Calyx Femti Amplifier

The Calyx Femti is a dimunitive power amplifier that is a visual match for the 24/192 DAC. It's aluminium unibody chassis is finished in black with an artistic rendition of a G and F clef engraved on the top cover.

The rear panel is quite cramped and includes two pairs of high quality binding posts, a set of single ended inputs and a rotary selector switch to operate the Femti as a normal stereo power amplifier, a dual output mono amplifier (for a biwired speaker), and a bridged mode mono amplifier. Very much like the Femto DAC, the power switch for the Femti is discreetly located on the side (right hand side vs. left hand side for the Femto). An IEC outlet permits use of after-market power cords.

The Femti delivers 125 watts per channel into 4 ohm loads (and presumably half of that into 8 ohm loads), and 500 watts in bridged mode operation. A tricolour LED indicates normal operation, short circuit, and overload conditions. Not much information is provided about the technology used in the Femti, but I would not be surprised that this amplifier is powered by a B&O ICEPower module - I recall seeing the three LED indicators in a technical manual for ICEPower modules.

A close-up view of the offending binding posts - spade users beware

Ergonomically, I dislike two things about the Femti. The first are the binding posts which are shrouded. A downward facing slot allows insertion of spades from the bottom, but this is generally impossible with large gauge or stiff speaker cables. Eventually, I had to either evaluate the Femti with its chassis all the way at the rear edge of the rack (to allow the cables to trail downwards), or with the Femti elevated by tall footers to provide necessary clearance for the cables. This could have been easily solved by having the slots face upwards.

The second issue I have is the rotary selector switch. This can be easily rotated by accident (especially when you are busy trying to manipulate cabling at the rear), and could damage the amplifier if this is done while the amplifier is in operation. A recessed switch would have been more appropriate.

This unit is on dealer loan and I was quite worried about its initial performance. It was passed to me with about 50-75 hours under its belt. While it was pleasing, it also had a laidback and smooth character which tended to obscure low level detail.

I ran it continuously for an additional 48 hours, powering my KEF LS50 speakers with a burn-in signal. The chassis became slightly warm after extended use, and could probably be left powered, for long periods of time.

I paired the Femti with my Conrad Johnson ET-3SE or Sun Audio SVC-500 tube preamps, or drove it directly from my Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC. The Antelope has a relay controlled resistor network to adjust output levels. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Femti essentially take on the character of its upstream partnering equipments. Both the Conrad Johnson and Sun Audio offered a fuller and more liquid perspective, while I felt that the Zodiac Gold connected directly to the Femti, offered the highest degree of resolution.

The Femti proved to be quite sensitive to power cords too. Pairing the Femti with an Oyaide Tunami terminated with Oyaide P/C-046 plugs resulted in a rather flat and bland presentation. A switch to a Nanotec Golden Strada 305 terminated with Oyaide P/C-004 was pleasing, but harmonically too sweet and polished. The Femti was eventually matched with an Acrolink 6N-4030 terminated with Furutech FI-28(R) connectors.

The Femti was very comfortable driving my Focal Diablo Utopia and KEF LS50 speakers. However, the match with my Thiel CS2.7 was less than ideal, with a noticeably strain and loss of control at louder volumes. I would keep the pairing to more sympathetic loads.

Detractors of Class D amplifiers should listen to the Femti. Tested blind, I doubt that they would even be able to correctly identify the Femti as a Class D amplifier.

Sonically, the Femti is quite neutral. It avoids the one-note bass I have heard from some early ICEPower models, while retaining excellent bass control. My LS50 especially appreciated the tightness and extension afforded by the Femti.

Midrange is smooth with a slight hint of creamy richness. Female vocalists are portrayed with a richer and less sibilant presentation. This slightly laidback quality provided for fatigue free listening, and a tendency to flatter poorer recordings. However, on the downside, some low level detail such as the texture and vibrato from singers such as Kit Chan is not as prominent.

The top end is extended and well-behaved. Percussion instruments are crisp and clear, with good strike and decay from cymbal strikes.

The Femti projects a wide soundstage, with above average depth.

Compared to my Conrad Johnson duo, the Femti did not project as deep a soundstage, nor render acoustic space as well. However, the Femti had the edge over my glassware in bass control, background blackness, and instrument separation.

To sum it up, the Femti is a competent performer in a compact package. Much of its performance depends on how you will handle volume control duties. I think this leaves the Femti in a rather awkward position. Much of its competition are able to offer at the Femti's price point, similar functionality and volume control in one package. However, I still think the Femti is worth a listen provided you are able to accept it's ergonomic short comings, and carefully plan your system.

A word of thanks to Audio Basic for their loan of the review unit.

