OK, so here goes, I popped round to Burnsie's place a couple of weeks ago and had a very enjoyable and rewarding listen/comparson of my amplifier and his. I would like to thank him once again for inviting me over and taking a good chunk out of his day for me to be able to do this.
I've been thinking for the last two weeks what to include in a write up, and have reached a point where i have decided its not going to ever be the perfect review, just my opinion, and a very inexperienced one at that, and hence I have not been able to draw huge conclusions, that I may have wanted to, but its all good, both amps rock!
Kit used was Burnsies Harbeth speakers, which I think may have been C7 ES-3, he can correct if wrong here, his Abrahamsen cd player, and his Linn streamer. He used 4mm van damme speaker cable, and some funky interconnects which I ccouldnt understand what they were as had unusual terminations! Oh yes, and my Roksan K3 amplifier.
First off we listened to streamed and cd music through his set up (Abrahamsen). It sounded brilliant, no doubt. Listened to lots of styles of music including The Long Pigs, Massive Attack (Angel), Fleetwood Mac (songbird), Stan Getz (Girl from Ipanema), plus many more that i cannae remember (Yes, this all went down in bonnie Scotland).
Tracks through the Abrahamsen all sounded great, bar none. The what sounds like hitting the metal rim of the drum at the start of MA's Angel, was clear and lifelike, with good dynamics. (Another enthusiast once pointed out that this was not always easy to reproduce in setups). All music sounded full bodied, good bass, nice midrange, no harshness whatsoever, and clear treble. Volume was on about 45/60 if I remember correctly, and the room (about 5mx8m?) was filled with good loud sound. Just enough to not p*** off the neighbours, hopefully. There was clearly no strain in the amp, and im sure if it went louder, it would just do that, go louder, with zero harshness.
I was dreading swapping over to the K3, genuinely, nervous! Id heard so much about this great amp that I was aware of the real prospect of being seriouly underwhelmed by my own amp in comparison. I needn't worry! Swapped over, the K3 sounded great, very similar initially/sonically to the Abe.. The warmth was there, detail, bass muscle, clarity, and I noticed immediately that the K3 had more volume at its disposal. The K3 only had to be at 1/3 of its volume to roughly match the Abe (at about 2/3). The music again sounded great, and I was very relieved and impressed with the K3 capabilities. I couldnt figure out if it sounded better or worse. But here is what I noticed:
The K3 sounded faster. It sounded like the music was very slightly sped up compared to the Abe, which, of course it couldn't have been. So what exactly was going on here, I can only speculate...any suggestions? Burnsie commented on this also I think before I had mentioned it, so we clearly both noticed this.
The Abe clearly had a bigger soundstage. The K3 sounded superb, but the Abe really did have total seperation of pretty much all instruments/vocals with large amounts of air between. (I think this may have something to do with music sounding "mellower"/a little slower. It was just easier to follow some finer details).
Certain details were more apparent in the Abe. The detail in the K3 was there, but with the seperation, instruments/vocals on the Abe were even more pronounced. In Stan Getz "girl from..." you could hear him licking his lips, as if you were listening to him mic'd up in the very room. It sounded very natural and real. It really was impressive. On the K3 you could hear him licking his lips, but just, nothing like the experience from the Abe.
There is a track on the Long Pigs album that has an organ in it, which on the Abe sounded beautiful, on the K3 it really wasnt the same full sound.
On the Macs songbird, both amps revealed the quiet guitar in the background, the Abe maybe slightly fuller, but the most noticeable difference here was the vocal which in the Abe sounded spot on, but on the K3 did come across as a tad shouty. But only slightly, this is not a major issue, its not like it makes you wince, but it might make you long for more, which the abe gave.
The abrahamsen though, for all its amazing qualities, revealed a funny slight tone to the music which I cannot put my finger on or at least explain what it was. It sounded to me, maybe a little "dirtier" than the K3. And it was this that had me thinking on occasion that the K3 sounded better. Was the Abe revealing the limitatons of the source or the speakers? I somehow doubt it was the speakers at issue. Or is there some componentry in the Abe that makes it sound maybe a little rougher? Please don't get me wrong, the Abe doesn't sound rough or dirty, there was just something there. It could have been my ears. I expect the K3 may have also had this sound to it, but it wasnt as revealing as the Abe. The Abe really did open up the sound.
