John
Cees Rujtenberg is a man who marches to his own drum. It’s been 18 months since Metrum Acoustic’s previous product announcement, the ~$3k-class-leading Hex D/A converter. That’s a seriously long time when you consider the furious explosion of new headphone products/companies of the last couple of years.
Now comes the Metrum Acoustics Aurix, a Class A, non-feedback headphone amplifier that shares the same chassis size as the MKII Octave.
“The Aurix design was created where voltage gain is achieved via a so-called step-up transformer, instead of transistors or tubes. Only two FET transistors are utilised to convert the signal from the step-up transformer into power, which plays into the strength of these semiconductors.”, says Rujtenberg.
This headphone amplifier drives 6V into 600 Ohms (<0.01% THD), 2V into 33 Ohms (<0.5% THD). See full specifications here.
IEMs are catered for via switchable gain on the rear of the unit.
The competition should be nervous if the Aurix shares the same audible pedigree as the preceding Octave and Hex DACs.
The Aurix headphone amplifier will be available in silver or black from the end of January. It will sell for €805 (~US$1100 at time of publishing).
Further information: Metrum Acoustics
