Here i am again. I took some time to get good listening impressions and write some prose
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Well here we go; my first impressions of the Lifeforce 100 MARK II amplifier
Over the past years I have tried all kind of amp's with my Focal 1037BE's. Last months it was mainly class D amps. Now the Lifeforce Mark II, which is not a Class D amp, so i don't want to compare them as they are completely different amplifiers. The Lifeforce is a Class AB amp and I have owned vary Class AB amps over the years. In my experience Class AB amps, when compared to Class D amps, are not real king's in control and transparency but powerful and friendly sounding, with potential. Class D is definitely not my choice in the end. Good clear powerfull sound, but i could not get enjoyable music out of them.
When I heard the first notes of the Lifeforce100 amp i heard the typical Class AB sound; mellow, easy, laid back, not aggressive. While the first songs played on the cold amp modules and at low volume i immediately noticed some aspects I had never heard before in SS amps. Really beautiful rounded presentation in the mid to low region! The timbre of instruments are scary real, nearly touchable. The highs seems somewhat de-emphasized. The mid-low's and bass were solid and lifelike, just as I remember from a tube amps.
At higher volume the comparison with tube amps ends. Where a tube amp is current limited at it maximum output, the Lifeforce 100 awakens. Especially with old live Jazz recordings there is a vivid, live soundstage with strong mids and bass. Very enjoyable and real. I tapped my feet, a sure indication of joy. At (party) loud volume the high?s became a bit raw and the overall control diminishes a bit. (read until the end)
After some live music I turned towards more delicate genres. With growing pleasure I followed the music. The articulation is great at all frequencies. I had never heard this in any other amp! The soundstage is perfectly balanced, nothing is too far front or rear, its perfectly positioned in space. The fine articulation has been a new experience for me. It introduces a new depth (3d) in the soundstage, again, most unusual with the solid state amplifiers I heard before. I had thought that only a DAC would be responsible for depth, but the Lifeforce amp adds a real, credible 3d soundstage. When moving some distance away from my speakers, I noticed that the speakers disappeared into the soundstage. The music literally hangs in the space around them. As the amps run in and warm to operating temperature, sound quality improves even further. The music rolls like velvet throughout my room!
Like most real audiophiles
, in my head I can switch to technical listening. Very likely you will recognize this ?trick?. What impresses with this amp is that even playing songs you have heard a thousand times you cannot concentrate on technical listening. For some reason it is the music which dominates! This amp is really sophisticated and finely tuned. Compliments to Hugh who must have spent hours and hours finding the flaws and tweaking them away. Whatever the tonal color of your musical choice is, the overall control of the speaker drivers is excellent. But most important, when the Lifeforce plays you simply forget the equipment. It disappears, leaving only the music.
Hugh supplied me 2 Auricap?s (1uf) with the amp that I could try as (other) decoupling cap. The standard (little) cap on the print is 0,47uf if I seen it right. After the first days of listening I decided to try the Auricap. The Auricap?s brought a minor positive change. The soundstage became more controlled especially at higher volume. Also the high?s got more explicit at my speakers. As I know from earlier experiments paralleling coupling cap?s can be interesting. In my old shoebox I have some more high quality coupling cap?s, like Russian paper in oil?s and Duelund copper cap?s. I added the Duelunds parallel to the Auricaps, so together 2uf. Wow, that ads bass in the lower section. The bass is going very deep now. This is a keeper! Finally I added 2 little Vishay Roedersteins MKP?s 0,01uf.
Have listened all day today and i am very happy. With the 2uf coupling cap even at loud volume the high?s stay?s more controlled and vivid. The bass goes very low, like hearing a sub. How about the X-factor? Does this amp have the X-factor? That question is not relevant to me anymore. This amp simply makes music, nothing more nor less. Does it sound like a tube amplifier? Hmm yes, the rounded, organic sound and the marvellous 3D qualities of the soundstage are typical of very good tube-amps.
I am glad that I took the time to search all the forums and found the Aspen. It will be hard to beat this.
