly Yamaha models—were to me rather dark and typically harder to drive. I can remember thinking that many of them sounded like a sock was stuffed into the cups. I wanted to remove the sock. Not my cup of tea really. Plus, the magnet/aluminum-film sandwich driver design hasn't really been favored in recent decades.


Enter two guys from LA, Alex Rossen and Sankar Thiagasamudram of Audez'e. I met them last year at the 2009 CanJam show in Los Angeles. They were showing their LCD1 headphone, a very generic-looking headphone that did sound quite nice but really did not get my attention - until a friend of mind let me borrow one for a week some time after the show. Since then Audez'e has been working very hard at making improvements to the design, showing the prototype LCD2 at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in October of last year. The new design lost its generic plastic cosmetics and took on a more retro-futuristic steam-punk look. After listening to it more at RMAF, I began to appreciate what my hardcore ortho friends were after with such headphones. The more I listened and tried to unlearn the candy-caramel sugary glitzy-zingy top end of what most all dynamic headphones had to offer, the more I really could not put my finger on these LDC2s. Their sound was very thick and had that typical ortho character - yet only the LDC2 seemed to lose the sock.


Alex and Sankar pushed on and delivered a production test version to Kevin Karth and I a few months ago. This headphone was even better on looks and sound. I ended up buying one and spent many hours listening. Slowly I was being lured into the smoky lush organic sound of the LDC2. Where this ortho has distinguished itself from all others is, frankly, across the board. But clearly attack, speed and the massive deep controlled bass are its mantle pieces. I ended up listening to all my old favorite music as though it was all new again. To me that's the ultimate compliment for a headphone.


This brings me to the 2010 CanJam show where Audez'e had teamed up with Cavalli Audio's Liquid Fire headphone amp, a fully DC coupled hybrid which avoids all capacitors in the signal path. Tubes provide voltage gain, transistors act as current buffer. The input stage is differential and uses 6922 as does the voltage gain stage. The Mosfet output stage is biased at 100mA to run in class A most the time. Output power is 3 watts into 32 ohms, 650mW into 300 ohms.


Bandwidth is a colossal 1Hz to 1MHz+ at -1dB. An op-amp servo zeroes out DC offset. There's a 20-second heater delay circuit with indicator light and a 30-second output delay and offset detection with indicator light. The Cavalli setup I listened to played Soneros De Verdad, A Bueno Vista: Barrio De La Habana SACD. The thing I noticed most was how open and airy everything sounded with the already amazing qualities of the LCD2. The percussion being so musical, clean and tight on each attack, instruments projected out from my head all around me. It was really quite a treat. I could have listened to this for many hours but had to return to my own table. But I really did not want to leave.


The Cavalli Liquid Fire tube headphone amp is projected to come in around $3,000, the LDC2 at $945. With talk of a possible combination deal, this would be something very special. I for one will be sure to plunk down the cabbage for this world-class setup. In my option the LCD2 is the overall best-sounding headphone available today. It delivers the most information to the user, period. There are many headphones which can deliver a sweet top end and detail. In most cases that's easy to do. The hard part for many transducers is to do this and bring home the midrange, bass and highs together and perfectly balanced. No other headphone with the exception of two or three others does this as well as the Audez'e LCD2.


If price for a headphone amplifier was no object, this is one I would be looking to pick up. I was waiting for some time to listen to Todd the Vinyl Junkie's Apex Pinnacle $10.000 tube headphone amplifier. It was designed by Pete Millett who has brought to the headfi community years of experience and goodies in the form of the TTVJ Millett hybrid portable battery-powered (vacuum tube!) headphone amp, the TTJV 307A and now the Apex Pinnacle. Todd explained that the Pinnacle employs a 6SN7 input stage, often regarded as the best tube ever made for audio voltage amplification. The power stage uses triode-connected 307A directly-heated pentodes or optionally Sophia Electric PX4 triodes. This carefully matched arrangement cancels out some of second-order harmonic distortion softness often associated with single-ended tube amplifiers. The result is pure clean musical sound.


