... but can they build decent headphone amps?
Just picked up this compact little beauty ... unseen and unheard. More out of curiosity than anything else.
The Perreaux Silhouette SXH2 ... built in New Zealand from around 2006. Apparently Perreaux has a history in audio manufacturing dating back to the early 70's. Information on the SXH2 is very scarce ... even flying a kite at head-fi.org yielded no results. I found some period reviews, including one in an Aussie mag that proclaims this to be the best headphone amp. In the world. Ever. Absolutely no hyperbole or exaggeration there ... typical understated Aussie restraint.
The specs ... looking good! Class A signal stages, fully discrete, 22000uF smoothing caps, shielded torroidal power supply, stable down to 4 ohms, gain selection switch, 31.5V swing, 2W into 32 ohm, 1W into 64 ohm, 215mW into 300 ohm.
Got in touch with Perreaux to check for technical support and the MD Martin van Rooyen answered my email. Nope, no SA expat ... Martin is a first generation Kiwi of Dutch decent. He gave this response:
Says he's keen to visit SA too ... maybe I can convince him to bring along some new Perreaux goodies for an informal demo session?
This specific unit is said to be NOS (new, old stock), factory sealed in the original box ... looking forward to my new toy! If it sounds good I will have a handy solution for low impedance cans (bugger thomas24 ... I wanted to try the LCD2's on this before you sold them) ... the SPL Phonitor (Mk I) has high output impedance, squarely aimed at the pro audio market and best suited to 300ohm+ cans.
Just picked up this compact little beauty ... unseen and unheard. More out of curiosity than anything else.
The Perreaux Silhouette SXH2 ... built in New Zealand from around 2006. Apparently Perreaux has a history in audio manufacturing dating back to the early 70's. Information on the SXH2 is very scarce ... even flying a kite at head-fi.org yielded no results. I found some period reviews, including one in an Aussie mag that proclaims this to be the best headphone amp. In the world. Ever. Absolutely no hyperbole or exaggeration there ... typical understated Aussie restraint.
The specs ... looking good! Class A signal stages, fully discrete, 22000uF smoothing caps, shielded torroidal power supply, stable down to 4 ohms, gain selection switch, 31.5V swing, 2W into 32 ohm, 1W into 64 ohm, 215mW into 300 ohm.
Got in touch with Perreaux to check for technical support and the MD Martin van Rooyen answered my email. Nope, no SA expat ... Martin is a first generation Kiwi of Dutch decent. He gave this response:
Says he's keen to visit SA too ... maybe I can convince him to bring along some new Perreaux goodies for an informal demo session?
This specific unit is said to be NOS (new, old stock), factory sealed in the original box ... looking forward to my new toy! If it sounds good I will have a handy solution for low impedance cans (bugger thomas24 ... I wanted to try the LCD2's on this before you sold them) ... the SPL Phonitor (Mk I) has high output impedance, squarely aimed at the pro audio market and best suited to 300ohm+ cans.
