To share some impressions about this brand and its amplifiers.
4 Likes
Technical data:
Max. Output voltage 76 Vpp
600 Ohm 1 Watt
120 Ohm 5,4 Watt
32 Ohm 20 Watt
15 Ohm 35 Watt
8 Ohm 70 Watt
High gain to Low gain is -6db.
Signal voltage amplification with tubes. As far as I was informed it uses one E88CC tube, in my case it is JJ tube. I haven’t got into opening it so can’t confirm if it is basic or gold pins or something else.
My chain: Amazon Music via PC (DH-Labs Silver Sonic USB)–>>Singxer SU-2 (DH-Labs Silversonic D-750 via BNC)–>>Aqua La Voce S3
So, I have been trying for a while to sort my thoughts on my Paltauf, how it performs compared to Vio 550 and how it fits with the headphones I currently have. To touch a little bit on why I got one, it was mainly because after getting Susvara I wanted to give it a try with something that delivers a bit more power and at the same time something a bit warmer, dynamic and tonally richer compared to what V550 has been providing. The other reason was that I was pretty annoyed by the clickiness of the V550 Pro volume knob, especially with something sensitive like my TH900 SB. Plus the fact that V550 has the gain switches on the back of the unit just made it a bit cumbersome to switch each time I picked TH900 over Susvara. But to be honest those two things are the only things I disliked about V550. Otherwise, it is very solid amp.
Coming back to Paltauf I used my main/only chain for listening with V550 connected via RCA out of my La Voce and Paltauf via XLR. As for the headphones, I used all three of my main i.e. Susvara, TH900 SB and HD600. Considering my limited skills in terms of describing the characteristics of the gear here are some aspects that were noticeable for each headphone to me so far.
Hifiman Susvara: considering my main reason to get this amplifier was to give Susvara opportunity to showcase a bit more of its magic, it is no surprise I spent most of the time with Susvara plugged in. There is everything Susvara is known for like low level information, separation, detail and speed but suddenly there is something different compared to Vio. Everything sounds clearer, stage is a just a bit wider but feels deeper. It is much easier for me to pick up layers on the stage in terms of where each instrument is placed on stage and relative to each other. Tonally it sounds fuller with a bit more body and very enjoyable. Vocals sounds perfect to me and overall, it is very easy for me to just randomly jump from song to song and get lost in music. As far as impact and punchiness goes, it is obvious that Susvara can benefit from more power, and it almost feels like it was choked a bit by Vio. It didn’t become a bass canon suddenly, but I would say that Paltauf provided enough energy to get me satisfied. I can only imagine how Susvara shines on something like AIC-10. Must be epic!
Fostex TH900 Sapphire Blue: this one is bit trickier. While with Susvara it is rather easy to decide on what I prefer, I would say TH900 sounds very good on both but differently. It is obvious that TH900 does not need a ton of power so both amplifiers can drive it very easily. In general, I would say that on Vio it sounds more intense and energetic. It takes fun factor of it and makes a firefly. It is pretty great for EDM however I do find it a bit fatiguing for female vocals sometimes, where it can be a bit more in my face than I prefer and just a little bit colder. On the other hand, Paltauf softens things up and gets the intensity a bit out of way. It keeps the fun factor, but it is no a college drinking party but rather alumni after 10 years. It polishes the edges gives a bit wider and deeper presentation but can sound a bit lazy mainly on some EDM or faster track. I do prefer it on probably every other type of music. One last point is that there is small noise floor on TH900, maybe caused by the tube but nothing substantial. Even lower than on Vio on higher gains.
Sennheiser HD600: this was actually the biggest surprise for me. After selling my Echo mkii I was keeping the HD600 around just because there was not much point of selling it. For some reason I find them a bit grainy and sharp on some tracks with Vio and not very engaging, so I was not using it very much. I was not expecting much and was not prepared to get such enjoyment out of it. Paltauf does a great job to widen the soundstage and fill the bass region on HD600 with some presence and warmness. I read a lot about how HD600 can scale, and I could see some flashes of it while I was moving up from entry to mid fi level of gear but with Paltauf I can see now how great they are if you plug them in the right chain. I am sure there are even better pairings that what I have but this is the best experience I had with them thus far.
To summarize, I think that Paltauf is a great amplifier that drives all my headphones very well and while I don’t have anything else to compare to, I also think it is solid pairing with my other components in chain. It might not be best paring for all my headphones but is very enjoyable and will be my main amplifier for upcoming months, maybe even longer. Who knows?
Some of the songs I listened to:
Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 5
Florence & The Machine – Choreomania
Andrew Bayer – Immortal Lover
Snarky Puppy – Lingus
Hope Tala – Crazy
James Blake – Say What You Will
Greta Van Fleet – Heat Above
Amber Rubart - Novocaine
Daft Punk - Fragments Of Ttime
Aurora - Everything Matters
Amber Mark - Lose My Cool
Adel - One and Only
Adel - When We Were Young
Silk Sonic – Skate
11 Likes
This vs well dragon lvl2/3 and pathos in ear pol would be a fantastic shootout.
1 Like
Your experience with the HD600 does not surprise me in the slightest. Glad is got your Sus and sassy as well. 
What’s the retail on these and did you buy yours used?
2 Likes
I bought it new directly from Paltauf and my version was 3700 EUR, SP version with speaker taps is 3999 I believe.
I was hunting used for a few weeks and then got in touch with Thomas from Paltauf on head-fi and decided to pull the trigger on new. They are very rarely soled used. I found two offers, but both were already sold
6 Likes