Post by lewers on Feb 14, 2013 0:08:40 GMT -5
Almost all of the gear used is in the signature, the one exception being the benchmark DAC that I've added recently and was used exclusively for these listening tests.
The comparison set up goes like this; XPRs and XPAs set up on top of each other behind the speakers. (yes, racked with plenty of airspace between them)
MacBook Pro feeding various zero compression applied music files (some HD Tracks stuff up to 192/24 down to some 44.1/16 CD sourced music) via USB to the benchmark DAC, then XLR cables from the benchmark to the amps. Then a short run of speaker cable from the amp being compared to each speaker.
To ensure equal volume levels I set the volume using pink noise and a SPL meter before listening to each each song.
Music used
Title: Jazz at the Pawnshop
Artist: Arne Domnérus, Bengt Hallberg, Lars Erstrand, Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen
Track: Take Five (88.2/24)
Title: By Way of the World
Artist: Spies
Track: Now and Then (44.1/16)
Title: The Broadway Album
Artist: Barbra Streisand
Track: Pretty Women/The Ladies Who Lunch (44.1/16)
Title: Eye in The Sky
Artist: Alan Parsons Project
Track: Psychobabble (192/24)
Title: Black Album
Artist: Metallica
Track: Nothing Else Matters (96/24)
After warming up XPRs for a week, not because I have great willpower and was determined to warm them up before listening but because I was sick with the flu, I was finally well enough and could hear again so I set about comparing the old with the new amps.
And I do feel compelled to mention that I went into this wanting to like the XPA-1s more simply because I really like them. They're great amplifiers. They do everything that I would ever want an amplifier to do for a phenomenal price. I also have a set of five driving the 5 of a 5.1 system so for continuity's sake, it'd be nice to leave the matched amps intact.
I truly went into this expecting to like certain things about the XPA-1s better such as imaging specifics, tonal balance, something. I really really thought I would like at lease something about them more.
Well, I do still like them very much. The XPA-1s are still an exceptional value and a wonderful amplifier, however; the XPR-1s do everything better.
Again, I was predisposed to believe that there would be something I'd find at fault, something like a more forward presentation from the XPR-1s via a tilted frequency response.
Nothing could've been further from the truth. They have a tremendous amount of detail, not from a tilted frequency response, but simply from a very clear ability to resolve whatever is fed to them.
The dynamics of instruments played through them are simply more realistic, the imaging is clearer, the instruments in that image are more solidly defined.
Are the XPR-1s light-years ahead of the XPA-1s? No.
Everything I heard was better, as in icing on the cake better. Nothing was so much better that I want to throw away the XPA-1s.
In fact throughout my comparisons I kept marveling at the fact that when I went back to the XPA-1s I liked them very much, but at every turn in every way XPR-1s were just better.
So in conclusion the XPRs are staying. Would I say that everyone must upgrade? No. Should everyone with XPA-1s and the physical space to accommodate the XPR-1s have the chance to compare? I think so.
The comparison set up goes like this; XPRs and XPAs set up on top of each other behind the speakers. (yes, racked with plenty of airspace between them)
MacBook Pro feeding various zero compression applied music files (some HD Tracks stuff up to 192/24 down to some 44.1/16 CD sourced music) via USB to the benchmark DAC, then XLR cables from the benchmark to the amps. Then a short run of speaker cable from the amp being compared to each speaker.
To ensure equal volume levels I set the volume using pink noise and a SPL meter before listening to each each song.
Music used
Title: Jazz at the Pawnshop
Artist: Arne Domnérus, Bengt Hallberg, Lars Erstrand, Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen
Track: Take Five (88.2/24)
Title: By Way of the World
Artist: Spies
Track: Now and Then (44.1/16)
Title: The Broadway Album
Artist: Barbra Streisand
Track: Pretty Women/The Ladies Who Lunch (44.1/16)
Title: Eye in The Sky
Artist: Alan Parsons Project
Track: Psychobabble (192/24)
Title: Black Album
Artist: Metallica
Track: Nothing Else Matters (96/24)
After warming up XPRs for a week, not because I have great willpower and was determined to warm them up before listening but because I was sick with the flu, I was finally well enough and could hear again so I set about comparing the old with the new amps.
And I do feel compelled to mention that I went into this wanting to like the XPA-1s more simply because I really like them. They're great amplifiers. They do everything that I would ever want an amplifier to do for a phenomenal price. I also have a set of five driving the 5 of a 5.1 system so for continuity's sake, it'd be nice to leave the matched amps intact.
I truly went into this expecting to like certain things about the XPA-1s better such as imaging specifics, tonal balance, something. I really really thought I would like at lease something about them more.
Well, I do still like them very much. The XPA-1s are still an exceptional value and a wonderful amplifier, however; the XPR-1s do everything better.
Again, I was predisposed to believe that there would be something I'd find at fault, something like a more forward presentation from the XPR-1s via a tilted frequency response.
Nothing could've been further from the truth. They have a tremendous amount of detail, not from a tilted frequency response, but simply from a very clear ability to resolve whatever is fed to them.
The dynamics of instruments played through them are simply more realistic, the imaging is clearer, the instruments in that image are more solidly defined.
Are the XPR-1s light-years ahead of the XPA-1s? No.
Everything I heard was better, as in icing on the cake better. Nothing was so much better that I want to throw away the XPA-1s.
In fact throughout my comparisons I kept marveling at the fact that when I went back to the XPA-1s I liked them very much, but at every turn in every way XPR-1s were just better.
So in conclusion the XPRs are staying. Would I say that everyone must upgrade? No. Should everyone with XPA-1s and the physical space to accommodate the XPR-1s have the chance to compare? I think so.
