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I've had the Luxman L-507z for about two months now running a pair of Focal Kanta 2 speakers also the same age. I usually listen 4-5 hours per day so they each have about 250+/- hours on them.
Having heard the Luxman at the audio shop and our local Audio show I can say for sure that the Luxman is very quick and powerful. I compared the Luxman to the Accuphase E-4000, I preferred the Luxman due to a slightly more pronounced punch and vocal clarity. At first I thought the Luxman had a 'house sound' which is on the warm side of neutral...or so I thought. I say I thought because after extended listening I would say that the Luxman is actually even handed, very even handed, so much so that it is able to bring the lower mid information out of the mix better than some other amps. I think its this trait that seems to give the Luxman a warm side of neutral sound. Another thing, it is very transparent, by this I mean you can hear the differences in anything you connect to it....for example if you change Dacs the sound of each Dac will become very obvious. The Luxman will amplify all of these characteristics so you can easily tell, this is another reason why I think the Luxman doesn't have a huge flavor of its own. If it did, its sound would cover or mask incoming sound signatures and actually make it harder to hear the difference between up stream components. Change power cords and you will hear the difference, change IC's or speaker cables you can hear the difference. The Luxman can produce a very good 3D soundstage and is able to render notes and vocals with clarity at any volume level to satisfaction. My Focals completely disappear and everything within the soundstage is clearly defined.
The controls and feel of the Luxman are top notch. Everything is smooth and accurate. Bass and Treble controls as well as Loudness provides consistent results which let you dial in any tone with ease. It also has a bypass function to bypass all controls. So far so good, I think it might have a little more breaking in to do because its still surprising me with its sound as it unfolds and becomes better and better.
J.
Follow Ups:
Thanks for the info. I'm satisfied with what I have now, but others I know have asked for advice, silly of them. I especially like the idea of clarity in the lower midrange, what I call the viola/rhythm guitar range. An ARC VT 100 I had did this, but achieved the clarity by thinning out the sound in this part of the spectrum. Good to hear this unit does this while still having a top to bottom evenness.
LowIQ
I'm not a huge fan of ARC in general but I thought the VT-100mkII that I had was pretty good. I preferred it with 6550 tubes vs the KT-88's that I tried. The KT-88's were maybe a little 'warmer' sounding but lost some clarity that I heard with the 6550.But yes, compared to other tube amps the VT-100mkII was slightly thin. I attribute some of this to the basic ARC design across most of their products line. There's usually a solid-state JFET gain stage before the tubes. In a purely all-tube amp you get more of that midrange magic. Same goes for their preamps. None of them sound much like tube preamps to me.
If I'm not mistaken your ARC D 70 II is 100% vacuum tubes throughout the all important gain stages and output. A few transistors and solid-state devices exist but only in the power supply section.
Edits: 09/13/24
An ARC VT 100 I had did this, but achieved the clarity by thinning out the sound in this part of the spectrum.
I think this is the overall issue with audio as a whole.
It seems to be a real balancing act in audio, like a house of cards, increase in something in one part means taking something away in another.
J.
I can do nothing but agree with what you said... I bought my 507z in May and been loving it.
Enjoy!
Cheers
Welly
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams
Hi, I noticed you have the Matrix Audio Element-S streamer...how do you like it? Have you compared it to anything else?
Thanks
J.
I have... In the past, I have used the following for streaming...
First attempt was a small laptop, using JRiver or Foobar... Only real issue with that was fan noise from the laptop... never could completely get rid of it.
Next was a Bluesound Node (Digital out to my DAC). Nice, easy to use and generally reliable... until it just stopped working after a few years (Hardware issue - wouldn't even power on).
After the Bluesound was an Allo Digione/Shanti Power supply, using Volumio software... That was really good, but not the prettiest setup in the lounge room... Plus, I didn't like the licensing model, which required a subscription if you wanted to add full CD functionality and streaming services like Tidal. I could have tried alternative software, but losing the laboratory equipment look was also a desire. I have to say though. this setup sounded good and the volumio app was relatively easy to use, so if you can arrange the system so that the ugly boxes are hidden, it is probably the best sounding one out of the three.
Fourth option is my current setup, with the Element S and Gustard A26 DAC to the Luxman (Schiit Gungnir DAC for my headphone setup). Both DACS are connected permanently to the Element S. Gustard is connected via I2S and the Schiit via SPDIF.
Naturally, the physical appearance of the Element S is streets ahead of most of my previous options.
Operationally, the Element S is pretty good, but the App can be a bit flaky at times... However a restart of the app fixes everything. I get regular updates for the app and the device firmware, and it is getting better and "less flaky" as time goes by. Matrix audio have a good forum and responses/suggestions to resolve any issues are generally turned around fairly quickly.
Sound wise, it is pretty damn good (If a transport has a sound!). I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't mess the sound up...
Plus I have regular PC external DVD Drive hooked up to it (hidden away), for (very rare) CD Playback and that sounds pretty decent too.
It was significantly more expensive than my previous devices, but the flexibility, looks and general performance warrant the extra outlay, I believe.
Hope this is helpful...
Cheers
Welly
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams
Great, very helpful.
Over the years I've owned and tried everything on your list. Foobar2000, JRiver, Bluesound node, Allo, Volumio, etc. etc. and of course RaspberryPi with various software.
The Element checks all the boxes for me, transport only, various outputs including I2S, Linux based, all the normal streaming services, looks, size, price, company with good rep and long standing audio presence.
Thanks again for your insight
J.
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