Acoustic Portrait Swara v2 Integrated Amplifier review

[captrajesh]

@abracher9 being OP, hope you don't mind the OT. If not, we'll branch it off as a separate thread.

 

[arj]

For those who like Economics, there is a Law called "Law of Diminishing marginal utility" It goes around the lines of as you go up in usage, every unit of increase reduces in value . eg the first cookie you eat gives you great feeling of taste but as you go on eating that feeling reduces per cookie

Same way in audio, as you go up the audio chain the increase in quality diminishes foe increase in cost..hence 5x increase in cost will never equate to 5x increase in sound quality and as you go up the value will be less and less. Hence moving to a 5K USD to 10K usD may increase sound quality only by 10% but 2.5K to 5K may do ny 50% and 1.2fK t0 2,5K by 2 times

Of course price is not a measure of sound quality and the above is a broad generalisation

 

[rsponline]

This is really nice discussion going on.

Just adding my 10 cents.

Improving output quality of any audio equipment beyond certain level is really tough job and it really needs lot of investment in R & D and compoenent cost to get that. That's why they charge you 5x (as someone said there is no liner relationship here).

Sometimes it is better investing efforts in finding what works better with what, than just adding up your budget expecting better sound quality.
My personal experience says that some times same setup sounds out of the world to me and some other time I find its shortcomings.

Hence I convince myself that this is just state of my mind at that time and postpone my upgrade plans.

 

[Amarendra]

This is really nice discussion going on.

Just adding my 10 cents.

Improving output quality of any audio equipment beyond certain level is really tough job and it really needs lot of investment in R & D and compoenent cost to get that. That's why they charge you 5x (as someone said there is no liner relationship here).

Sometimes it is better investing efforts in finding what works better with what, than just adding up your budget expecting better sound quality.
My personal experience says that some times same setup sounds out of the world to me and some other time I find its shortcomings.

Hence I convince myself that this is just state of my mind at that time and postpone my upgrade plans.

Thats true. Several times I have heard budget equipment sound wonderful in showrooms, only to sound crappy at home. The solution is not to upgrade equipment but to first get the room in a condition to bring out the best in any equipment. This is also the reason why I am not going after upgrades.

 

[abracher9]

Thats true. Several times I have heard budget equipment sound wonderful in showrooms, only to sound crappy at home. The solution is not to upgrade equipment but to first get the room in a condition to bring out the best in any equipment. This is also the reason why I am not going after upgrades.

And that's the reason that I'm now trying to match room acoustics with aesthetics, and find a balance!

 

[aurobindosaha]

And that's the reason that I'm now trying to match room acoustics with aesthetics, and find a balance!

And I have so limited knowledge, how to take advantage of room acoustic...

 

[abracher9]

And I have so limited knowledge, how to take advantage of room acoustic...

Many threads in this forum on the subject. In my opinion, do what you can in your home - most of us don't have dedicated music listening rooms.

 

[sound1]

For those who like Economics, there is a Law called "Law of Diminishing marginal utility" It goes around the lines of as you go up in usage, every unit of increase reduces in value

Apparently SQ v/s equipment price curve also follows logarithmic scale

 

[Vinay103]

That's a very interesting question, really. Looking at it from a quality vs cost perspective, we know that it is not a linear relationship. As cost increases beyond a point, quality does not increase proportionally. That being said Im not saying that Acoustic Portrait is in that range but when I compare with Norge, I think it definitely would be at least 3X improvement. That brings the price to around 45-50K. But since there are hardly any other Indian manufacturers in this quality range, they can ask for a premium. I may be wrong but AP would be better than the similarly priced foreign amps in the 60-70K range..

Recently I came across their DAC Thiyaga V2 SE Dac (tube at output stage) costing 2Lakh....could anyone share opinion on such expensive DAC for digital sources ?

 

[Shammi Dang]

I have not seen an Acoustic Portrait Swara integrated amp review on this forum and having bought this one recently, am sharing my views on it.

As a background, I started this hifi journey with a Sony home theatre(!) with Bose 161 speakers attached.
Here is the list of components that I have used:

• Marantz CDP5004 + Norge 1000 + Wharfedale 9.6 floorstander

View attachment 70804

• Changed to Marantz CDP 5004 + Topping Tp20 + Wharfedale 9.6 floorstander
• Changed to Marantz CDP 5004 + Marantz PM5004 + Wharfedale 9.6 floorstander
• Logitech Squeezebox + Marantz PM5004 + Boston Acoustics A26 bookshelf speakers
• Set up a secondary system when I was posted to J&K (I was a colonel in the army then) Logitech Squeezebox +Topping Tp20 + JBL Control one bookshelf

View attachment 70800View attachment 70802

• Sold everything off when I moved to the US
• Came back and restarted with Logitech Squeezebox + Cambridge Audio CA351a + Wharfedale 121 bookshelf
• Added a Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer to it.
• Replaced Squeezebox with Cambridge Audio CXN v2 + Cambridge Audio CA351a + Wharfedale 121 bookshelf + Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer
• Now I'm here:
• Cambridge Audio CXN v2 + Acoustic Portrait Swara v2 Integrated amp + Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 + Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer

View attachment 70803

I visited AP at Jayanagar and met Siva, based on a few inputs here about the amplifiers that could potentially support Elac B5.2s.
Had a decent audition there, I had carried my speakers with me. They sounded much better with the AP Swara, so decided to replace my CA351a.

