Koss Totem Mani-2 - Manual (Page 42)

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his headphone amp is from the
same German company that
makes the phono preamp
o f n e a r l y
the same name. It
is, as you will have
obser ved, neit her
black nor a cube, but
oh well. The power
supply is built in, and so
it has a standard IEC cord.
The two sets of phono jacks
(the second set is an output, so
that the Lehmann can actually be
used as a simple preamp) are reasonable,
and were a tight fit with our reference
interconnects.
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I
f the Lehmann amplifier had
seemed expensive, what to think
of this one? In fact it is only a little
more expensive than the Lehmann,
and that would be fine…if its perfor-
mance turned out to be substantially
superior.
And the CEC is rather more versa-
tile than most headphone amps. On its
picture on page 42, you can make out
the output binding posts at the rear.
Why would a headphone amp need
binding posts? It’s because this is also
an amplifier of not insubstantial power
(10 watts into 4 ohms according to the
specs, which we didn’t confirm), and it
is actually possible to connect speakers
to it. More on this shortly.
This is an all-in-one amp, with
the power supply in the quite heavy
aluminum case, and with the usual IEC
plug for the cord of your choice. The
phono input jacks are — as on the CEC
integrated amplifier reviewed in our last
issue — not inspiring. On the other hand
there are also XLR balanced jacks if you
have the appropriate source.
A small rear panel switch adjusts the
amplifier’s gain so that you can have a
good range of volume. In our setup (we
were, you’ll recall, running it from the
output of the Benchmark converter)
we needed to select the +6 dB position
in order to avoid running the volume
control nearly all the way up. We could
hear a bit of hiss with that setting, but it
was so slight that it was inaudible with
even the softest musical passage.
But the front panel is where the inter-
esting stuff lies. There are two volume
controls, and at first we thought they
controlled the left and right channels
respectively. Not so. The HD53 actually
has two independent headphone ampli-
fier sections. It’s perfect for couples.
Each of you gets a headphone jack
(actually two headphone jacks, one for a
full-sized phone plug and the other for
a miniplug), and an independent volume
control. Compare that to what you get
with most headphone amplifiers, and it’s
clear that you’re getting something extra
for your money.
At least if the performance is ade-
quate, you are.
We began with Margie Gibson’s song
The Best Thing For You, and we were
pretty sure we had a winner. Gibson’s
voice was clearer than with either of the
other two amplifiers, but without even
a hint of strain. Her “S” sounds were
Lehmann Black Cube Linear
The CEC HD53-R
40 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine