Gents, just to share a recent event which further reinforced my thoughts on the Luxman L-590AXII.
Several days ago, a member here wrote about the Sonneteer Orton having a diffused sound with poor imaging and placement of instruments in the mix in comparison to the LFD. Since I own the Orton which is a spare, I decided to put it through its paces and compare it to the Luxman for the 2nd or 3rd time. From previous experiences, the Orton is a rather delicate, refined and soft sounding amp but from memory it doesn't exhibit a diffused or smeared sound as described.
When I fired up the Sonneteer in the main system on the first day, I was expecting, more like hoping to hear a noticeable if not serious degradation in sound quality going from the Luxman to the Sonneteer. To my horror, that didn’t happen. The music actually sounded rather pleasant with the Sonneteer sounding quite close to the quality of the Luxman. To make matters worse, the Sonneteer was connected to a cheap power strip with an equally cheap power cord. Luxman goes directly to an upgraded unswitched wall socket with a good power cord. For a fairer comparison, the Sonneteer was then connected directly to the unswitched wall socket with the same power cord which was previously used on the Luxman. Again, another round of improvement for the Sonneteer. The sound snapped into focus and everything sounded tighter and more controlled with improved dynamics. The Acrolink cords had showed consistent results with an almost matching sound signature every time they were plugged into different components ; I was glad I heard the difference.
As I continued to listen to more familiar tracks throughout the day, all my worries have been put to rest. To cut to the chase, although the Sonneteer sounds very good, it is still outclassed by the Luxman. The overall engagement was still there with the Sonneteer, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, once you have experienced something that’s superior it’s difficult to not notice the difference in presentation, more specifically the downgrade in sound quality. The most apparent difference between the Sonneteer and Luxman is with the bass. The low bass and mid bass of the Sonneteer appear to be half-baked in comparison, sounding somewhat undeveloped. In other words, the bass sounds weak, light and subdued. On the other hand, the bass on the Luxman sounds full and has the weight. Next up is on the tone of instruments particularly piano. With the Sonneteer, the notes sound slightly pale and 2-dimensional whereas there is slight tube-like glow with the Luxman which contributes to an airier 3-dimensional feel. Other aspects of the sound reproduction such as imaging, clarity and detail etc. sound fairly similar to my ears.
A caveat is a pair of Isoacoustics Gaia 2 which was recently added to the speakers may have bridged the gap between the Luxman and Sonneteer. From memory, the Sonneteer Orton sounded more smeared and diffused before the Gaias were added to the speakers. Despite the improvement showed by the Sonneteer after the inclusion of the Gaias, the Luxman L-590AXII still managed to gain the upper hand and established superiority over the Sonneteer. This just goes to show that the Luxman L-590AXII is truly quality. Every time I compare an inferior amp to the Luxman, it just makes me feel fortunate and grateful to own the Luxman.
Before I wrap things up, just to add that I’ve finally managed to install the Furutech NCF booster on the Chord DAC by using the (unused) Sonneteer amp as a support. At this point I think I prefer this device on the DAC rather than the Luxman but will need more listening to confirm.
Furutech NCF booster sitting on top of the Orton.
Several days ago, a member here wrote about the Sonneteer Orton having a diffused sound with poor imaging and placement of instruments in the mix in comparison to the LFD. Since I own the Orton which is a spare, I decided to put it through its paces and compare it to the Luxman for the 2nd or 3rd time. From previous experiences, the Orton is a rather delicate, refined and soft sounding amp but from memory it doesn't exhibit a diffused or smeared sound as described.
When I fired up the Sonneteer in the main system on the first day, I was expecting, more like hoping to hear a noticeable if not serious degradation in sound quality going from the Luxman to the Sonneteer. To my horror, that didn’t happen. The music actually sounded rather pleasant with the Sonneteer sounding quite close to the quality of the Luxman. To make matters worse, the Sonneteer was connected to a cheap power strip with an equally cheap power cord. Luxman goes directly to an upgraded unswitched wall socket with a good power cord. For a fairer comparison, the Sonneteer was then connected directly to the unswitched wall socket with the same power cord which was previously used on the Luxman. Again, another round of improvement for the Sonneteer. The sound snapped into focus and everything sounded tighter and more controlled with improved dynamics. The Acrolink cords had showed consistent results with an almost matching sound signature every time they were plugged into different components ; I was glad I heard the difference.
As I continued to listen to more familiar tracks throughout the day, all my worries have been put to rest. To cut to the chase, although the Sonneteer sounds very good, it is still outclassed by the Luxman. The overall engagement was still there with the Sonneteer, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, once you have experienced something that’s superior it’s difficult to not notice the difference in presentation, more specifically the downgrade in sound quality. The most apparent difference between the Sonneteer and Luxman is with the bass. The low bass and mid bass of the Sonneteer appear to be half-baked in comparison, sounding somewhat undeveloped. In other words, the bass sounds weak, light and subdued. On the other hand, the bass on the Luxman sounds full and has the weight. Next up is on the tone of instruments particularly piano. With the Sonneteer, the notes sound slightly pale and 2-dimensional whereas there is slight tube-like glow with the Luxman which contributes to an airier 3-dimensional feel. Other aspects of the sound reproduction such as imaging, clarity and detail etc. sound fairly similar to my ears.
A caveat is a pair of Isoacoustics Gaia 2 which was recently added to the speakers may have bridged the gap between the Luxman and Sonneteer. From memory, the Sonneteer Orton sounded more smeared and diffused before the Gaias were added to the speakers. Despite the improvement showed by the Sonneteer after the inclusion of the Gaias, the Luxman L-590AXII still managed to gain the upper hand and established superiority over the Sonneteer. This just goes to show that the Luxman L-590AXII is truly quality. Every time I compare an inferior amp to the Luxman, it just makes me feel fortunate and grateful to own the Luxman.
Before I wrap things up, just to add that I’ve finally managed to install the Furutech NCF booster on the Chord DAC by using the (unused) Sonneteer amp as a support. At this point I think I prefer this device on the DAC rather than the Luxman but will need more listening to confirm.
Furutech NCF booster sitting on top of the Orton.
