Impressions: Transformer Coupled Amp By Traformatic of Mladenovac, Serbia

[Augsburger]

First A Little Background

Trafomatic is a ten employee privately held audio, industrial, medical equipment and transformer manufacturer located in Mladenovac, in the Republic of Serbia. As noted in another thread, the transformers in the Trafomatic line are manufactured in house by Trafomatic but Trafomatic also provides transformers for Korato tube amplifiers, another audio manufacturer whom they declined to disclose, DIYers as well as power conditioners.

Head One is their transformer coupled headphone amplifier employing two Russian 6S45P-E triode tubes and one EZ80 as the rectifier tube. A brief internet search found the three tubes costing from $45 to $90 dollars total. When I asked Trafomatic who manufactured the tubes in the event I needed replacements their translated response was:

My question The 6S45p's are probably Svetlana or Saratov manufacture or are they really WE437A? How much current are the tubes running? Less than 50mA I hope.

Their translated answer "Tubes are 6S45P-E, Russian military, manufacturer known probably only KGB. Every one (tube) has a stamp with OTK and number, so if there is a bad tube out, they know which one of the quality control people is going to end up in Siberia ;-) tubes run at 18-20 mA and are matched for gain. With such a low dissapation and construction they are expected to have a long life. The tubes are similar to WE437A but not identical".

"The Head One uses the Alps pot, Rubycon and Capxon (sp?) for electrolytics, with a cathode bypass ..... plus WIMA MKC polycarbonate resistor that is a great match. Tube rectification with input L filter plus CLC filter for anode supply is used".

One very useful feature on the Head One is the switch for 30, 100 and 300 ohm signal to better match the needs of a wide range of headphones. One difficulty I have personally experienced was locating amps that work well with my W1000 cans. For cans with 40 ohm sensitivity of the W1000s, Trafomatic recommended the 30 ohm setting. When I inquired as to how the different output values for various headphones was accomplished, Trafomatic stated that the output transformer was wound with multiple taps to allow for different settings and that great care was taken to minimize negative effects but they didn't elaborate exactly how this was done.

Next A Little Music

I have great familiarity with the CDs I chose for this evaluation. All CDs have very good sonic qualities and each emphasizes a certain portion of the musical range while highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the equipment down stream. As source I used a modded Onix X99 with the Superclock upgrade feeding a PreSonus Central Station DAC and for cans my ATH W1000s. Cables were silver cable Eichman plugs built by some guy name Grand Enigma who no one has heard of I am sure.

The selected CDs were:

Tord Gustavsen Trio, The Ground (ECM) for the detail and texture of acoustic jazz. A good system can separate each instrument in its own space while the trio is playing. The decay of the piano notes and the absolute quiet background can be quite revealing. On tracks one and eight there is some cymbal work where the initial strike and exceptionally long decay of the notes reveals the detail capabilities in a system.

Next was Mater Magnificat (ECM). The strings and chorale passages again require a fast and detailed presentation; there can be no middle ground in this recording. The female voice is very difficult to reproduce accurately and with realism in my opinion and Eva Bittova gives a beautiful and challenging presentation in this piece. The Bratislava Conservatory Choir leaps out at you as a group of individual voices not a mash of music.

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Collosus, a vinyl rip presenting great detail and head room on Sonny's tenor sax, the detail of Tommy Flanagan's piano and Max Roach's drums. I chose this CD because in theory an digital copy sourced from audiophile 45 rpm vinyl should have a large stage with lots of head room, and I was not disappointed. The quartet's music seemed to come from many directions both as source and reflections in a close microphone studio setting. Not the most textured recording for vinyl but still very organic and lively in my opinion.

Brian Bromberg, Wood. The album name says it all. Wood is what he plays and what you hear. This upright bass piece has great detail and if you have had any experience with live string instruments close up such as a viola or upright bass, you will know what I mean. The detail of the notes on his passages are superb and very precise. In a weak system this CD can be unforgiving and the bass notes tend to bloat and roll off dramatically, but not here. Presentation, accuracy and decay are very, very good.

In closing, I feel the Trafomatic Head One is very detailed and transparent yet adds no coloration to the music. The better your source the more of what is in the music is what you will hear. The sound stage is large, not the largest I have heard but very large and three dimensional. I have never heard of these odd Russian tubes before but they are a very nice musical match to the Trafomatic wound transformer.

Definitely worth a listen........if you can find one.

MOD EDIT - fixed your first link for you.

[aerius]

"The Head One uses the Alps pot, Rubycon and Capxon (sp?) for electrolytics, with a cathode bypass ..... plus WIMA MKC polycarbonate resistor that is a great match. Tube rectification with input L filter plus CLC filter for anode supply is used".

This is a very good thing. Choke input power supplies are good when using tube rectifiers, and even better when there's more stages of choke filtering. Lots of iron is good, makes for an easy life for the rectifier tube and a nice quiet power supply.

