So here’s my ‘brief’ SPL Phonitor E Review,
Listening through the Focal Clears and using the Topping D90 as a source… primarily listening to a mix of genres through Amazon Music HD, along with some light gaming and movie watching as well.
First to answer the question, “Is this a tangible, noticeable upgrade over a THX amp or RNHP or any number of cheaper, very well measuring amps?”
The short answer is yes. It’s a very noticeable upgrade in resolution, detail, separation… etc. It’s the type of difference I think anyone would be able to hear relatively easily. This is not like going from a THX amp to the RNHP, which very much surprised me, but I’d still more or less put a 789 and RNHP in the same ‘tier’ of amp. The SPL Phonitor E definitely sounds like a higher tier amp.
I don’t want to oversell it, but I also don’t want to undersell it either.
So for the record I love the sound coming from this amp, but if I play devil’s advocate and try to imagine how someone else who didn’t like the changes this amp was introducing, I might say it sounds ‘thin’ or too ‘clinical’. Yes, even compared to a THX or RNHP.
A note to the ASR Crowd, click arrow to read
Yes, I know there’s a preconception that an amp cleaner sounding than THX isn’t possible, I had that preconception as well. I am well aware and VERY wary of phychoacoustic affects and placebo. I’ve second guessed myself multiple times and it gets to a point that it becomes more ‘maddening’ to deny it and simply accept what I’m hearing is actually what I’m hearing, especially after multiple A/B sessions and sleeping on it after hours of listening, waking up and hearing the same differences consistently. I’d simply implore anyone with any lingering doubt to not take any one person’s or group of people’s point of view as being ‘infaluable’ and to simply try things and judge for themselves.
That being said, it’s not clinical in the sense of being fatiguing or harsh. It just very plainly and simply has extremely high resolve. It’s very similar or in the direction of the fast, transient sound detail you get from an electrostat.
When I spent time ABing this amp against the RNHP, I didn’t hear any differences as far as ‘tonality’ or ‘width’ so I knew for certain there was nothing happening there, but the difference in separation was distinctly obvious. It’s the type of thing I had surmised just came down to recording quality/source material (and it probably still is to an extent).
Sounds on the RNHP just kind of mash together more, and overall music turns more into a ‘messy ball of sound’. The RNHP is still great, but we are just talking relative comparisons here. When I switch over to the SPL Phonitor E, comparatively, everything suddenly gets a lot more delineated by a pretty noticeable degree. It’s almost like the impulse response of the Focal Clears suddenly improved… but they didn’t, it’s just the amp.
As a result, music overall sounds a lot less ‘noisy’ and more ‘articulate’. It makes listening a lot less fatiguing. And it also does a great deal for imaging as well, improving the already stellar imaging of the Focal Clears.
But again, I don’t want to oversell it. It’s not a stark night and day difference. If I were to put an arbitrary percentage on it, I’d go with 10-15% of improved resonance detail for an amp that is 300%-400% the price of a THX 789. It doesn’t do anything to add any ‘body’ or ‘warmth’ to the sound. It makes the Focal Clears sound even more ‘neutral’. But it’s definitely more than enough of an improvement to justify putting it over $1000 in my opinion, but like most solid-state amps, they are more alike than they are different.
Personally, I am very happy to have this amp on my desk. It sounds very nice and I likely won’t be moving on to another amp for a while now. For my limited experience, especially when it comes to $1000+ amps, it’s definitely the nicest amp I’ve ever heeard and it’s the best my music has ever sounded.
The red unit looks absolutely gorgeous compared to the RNHP.
, I have similar experiences to yours, it’s a pretty sweet amp. I don’t know if I am ready to relearn another amp for studio use so I stick with rnhp for now (still swear by it even though I have plenty of “better” amps in the other room lol