This is a review of my experience comparing an Audio Note M-Zero with a Creek OBH-22 in a system comprising:
AE1 MKII speakers
TDL Nucleus SBR sub-woofer
TA2024-based power amp (biamped)
AMB Gamma 2 DAC from a laptop via the USB output
Speaker cables are ‘FFRC’
interconnects are Shark Silver Co-Ax with WBT terminals.
I’m a fan of T-amps, in particular the TA2024-based amplifier board from Helder-HiFi. I first heard about them from my brother, having set up a bare board into a kitchen set up and was blown away.
TA2024-based amps aren’t particularly powerful, but if your pursuit is quality over quantity for the price of pocket-money, I implore you to have a look and listen.
AE1 speakers even in MKII guise, are known for needing a fair amount of welly to get those metal cones moving, so I have my T-Amp doubled up in a bi-amp configuration, one for treble, one for bass.
I’ve read that valve-preamps marry up very nicely with the TA2024 power amps and that’s what I’ve been running for about 2 years in my domestic set-up.
You know how curiosity can get the better of you? Well, I wondered what my system would sound like if I ran the DAC straight off the power amp. You have to bear in mind that a laptop into a DAC has a variable output. Plug your CD player straight into the power amp and it’s going to be at full volume, so be careful!
Problem is, it sounded different… Quite a bit different. Now, if you’re pursuit of musical excellence is ‘truth’, this got me thinking and therein belies the review and comparison.
I’m not a professional reviewer, I just like listening to music in a system that is both convenient and doesn’t cost astronomical amounts of money.
So, what music did I use?
I particularly focussed on what I noticed and whether I liked it.
Please note that the attached videos are links to the tracks I listened to for reference. However, I used MP3 audio format in the bitrate shown for the actual listening experience.
AE1 MKII speakers
TDL Nucleus SBR sub-woofer
TA2024-based power amp (biamped)
AMB Gamma 2 DAC from a laptop via the USB output
Speaker cables are ‘FFRC’
interconnects are Shark Silver Co-Ax with WBT terminals.
I’m a fan of T-amps, in particular the TA2024-based amplifier board from Helder-HiFi. I first heard about them from my brother, having set up a bare board into a kitchen set up and was blown away.
TA2024-based amps aren’t particularly powerful, but if your pursuit is quality over quantity for the price of pocket-money, I implore you to have a look and listen.
AE1 speakers even in MKII guise, are known for needing a fair amount of welly to get those metal cones moving, so I have my T-Amp doubled up in a bi-amp configuration, one for treble, one for bass.
I’ve read that valve-preamps marry up very nicely with the TA2024 power amps and that’s what I’ve been running for about 2 years in my domestic set-up.
You know how curiosity can get the better of you? Well, I wondered what my system would sound like if I ran the DAC straight off the power amp. You have to bear in mind that a laptop into a DAC has a variable output. Plug your CD player straight into the power amp and it’s going to be at full volume, so be careful!
Problem is, it sounded different… Quite a bit different. Now, if you’re pursuit of musical excellence is ‘truth’, this got me thinking and therein belies the review and comparison.
I’m not a professional reviewer, I just like listening to music in a system that is both convenient and doesn’t cost astronomical amounts of money.
So, what music did I use?
I particularly focussed on what I noticed and whether I liked it.
Please note that the attached videos are links to the tracks I listened to for reference. However, I used MP3 audio format in the bitrate shown for the actual listening experience.
