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发表于 2010-3-15 19:05:51
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转一篇美国head-fi的编辑的评测： Ray Samuels Raptor Headphone Amp: A Full Review
Ray Samuels Raptor Headphone Amp: A Full Review
I have been a self appointed audiophile for 27 years now, starting in my pre-audiophile years with building my own speakers, using a pair of Jensen tri-axials w/ 40 ounce magnets, mounted in Styrofoam cooler lids (the kind you buy from the top shelf in the frozen foods section, at the grocery store), attached to the cooler bottom using epoxy and some paper towels for dampening. My source was a Technics SL-Q3 turntable, and a Lafayette electronics receiver. I also had a pair of Koss Pro 4AA headphones that I thought were the “cat’s meow”.
When I was 18 in 1980 my friend’s father asked me if I wanted to work in his stereo store, in the Willowbrook Mall, in New Jersey, selling in the morning, and delivering what I sold in the afternoons, and for $6 an hour off the books, how could I go wrong? Betamax was leaving the scene, and VHS was taking off, and quadraphonic sound systems were making a weak entry into the marketplace. I was also delivering wholesale to places like Crazy Eddy’s, the Wiz (which only had one store at the time) and Audio Connection in Verona (still alive and advertising in Stereophile).
That’s when I heard my dream speakers…Bose 901’s Series IV (I know…I was young and naïve). Since I was in the “biz”, and they retailed for $1200, I got them for $600, no tax. I upgraded to a Teac 2300S reel to reel, and and awesome Fisher receiver, and into entry level high end, I began. I also got an Onkyo Integra Series cassette player as a wedding present from my co-workers in 1984 (am I bringing back memories for the older crowd?) Younger people, I will explain to you what a cassette player is, another time.
From that point on, I was always wheelin’ and dealin’ to try to improve my system. Like a drug dealer, I was buying stuff cheap, and selling it for a little profit, so I could get better stuff for my own stash.
Since joining Head-Fi in 2002, I have been through a lot of sources, and cans, and headphone amps, but nothing has made such an impression on me, as the Raptor. I started with a small Hansen portable, then bought a Grado RA-1. I sold that and bought a Musical Fidelity X-Cans V2, which I modded using Nick Dangerous’ tube upgrade. Then, I got an original SinglePower aluminum chassis Supra, which eventually, got traded in for Mikhail’s first Maestro ZR (which I still own), and along the way, went the electrostatic route, with a Stax 3030 system, which got upgraded to a pair of Omegas, with a 007t amp, and then one of Justin’s KGSS amps. I have borrowed and heard countless other amps for extended periods of time, including an Orpheus w/ a Black Gate KGSS. I am bring my history of how I got to where I am now, to show, that I am not a casual listener, who settles for the FOTM, but rather, an audio enthusiast, who strives for the best sound I can get, in an allotted budget, even if it means selling off some of my precious possessions, to buy new precious possessions, in the hopes of obtaining audio nirvana.
In my 27 years of searching for the “Holy Grail”, never have I been so “wowed” by one component, as I am by the Raptor. It makes me happy, when I listen to it, and I find myself waiting to get home from work, each day, so I can have a happy listening session.
I own a couple of Ray’s products, and I wondered how his Emmeline line got it’s name, and how all his components, got their model assignments. I called Ray on the phone, and asked him if I could ask a couple of questions, and he was happy to oblige.
A.K.- “Ray, I noticed that your components, are named Emmeline, and Emmeline II. How did you come up with those?”
R.S.- “Emmeline is my darling daughter’s name, and I use Emmeline for my solid state products, and Emmeline II for my tube components.”
AK- “I notice that all of your amps and phono stages, carry the model number that is equivalent to an airship, in the military…why is that?”
R.S- “I have always been fascinated with planes. When I was a little boy, my father was in the British Royal Air Force, and I did everything I could to be in or near a plane. My father and I used to carve planes out of balsa wood.”
A.K.- “What did you do for a living before making your own cool stuff?”
R.S.- “ I worked for a company that had contracts with the government to make parts for some military planes like the F18, F22, and the Stealth.”
A.K.- “Well now I see where the name for your Stealth preamp/headphone amp, comes from, what about your SR-71?”
R.S- “The SR-71 is one of the best military jets ever made. To this day it still holds the record for highest speed and altitude. It can go close to the edge of space!”
AK- “Did your experience with military applications, have an effect on you, when it comes to building your own products?”