Audio Basic

1 Coleman Street
#04-27, The Adelphi
Singapore 179803
Tel : +65 6338 3245
E-mail : audiobasic_sg@yahoo.com.sg

Devialet D-Premier (Quick Impressions)

Do excuse me for the grainy picture that was taken after a late night session. As can be seen from the picture, the Devialet D-Premier is a beautiful piece of art designed specifically to weigh yourself and your hi-fi toys. Well, at least that is the first thought that comes to mind.

The D-Premier could probably charm alone on looks, with its beautiful top located display, and subtle amber operation light - the industrial designers deserve a pat on the back here. Watch out for the rear panel though - connections here are quite tight.

Truth be told, the D-Premier is an incredibly versatile amplifier that combines an integrated amplifier, Wi-Fi streamer, DAC and Phono Stage - all in a compact chassis that is light enough to be carried under one arm. 240 watts per channel enables the D-Premier to drive most speaker loads on the market. The unit on test is an older version without Ethernet and USB plug in capability, although the RCA jacks can be configured to accept SPDIF digital signals with up to 24 bit resolution and 192 kHz sampling rates. The online configurator and remote control get special mention. The configurator allows customisation of inputs and a whole host of other options. This is then loaded on to a SD card which is read upon boot-up of the D-Premier. The remote control works via RF and is sensitive, without requiring line of sight. I regretted not taking a picture of the very classy and beautiful remote control.

This unit was kindly brought over by a friend, S who is currently using the D-Premier with his Focal 1028 Be speakers. We listened for a short while to my setup before replacing my Conrad Johnson Classic 60 SE with the D-Premier on the rack. We tried three different input configurations, using a coaxial SPDIF feed from my Mac Mini (using a Bel Canto u.link as an USB/SPDIF convertor), using analogue inputs from my Calyx Femto, and via Wi-Fi streaming from a Windows notebook computer.

The D-Premier was first hooked up via its coaxial input, with the HiDiamond P3 power cord supplying mains power. The noise floor was far lower than my Conrad Johnson and retrieval of very low level information was superior. This was not surprising given that my system has a moderate degree of tube noise. We had selected "A Case of You" from Diana Krall's album, "Live in Paris" as one of the test tracks. I was not familiar with this track and heard a cough shortly into the start of the track on my Conrad Johnson. With the D-Premier, it was obvious that there were multiple coughs throughout the track and other small subtle noises from the audience.

Imaging was very precise with a high level of resolution. The D-Premier had a surprisingly sweet and slightly full midrange. Some ICEPower based amps I have heard in the past, had artifically tight (and rather one-note) bass, and dry / flat high frequencies. Happily, the D-Premier does well in this regard with natural bass presentation and sparkling high frequencies, without sounding too bright or analytical. However, I felt that the D-Premier presented a flatter and narrower perspective.

We changed power cords at this point and it was obvious that the D-Premier was highly sensitive to power cords. Using an Acrolink PC-7100 in place of the HiDiamond immediately resulted in improved soundstage depth, width and fluidity in articulation. We also tried the Acrolink PC-7500 which in my opinion was jaw dropping although S felt that they were quite close in performance, and compared to the HiDiamond sounded slower in terms of pacing and drive. D-Premier owners should liberally experiment with power cords to find one that suits their system and taste.

Moving on to the analogue inputs (which are converted to digital by an A/D convertor), we felt that this was comparatively soft and laidback in presentation. From a logical and purist point of view, it seemed to make little sense to go through D/A conversion (via the Calyx Femto) and then convert the analog signal back to digital. However, there was no catastrophic loss of fidelity as feared, and we probably would have been quite happy if not for a direct comparison to the digital input which we started off with at the beginning of the session.

The Wi-Fi comparison proved difficult as S was controlling streaming via J River which had upsampling enabled. I would avoid making any judgements there given the excessive variables in play.

Both the D-Premier and Classic 60 SE are to my ears, good matches for the Focal Diablo, the final determinant being personal preference. The D-Premier is not cheap by any stretch of imagination and you do not really save much over conventional separates. S was quick to point out that we saved on rack space, two power cords, and two pairs of interconnects. Well, if I count my phono stage, then throw in savings for further rack space,  another pair of interconnects and a power cable too, we do have some savings afterall !

S preferred the match with the D-Premier, while I preferred the Conrad Johnson. The D-Premier to my ears had a cooler disposition, with superior separation and low level detail retrieval. It did better for rock too, which I seldom listen to. On the other hand, the Conrad Johnson had better three dimensionality, with bigger image sizes, and more bloom with the human voice and instruments. It also did better in retrieval of acoustic space and subtle shading of the music and vocals.

Do keep the D-Premier on your shortlist if you are looking at the price sector. It has unique strengths, and this is one of the few products I know that could fit in with modern decor and be a unique all-in-one solution (with a computer streaming the data elsewhere), without a feeling of compromise in fidelity and power.

The local dealer in Singapore is AV Intelligence.

Happy Father's Day

A Happy Father's Day to all audiophile fathers out there.

My daughter asked me some questions to help her complete a "survey".

I received this later in the day.