I received the amplifier with added pre outs (though haven't connected them yet, still on line level) for my subwoofer a couple of days ago, and actually got the time to set it all up last night, along with a nice beer.

View attachment 70807

Build:
Walnut wood front panel is unique and a conversation starter on Indian electronics design. I really like it, makes me feel proud of this being Indian!
Solid build, there is only one button on the front for power 'on/off'(though the button looks like typically Indian electronic part), with a LED blue light indicator. It is very strong and painful to the eye, so I'm putting a translucent tape on it.
The volume knob is also solid, and motorized - it works with a remote - and I found that even my CXN v2 remote is able to control the volume knob, so that is a bonus!
There are three input connections and a simple LED indicator on the front panel to show what is connected at the moment(does not show digits, only a different light for each input).
I have a pre-out added to the back panel for my subwoofer, cost me a bit extra. All connectors are gold plated and solid, high quality. The amp body itself is heavy and solid feel to it.
View attachment 70808

There is a basic remote which feels low end soundbar type, on which only the source and volume buttons work - others, power, 'f'(?) and mute are not functional, which I think is a let down for such a great amp. A better remote would add to the value of this already great amp!

View attachment 70809

Performance:
After owning Wharfedales for a long time, I thought they were too warm for my liking, and so Elacs seemed the right choice for their transparency, while bass was not really an issue since I am using a subwoofer in any case.
All my music is FLAC format on my hard disc - playing via the internal DAC(Wolfson WM8740) in the CXN v2, moved on from CDs a long time ago.
I played the following tracks/ music:

• Arne Domnerus - a couple of tracks from the album 'Jazz at the Pawnshop'.
• Dire Straits - 'Private Investigations', 'Brothers in Arms' and 'Ride Across the River'
• AR Rahman songs from Roja, Dil Se and Taal.
• A couple of Grateful Dead songs - 'Truckin' etc
• Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline versions of 'Crazy'
• Eagles - 'Hotel California' live version

It was an amazing experience. Great soundstage, I could blindly pinpoint each instrument playing in front of me, especially during Arne Domnerous, AR Rahman songs. I could actually hear fingers on the guitar strings and the background cymbals(?) in the jazz numbers.
CA351a also gave me a similar experience, but the depth was missing. This sounded more full. The sound of a Saxophone was absolutely fantastic and that memory kept coming back to me again and again even after I'd switched off my session!
The Swara amp looks like the right choice to match with the Elac B5.2s/ 6.2s, especially the way it transmits the full sound without being overtly warm, and rounds off the highs as well, but makes sure you hear them!
I think an equivalent foreign amp would be in the range of 1 to1.5 lakhs, or more - only a comparison can tell.

Disclaimer - as you can see from my previous hifi equipment, I have not gone for extremely expensive stuff since
1. Can't afford to spend too much;
2 - What you experience will always be limited by the room/ speaker placement and ability to set up a dedicated and isolated listening room(which I can't for the moment);
3 - Your ears ( I have partial hearing loss in the mid frequencies from my army days of serving on the line of control and exposure to loud shelling noises, so even the best of equipment won't let me hear everything!).

View attachment 70806

Keeping the above in mind, I'm making the best of what's possible.
Next - I'm going to try treating the wall behind the speakers a little bit, play with speaker placement etc for improving SQ.

Overall, Acoustic Portrait Swara is a great amp, worth much more than what you pay for it, if you are in it for the musicality and experience of listening without the bells and whistles (that you don't use in any case, after the thrill of setting up is gone!). Totally recommended.

Hi, I have few small questions regarding swara integrated amplifier. I have very recently bought their "tube buffer" to be used as an intermediate between the Dac and my current integrated amplifier. No doubt, the quality is top notch specially the build quality. The front facia wood panel is a center of attraction and gives a very vintage vibe and matches very well with my bookshelf speakers (Wharfedale Evo 4.1 walnut veneer). I even have a pair of Elac Debut B5, the first version. Very contrary to the bright blue LED on your amp the tube buffer has very bleak led light mainly because it is hidden in the body of the amp below the wood facia. But I am sure they have maintained very good internal quality for all their product range and that is the main thing that matters. I am just thinking on purchasing the amp later this year if it suits my requirement.

Now the questions:
1. Does the amp has some internal bass and treble controls that can be controlled by the knob on the amp or remote.
2. How much extra did you pay for the customization of "pre out" ports at the back.
3. Any problems faced in 2+ years of usage, I mean the reliability part.

That's all. Hope u will find some time to answer my queries. Thanks in Advance.