Both the input and output signals are coupled through very high-quality audio transformers providing true balanced inputs and outputs. Three inputs accept either balanced or unbalanced RCA and XLR connections. The versatile output circuitry allows for high or low impedance headphones as well as a power amplifier. The input and output selections are made via front panel switches which activate relays strategically located to keep the signal path direct and pure.

Components are carefully selected from around the world including hand-machined Japanese Teflon tube sockets and aluminum knobs and custom-made European transformers. Unlike many so-called high-end audio components, the Pinnacle is not just a tarted-up marginal design with poor-quality parts from third-world nations. It is a truly high-end machine from design through assembly and hand-built in the USA. To keep the noise level as low as possible, the Pinnacle places the power supply circuitry in a separate enclosure. That may be located up to five feet from the amplifier. Special transformers, silicon-carbide rectifiers and a sophisticated filament supply help ensure the Pinnacle is as quiet as it can be.


I used a pair of Sennheiser HD800s with the Pinnacle which had such a sweet super musical sound, delicate but with a commanding lush velvety midrange that spoke with authority. The Pinnacle was really putting some meat on the bones and I was shuttling from track to track really digging into serious hi-end goodness. This was the kind of hardware that can really ruin your perspective. I had to quickly leave Todd's room lest I find myself disappointed elsewhere more often than not.


Are you tired of listening to an iPod's 16-bit/44.1kHz data density wishing there was a 24/96 portable player that played FLAC files? Dream no more, the HiFiMan HM-801 from Head-Direct.com is it. Yes it's larger than a iPod and functionally is not as slick but this portable device boasts some seriously sweet audio chops.

I tried its headphone output instead of its optional level-line out and it sounded wonderful. The HiFiMan also doubles as USB DAC to connect to any computer for headphone use. The HiFiMan bested the straightahead iPod offerings in dynamics and bandwidth. The only downside is the player's almost $800 tag. I was tempted to up and run for my favorite headphone amplifier and best mini-to-mini cable. I would have liked to see how far this player would go with a really good external portable amp. But I was pressed for time to get back to my own booth and work.


I was also impressed with the Zodiac range of 44.1 to 384kHz USB converters from the pro-audio company Antelope Audio. They have three DAC models, two current, one to come. The middle model is called the Zodiac +. It offers 24/192 USB with a solid grouping of standard digital inputs and both RCA and XLR analog outputs. There are also two 6.3mm headphone sockets.

The Zodiac + includes an oven-controlled master clock, 64-bit jitter management based on an algorithm proprietary to the company and an analog-domain volume control. There is also an external word-clock input for Antelope's apparently very famous offboard master clocks. I didn't have sufficient time to investigate but first impressions were very promising. These folks also had a really slick computer GUI for controlling their DACs so they are someone to watch.
 
Woo Audio's big room was packed as usual. Their heavyweight presence of headphone tube amps included their top Model 5. That massive two-piece design combines a 4-pin Neutrik K-1000 hi-power socket useful also for the HifiMan HE-5LE orthos; a switchable hi/lo impedance 6.3mm standard headphone socket; and speaker outputs.


The Model 5 makes 10wpc from a pair of 300Bs driven from a pair of 6SN7. Tube rectification is from a pair of 5U4G/5AR4 in a separate power supply. There are 4 line-level inputs and finish options as for all Woo amps is black or silver.


There is a standard version and a premium version with expensive parts like VCap input coupling caps, Jensen voltage filter caps, Blackgate cathode caps, Mills load resistors, Kiwame cathode resistors and Jensen decoupling caps.



I think that Woo Audio has the deepest, most mature line of full-size headphone tube electronics in the business.


This was a very impressive exhibit.

Woo Audio even had its own headphone stands.

