Last night, I had some of the Linn guys over to my place, to compare one of the guy's Klimax Kontrol to my Classe SSP 800, streaming in stereo from my Akurate DS/1.
I wanted to hear what my Akubariks sound like with a Klimax Kontrol preamp, as I had never heard that before, and neither had the other guys.
It was an easy swap, as I just had to disconnect the Balanced silvers from the Akurate DS and the Akubariks and plug them into the Klimax Kontrol, from the Classe, which took all of 2 minutes. Trying to put it all back together though will be a real problem, that I will have to figure out tonight, when the KK goes back to its home.
I removed the centre channel speaker so that the Klmax Kontrol would have a good solid shelf to sit on, and it would not interfere with the sound quality.
We devised a plan to listen to 4 songs through the Classe, and then swap in the Klimax Kontrol and listen to those same 4 songs again. Each of the 4 of us choose one reference song, that we had heard hundreds of times each, so the music was already embedded in our heads.
We decided against blind tests, by turning off the lights, as having 4 guys sitting on the same couch in the dark, might not look that good. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The two units are quite different, but have a lot of similarities.
The Classe retails for around 10K here, and the Klimax Kontrol with Dynamik for over 20K. This KK had the Dynamik power supply, but suffers from shiny Crome feet and shiny control buttons on the front, which could easily distract some listeners, where they may be transfixed on the shiny feet, and not able to listen to the music.
However, in its favor, the Klimax Kontrol seems to be smiling at me.
The Classe has black colored controls and a large black volume control, so was Sunbeamgls friendly, and definitely more manly man. It also will play multichannel, whereas the Klimax Kontrol was only able the play in stereo. Advantage, Classe.
They both have preamps built in, blue lights on the front panel, a volume control, a remote control, are silver colored with black trim and both require a power cord for the mains.
So far it is an even contest, but the Classe looks like it is substantially bigger, so gains points for impressing your non audiophile friends, so advantage Classe.
We listened to the Classe play the songs, and everyone seemed to think the sound quality was impressive. So far, advantage, Classe.
But then one of the guys suggested we actually play the Klimax Kontrol to compare. Some of us shrugged our shoulders, wondering what the point of that might be, as the specs and product reviews are good on both. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
So we fire up the Klimax Kontrol, and it takes at least 20 minutes or so to warm up, and sound its best.
But sound good, it did.
The Classe was not lacking in sound quality in any way, it's just that the Klimax Kontrol sounded better in almost all ways.
The Klimax Kontrol had deeper bass, which sounded more rounded, controlled, and musical. Some of the tracks we played, I was enthralled by the bass, that I was very familiar with from previous listening on the Classe, but had never heard like that before. So many tracks, I could now feel the bass.
With the KK, there was more depth of sound stage, and a much wider sound stage, seemingly a wall of sound, so that any seat on the couch was great sound quality.
Singers voices were more natural, and I could hear their breathing, more detail in their voice, and the presentation more relaxed. In fact, one of the big differences was the relaxed quality of sound on most of the music we played.
I heard more detail on some songs, with the sound of the musicians fingers on the guitar strings, as they raced across the strings, more detail in high hats, piano was exquisite, for example.
Overall, I would say the biggest difference was the KK sounded more relaxed and natural sounding, with an easy presentation. Singers had more roundness, depth and more human, more detail in the instruments, bigger sound stage and deeper bass.
One person remarked that the Classe was remarkable for what it did, but the KK was more refined and natural to listen to, and took everything that much further.
The proof, was that we ended up listening to the whole playlist I had set up on the KK, including repeating a number of songs, once the KK had warmed up.
Unfortunately, the owner wants the KK back, so it will be unplugged tonight and returned. However, he has not shown up yet, so I am enjoying it at the moment.
One last note, the Akubariks have never sounded better, and it was a highly entertaining evening.
Thank you Allangaard, Van604, and Lou
I wanted to hear what my Akubariks sound like with a Klimax Kontrol preamp, as I had never heard that before, and neither had the other guys.
It was an easy swap, as I just had to disconnect the Balanced silvers from the Akurate DS and the Akubariks and plug them into the Klimax Kontrol, from the Classe, which took all of 2 minutes. Trying to put it all back together though will be a real problem, that I will have to figure out tonight, when the KK goes back to its home.
I removed the centre channel speaker so that the Klmax Kontrol would have a good solid shelf to sit on, and it would not interfere with the sound quality.
We devised a plan to listen to 4 songs through the Classe, and then swap in the Klimax Kontrol and listen to those same 4 songs again. Each of the 4 of us choose one reference song, that we had heard hundreds of times each, so the music was already embedded in our heads.
We decided against blind tests, by turning off the lights, as having 4 guys sitting on the same couch in the dark, might not look that good. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The two units are quite different, but have a lot of similarities.
The Classe retails for around 10K here, and the Klimax Kontrol with Dynamik for over 20K. This KK had the Dynamik power supply, but suffers from shiny Crome feet and shiny control buttons on the front, which could easily distract some listeners, where they may be transfixed on the shiny feet, and not able to listen to the music.
However, in its favor, the Klimax Kontrol seems to be smiling at me.
The Classe has black colored controls and a large black volume control, so was Sunbeamgls friendly, and definitely more manly man. It also will play multichannel, whereas the Klimax Kontrol was only able the play in stereo. Advantage, Classe.
They both have preamps built in, blue lights on the front panel, a volume control, a remote control, are silver colored with black trim and both require a power cord for the mains.
So far it is an even contest, but the Classe looks like it is substantially bigger, so gains points for impressing your non audiophile friends, so advantage Classe.
We listened to the Classe play the songs, and everyone seemed to think the sound quality was impressive. So far, advantage, Classe.
But then one of the guys suggested we actually play the Klimax Kontrol to compare. Some of us shrugged our shoulders, wondering what the point of that might be, as the specs and product reviews are good on both. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
So we fire up the Klimax Kontrol, and it takes at least 20 minutes or so to warm up, and sound its best.
But sound good, it did.
The Classe was not lacking in sound quality in any way, it's just that the Klimax Kontrol sounded better in almost all ways.
The Klimax Kontrol had deeper bass, which sounded more rounded, controlled, and musical. Some of the tracks we played, I was enthralled by the bass, that I was very familiar with from previous listening on the Classe, but had never heard like that before. So many tracks, I could now feel the bass.
With the KK, there was more depth of sound stage, and a much wider sound stage, seemingly a wall of sound, so that any seat on the couch was great sound quality.
Singers voices were more natural, and I could hear their breathing, more detail in their voice, and the presentation more relaxed. In fact, one of the big differences was the relaxed quality of sound on most of the music we played.
I heard more detail on some songs, with the sound of the musicians fingers on the guitar strings, as they raced across the strings, more detail in high hats, piano was exquisite, for example.
Overall, I would say the biggest difference was the KK sounded more relaxed and natural sounding, with an easy presentation. Singers had more roundness, depth and more human, more detail in the instruments, bigger sound stage and deeper bass.
One person remarked that the Classe was remarkable for what it did, but the KK was more refined and natural to listen to, and took everything that much further.
The proof, was that we ended up listening to the whole playlist I had set up on the KK, including repeating a number of songs, once the KK had warmed up.
Unfortunately, the owner wants the KK back, so it will be unplugged tonight and returned. However, he has not shown up yet, so I am enjoying it at the moment.
One last note, the Akubariks have never sounded better, and it was a highly entertaining evening.
Thank you Allangaard, Van604, and Lou