Oh yeah, I meant w/o the PSU since the OOR is in the price range of those amps mentioned above (not that I’d get it w/o it).
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Ahhhh ok then, I’d likely rather consider other options at the 2k ish range for most headphones, but if it was for a susvara or 1266 it would still be more at the front of the pack
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Gotcha, thanks for the impressions! 
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Nice. Glad impressions are mostly favorable for the pricepoint so far. Planning toward a Sus, I’ve been scoping out amps in the $3k-$3.5k-ish range, so might have to add this to the list. Does it qualify for the Shit Scale for the Sus from early impressions?
I’d be pairing with La Voce S3, and front runners are currently LAu, P750u, 430HA, maybe Formula depending on what I can find. I’ve also considered just grabbing a v281 again as a holdover until the right deal comes along.
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I think so, I’d likely place it on the upper level of nice shit or lower level of oh shit
Hmmm. I would take one over a v281 for sure, and likely a 430ha as well, but the luxman would come down to signature, and honestly I’d prob take the gold over the ferrum pretty easily (although different signatures), for the formula s + powerman I’d rather have that too for sure unless your main goal is impact and slam and a more macro focus overall then the ferrum might be more appealing but I do think it’s a step down overall compared ot something like the forum + powerman when it comes to most technicalities
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That’s roughly what I anticipated. I’d guess with a priority on naturalness for me, the Ferrum might fall behind a bit too based on comments being neutral on timbre.
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I wouldn’t call it inorganic, but organicness just isn’t as much of a stand out compared to other amps, still pretty capable though
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You might not be planning to stack these like a Topping D90/A90 stack😬. But I think it’s worth pointing out that the Ferrum components will probably stack perfectly side by side on top of component width unit like the La Voce. Would look (and sound) quite nice!!
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Fair point, haha…might keep an eye out for used units, but it could be a while since they just came out. An LAu would stack nicely as well, though. Just have to find one.
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Given just how hot they get, you really don’t want an LAu stacked on or under anything else.
I do wonder how many LAu’s were actually sold, mine was a later unit, and it’s serial number was in the 80’s, so my guess is probably <150.
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That thought crossed my mind, and yeah, just not many to be had out there
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I believe the last run, the “final edition ver” of the amp ended somewhere in the 250 range
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I don’t know this business well, but that hardly seems like sustainable sales volumes. Which I guess explains why there isn’t a Cavalli audio now.
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He actually didn’t close for financial reasons, he just wanted to retire and couldn’t find another company to partner with at the time so he closed instead iirc (somewhat similar to why eddie current is slowly closing up shop)
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Oh! For some reason I pictures Alex Cavilli as an energetic guy in his early 40’s….with a half grown beard.
Don’t know why my imagination added the beard.
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Well he had a beard when this was taken, this picture is probably a decade old.
The internet pretty much means you don’t have to imagine anything anymore.
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Yeah pretty much he closed up shop because he was ready to retire and wanted to spend more time with the family, pretty sure he was doing very well money wise so I don’t think hat was a issue. And afterall he was able to partner with monoprice and still consults that way
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Out of interest, have you adjusted the voltage at all from the default?
It might interest some to know that my Hypsos needed a firmware update out of the box, as it didn’t actually have the Oor on the list of supported amps.
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Yep I updated mine as well, didn’t have it beforehand
Yes, I tried maxing it out to 30v and dropping down to around 22v. The differences were interesting, pushing higher voltage seemed to give a bit more organicness and softness actually at the expense of some control and clarity, dropping it lower made it a bit more dry and forward with more control
Also a note on using it as a preamp, it was fine, but nothing to write home about there. It worked, sounded decent given the cost, wouldn’t buy this if preamp is a priority though
Stage is really starting to bother me more than normal, it does sound somewhat lifeless/smoothed over to where it’s missing realistic placement and real depth compared to other amps. It sounds big and spacious, but idk man it isn’t that convincing. Still liking the amp overall, but the stage and timbre hits are getting to me
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I hate it whenever a downside gets stuck in your head and its just all you can hear going forward. Like tbh I’m kinda disappointed at tge seperatiom on the 13r with susvara and now its all i hear when I listen to the combo
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