Anyways, for those of you who prefer to kick every dog and chase every rabbit, here is my (formal) review of the LEBEN...
REVIEW:
LEBEN CS300F Integrated Amplifier
The (few) professional reviews I have read about this LEBEN model have been overwhelmingly positive, despite the fact that they all provided caveats of one type or another around "...within its power limitations" etc., etc.
These caveats arose only because none of those reviewers carefully matched the 15w LEBEN with a suitably efficient speaker. Not one. It seems that they just merrily hooked-up the CS300F to whatever transducers they had on the shelf at the time and gave it a go. A HARBETH here, a TRENNER & FRIEDL there; let's try a FRITZ... Talk about epic mismatches! And they wondered why the little LEBEN occasionally ran out of steam?
Nevertheless - rather tellingly - all the reviewers adored the CS300F for what it does so well - despite being totally mismatched on every date. All of which begs the question: How does the CS300F sound when the speaker match is ideal?
Matched with our KLIPSCH RP-160M, the LEBEN CS300F is a veritable powerhouse! This is an ideal partnership.
I'm not exaggerating when I state that with the 15w CS300F driving our 96dB speakers, its identical to taking an 87dB speaker - like a pair of brand-new pair of TRENNER & FRIEDL ART 2 (85dB, actually) - and driving them with a 480w solid state amp. Yes, the electrical "drive" calculation is more or less identical. Would anyone dare call that a potentially under-powered partnership? Would anyone really question whether there was enough power on tap? Of course not.
In this type of scenario, the CS300F becomes a vicious beast, straining to be unleashed! With headroom aplenty, inquiries as to the available power become totally irrelevant. The only question that remains is: What does this amp / speaker partnership sound like?
This environment is precisely how the LEBEN should be reviewed.
Under these idyllic conditions, I can tell you that the CS300F is no "pipe and slippers" polite little number. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. The LEBEN is big and ballsy; and busting to breakout!
The CS300F can rock out with the best of them. Demanding genres such as Hard Rock, Metal, Electronica and Dubstep are pumped out with alarming attack. Bass is full, tight and deeply extended and there's absolutely no polite, syrupy, treble roll-off. Tops are crystal clear and extended. Fenders crunch, analog synth textures grind, cymbals crash and shimmer; and it's all held together in total chaotic coherence.
Then in a blink - with a speedy change of program - the CS300F can gently immerse the listener in a pool of intimate and palpable lushness. SET-like, the CS300F delivers quiet music for quiet times, beautifully. The little LEBEN is a quick-change artist, delivering whatever it is that your source is serving up.
Believe it! The CS300F is a nasty, thrashing brute one minute, a fluffy, purring little kitty the next; and everything in-between.
Orchestral warhorses with Tchaikovsky in full cry? Bring it on! Classical, Chamber, Trios, Quartets and the like? Superbly rendered. Jazz? Oh yes, Jazz! The CS300F loves Jazz and you can truly hear which artists have "got it" and which ones ain't. Reggae, Prog Rock, Military, Folk, it's Saul Goodman! Whatever the genre, with the little LEBEN, music is portrayed with all the sparkle, colour and vividness of a live event.
There are several worthy sonic constants (read constants - not constraints!) that permanently reside in the CS300F sonic palate. These include: -
Stunning dynamics! Even at low-level listening, the CS300F is fully loaded with the safety-catch off. Yes, the jump-factor can be quite startling. Massive dynamic shadings send transient snaps firing out of the speakers, like sonic missiles.
Truth of timber is ever present. Vocals sound like flesh and blood. These are real people! Likewise, musical instruments. This is where pianos sound like pianos with felt hammers striking wires under tension. Where the (typically elusive) leading-edges of piano notes are portrayed in stark relief. Drum kits sound like hard wooden sticks striking taught animal skins -
not like the sound of Dr. Martin shoes kicking-in some flimsy dunny-door! Fretless bass lines carry that real boogie factor. Brass instruments deliver that spitty, crackly, metallic blat that used to have kids like me following the Sally Bands around the streets each mid-December evening. These are real instruments and the CS300F never lets you forget it.
Imaging and soundstage are stable and sonic cues, a revelation. Granted these aspects strongly depend on the capability of the partnering source and speakers, but when the fit is right, the CS300F will show you precisely where everything was lurking on recording day. Often, this will include apparent venue cues that extend way beyond the confines of your own listening space. Whilst many of these spatial effects are now "created" in the studio [long after the band has headed off for a beer and a smoke...] early stereo recordings - such as the legendary RIVERSIDE Jazz catalog, where they just recorded what happened and put it straight onto the vinyl lathe - prove beyond doubt that such spatial aspects do exist on simple, unprocessed recordings. If it's there in the mix - no matter how it got there - the CS300F will expose it, as created; intended or otherwise.
I could go on and on - I've already gone on and on - but I'd like to leave you with one final set of thoughts.
There is one aspect, that the above ramblings have
not been able to capture; and that is the utterly unique "tube" sound. To my ears, tube sound is totally distinct due to the following three attributes.
Firstly, almost all tube amps deliver an accurately dense harmonic saturation of the (critical) mid-range and upper bass, which causes music to sound natural. Best revealed in the human voice, you know it when you hear it. It's the sound of flesh; living, breathing, swallowing and singing - complete with all the rich resinous tones that make the human voice, flutes, clarinets, French horns, trombones, cellos, violins and guitars so unbearably beautiful. The LEBEN CS300F conveys this midrange harmonic saturation in just the right dose, at least the right dose for our tastes.
Secondly, by virtue of their inherent design, all tube amps - even lesser designs - deliver a continuous flow of signal. The sound of this flow is very hard to describe - but easy to hear in the music generated. It's the reason why Grandad's old valve radiogram sounded so magical, all those years ago! Tubes allow the signal to gain (voltage, amplitude – as the design requires) as electrons magically leap through a heated vacuum, in a constant, unbroken flow. There is no switching on and off. There is no frequency. There is just a continuous flow of signal. The beautifully unbroken music flow that results, clearly reveals this miraculous gain process, to my ears and (evidently) to the ears of every staunch tube amp enthusiast. Every other amplifier technology (excepting transformer-only amps. Another story, another time...) uses ultra-high-speed switching (on and off hundreds of times per millisecond) to achieve their required gain. In those amplifier designs, the precious music signal is sliced and diced in the same way that digital processes sample only a portion of the full sinewave of analog recordings, in order to transfer the music onto CDs. Sadly, the human ear can hear the difference. This switching is not good. Tube amps don't do this. Tube amps are good; and the LEBEN CS300F is one of the best.
Thirdly and finally, tube amplifiers tend to present the sound of spatiality differently to other amplifier topologies. Whilst alternative designs can match or occasionally surpass tube amps in the left to right rendering of space, tube amps go the extra mile in the realistic portrayal of front to rear soundstage. This creates space - or at least, the sound of space. With good tube amps, recording venues can sound absolutely cavernous and everything sounds just a little bit more stereo; a bit more 3D. Everything is just a bit more palpable and in focus. With the LEBEN CS300F, you just want to reach out and touch it, the illusion so darned complete.
Be sure to give the little LEBEN CS300F a good, long listen. Partnered with the right speakers, I suspect it might be an end-game amplifier for many, as it was for us.
In any event, enjoy the journey - and please share thoughts on your listening experiences with the fiesty little LEBEN CS300F.