Their WA22 amp runs a pair of 6AS7/6080 or 1963 NOS Sylvania 7236 power tubes driven from a pair of 6SN7 rectified by one 5AR4/5U4G. The fully balanced circuit is point-to-point wired, all tube and controlled with a DACT CT2 balanced stepped attenuator. There's one XLR and RCA input each and outputs include two 3-pin balanced (l/r channel), one 4-pin balanced, one single-ended with a hi/lo impedance switch. The display amp showed Shuguang Black Treasure 6SN7 and an Emission Labs 5U4G rectifier.

So there you have it, my highlights of CanJam 2010 and some of the things I hope to soon add to my 32Ohm Audio store in Portland, Oregon.

Now the microphone is back with ye olde editor. Based on Ken Ball's prior track record—rewired AKG K-702, Sennheiser HD-800 and beyerdynamic T1 all treasured acquisitions as well as the ALO Audio Rx portable amp which walked off with an award—I signed up to review an Audez'e ortho and compare it to Fang Bian's recently reviewed HifiMan HE-5LE ortho. I also signed up for a Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Solo. That machine's potential has me terribly excited. Here's why. Peachtree Audio's iDecco was a game changer for essentially hard-wiring an iPod's 30-pin output to a superior DAC, in their case an ESS Sabre. Loaded with uncompressed files, this turned the lowly mass-market iPod into a bona fide audiophile source.
The Solo repeats that stunt in the portable arena. Imagine attending a hifi show. No more custom CDs, no more while-u-wait track rips to exhibitor hard drives. Simply whip out your iPod leashed async USB to the Solo, connect S/PDIF cable to exhibitor's DAC. Far away from home, this puts a 160GB music library at your finger tips. At home, hold the iPod like a remote to select tracks piggy packed to the Solo in a leatherette or similar pouch stack. The Solo leashes to your expensive DAC with one long single cable. Or—if its own battery-powered Wolfson DAC actually outperforms your current converter—connect it to an analog input on your preamp. No more separate music server, no more screen, mouse, keyboard or separate remote. Just two hand-held components. For headphone joy, jack directly into the Solo or go offboard to the matching ALO Audio Rx MkII or similar.


The potential is huge. Why it would seed again with a tiny new company rather than an established power broker is peculiar. The same was the case already with Peachtree Audio when Wadia missed the boat by not including a quality DAC with their iDock. The iDecco filled the gap and David Solomon and Jim Spainhour aren't resting on their laurels - more peachy-tree stuff is in the pipeline.


For today, the lime light belongs to Matt MacBeth, the engineer behind the ALO Audio Rx amp and now AlgoRhythm Solo. To my way of thinking, if the Solo delivers on its concept, it should be da bomb. Equally bombacious is what the JHAudio JH-3A sounds like on paper. A three-way ear-canal headphone with full DPS-controlled adjustable active crossover in a 6-channel outboard amp does really seem to push the boundaries. Like Ken, I simply have to confess to a stubborn preference—just habit but still—for on-ear designs. Thus far. The JH-3A reads as though it merits a serious reassessment of such engrained habits. New trix for old dawgs? Sure. Otherwise I might as well move to the cemetery now. Perhaps I should review the JH-3A IEM/amp combo as well? I think so. I've had a review word in with Antelope for many months already. As far as Woo goes, I've owned their Model 5 in the premium edition for many years. They definitely make top-class valve audio gear for headphone fanatics. It seems that I would probably have picked many of the same snap-shot highlights had I attended the show myself. Good man, Ken. Thanks very much!

Postscript: If all that canned jam went over your head, I'll conclude with an excerpt from a recent reader letter by Dave Mahan: "As an audiophile-type guy new to the headphone world, I have had many very expensive speaker-based systems. Through reading many of your reviews on headphone equipment, I jumped in and started sampIing all the headphone equipment I could in the Chicago land area. I am amazed that I actually prefer this concept even over the most expensive system I have ever owned; and I have only heard three systems ever that I liked more than mine in any high-end store."


That's my contention exactly. Headphone systems can easily surpass even very costly speaker-based systems. I hope our little report inspired you enough to start your own investigations down this path. It's also quite the recession buster, all things considered....