Vorzüge VorzAMP pure II™ review

Headphone listening as movement and industry affected was never more strong then at present times. It might be the biggest phenomena happening in audio, impacting not only specific niche industry segment, but whole industry at large. If companies like Sonus faber and Samsung entered the headphone market clear indicator of big band is self evident.

People in 21st century are bound to moving faster, traveling longer distances, spending their time on the various mediums of transfer and working prolonged at their work place or from home. 

With the advent of digital music services, mind blowing musical catalogue came at reach of everyone for the cost (per month) of a single CD or LP. Its a greatest time for anyone deeply in love with music or for someone who just entered the endless musical universe, starting to exploring its core. Let us called this first wave impact.

Second wave of headphone listening revolution could be attached to portable players varying from mobile phones, iPods, dedicated musical players, tablets and in past few years with ultra thin laptops. Public WiFi, 3G and especially LTE subscriptions opened up the streaming connection at any time and place. While at start many might be satisfied with headphones plugged directly into the music/audio source, non optimal loadings too often revealed non matching impedance and lacking of a proper gain needed to drive dedicated headphones. This leads to uncle Google and search for something more…

So the third wave to hit headphone industry can be described as the impact of headphone amplifiers. Before I’ll get corrected, yes, they were there from the start, yet never in such abundance as of today, and never of such interest.

Headphone related forums certainly started a quiet (r)evolution of all headphone related paraphernalia. They’re grown up and exploded, carrying the largest headphone communities and reaching to thousands of headphone enthusiasts. Nothing stopped there. Younger, newer generations embraced all sourcing of information and exploration of net data. Big bloom morphed into the uncontrolled headphone phenomena of supernova magnitude.

VorzAMPpure II ™ is true to its name, in being an amplifier that is the dream of the Purist. This new high performance, ultra-low distortion, high fidelity amplifier with its 3 gain settings is designed to capture the whole spectrum of earphones devices, from the sensitive and precision IEMs to the power hungry professional Headphones. Through our handcrafted assembly, stringent testing and audio matching procedures, our boutique company is able to ensure high hardware quality. VorzAMPpure II ™ is a fully analogue system, possess strong dynamics, clean sound and crisp vocal, deep black background with excellent instrument separation and placing – it is indeed the unique boutique amplifier for the Purist.

Gain The VorzAMP pure II™ is tailored with a 3 Settings gain switch, which can adjust the gain to -1dB, 8dB or 15dB. This wide range of gain settings allows the amplifier to be used with low impedance high current devices as well as high impendence higher voltage devices, all this without compromising on SNR or volume control. The -1dB gain setting designed, to allow the user to fully experience the sensitiveness, dynamics and demands of low impedance IEMs

THD+N Sound excellence is the absolute center of focus throughout the entire Conception, development and integration process. Extensive care has been taken at every step so as to achieve an extremely low THD+N value. THD+N of the VorzAMP pure II™ has the incredibly low value of 0.0008%.

Silver Solder with Gold Compound For the most discerning audio listeners and professionals who seek only unsurpassed sound quality, Vorzüge products uses the World renown Mundorf™ precious metals Silver-Gold solder.

Gold Plated PCB The PCB is Gold plated to prevent the development of corrosion and oxidation prior and during soldering. This in turn prevents future disconnection or air gaps from forming, resulting in a high level of contact reliability and a continuous audio signal.

Top Grade Metal Film Resistor At Vorzüge, we hold our standards for analog audio devices highly. We use the best components to achieve extremely low intrinsic noise, high linearity of amplification, and minimal dynamic distortion.

The Right Metallic Capacitors Because every circuitry is different from another. Our team of audio engineers together with our contacts in the professional music industry conduct hours upon hours of hearing tests to find the perfect fit.

Lithium-ion Power Supply VorzAMP™ uses a compact 2100mAh quality rechargeable Lithium-ion batterie with built in safety circuit to safeguard your Amplifier. Giving you about 10 hours of average play time. Convenient USB charging. True Dual Power Supply.

Environmental Friendly It’s what VorzAMP™ doesn’t have that makes it environmentally friendly. It’s free of many harmful toxins like mercury, arsenic, BFRs and PVC. All its components are RoHS internationally compliant.

In this day and age many of non headphone geeks posses more then singular headphones. Usually of different sensitivity. This too quickly becomes a frustration without proper gain matching. Vorzüge implemented gain switch in the mk2 upgrade for obvious reason. 

Operational? This is as simple as it gets. Front panel is fully packed with audio in and out (via minijack), three position gain switch, on/off button, led indicator and volume gain knob. These gives you a complete control of anything needed. On the back panel there is mini usb charging port and next to it red led, lighting up when being powered. 

