So I had a chance to hear the Leben at the recent SF meet. I thought it would have sounded like a very romantic Woo amp, but no! This is one of those amps that give tubes a bad name. Excessively warm. Slow, muddy, and uncontrolled bass that goes "Blub, blub, blub." Rolled off treble. No detail. It is such a piece of shit.
While the Woo amps are a little too euphonic and romantic sounding for my taste, they are at least very involving. The Leben sounded like AM radio. The same source (an entry level audiophile CD player of some sort) powering the Leben was also feeding a Decware Mini Torii, and that amp sounded good.
The headphones I tried on the Leben were the HE5-LE, HD800, and LCD3. Granted it was a meet impression, but this amp sounded so bad that its shortcomings were immediately obvious. BTW, I felt the RWA was only slightly better than this amp, but Anax felt it was the other way around. Either way, both the RWA and Leben qualify as the worst (#1 and #2) mega-buck ($2500+) head-amps that I've ever heard.
Maybe the Leben suites certain people's tastes, but I felt it necessary to qualify to as how it sounds. Hopefully this will save a few people some money or hassle. I'd easily take an Objective2 or CMOY over this amp.
Needless to say: this is all my opinion. I won't be saying this again because that should be inherently understood.