Anyways, thanks for the excellent impressions & writeup, looks like the Trafomatic will be the amp to beat in the under $1k range and should be competive with amps a fair bit above its price point.

[Augsburger]

Thanks Aerius, you are very kind.

Truth be known, it was your comment about the Karota amp and trannies that pushed me off the fence. I am glad I made the leap. BTW anyone noticed the "aux input" "line out" jacks on the back? It appears the Head One has a line source capability built in as well.

[boomana]

Nice write-up! Now, of course, I want to hear one for myself.

[Augsburger]

Nice write-up! Now, of course, I want to hear one for myself.

Well as of this moment, your only choices are Mladenovac, Serbia or Southern California. Equidistant actually to where you are now but not very convenient.

[Voltron]

Nice write-up. I wanted one after the earlier thread indicating that they might be coming out for only $700-800, and now I want one even more. How/where can I buy one? Better question, where/how did you get yours?

[deepak]

Certainly a very good looking amp. Thanks for the impressions.

[Augsburger]

Nice write-up. I wanted one after the earlier thread indicating that they might be coming out for only $700-800, and now I want one even more. How/where can I buy one? Better question, where/how did you get yours?

Voltron, Deepak,

Thank you for the comments. For purchasing information contact Boris at:

[email protected]

Boris is great to deal with, very responsive and knowledgeable.

FYI the original price of $720 plus shipping was a mistake which they did not catch until after I had ordered mine. I suspect that they determined pricing in early 2007 before the dollar depreciated against the Euro. Their new stated price is $870.

Kind regards,

Greg

[Voltron]

Thanks Greg.

Al

[Augsburger]

EPILOGUE:

Well I purposely let the issue die down so that I wouldn't let myself get caught up in my excitement. I have been traveling for the past two weeks so I have spent some time away from the Head One. I am back in town for a few weeks and I now have about thirty hours on it, not a full burn in per se but enough to say that I like this amp more and more. Next to the EC/SS which I found very revealing and detailed, the EC/SS seems a little too forward and imparts a bit of glare to the music. This is only noticeable since I have been back in town and I am taking the time to A/B the two amps. The Trafomatic has a nice smooth mellow character with a deep and wide sound stage. When A/B ing, the EC/SS seems to be a little to fast and forward whereas with the Trafomatic the music seems to envelope you. I guess the mellow characteristics can be attributable to those crazy KGB sponsored tubes. I hope we can pull off a summer meet here in So Cal (as rumored) so that others can comment on their experience with this amp.

[Smeggy]

Good impressions. I don't really have much use for a headphone amp, however, that Experience Two would look real good hanging off the end of my K1000s

[Augsburger]

ahhh I have envy

[Smeggy]

ahhh I have envy

Envy? At least you have a nice new amp, mine's a 24 year old Hafler that usually has trouble breaking $150 on ebay. Still, it does sound nice and makes a damned good room heater to boot.

[aerius]

I called up the Canadian distributors and managed to arrange an audition at one of them yesterday. I used my RS-1 and Senn 580 and brought along my mini Gilmore Lite for a sanity check. CD player was some shiny German(?) thingy, I can neither remember nor pronounce the name.

In short, I concur with Augsburger's impressions, this little amp is good and does what an amp should. It's not crapped up and mushy, everything is well controlled. With my Senns I preferred using the 100 Ohm tap, it keeps the upper bass from dicking up the midrange. I think lovers of "traditional" tube sound will prefer the 300 ohm setting which loosens things up a bit, but loses some control of the bass.

With RS-1's, I think this is THE amp to beat unless you have a couple grand or more burning a hole in your pocket. With the impedance switch dialed down to 30 ohms, it keeps the Grados nicely in control. The frequency response is about as even as you'll get from an RS-1, the highs don't go PPSSSSSS! like they can with lesser amps and the bass hump doesn't overpower and smear out the midrange, which does retain the Grado magic. The amp works with the RS-1 instead of seemingly fighting against it like my DIY Gilmore Lite tends to do.

I decided to play "Whites off Earth now!" because I like the Ambisonics mic and I'm frankly sick of the "Trinity Sessions" album and don't want to hear the latter for a while. This album was recorded in a garage and you can hear it, the acoustics aren't exactly great but the performance sure is. With the Trafomatic & RS-1, there's a lot of depth to sound, I can clearly place all the walls on the garage along with the echoes & reverb, everytime someone moves to a different spot I can hear the change in the sound field. The sound doesn't come from the same place and the echoes don't bounce the same way either. Real fun to listen to, especially the opening track and "I'll Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive".

Also played some metal because if it can't rock with Grados, it's useless. I went with the remastered edition of "South of Heaven" by Slayer, it's loud and evil with crunchy guitar goodness and drums. I wasn't disappointed, Slayer sounds darn good on them, though I wouldn't mind having just a bit more dynamics & control when I cranked it to earbleed volumes. The bass started to compress a bit and the treble lost some resolution when I cranked it way up, I'd never listen anywhere near that loud on anything like a regular basis so it's not a concern for me. I only crank it like that a few times a year, and only for a couple songs at a time at most.

