ecp audio

[jvlgato]

In midst of reading this review, but I think Doug's last name is mispelled, it should be 'Savitsky.'

[n_maher]

You are of course correct , it should be fixed now.

[dsavitsk]

Thanks Tyll, and Nate, for the great review. I am humbled.

[The Monkey]

Excellent piece, Nate. And I am definitely looking forward to hearing the amp. Well done, Doug.

[morphsci]

That was an excellent review. I liked the use of some of the 10 principles of design for structuring the review. Cool beans!

[Tyll Hertsens]

I really have to say I think Nate really out did himself. A very cogent review, well written, and had nice flow from beginning to end.

Thanks loads, Nate.

[Aimless1]

Congratulations on a great amp Doug, and a stellar review Nate. Looking forward to hearing an L2.

[jvlgato]

Had a chance to read it, and my god, Nate, you are a fantastic writer (excluding name typos, of course )! Congrats on a really great piece! And congrats to Doug - but then I was already a fan!

[Torpedo]

Good read, not the last bit out of tune with Innerfidelity's character. I only missed some comments about the amp performance with higher impedance and lower sensitivity cans. I wonder how would it match with the HD800 or LCD-2

[deepak]

Very well written review Nate (also love your photographs). Like Tyll said there is a nice flow to it. Congrats to Doug as well!

[teufelshunde]

Well said Nate.

I would also grant Doug a nod to Dieter Ram's "Good design is as little design as possible".

As noted by Nate, there is a simple elegance and design economy to Doug's work that pays homage to Louis Sullivan's "form ever follows function".

Both inside and out.

I'm not sure how much shorter a signal path can get, and still get the job done.

[Grahame]

The antithesis of a 6 Moons Review. Good Stuff.

[The Monkey]

To me, what's most elegant about Nate's review is that it, too, follows Ram's principles.

[Pars]

Very nice and well written review Nate! And congrats Doug! I have no doubt that this amp sounds really good, judging from the past work of yours I have heard.

[recstar24]

Nate rocks. What a great read, I am glad you spent some time with the amp, it's a special one. And of course doug isn't too shabby either.

[Tyll Hertsens]

The antithesis of a 6 Moons Review. Good Stuff.

Now that's a complement!

[n_maher]

Thanks guys, I'm seriously flattered by all of the compliments. And certainly big congrats to Doug. I really appreciate the way that he's constructed ECP as a company and wish him every success.

[edit]And yes Tyll, that's exactly what I was thinking when I read that!

[shellylh]

Excellent write up Nate!

[dsavitsk]

There is a comment after the review looking for some L-2 measurements. I thought I'd post some here. These are taken via RMAA at ~125mW output, which is 2Vrms into 32 ohms. That is very very loud -- louder than anyone should ever listen. When the level is more resonable, much of that drops into the noise floor, so take these as worst case. At any rate, THD is ~0.14% and IMD is ~0.12%. (The 60Hz bump is in the soundcard.)

THD:

IMD:

[K3cT]

Nice write-up, Nate! Short, concise and informative just the way I like it although it would be even nicer to have some tech specs around like output impedance or how much power the amplifier pumps into a 32 ohm load for example.

I really would like to hear the L2 as I have yet to hear a hybrid amplifier that rocks my socks off. The Apex/Peak probably came closest to this regard but with the wrong headphones, it can be a bit too aggressive-sounding.

[deepak]

Nice write-up, Nate! Short, concise and informative just the way I like it although it would be even nicer to have some tech specs around like output impedance or how much power the amplifier pumps into a 32 ohm load for example.

I really would like to hear the L2 as I have yet to hear a hybrid amplifier that rocks my socks off. The Apex/Peak probably came closest to this regard but with the wrong headphones, it can be a bit too aggressive-sounding.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the L2 is not a hybrid if you are meaning hybrid as in an amp that has a tube and SS gain stage.

[Pars]

There is a comment after the review looking for some L-2 measurements. I thought I'd post some here. These are taken via RMAA at ~125mW output, which is 2Vrms into 32 ohms. That is very very loud -- louder than anyone should ever listen. When the level is more resonable, much of that drops into the noise floor, so take these as worst case. At any rate, THD is ~0.14% and IMD is ~0.12%. (The 60Hz bump is in the soundcard.)

THD:

IMD:

Doug,

Followers of voldemort will never accept RMAA measurements as being valid. The person asking in the comments is one such individual.

[n_maher]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the L2 is not a hybrid if you are meaning hybrid as in an amp that has a tube and SS gain stage.

I'm certainly of the same opinion you are Deepak. Voltage and Current gain are handled by glass in the L-2. There are active solid state parts but not in the way that would have me thinking "hybrid" in the sense that it's usually used around here.

And Chris, yeah, I figure the guys making the comments are never going to hear what they want to hear from me but I tried to reply anyway.

[Pars]

As I stated before Nate, I thought you did an excellent job on the review.

As for being a hybrid, I would not think solid state current sources or whatever he is using the sand for (other than a gain or buffer stage) would be considered hybrid, but what do I know...

[The Monkey]

And Chris, yeah, I figure the guys making the comments are never going to hear what they want to hear from me but I tried to reply anyway.

Your response was spot on.