R.S.- “Absolutely. When you are building things that are made to military specifications, they have to be able to handle adverse conditions. Dale Vishay resistors must be used, along with military solder. There must be rigorous quality control. All resistors must be in line, facing the same direction, with writing instead of color bands to determine value. This way, at a quick glance, a failed component, can be replaced without guessing, what the resistor or capacitor, is, and can be switched out under stressful situations. I used all of the same military technology, and military specifications, when building my own equipment. I burn in my components (with the exception of the DC powered SR-71), for 100 hours, and then I tweak it to my liking, so it is as perfect, as I can get it.”
A.K.- “Last question…why is your latest amp called the “Raptor”?
RS- “At work, I personally worked on the Raptor F22 project.
The following associated equipment was used in my comparisons for this review (along with the components, I had, using memory, in previous years)
R.S Raptor w/ accompanying tubes
SinglePower Maestro ZR w/ JAN 6SN7’s
R.S. HR-2
Meridian G08 CDP
Esoteric DV-50 Universal Player
VPI Aries 2 TT w/ XR-2 phono stage
Acoustic Signature Final Tool turntable
w/Tango Phono Stage
Cardas Neutral and Golden Reference IC’s
Headphile’s Black Gold IC’s
Siltech G3 SQ88 IC’s
Sony R-10 headphones
Qualia 010 headphones w/Black Dragon cable
Sennheiser HD600 w/ Cardas cable
2 RCA 5687’s in the left and right output
1 Phillips EGC JAN 5687 substituting for a
12AU7 in the gain position
Audioprism Power Generation 3 line conditioner
and filter
Coincident and Monster Power Cord upgrades
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The Raptor is a two box unit, with a separate dedicated power supply, and amp section, that are joined together by an umbilical that is both removable and shorter than other Emmeline products.
The reason that I bought my Acoustic Signature Final Tool turntable (besides the fact that I got a Grade A turntable dirt cheap), is that it uses an awesome power supply to regulate the motor speed. The power supply converts the wall AC from 115v to 36v, and cleans it. Then it converts the AC to DC. Then it takes the DC, and creates an oscillating sine wave of 24 v. The 24 volts is sent to the motor to create a movement which should be consistent, and unaffected by what the wall is putting out. Of course this makes it more expensive than a standard AC power supply.
On the Raptor, the power supply is designed to basically apply the same principle. Instead of using an AC voltage to feed the tube heater, which can alter, depending on the fluctuations, in your line voltage, this power supply, uses a DC regulated voltage, that keeps the voltage constant. I can’t explain the intricacies of the regulation (I’m sure if you want to call Ray at his home, at 3 in the morning, he would be glad to explain it to you ), but in layman’s terms, it sends, through the umbilical, a 12.6 VDC supply to the heater. Using DC instead of AC, should also stop any AC hum in the tubes associated with wall voltage. Also a second supply is sent at 240 VDC for the plate, to supply a high voltage to power the amp.
How does it sound, you ask? If you are looking for the publicized Ray Samuels “house sound”. You are not going to get it here. A fair amount of Head-Fier’s all agree that whether you listen to a SR-71, XP-7, HR-2 and Stealth, you will hear the same neutral sound that Ray’s tries to accomplish from a source, with small variations in soundstage and upper/lower extensions, as you go up in price range.
I stand corrected. This has the “house sound”, but it is his tubed, and not solid state reproduction.
I received the amp with 100 hours on it, which was a pleasure, so I didn’t have to spend four days and source life, to get the amp to it’s fullest potential for evaluation. As soon as I ran analog waves through it, I was amazed at how nice it sounded. But, I have been fooled before, trying something new, thinking it was the end-all (because I wanted it to be…to validate my spending), so I decided to listen for a while, and then listen to my other amps, and sources, to get a non-biased point of view. As non-biased as a biased person can get. I used my usual stable of reference material (you know, the ones you drag to the store, and to meets, when evaluating equipment), and decided to stick with what I think, are my best recordings for testing. I did eventually try the Raptor on all my equipment with all my cables, but the Esoteric DV-50 CDP and the VPI Aries 2 w/JMW 10.5 and Benz Ruby 3 cartridge, with Cardas Golden Reference cables, are what I used to make my observations, for this review.