The K3 I thought maybe had a very slight smoothness/cleanness to it, that I was trying to attribute to the MOSFET circuit, but this could have simply been the overall clarity and lack of distortion. The two amps really did sound very similar (close to identical) until you started to listen for the finer details/soundstaging.
In some parts of music there was more powerfull bass in the K3, not necesarily where you would expect though, but I did notice more upper bass I think in a track that wasnt there with the Abe. Burnsie commented on the bass of the K3 being very good, and very well controlled, which the Abe was also.
Unfortunately, I didnt get to hear any classical music with either setup, simply forgot, but I would like to hear how the Abe plays this style. I expect its very good. Also I didnt get to hear my speakers with the Abe but that could happen in the future as Burnsie has left an open invitation.
So, overall, the Abe DOES rock! Its a great piece of kit and opens up the music like an amp of your dreams! The K3 sounds very good as well, and slightly different. Tonally, I would say pretty much identical, but the soundstage was quite considerably a different affair (bigger) in the Abe, this gave the music more detail, and sounded smooth and uncluttered.
Is the clearer soundstaging due to the Abes huge(or is it low) damping factor, allowing for more detail to be actually heard?
Since being back to my setup at home, I have actually been appreciating my K3 even more, I liked it before, but it was great to see how amps can vary in sound and presentaion of the sound. In this case, it was really all about the presentation. But I see how good the Abe was, and how similar the K3 is to it. The K3 really is a great amp too.
So have I deceded to buy an Abrahamsen V2 UP just yet? Nope, not just yet, but its still a question in my mind, it clearly had its benefits, but I am unsure on that "dirty" tinge I heard. I would most likey expect this to be attributed to the source material though, maybe the matsering on some of the music, as it wasn't evident on all tracks. I would really like to hear more of the amp before I was to make a decision, because if it was simply the source, then this amp is truly stella, which it actually is anyway. So maybe its just a question of time, I don't know!
I hope this review was in some way enjoyable and useful, but please take my opinions as those of someone who does not know exactly what he is listening to, due to lack of experience, we are all on the same path here.
Thank you!
I've been thinking for the last two weeks what to include in a write up, and have reached a point where i have decided its not going to ever be the perfect review, just my opinion, and a very inexperienced one at that, and hence I have not been able to draw huge conclusions, that I may have wanted to, but its all good, both amps rock!
Kit used was Burnsies Harbeth speakers, which I think may have been C7 ES-3, he can correct if wrong here, his Abrahamsen cd player, and his Linn streamer. He used 4mm van damme speaker cable, and some funky interconnects which I ccouldnt understand what they were as had unusual terminations! Oh yes, and my Roksan K3 amplifier.
First off we listened to streamed and cd music through his set up (Abrahamsen). It sounded brilliant, no doubt. Listened to lots of styles of music including The Long Pigs, Massive Attack (Angel), Fleetwood Mac (songbird), Stan Getz (Girl from Ipanema), plus many more that i cannae remember (Yes, this all went down in bonnie Scotland).
Tracks through the Abrahamsen all sounded great, bar none. The what sounds like hitting the metal rim of the drum at the start of MA's Angel, was clear and lifelike, with good dynamics. (Another enthusiast once pointed out that this was not always easy to reproduce in setups). All music sounded full bodied, good bass, nice midrange, no harshness whatsoever, and clear treble. Volume was on about 45/60 if I remember correctly, and the room (about 5mx8m?) was filled with good loud sound. Just enough to not p*** off the neighbours, hopefully. There was clearly no strain in the amp, and im sure if it went louder, it would just do that, go louder, with zero harshness.
I was dreading swapping over to the K3, genuinely, nervous! Id heard so much about this great amp that I was aware of the real prospect of being seriouly underwhelmed by my own amp in comparison. I needn't worry! Swapped over, the K3 sounded great, very similar initially/sonically to the Abe.. The warmth was there, detail, bass muscle, clarity, and I noticed immediately that the K3 had more volume at its disposal. The K3 only had to be at 1/3 of its volume to roughly match the Abe (at about 2/3). The music again sounded great, and I was very relieved and impressed with the K3 capabilities. I couldnt figure out if it sounded better or worse. But here is what I noticed:
The K3 sounded faster. It sounded like the music was very slightly sped up compared to the Abe, which, of course it couldn't have been. So what exactly was going on here, I can only speculate...any suggestions? Burnsie commented on this also I think before I had mentioned it, so we clearly both noticed this.
