I would like to give my impressions on B22 in both balanced and single ended mode.
I listening to a wide genres of music from pop to classical both live and studio recorded tracks all not lesser then 256kbps, some are lossless formats.
I use the following setup
Macbook -> Lavry DA 11 (Toslink) -> B22 -> AKG K702
balanced
this is the very first time i heard balance setup and i am awe. from recorded tracks with classical, I cannot but said WOW! each details are very well define and crisp clear, spacious with an uncanny imaging are also what makes me breathless, you will not feel the sense of a very narrow soundstage being created to feel big, everything are there in the right place, I think the word conjested kind of suits the feeling. there so many minor details that i did not get to hear through single ended are all faithfully reveal, chimes tingle flawlessly, tracks with a lot of instruments that sound being packed and squeeze previously are effortlessly reproduced.
the singers voices will not overwhelm the music in the background, i can hear every tiny breath. Studio tracks were amazing as well, though lack the sense of a spacious hall, the music do not sound lifeless at all. I personally thinks, balanced brings the music to life, all that is missing is the visual aspects of the performance, sound wise, it is real! B22 drives K702 like a breeze and who complained that they are phones that lack the ommph in the bass? Hehe =P both balanced and B22 brings K702 to a whole new level.
Music from different genres play effortlessly out from K702, the only genres that I feel that K702 are not suitable for are heavy metals, metallica? At some point, I feel that all the instruments seem all cluttered together.
Single ended
I am extremely familiar with all my tracks in single ended with K702, thus this is where I finds the power of B22. In SE, the music feels more upfront and a tad smaller in the sense of space. B22 is total silent, I cannot hear any statics or anything. Power to drive K702 is similar in SE, bass are equally present, attacks, decays are fast and strong. Other aspects are very similar to balanced, but please do not be mistaken that is equivalent to balance mode.
B22 do not sound like soild sate at all, music is smooth and transparent. I am surprise to feel that B22 runs almost as hot as a tube amp, my casing were design without any ventilation holes, yet I think even with the holes, the unit will still runs hot as I have tried taking off the cover and I can feel the heat emitting from the heatsinks when I place my hand close. So I wonder how come some can put B22 into a plastic casing? Luckily my whole casing is aluminum thus the whole casing acts as a big heatsink to dissipate away the heat. Is balanced worth the upgrade, for me, yes! It bring life to the music. To finish off, I can say B22 is worth every penny spend, it does live up to all the raves it has created. Every time I put on the headphones, I finds it very hard to take it down, I have owned DV3322, heard numerous amps like yamamoto, earmax, audio-good, they are all very good amps, however none come as close to what B22 can produce, I think I have said this somewhere, some time ago, only RSA B52 can match B22, but I think both are different in many ways in terms of technology and hardware, sound wise, both are equally amazing and beautiful in their own ways.
Lastly, if anyone wish to engage me to assist in building this amplifier for them, I am very much please to do it for a small amount of fee as this is my hobby so I only wanna get back a small token for the time and efforts I put in to the build.
Cheers.
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