Immediately, we try the Lyre by Auris Audio. A Class A tube headphone amplifier promoting for €2.280 EUR.
Disclaimer: Auris Audio provided the Lyre for this evaluation. Headfonia and Auris Audio are by no means associated to one another. We thank Auris for his or her continued assist and their generosity.
Auris Audio
Auris Audio is a Serbian model that primarily builds HiFi tube amplifiers and headphone amps however in addition they produced audio system and now they’re very a lot into turntables. Auris Audio was shaped in 2013 with a mission to fulfil the wishes of essentially the most demanding audiophiles. Sonically and visually.
Their crew of in-house engineers all have excessive expertise within the pro-audio subject and in designing audio gear. In keeping with their web site, all of them work very carefully collectively once they method a brand new mission. Each single one in every of their merchandise is hand-made and makes use of the absolute best parts for the worth.
They offer numerous consideration to tubes, capacitors, transformers and connectors. Lots of which they get customized made to fulfill their expectations.
Each new product of theirs goes via a collection of strict checks, to make sure they’re precisely what their prospects need. All phases of meeting have their very own high quality management sections, similar to it ought to be. There’s nothing extra irritating than getting a lifeless unit, and Auris makes certain nothing defective goes out their door.
We have now coated all of Auris’ headphone amplifiers previously. I recommend you learn up on the HA2-SE, HA2-SF, Nirvana, Euterpe and HA2-SE+ evaluation to get a full image of their merchandise.
Immediately we’re reviewing their new entry-level headphone amplifier – the Lyre!
Auris Audio Lyre
The Auris Lyre is one in every of Auris’ newest additions to their tube headphone amplifier lineup. It makes use of JJ Electronics ECC82 (12AU7) and two PSVANE CV-181 (6SN7) tubes, however after all you possibly can roll them with different corresponding tubes.
The Lyre is a pure Class A design with no detrimental suggestions. It makes use of a hand-wound amorphous double C-core output transformer and premium ALPS potentiometers. You may hook up sources through XLR (1) or RCA (2). On high of being a headphone amplifier (4-pin XLR, 6.35) the Lyre doubles as an analogue pre-amplifier as properly. Merely join the RCA pre-amp outputs to your energy amplifier.
Sadly, I couldn’t discover any energy scores for the Lyre myself. So, I can not inform you how a lot Wattage it places out via its headphone sockets.
On the highest of the Lyre, you possibly can choose three totally different output impedances to raised match your headphones.
The Lyre might be purchased for €2.280 EUR via Auris’ webshop and their international retailers.
Construct High quality
The Auris Audio Lyre is a superbly designed product that’s constructed like a tank. It’s absolutely fabricated from aluminum and includes a glass safety for you to not contact the recent tubes. Though my evaluation pattern didn’t include that because it wasn’t put in in Munich.
On the entrance of the unit, you will see all mandatory knobs and outputs in addition to the attractive to take a look at VU-meter, which signifies the output energy at the moment in use. On the left-hand facet, we discover the facility change and the enter selector. Right here additionally, you will discover the 4-pin XLR headphone output. On the right-hand facet, we discover the 6.35mm single-ended output and the amount knob.
On the again of the unit, we discover the XLR and RCA inputs in addition to the RCA pre-out and the facility connection to your outlet. Guarantee that the proper input-voltage is chosen earlier than powering on the unit.
Again within the day, Auris used to construct their amplifiers with greater leather-based accents. Personally, I discovered these designs to be essentially the most stunning I got here throughout. Sadly, working with leather-based and wooden might be fairly tiring and sophisticated, that’s why Auris now construct all-aluminum merchandise. The Lyre, nonetheless, has a small black leather-based half on the perimeters of the amp. I’m not certain in the event you can see them within the pictures, however they’re there. Belief me.
I couldn’t discover any measurements for weight and measurement on Auris’ web site. My lavatory scale tells me that the Lyre weighs 9.6 kg. It measures 350 x 235 x 295 mm (DHW). That interprets to 21.16 lbs and 13.77 x 9.25 x 11.61 inch.
Since my evaluation pattern didn’t come within the common packaging (I took it house from Excessive-Finish Munich), I can solely guess what the Lyre’s bundle can be. I assume you’ll get the amplifier along with all of the tubes wanted and an influence chord and the glass protector. Nonetheless, I can not say if there’s any fast begin information or some documentation coming together with the Lyre. I suppose they’re.
Sound
Through the previous weeks I’ve used the Lyre as my essential headphone amplifier, driving my HE1000SE, my Arya Unveiled and the Palma DH-S1. It was largely related to my Hugo TT2 as DAC through the XLR inputs. The Lyre additionally stepped into my essential stereo speaker system as a pre-amplifier to check the pre-amp performance.
The Auris amp was powered by my AudioQuest PowerQuest 707 and cabled with AudioQuest’s Black Magnificence cables.
The Lyre has a historically stunning and wealthy tube sound, which oozes of analogue heat and an natural physique. It’s a extra impartial presentation total, however options impressively pure sound within the mids, the place devices and singers simply sound correct out good to me. Lyre has glorious staging and delivers distinctive outcomes particularly in layering and depth to me.
Let’s dive in.
Use the jumpers under to proceed with the evaluation on web page two!
