Pretty sure "professional reviewer" just means that you get free shit in exchange for reviews. The way "professional" athletes in fringe sports are "sponsored" by companies (free gear) but still have day jobs in the off season.

Free shit. I guess he does not need his intestines and ass hole any more. Manufacturers use him as a number 2 latrine. Of course he could be a single part of a human centipede. According to some the millipede from Charlie the Unicorn is related to him.

Who knows?

LOL!

The O2 is actually quite capable of driving the HEK. I tried it myself and was surprised. Quite crisp without the softness. Many other lower end amps I've tried actually make the HEK soft sounding.

Not doubting your findings. MZ2 seems low on power and class D digital amp part (the ZOTL impedance matching gizmo) can tend toward a soft sound, especially with HEK.


Maybe you should ask if his ears are broken, or perhaps if the O2 is simply less borked.

Not doubting your findings. MZ2 seems low on power and class D digital amp part (the ZOTL impedance matching gizmo) can tend toward a soft sound, especially with HEK.

What exactly is its output stage then?  Does it really just feed the 6SN7s into a switching buffer?  Despite the clear plastic top, I wasn't able to get a good look at it.

Not 100% sure, but seems to be so. There's no free lunch, no magical black boxes, unless it's from Gallifrey.

At first I figured that they were just flat out lying about the power output and that it was just a push-pull OTL using 6SN7s as the output tubes.  Given their limited cathode current though, I'd think it should have sounded even worse with the HEK.

Anyway, I just looked up the patent...

So yeah, that is one fucked up topology...

How do they get away calling this an OTL?

I should have tried something higher Z like my HD650s with the MZ2 to see if that helped it all.  I also should have tried the HEK on Stratus at the next table over but didn't have the time.

LOL!

The O2 is actually quite capable of driving the HEK. I tried it myself and was surprised. Quite crisp without the softness. Many other lower end amps I've tried actually make the HEK soft sounding.

Not doubting your findings. MZ2 seems low on power and class D digital amp part (the ZOTL impedance matching gizmo) can tend toward a soft sound, especially with HEK.


Maybe you should ask if his ears are broken, or perhaps if the O2 is simply less borked.

As much as I'm not a fan of the O2's silvery sound, I can't deny that it's fascinating in its ability to seemingly drive anything and do it well
Have you ever tried upping the wall wart power on the O2? Not even by a huge margin: just a little bit. like 16V1A It gets...a lot better. I have no explanation. Measurements don't indicate any added distortion.