Everything is straightforward and of miniature scale, but still with enough space to easily operate and connect/disconnect. 

Hooking Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ to any sound source is no brainer. You might need RCA to mini headphone jack brake-out cable, but thats it. Little or zero complication. Plug in and lock in.

When charged I’ve managed to get even past specified 10 hours of battery life. This gives more then sufficient time even for demanding listeners. Other great thing I like much is stand by time. Battery lasted even few weeks when I didn’t use it!

All great specs wise, but without noticeable audible benefit there is little or no value for any outboard headphone amplifier. I’ve had quite few headphone amplifiers and related gadgets, where the promise land was ensured. Reality came with sobering breeze; differences with gain was too often, too subtle to be worthy of investing and upgrade. 

Being a gain junkie everything is subordinate to that. Not a volume cracking freak! I like and love music to come in full bloom. Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ three way gain setting is a mandatory feature andy headphone amplifier should sports. All there position came to practice, driving all of my personal headphone arsenal. VorzAMPpure II™ is of miniature scale, but mightily potent when it comes to the music and matching with the needed power for in-ears and dynamic headphones. 

Lots of times I’m dealing with devices suiting the certain genre, even excelling in such. Yet, universally it might lack the definition, resolution and overall impact. I’m not talking about the inability to play the music. Real potency lies in the overall coherency of presenting the musical material as wholesome and not non linear sum of part and parcels.

This is quickly evident with more classical compositions. Lots of times headphone amplifiers can get away with small chamber orchestra, stepping up to the full scale ensemble quickly creates a havoc and partitioning of the sound. Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ was quite a positive surprise. From pianissimo to forte fortissimo stableness was enjoyable and of big enough involving factor. Same with blues, rock and electronic music.

I’m using headphones on many occasions for my compositional burst. Multilayering of instruments quickly becomes a stress and brings the projection of sound composition to a muddy waters. Vorzüge kept its pace in place. Not on the level of bigger desktop headphone amplifiers, yet still with more then enough drive to keep it up with harmonic nature of the music. That says a lot!

Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ is not only tightly attracted to mobile listening. During my testing I’ve often found myself using it across many devices, with my iPhone, iPad and both Macbook and desktop iMac as well as totalDac. Its a very handy, smallish and ergonomic device, that can be used in all situation needed. With its 10 hours of playback the operational duties can extend from critical listening to bedside mode mood. VorzAMPpure II™ size and long battery life makes it flexible and easy USB powering helps with easy charging anywhere.

I’ve extensively put VorzAMPpure II™ through all the listening situations, including long flights. Either by using in-ears, closed or open headphones the benefit of having it in the listening chain on the move was more then a little step up. 

The simplest, yet very affective test is always actual absence of any device in the listening rig. Driving headphones without VorzAMPpure II™ revealed lacking in spatiality, projection of proper soundstage, downscaled atmosphere and slower paced drive.  And my mandatory, needed dose of gain was gone!

Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ is surely not on the entry level pricing. Vorzüge team did a lot of homework with design and selection of the parts. This is where it clearly shows it sonic performance being uplifted to the plane above usual contenders. 

VorzAMPpure II™ do not hide its audiophile roots both in material selection and sonic imprint. It can create a much more elevated, palpable audio reproduction then usual less potent headphone amps. 

Intimate headphone listening becomes very important for many audiophiles and music lovers. Instant headphone tune in opens up the door to the minute enjoyment of the music and locking deeply to the favorite songs. 

In this days and age its not easy to create something different and meaningful in the vastness of headphone oriented product. Still, Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ grabbed my attention from the beginning and still captures my inner clock with its performance. 

Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ is a 21st headphone amplifier with clear audiophile DNA. Many will see it as foremost mobile headphone amplifier, but I really enjoy it as much with my desktop listening and front ends costing 20 times more. 

We too often forget, that musical listening should be fun and of lesser complexity and trouble. Vorzüge VorzAMPpure II™ brings an instant shot of power audio adrenaline when you need it. Be it for quick listening or prolonged floating in the favorite musical universe. 

Text: Matej Isak

$565.00

VorzAMPpure II™ (With Li-ion Battery)

VorzKabel™ (20cm long)

Protective pouch

USB Power Adapter (100AC to 230AC)

USB to USB-Micro Cable (Charging from Computer)

Documentation

Vorzüge GmbH/SP 

Postfach 801131

70511 Stuttgart

Germany

EMAIL: Customer.Service@Vorzuge.com

WEB: www.vorzuge.com