NJC Audio Monitor II Headphone Amp
Ok I will try & cover the important parts like sound & build quality, ive not written a review before but read quite a few about other pieces of equipment online so will try & do something of a similar format.
For those not familiar with this maker NJC Audio is an audio company that hand builds high quality amplifiers in this country, I got mine a while back & the whole experience was very good with a friendly service, there is also a monitor I amp available & I think one with a DAC, but I went for the flagship monitor II to use with my AKG K702's, its a Class A design amp with some nice features.
Here is the amp with my AKG K702's (a few more photos are shown here)
Build Quality:
The construction is all metal (aluminium) & as you would expect from a company that hand builds everything it is first class, the finish on the front is flawless, it has a brushed aluminium look but its finer than most ive seen & its about a 1/4 inch thick aluminium, the volume control is also solid aluminium, rather than just the usual functional knob it is styled to match in with the front which I think looks quite nice, it has a on/off switch & next to that the headphone jack being the larger type, both of which have a circular style pattern around them rather than just poking through a hole in the front panel. Underneath are 4 feet, again in aluminium with a rubber inset so the amplifier doesnt slide or mark a table or hifi unit, the case has some sort of heatsink pattern which again is all aluminium & on the black aluminium back panel is the AC in which is supplied by a wall type adaptor which is not the usual cheap AC to DC unregulated type bundled with other equipment but a more heavy unit which is purely an AC only type, the advantage of this is advertised as eliminating all transformer induced hum which certainly seems to be effective, also on the back panel is the gold phono connections & the gain switch, this has 3 positions so I can change the gain of the amp for different headphones, my AKG's use the low gain setting but they work equally well on the higher ones too.
I really do like the looks of the amp, so many amplifiers seem to just have a plain flat front with the volume knob, with some where you can actually see the nut that holds the volume control on!, I hate it when some amps have that look, its ok on guitar amps but I think hifi needs a little finess & style
Sound Quality:
It isnt always easy to describe how something sounds, my tastes in music range from the good old bands such as Dire Straits, Genesis, Pink Floyd, along with some more modern artists such as Diana Krall & im also rather keen on classical & dabble with making my own songs using my MIDI keyboard & cubase, overall ive been real impressed by the sound of this amp, it hits the highs & lows without any struggle & whatever piece of music I decide to listen to it always turns out to be enjoyable, I read on another review someplace that this amp is very neutral, I would say this is correct as the frequency response is very flat & true which I like, I didnt want an amp that would highlight any particular frequency, this way my AKG's remain as true sounding as possible, some say that neutral can be boring or dull sounding but I am not finding that at all, I like to listen to music where the vocals are as true to life as possible, amps or headphones that are not very neutral (or coloured I think people call it) can make a female voice like that of "Diana Krall" sound either too bassy or too harsh which wouldnt be how she sounds in real life, I havent heard her for real but her voice seems to come across as very natural to my ears. As for bass, midrange & treble since this is a very neutral amplifier they are all there when called upon but are all kept in check with neither of them being highlighted more than the other, the AKG's are not known for their weighty bass but they do have a realistic amount & it goes as low as it needs to & the amp handles it all with no distortion or other problems, even at volume levels that are extremely high (a blast of a favourite track for example), the mids are something that ive always enjoyed on the AKG's, again the amp remains very neutral while the highs seem very refined & this plastic like treble that I have read about on the AKG's (whatever that means) im not hearing at all, it all sounds nicely detailed & real, no plastic here!!.
Noise Levels:
This is something I find the amp also scores very highly with, I cant hear any audible hum at any volume level, nor can I hear any other noises like old hissing sid, when im listening to my classical collection this is when I really appreciate the low or maybe I should say non existent noise floor, Vivaldi Four Seasons (24bit 96khz) sounds excellent & on a really quiet part of the music is where the noise levels or lack of really impress me the most, I would expect this might be common among other high end amplifiers too but its really impressive on classical.
Summary:
To sum up this amp then in a few words would have to be "Quality Build & refined yet neutral Sounding" there is no doubt at all that this amp has taken my music listening to new levels, of course the AKG 702's also play a large part, this amplifier is exceptional value for money which might be because you can only buy these direct from the maker, due to the neutral nature of the amp its a great amplifier for hearing subtle differences in equipment as its capable of extracting lots of detail, also it would be a good amplifier for evaluating different headphones since it doesnt change the sound or colour it, sound quality, build quality & the level of service is exceptionally good, I also like that it comes with a 3 year guarantee rather than the usual 1 year that many come with which is the bare legal requirement, the only minus I can find is the lack of some decals on the front as sometimes friends that pop in comment on the amp & wonder what make it is, it doesnt actually bother me though as its not rocket science, you switch on, plug in & turn up the volume, then sit back & listen to the music, & most enjoyable it is too
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The Prize goes to Toby!
, what a nice suprise, I have sent you a PM Marco, thank you ever so much, its made my day.