| Rihanna - Please Don’t Stop the Music (128kbps) OBH-22 Delicate, detailed and ‘breathy’, wide stereo sound, but some sibilance on the word ‘music’. M-Zero Very much more obvious vocals, apparently sung with conviction. I find myself really listening to the words and the feeling. Lacking some detail but very ‘musical’. | |
| Bill Withers - Grandma’s Hands (192kbps) OBH-22 Great separation, the cymbals and bass drum are excellent and the squeak of fingers as they drag up and down the guitar is eerily detailed. M-Zero Cymbals more pleasant to listen to, but I can’t help thinking it’s a bit dull compared to sitting near a real cymbal being percussed. Vocals still conveyed with feeling and emotion. | |
| Animal - House of the Rising Sun (128kbps) OBH-22 Again, great cymbals, difficult to follow clavichord, a bit flat and unengaging. M-Zero The clavichord is much easier to follow, the vocals are softer, more listenable, but I can’t help thinking the sound is ‘veiled’. | |
| The Honeycombs - Have I the Right (128kbps) OBH-22 Really brittle sounding. It lacks emotion. I don’t believe what the singer is saying. It’s as if they’re singing it for someone else. M-Zero It sounds like I’m listening to a 70s music-centre, clipped top and bottom end… Veiled and dull. | |
| Toto - Rosanna (320kbps) OBH-22 Wow! That’s more like it. Excellent. Good bass slam and depth. Stereo separation incredible. That’s what cymbals are supposed to sound like. The detail and decay of the cymbals is awesome!... (OK so I was blown away!) M-Zero Mids are excellent. The piano and trumpet are smooth… but possibly ‘smoothed’. | |
| Farley Jackmaster Funk, feat Darryl Pandy – Love Can’t Turn Around (320kbps) OBH-22 I can hear the influence of ‘production’ upon the music. Free, open airy, unrestricted sound, with great stereo separation and oodles of bass without being ‘bloated’. M-Zero Where’s the ‘attack’? Where’s the bass? Where’s that ‘tish’ on the synth cymbals? What’s left?... There’s an echo on the vocals I’ve never noticed before and the bongos sound good, but a somewhat ‘staid’ sound. | |
| The Divine Comedy – The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count (192kbps) OBH-22 The thump of the bass drum is tight, low and realistic. Real perception of depth; distance of vocalist from the microphone, the reverb. Although it’s quite a precise sound, it’s toe-tapping stuff. M-Zero Softer, lighter, watery sound. Lovely guitar… Ooh, a tambourine in the background. No real bass-thump though. Still a discernable bass line though. | |
| Duffy – Warwick Avenue (320kbps) OBH-22 It sounds like Duffy is here. Wow! Wide stereo imagery. M-Zero Smooth and sublime. | |
Summary
The first thing that hits me, is that the OBH-22 hits me! It’s harder, sharper, deeper, faster and ultimately, ‘freer’ – it sounds like the music has been liberated. I suppose electronically, it actually has.
The M-Zero experience is a smoother journey, possibly even more pleasant, conveying emotion and feeling exceptionally well, but it does alter the sound that’s fed to it. Pretty much all pre-amplifiers do, but the M-Zero 'prettifies' the music.
Conclusion
I feel the M-Zero is a better pre-amp if you want to hear the music, have it playing in the background in an unfatiguing way. However, if you want to listen to the music, and perhaps even analyse it, the OBH-22 is truer to the source by the very virtue of its circuitry. It literally lets through more of what it’s fed, sometimes wart ‘n’ all. Aesthetically, I feel the Audio Note is nicer… The Creek sticks out like a sore thumb in my predominately black system, but I like it. Both are remote amps so are just as convenient from the sofa. The M-Zero has more inputs (and outputs), the Creek maxes out at 3 inputs and that’s including the tape out and if you have ‘fat’ RCA/phono plugs you may have a problem squeezing them into their sockets!
… and finally
I’m now left wondering, do all passive pre-amplifiers sound the same?
The first thing that hits me, is that the OBH-22 hits me! It’s harder, sharper, deeper, faster and ultimately, ‘freer’ – it sounds like the music has been liberated. I suppose electronically, it actually has.
The M-Zero experience is a smoother journey, possibly even more pleasant, conveying emotion and feeling exceptionally well, but it does alter the sound that’s fed to it. Pretty much all pre-amplifiers do, but the M-Zero 'prettifies' the music.
Conclusion
I feel the M-Zero is a better pre-amp if you want to hear the music, have it playing in the background in an unfatiguing way. However, if you want to listen to the music, and perhaps even analyse it, the OBH-22 is truer to the source by the very virtue of its circuitry. It literally lets through more of what it’s fed, sometimes wart ‘n’ all. Aesthetically, I feel the Audio Note is nicer… The Creek sticks out like a sore thumb in my predominately black system, but I like it. Both are remote amps so are just as convenient from the sofa. The M-Zero has more inputs (and outputs), the Creek maxes out at 3 inputs and that’s including the tape out and if you have ‘fat’ RCA/phono plugs you may have a problem squeezing them into their sockets!
… and finally
I’m now left wondering, do all passive pre-amplifiers sound the same?
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