I was afraid, that, as with other tube amps, I’ve tried, that this was going to be a bit slower than my solid state amps. This proved not to be the case. I used Dream Theater’s “Train of Thought”, which is a good hard rocking album, with good soundstaging and decent attack and decay (for a rock CD). It features John Petrucci, who is up there as one of the cleanest and fastest guitarists on the scene, and introduces some wicked bass lines, and heart stopping, foot stomping, double bass drums. I listened to this with one of my favorite Head-Fier’s on his Orpheus HE-90/HEV-90 $14000 setup, and we both agreed, although it sounded quite, good, it would fare better in a solid state system. I also listened to it, on my Maestro ZR, but again, it was a little elastic. Listening through my HR-2, showed me what it was capable of sounding like. However, hearing through the Raptor, not only warmed up the harsh sections, but it gave me a fast, responsive, representation, of what it might sound like, live, in the studio.
The DV-50 is a Universal player, and it afforded me the option of getting close and personal with some Hi-Rez multichannel performances. I listened to Diana Krall’s “Girl in the Other Room”, and Patricia Barber’s “Nightclub” in two channel SACD. I especially like these two recordings, because they allow me to sample, both the acoustic piano, and the female voice, both of which reveal a lot about detail and midrange. There was a beautiful depth in both their voices, with just a touch of studio reverb, that I hadn’t heard previously. I believe, that the design and tube assignment, were making these two traits shine. There is also, intense percussion work, going on in all Patricia Barber’s albums, that is as real as real gets, but through the Raptor, the congas, and timbales, and crash cymbals, are as real, as real enjoyable gets. It tickled my fancy.
Another SACD that I tried was TelArc’s SACD re-master of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, featuring Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. They brought back the original Howitzer cannoneers, from the original 1978 recording, but this time recorded them in a larger battlefield setting. They also added a children’s choir, and recorded in DSD. There is a warning on the label, that if played loudly, the cannons could ruin your speakers. I expected certain levels of distortion as the 14+ minute recording went through it’s extreme highs and lows, but the Raptor handled the movement, like a professional ballerina handles the Nutcracker…with relentless grace, poise, and stamina. Don’t get me wrong, this recording sounds great on almost all high end equipment I’ve played it through, but the Raptor took it to the next level. You know how people say, “I heard things I’ve never heard before”, when upgrading. Well, I really did. There is an orchestral piece playing in the last 30 seconds, of the two channel version of the 25th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd’s “Dark side of the Moon”, on the last song entitled “Eclipse”, that can be heard in the upper right hand corner, of only the finest equipment I’ve listened to. You have to really concentrate and listen for it. It’s either some tape bleed, or it was put there on purpose, for those select few, that would scrutinize the album with headphones, I’m not sure which. With the Raptor, it is dominant and obvious.
Finally, I wanted to try to see how it would respond to vinyl. I have always thought that vinyl and tubes go well together, in analog heaven, and the Raptor, further solidified my theory. I listened to John Coltrane’s, “Ballads” with McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison, which is a true great Jazz quartet classic from 1962, on Impulse records, and it was so good, like Santa, I had to check it twice. It seems that Jazz recordings from the ‘60’s are some of the best recordings available, because they were done in three or four channel dedicated mike setups, and except for the tape hiss, the recordings truly exemplify the sound of real instruments. The sound through the Raptor, was warm, and tight, and realistic. The soundstage is limited due to the instruments being slanted on one side or the other.
I listened to all my favorite vinyl recordings, including Holly Cole “Don’t Smoke in Bed”, Billie Holiday “Lady in Satin”, Incubus “A Crow Left of the Murder”, and Gov’t Mule “Dose”, and had enjoyed equal pleasure in my listening sessions.
There is one downside that I feel the amp has, and that is, that it gets warm to the touch, on both the dedicated power supply, and the amp. There is a lot of current going through these babies, and the 5687’s can be comforting on a cold winter’s night. Children and pets need to be steered clear of both the amp and tubes.
In summary:
I feel that the Raptor is one of the best three amps, that I have ever listened to. But there is one difference. The Raptor retails for $1175, and is an incredible bargain at any price under $3000. The build is typical RaySamuelsAudio, and the sound, in my opinion, is the best he has put out so far. It doesn’t mean if you are a solid state person, that his other amps aren’t as good, he just took a great sound, and made it into a tube lovers amp.
I don’t really think you will see too many of these up for grabs on the Head-Fi or AudioGon “For Sale” forums. It sounds darn tootin’ good.
[ 本帖最后由 dragon 于 2010-3-15 21:38 编辑 ] |
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发表于 2010-3-15 19:04:37
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