The Abe clearly had a bigger soundstage. The K3 sounded superb, but the Abe really did have total seperation of pretty much all instruments/vocals with large amounts of air between. (I think this may have something to do with music sounding "mellower"/a little slower. It was just easier to follow some finer details).
Certain details were more apparent in the Abe. The detail in the K3 was there, but with the seperation, instruments/vocals on the Abe were even more pronounced. In Stan Getz "girl from..." you could hear him licking his lips, as if you were listening to him mic'd up in the very room. It sounded very natural and real. It really was impressive. On the K3 you could hear him licking his lips, but just, nothing like the experience from the Abe.
There is a track on the Long Pigs album that has an organ in it, which on the Abe sounded beautiful, on the K3 it really wasnt the same full sound.
On the Macs songbird, both amps revealed the quiet guitar in the background, the Abe maybe slightly fuller, but the most noticeable difference here was the vocal which in the Abe sounded spot on, but on the K3 did come across as a tad shouty. But only slightly, this is not a major issue, its not like it makes you wince, but it might make you long for more, which the abe gave.
The abrahamsen though, for all its amazing qualities, revealed a funny slight tone to the music which I cannot put my finger on or at least explain what it was. It sounded to me, maybe a little "dirtier" than the K3. And it was this that had me thinking on occasion that the K3 sounded better. Was the Abe revealing the limitatons of the source or the speakers? I somehow doubt it was the speakers at issue. Or is there some componentry in the Abe that makes it sound maybe a little rougher? Please don't get me wrong, the Abe doesn't sound rough or dirty, there was just something there. It could have been my ears. I expect the K3 may have also had this sound to it, but it wasnt as revealing as the Abe. The Abe really did open up the sound.
The K3 I thought maybe had a very slight smoothness/cleanness to it, that I was trying to attribute to the MOSFET circuit, but this could have simply been the overall clarity and lack of distortion. The two amps really did sound very similar (close to identical) until you started to listen for the finer details/soundstaging.
In some parts of music there was more powerfull bass in the K3, not necesarily where you would expect though, but I did notice more upper bass I think in a track that wasnt there with the Abe. Burnsie commented on the bass of the K3 being very good, and very well controlled, which the Abe was also.
Unfortunately, I didnt get to hear any classical music with either setup, simply forgot, but I would like to hear how the Abe plays this style. I expect its very good. Also I didnt get to hear my speakers with the Abe but that could happen in the future as Burnsie has left an open invitation.
So, overall, the Abe DOES rock! Its a great piece of kit and opens up the music like an amp of your dreams! The K3 sounds very good as well, and slightly different. Tonally, I would say pretty much identical, but the soundstage was quite considerably a different affair (bigger) in the Abe, this gave the music more detail, and sounded smooth and uncluttered.
Is the clearer soundstaging due to the Abes huge(or is it low) damping factor, allowing for more detail to be actually heard?
Since being back to my setup at home, I have actually been appreciating my K3 even more, I liked it before, but it was great to see how amps can vary in sound and presentaion of the sound. In this case, it was really all about the presentation. But I see how good the Abe was, and how similar the K3 is to it. The K3 really is a great amp too.
So have I deceded to buy an Abrahamsen V2 UP just yet? Nope, not just yet, but its still a question in my mind, it clearly had its benefits, but I am unsure on that "dirty" tinge I heard. I would most likey expect this to be attributed to the source material though, maybe the matsering on some of the music, as it wasn't evident on all tracks. I would really like to hear more of the amp before I was to make a decision, because if it was simply the source, then this amp is truly stella, which it actually is anyway. So maybe its just a question of time, I don't know!
I hope this review was in some way enjoyable and useful, but please take my opinions as those of someone who does not know exactly what he is listening to, due to lack of experience, we are all on the same path here.
Thank you!
, yeah, definitely liked it, its a great amp, very impressive.
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