The limited edition Cypherus AX amp - Agung Haskara

I would like to share one of my collections.
An article by Agung Haskara.

The limited edition Cypherus AX amp


Before we start, I want to share that my music preference is various genres of jazz and Latin songs starting from Miles Davis, Lisa Ekdahl, Tito Puente, to Quasimode
Songs tested are from the stated genre with file extension of DSD, FLAC 24, FLAC 16, and MP3 320 (to test the scalability of the amp).
DAPs used in this review is Calyx Cypherus Mod (will be reviewed later on), Iphone 4S, $1 DAP named Votre.
Brief introduction on this amp, this is made by Cypherus Audio X, a local audio equipment maker and modder and there will only be 20 of this amplifier (only less than half remain!). 
This is a discrete amplifier that uses handpicked set of triodes. Other amps that use this kind of system is the Aune B1 ($199), Cypher Labs Picollo ($400) and Cypherus Audio Amp LE is priced $200. Is this worth it? 

Let’s discuss



Build Quality
It is made with aluminum casing in the size of iPhone 4S and thickness of Calyx M. Solid and quite portable. Charging port lies in the back panel and the line in, headphone out stands in the front panel. Sadly, there is no gain switch on this amp, so you can only have the amp tuned for sensitive IEM, tuned for 300 Ohm headphone, or set to the highest for the most power hungry cans like AKG K1000. Too bad on this one but I prefer to use 300 Ohm and buy impedance adapter

Sound Quality
This is the real deal right?
Clean floor and background noise. Amazing in this price range. This amp is able to drive my Sennheiser HD 650. Sadly, the power is too much to handle for sensitive IEM. This can be helped by using impedance adapter to add the impedance.

Sound signature of this amp is neutral, no coloration, revealing, enhance the sound signature of paired cans & DAP. This amp will unleash the potential that your setup has.
This amp has high scalability. Warm and analogue sounding like Calyx Mod? It will become more analogue sounding. Have bright source? Will become brighter. Setup has piercing high that you almost give up or have a badly mastered/ recorded music? You have a bad news tongue emoticon
By using votre, iPhone 4S, Calyx Mod, scalability can be heared.
It’s not like a high-tamer like fiio amps, 3D effect maker like Cayin C5, or “music smoother” like portable tube amp.

This is like octane pills for your setup. Good setup will become better, not good setup will make the sound well..worse.

I can say that this one sounds like Picollo though the price is half the Picollo (and lend this amp and asked my friend on local meet and they say the same). This purely amplify the sound signature that your setup have. It’s a hit or miss.



Conclusion:
Pro:
Neutral, detail, clean floor and background noise, very revealing.
Cons:
Not a “sound signature correction” amplifier, no rollable opamp (no opamp used), overpower gain for iem, too revealing, only built in small quantity.

if interested, feel free to contact
Cypherus Audio X
Herry Wijaya


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