I had a chance to audition these two integrateds side by side yesterday. The speakers were Devore Gibbon Super 8s. Accuphase DP55 the source. At a glance, it might not seem to be a fair comparison because the Leben retails in the U.S. for $5200 and the Pathos for around $2700, but the American dealers SIGNIFICANTLY mark up the Leben amps here; in Japan, Leben CS600 goes for a bit more than $2500.
First of all, even though the Leben is an all-tube & the Pathos a hybrid, I was surprised that it was the Leben that had the more neutral, analytical "SS" sound (solid-state, not Nazi 
) I was expecting the typically warm, rounded tube sound out of the Leben, the kind I heard through the VTI IT-85 amp last week, but I was very much taken aback by the Leben's sound. Don't get me wrong - there was still that "tube-glow" to the sound, but more noticeable was the brightness and the detail in sound. The level of detail heard through the Leben was fanatical, almost to the point that it was jarring. I played the Stravinsky's "Rite" played by Gergiev & the St. Petersburg, live @ the Marlinsky Theater. And the rustling of program notes by the audience came through the speakers as though I was seated in the theater (I heard this effect through the Pathos, too, but the effect wasn't quite so startling.) This analytic sonic nature paid dividends in the recording, especially in "Spring Rounds," when the trombones wreak havoc; the menace I felt was real, terrifying and palpable. The Leben was also miraculous with Radu Lupu's rendition of Brahms Op 118 A major intermezzo. But where it faltered was with Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" and "I Might Be Wrong." Thom Yorke's vocals sounded hauntingly beautiful enough, and the Ondes Martenot's wail was great, but for some reason, the music wouldn't really cohere. I'd hear all the separate elements in fantastic detail, which would not come together. The electronic clicks in the beats of "I Might Be Wrong" didn't snap either. The bass, which seemed so ample and powerful in the Stravinsky, sounded enervated in the Radiohead songs.
I've already talked about the Pathos before, so I won't talk about it much in detail. The Pathos definitely lacks the resolution/detail of the Leben. But there are some things that it does better. The mysterious bassoon solo in the beginning of the Stravinsky is more beguiling on the Pathos than the Leben. The strings sound better on the Pathos. And the Radiohead songs sound definitely better on the Pathos; whereas they were strangely uninvolving through the Leben, they were intensely musical and exciting heard through the Pathos. The beats REALLY move along.
I guess it all has to do with a kind of a listener you are. If it's sonic accuracy you seek, there's no doubt the Leben is the better amp. Except for the Radiohead songs, it also delivered this accuracy with supreme musical authority and beauty of sound. It's really phenomenal, although at really loud passages of big orchestral sections, it strains a tiny bit. The Pathos, I guess, has a more of a forgiving nature, a better range which makes it equally great w/ Stravinsky or Brahms as it is w/ Radiohead. I think Jeff Wong, in a response to a different thread, characterized its sound before as "lush and romantic" and I think that's the perfect way to describe its soundscape. But it still has enough bite and detail resolution as to not muddy the sound. I still think the Pathos is the more musical amp of the two.
The Leben CS600 also has a fantastic headphone out which is lauded by the audiophiles at head-fi. And perhaps it would be a better match with different speakers, perhaps something less detailed and more "euphonic" (although I read that John Devore uses Leben CS600 to demonstrate his speakers). As for the Pathos, the Devore Super 8s are a match made in heaven, at least to my ears. It has no headphone out, which is a bummer for me, but it has a balanced input, which is great b/c I was thinking of using Cambridge Audio 840C as source, and I heard Cambridge's low end sounds much better using balanced.
Next Monday, I'm headed to New Jersey to test the Harbeths, and the Plinius 8150 matched with speakers called Volents, which are bookshelf monitors that use the same titanium mid/woofer as the original Magico Mini. Sounds great on paper, right? Hope they sound good in person...
I had a chance to audition these two integrateds side by side yesterday. The speakers were Devore Gibbon Super 8s. Accuphase DP55 the source. At a glance, it might not seem to be a fair comparison because the Leben retails in the U.S. for $5200 and the Pathos for around $2700, but the American dealers SIGNIFICANTLY mark up the Leben amps here; in Japan, Leben CS600 goes for a bit more than $2500.
First of all, even though the Leben is an all-tube & the Pathos a hybrid, I was surprised that it was the Leben that had the more neutral, analytical "SS" sound (solid-state, not Nazi
) I was expecting the typically warm, rounded tube sound out of the Leben, the kind I heard through the VTI IT-85 amp last week, but I was very much taken aback by the Leben's sound. Don't get me wrong - there was still that "tube-glow" to the sound, but more noticeable was the brightness and the detail in sound. The level of detail heard through the Leben was fanatical, almost to the point that it was jarring. I played the Stravinsky's "Rite" played by Gergiev & the St. Petersburg, live @ the Marlinsky Theater. And the rustling of program notes by the audience came through the speakers as though I was seated in the theater (I heard this effect through the Pathos, too, but the effect wasn't quite so startling.) This analytic sonic nature paid dividends in the recording, especially in "Spring Rounds," when the trombones wreak havoc; the menace I felt was real, terrifying and palpable. The Leben was also miraculous with Radu Lupu's rendition of Brahms Op 118 A major intermezzo. But where it faltered was with Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" and "I Might Be Wrong." Thom Yorke's vocals sounded hauntingly beautiful enough, and the Ondes Martenot's wail was great, but for some reason, the music wouldn't really cohere. I'd hear all the separate elements in fantastic detail, which would not come together. The electronic clicks in the beats of "I Might Be Wrong" didn't snap either. The bass, which seemed so ample and powerful in the Stravinsky, sounded enervated in the Radiohead songs.
I've already talked about the Pathos before, so I won't talk about it much in detail. The Pathos definitely lacks the resolution/detail of the Leben. But there are some things that it does better. The mysterious bassoon solo in the beginning of the Stravinsky is more beguiling on the Pathos than the Leben. The strings sound better on the Pathos. And the Radiohead songs sound definitely better on the Pathos; whereas they were strangely uninvolving through the Leben, they were intensely musical and exciting heard through the Pathos. The beats REALLY move along.
I guess it all has to do with a kind of a listener you are. If it's sonic accuracy you seek, there's no doubt the Leben is the better amp. Except for the Radiohead songs, it also delivered this accuracy with supreme musical authority and beauty of sound. It's really phenomenal, although at really loud passages of big orchestral sections, it strains a tiny bit. The Pathos, I guess, has a more of a forgiving nature, a better range which makes it equally great w/ Stravinsky or Brahms as it is w/ Radiohead. I think Jeff Wong, in a response to a different thread, characterized its sound before as "lush and romantic" and I think that's the perfect way to describe its soundscape. But it still has enough bite and detail resolution as to not muddy the sound. I still think the Pathos is the more musical amp of the two.
The Leben CS600 also has a fantastic headphone out which is lauded by the audiophiles at head-fi. And perhaps it would be a better match with different speakers, perhaps something less detailed and more "euphonic" (although I read that John Devore uses Leben CS600 to demonstrate his speakers). As for the Pathos, the Devore Super 8s are a match made in heaven, at least to my ears. It has no headphone out, which is a bummer for me, but it has a balanced input, which is great b/c I was thinking of using Cambridge Audio 840C as source, and I heard Cambridge's low end sounds much better using balanced.
Next Monday, I'm headed to New Jersey to test the Harbeths, and the Plinius 8150 matched with speakers called Volents, which are bookshelf monitors that use the same titanium mid/woofer as the original Magico Mini. Sounds great on paper, right? Hope they sound good in person...