Maverick Audio A1 TubeMagic Hybrid Amplifier Review
-sp70, from head-fi.org
Original review can be found here
First, let me just state that I have no affiliation with Maverick Audio, and I am not an employee. Now onto the review…
The package arrived a hot August day, for those of you familiar with the D1’s packaging, the A1 is packaged similarly with foam inserts on each side that protect the amp. Inside, a manual, a power cable, and of course the A1 itself. The A1 and D1 have the same form factor, though there are a few minor differences. The A1 has different, and more, heat vents than the D1, which allows for a nice view of the tubes working their magic – no pun intended. Also, the LED on my particular model appeared a bit dimmer than the D1s. On the back of the unit, sturdy gold-plated RCA jacks for input and tube output. The speaker terminals were also of like quality, screw on gold-plated terminals allowing for either bare wire or banana plugs, both offered solid connections for me. On the front side of the unit, the same color, feel, and design volume potentiometer as that of the D1 and a small input selector along with the line-in and headphone out jacks.
My testing setup was as follows: Lenovo R400 running Songbird with my Linux 24/96 driver -> CryoParts USB cable -> Maverick Audio D1 (with modded opamps and WE396a tube output) -> Morrow Audio MA1 RCA Interconnects -> Maverick Audio A1 with upgraded Tung-Sol tubes.
After everything was hooked up and warmed up, I plugged my Sennheiser HD600s in. The first thing I noticed was a completely dead noise floor. So far so good. First album up, a FLAC rip of the JVC XRCD of James Newton Howard & Friends (LIMXR004). From the opening notes of Caesar, I know this is no “budget” sound. A very sweet midrange, and then Jeff Porcaro’s drumming hits you. More than enough bass, albeit slightly sloppy, though that may be due to the tubes being brand new and not burned in. I didn’t know the HD600s were capable of such strong bass. Compared to the D1, its a night and day difference. The stock D1 might be considered “bright” and slightly bass anemic out of the box. The A1 is leaps and bounds better, strong, sweet mids, crisp -not bright- highs, and a wealth of bass compared to the D1. At $240 for an upgraded tung-sol tube model, its probably the best synergy i’ve heard with the D1.
My Harman Kardon AVR-144 was absolutely dull with the D1 tube preamping it. My main workhorse amp, the Hitachi HMA-6500 was a bit closer of a contest. The highs on the hitachi were almost harsh compared to the smooth, laid-back highs of the A1. Though the bass seemed a little tighter, there was not the amount of bass that the A1 had.
I was beginning to wonder if the sound signature of the HD600s (with stock HD650 cable) was getting in the way of the real sound signature of the A1. So next I hooked up my Grado SR80s. The sound was far more neutral than the output of the stock D1. Normally, I would say that the D1 and these lower end Grados have a bad synergy, both have the same characteristics, slightly weak bass and almost harsh highs at times. The A1 changes this entirely, and manages to make the Grados sing. The A1 and Grados made for a really nice synergy, the A1 giving the bass that SR80s needed, while not overdoing the crystalline highs of Jeff’s impeccable hi-hat work on She.
Now that i’ve seen how nice the A1’s headphone stage is, next up was the speaker output. I was a little wary hooking my speakers up, as I knew the power rating on the A1 was a little low, but a quick check with my speaker manuals revealed they would be driven safely, though barely, with wattage this low. So with that in mind, not expecting much, first up I hooked up my pair of Infinity Entra Ones, a mid-range pair of bookshelfs, via SignalCable Ultra Speaker Cables. I put on John Cougar Mellencamp’s Scarecrow album first, and found myself quickly reaching for the volume knob. Not up – but down! In near-field listening, I found that my 89db bookshelfs were more than comfortable at around 9-10 o’clock on the volume knob. Getting results like these, I started to think this is what the A1’s speaker outputs, I believe, were meant for: near-field or small room speaker listening. The imaging was just alright, and the sound signature was quite similar to headphone output, but I quickly realized that my speakers were the weak link in the chain here.
I decided to hook up my JBL 4311b studio monitors up next. I figured it was time for something heavier, so I put on Powerslave by Iron Maiden. Now these are some hefty speakers, it takes a decent amp to drive these to a level befitting of Maiden. I shouldn’t have been so skeptical, Aces High blew me away. Raw power, the true sound signature of the A1 really shone through on the JBLs. The A1 was able to drive the JBLs to far more than adequate levels, needless to say I was speechless. It had all the sound of my 200wpc Hitachi and then some. I think the A1 really sounded excellent on this album, the sweet midrange really shone through – distorted guitars sounded incredible. Sadly, the bass, though it had the weight, still sounded a bit loose, it just wasn’t quite as tight as I felt it could have been. Perhaps this will change with tube rolling, or further breakin, but for now it remains something I feel needs mentioning. The imaging was far improved from the results I was hearing with my Infinities. Now with speakers like these, i’d say the A1 would perform suitably in even a moderately large room – I didn’t feel like power was an issue with high sensitivity speakers (91db) like these. Trust me, I drove this amp hard during Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, all the way up to 12-2 o’clock – more than enough for me, and I didn’t hear any noticeable clipping, maybe the very smallest amount of soft clipping – or perhaps it was the sound of the picture frames rattling against the walls! Either way it sure sounded better than most solid state amps do at that kind of listening level.
Putting this minute hybrid through the paces really made me realize that you just don’t come upon this kind of value very often. In every area I felt it would be weak, I was proven wrong. The headphone stage of this amp alone makes it well worth the price, and I think that in combination with the hybrid speaker output, you can’t go wrong.
Some closing notes, I found that after several hours of putting the A1 through the paces, it was much cooler than the D1. Its relatively cool to the touch, except on the heat slots directly above the tubes. I also found that Maverick Audio’s customer relations to be some of the best i’ve experienced. Ryan answered all my questions and comments within a day or two, and was very pleasant to deal with. I felt as if I was really connecting with somebody who knew what they were doing. It would be a pleasure to do business with him in the future.
I’ll be receiving a pair of the stock Chinese tubes next week that I plan on rolling, so I can add speculation on the stock A1 to the review. I may also add some speculation on the D1’s Solid State output, but from previous testing I believe its sound to be inferior to the D1’s tube output – especially with an upgraded tube like the WE396a.