Also played a few tracks off Blue Rodeo's "Five Days in July". "Cynthia's" fun for checking resolution & separation, can it keep the vocals from blending together, and can it also cleanly distinguish the fact that the female background vocal isn't Sarah McLachlan at all times, especially during the chorus. The background singer isn't Sarah, but lesser gear can make it seem like she is. The Trafomatic can do the job, I can tell the singer clearly ain't Sarah, it's some other woman who ends up sounding like her because of the way the vocals harmonize during the chorus. It takes a pretty good system to make the distinction clear.

"What is this Love" off the same album is fun for hearing reverb in a barn, and that's also where you realize that Sarah McLachlan's voice is surprisingly strong. Most of the time I can hear that she's a fair distance behind the microphone, and only moves closer for a few parts. When she does, the tone of her voice should change, and that's also when you get the echoes off the barn. Most amps can get the echoes but leave the tonal change sounding flat, which in turn makes the distance seem screwy. The Trafomatic can get both.

This is a good amp, it does a lot of things right. I can definitely recommend it unless you're one of those guys who listens at over 100dB.

Also, Avantgarde Duo Mezzos are fucking awesome.

[spritzer]

You didn't happen to bring some orthodynamics with you...? I'm considering this amp as a neat solution to drive my orthos but I'm not sure it has the current to pull it off.

[Smeggy]

Good review aerius, sounds like it's a great little amp. I love the looks too from what I can see. Do you think you might get one at some stage?

Spritzer, I don't know if you bought any of those little ortho drivers off ebay recently but they are really easy to drive. I tried them directly from my UMPC and Rio Karma and they did a sterling job. I also have the ASL UHC headphone transformer which can pump out massive levels into just about any phone load from my power amps. Just a thought.

[aerius]

You didn't happen to bring some orthodynamics with you...?

Nope, I don't have an ortho and I couldn't get in touch with anyone who has one on short notice.

Good review aerius, sounds like it's a great little amp. I love the looks too from what I can see. Do you think you might get one at some stage?

Well, if I weren't into the DIY part of tube amps I'd probably buy one, but since I am I won't because I have almost all the parts to build something fairly similar. It is a nice looking amp, kinda heavy too with all those transformers and chokes.

[deepak]

Also, Avantgarde Duo Mezzos are fucking awesome.

Nice heard a good setup huh. I'd like to hear the Mezzo, not many places have them in though

Great review on the headphone amp too.

[spritzer]

Spritzer, I don't know if you bought any of those little ortho drivers off ebay recently but they are really easy to drive. I tried them directly from my UMPC and Rio Karma and they did a sterling job. I also have the ASL UHC headphone transformer which can pump out massive levels into just about any phone load from my power amps. Just a thought.

I have them and the Corda Aria (my only dynamic amp for now) and I need to max it to get a good level with the drivers in an open space. It's also a gain issue due to the internal DAC but I need something with balls...

Nope, I don't have an ortho and I couldn't get in touch with anyone who has one on short notice.

Well, if I weren't into the DIY part of tube amps I'd probably buy one, but since I am I won't because I have almost all the parts to build something fairly similar. It is a nice looking amp, kinda heavy too with all those transformers and chokes.

It was worth a shot... I'm also combating whether to build something or just buy this. I don't really need another project with the Blue Hawaii under way and my crazy notion to build an Egmont as well...

[deepak]

Wait...Birgir...why would you build an Egmont

[Smeggy]

Wait...Birgir...why would you build an Egmont

Because he's mad as a fucking hatter! Either that or he's not telling us something. I thought you hated Rudis.

[deepak]

Because he's mad as a fucking hatter! Either that or he's not telling us something. I thought you hated Rudis.

He's going to build it and then throw it off one of the fjords in Iceland?

[spritzer]

Wait...Birgir...why would you build an Egmont

Ehh yeah.... I'm nuts that's all. I have a chassis that is perfect for it (and no other ESP amp will fit) and I have most of the parts already. It's also a way for me to use some of the KGSS psu boards I have here and will otherwise never be used. The only things I need is a transformer (a Hammond 370 does the trick) and some really nice couplers. The amps cost Rudi about 300$ to make so why not make one for that same amount but with 7n7 tubes instead...

Btw. I don't hate Rudi but he's incompetent and the crap he's selling should be illegal.

[guzziguy]

Btw. I don't hate Rudi but he's incompetent and the crap he's selling should be illegal.

Then why are you going to build one of his amps? Or did someone else design it?

[spritzer]

Then why are you going to build one of his amps? Or did someone else design it?

It's his design about as much as the RSA amps are designed by Ray. It's also a very simple amp to build and my only issue is to cram the KGSS psu inside the chassis and the large caps associated with it.