Thanks Viren for your informative post. Your post inspired me to get one level deeper into the different tube designs and hear for myself. Couple of days back I had an appointment with a dealer in Singapore who sells both Audio note and Leben. The amps under consideration were Leben CS300xs and Audio note OTO SE. Leben is a push-pull design whereas Audio Note is a single ended design based on two EL-84 tubes per channel. The Audio Note supposedly implements a low degree of negative feedback as well.
In general I am familiar with the Leben sound. It has always appealed to me. The dynamic, clean and transparent sound yet with a sense tube magic always makes me smile when Leben plays. Audio note on the other hand is quite a bit unknown to me. I have only heard it in the Singapore hifi show where they were playing an Ongaku which doesnt give me any idea about what an OTO would sound like.
When I entered the store Leben was already connected while the AN was lying in one corner. So we started with the Leben. Since I knew the Leben sound I straight away played the most "important" CD among the stack I was carrying, a Hindustani track consisting of only a Sitar, Sarod, Tabla and Tanpura. It is not only a very good recording (Chanda Dhara) but a very musically involving track. I have very familiar with it. The Leben as usual did what it does best, very clean and nuanced presentation, there is a certain purity about its tones, you know there is just no grunge in it. After a 15 mins listening session somehow I felt like I should go to the Audio note, may be because I felt I know the Leben enough.
Same track played back through AN, initial impression, hmmm...tubes are playing !! There was a clear sense of lot more tube things going on. Everything became fuller, a bit of rounding though not much, things more relaxed (not laid back !!), a feeling of calmness. At this point even though I could point out differences between the two amps I could not really judge if one was preferable over the other. The Leben gave me a more "exciting" presentation where as the AN was more like "soothing". So to understand more about AN I started playing a variety of music. A bit of western classical, some female vocals and rock. Rock was interesting, I played CCR and Rainbow. The AN had a way of playing rock, the old school way, nice, full, dynamic, very coherent and foot tapping. One would feel like air guitaring after some time BUT unfortunately the kick drums sounded quite loose, muddy and rounded. I agree that the bass passages were quite heavy but the looseness was not something that one can pass. I played couple of such music and all of them gave me the same impression, dont expect deep and tight bass. OTOH acoustic bass like Tabla, dholak and double bass was okay, meaning it was not as tight as Leben but it was not bothering, there was something likeable about it. It was 30 mins or so listening to AN, I thought I should play just couple of more tracks and get back to the Leben. Played a few live recorded music (Clapton, Jagjit Singh)...Suddenly things started sounding interesting, previously also it was nice but now something special. Music sounded LIVE ! Okay it is a live recording but how live can a live recording sound especially the ones that I am so familiar with for years. After analysing a bit around this "live" thing I had a smile on my face
. Now I was hearing something really special. Then I realized, the amp was lying in a corner so it was cold, now it has warmed up, it was confirmed by the store guy also. I immediately played back some more familiar tracks from other CDs and yes, it was unlike anything I have heard.
I went back to Leben, sometimes one becomes too appreciative of even little improvements...that is dangerous because later it will seem like a appreciation in haste. Leben is a good reference for me to check against. Again the same hindustani CD, then the western classical symphony, Jagjit singh, Tracy Chapman and finally CCR/Rainbow. I took roughly about 15 mins to play all these CDs on Leben..how ? It took less than 2 mins each genre to understand whats going on!!
Generally the Leben had a lot more control when heavy bass passages especially drums come into play, very marked difference. Audio note is almost triple the size of the Leben but cannot hold the drivers in place when something very demanding comes up:lol:. The Leben also had deep control over the images, one could literally see the two halves of the tabla separately. Apart from that there was a see through transparency which is rare even in SS amps. The Leben was also a bit more nimble with better snap.
But the Audio Note had something entirely different to offer, easy to notice (after the warm up though). It made the Leben sound somewhat like a typical solid state amp:sad:. I could never imagine this but the reason I could finish the second round of Leben audition within 15 mins even though I played & CDs was because I was desperate to hear the Leben the way I have always imagined its presentation. I could not accept the Leben to have a typical SS like sound. The same tones which I always adored about Leben now sounded somewhat dry and cut out of the actual whole. The music through Audio note had an "aura", something going on apart from instruments, not sure how to express this. One observation, through the Leben the instruments were clearly separated and the gap between the images had "nothing", it was see-through clean which we audiophiles generally like but now I started feeling the gap is missing "something", I dont know what but the gap was also a bit dry and I would call "non-performing". Can a gap perform ? Well, with the Audio note the gaps are not dry, there is something even the gap which performs and adds to the overall experience, I suppose it is this something that creates the aura I was talking about. It is not grunge or noise that fills the gap, it is something more like ambient..presence information that ultimately connects all the performers, the room/hall and audience (if live recording) together as one unit. With the Leben, it suddenly felt like a well arranged 5 focussed speakers are playing 5 different instruments and I am listening to each of them and combining them in my brain, they are all in tune but some amount of cerebral activity is going on!! Audio Note does it for you, that is why there is a sense of music wash all over your body, mind and soul. This is exactly what I missed with the Leben.
Some of my best friends here are Leben owners so I know the risk I am taking
hyeah:. I hope I am forgiven, believe me I am not happy with my findings as well. Leben is one of the best amps I had on my shortlist for the amp upgrade and now I am in a tough situation. But then here is what I think...when one comes back from a trip to hill station the city seems too noisy and crowded. Same here, Audio note gave me a session of musical tour which had few stunning moments and it really showed me what a complete music reproduction could possibly sound like. That could have made the shortcomings of the Leben a bit too glaring but then I know how much I liked the Leben whenever I have heard it in isolation. Moreover I dont think I can tolerate the muddy bass of the AN...not sure. Another thing, the overall neutrality of Leben will allow me to tailor the sound as per my tastes using tweaks (cables, isolation, room treatments) which I do not think I can do with Audio note because the basic requirement (power, control) is has to come from internals. It is adequately powerful but I know the Tannoy deserves much more. At this point I am stuck.
The next plan is to take my Naim Nait 5i to the same store and do a head to head comparison with Leben. That should give me yet another perspective of what I was actually hearing while comparing Audio Note and Leben.
:lol:
. Some Incredible String Band is great for detail in acoustic harmonies. These things, as well as (or because of!) being amongst my favourite music are also my audition material
