Rupert Neve Designs Fidelice Precision Headphone Amplifier Review

User experience  

Being a pretty simple analogue device, it’s a pretty simple case of adding your source of choice via one of the three provided inputs, adding your headphone of choice, and powering the PHA on. The green input light ‘A’ illuminates, and you’re immediately presented with an electronic sounding “schhhWOOMP” noise – it’s actually pretty startling if you’re not expecting it. It’s not exactly the most luxurious characteristic from a device of this price, and it also happens when you switch the PHA ‘off’ (followed by a ‘pop’). It seems that this is a result of the capacitors discharging (someone with a better understanding of electrical engineering than me is more than welcome to interject), but this doesn’t happen on most well-designed $99 amplifiers. After a while, you get used to switching the PHA ‘on’ before plugging in your cans, and conversely, unplugging them before switching them off. Less than ideal, but hey – at least it doesn’t take you out of ‘the zone’ from the music you were just enjoying. 

Switching sources is as simple as pressing the relevant input button, but I must note that the PHA doesn’t ‘remember’ the last input chosen – it also reverts to input ‘A’ upon start-up. Slightly frustrating, but not exactly a deal-breaker. I did note earlier that the different inputs accept different maximum gain levels – if you’re feeding the PHA from a source device with a proper line-level voltage you may find that clipping will be introduced if you use the 3.5mm jack, which is designed for lower voltage sources. I found this to be the case with the Schiit Bifrost 2, but was easily corrected by using either the XLR or RCA inputs. 

The PHA’s analogue volume pot and metal knob is one of the nicest I’ve used, being decently weighted and not prone to accidental shifts in level – it’s both precise (which will become a theme with the PHA), and a pleasure to use. Full marks here. 

Being of decent weight and sitting on four rubber feet, the PHA isn’t prone to sliding around on a desktop, nor does it tend to tilt backwards even when fed with chunkier XLR cables in its back panel. All-in-all, it’s a rugged and well-built device (not to mention a handsome one), and it feels more than up to the task of many years of daily use in either a casual listening or studio setting. Sure, it’s small and pretty simple, but it does feel like it has both the design and engineering to warrant its price tag.

Sound quality and listening experience 

The first pair cans I reached for when listening to the PHA was the legendary (if ubiquitous) Sennheiser HD800s. They’re both incredibly revealing of their source gear and also somewhat picky when it comes to amplifier pairings, favouring a less clinical and sterile upstream amp. The Fidelice PHA immediately revealed itself to live up to the ‘Precision’ label on the front panel – it yielded spades of insight and ‘front row’-like clarity with well-recorded live music like Alice In Chain’s brilliant 1996 ‘MTV Unplugged’ record, and yet didn’t do so in a harsh nor ruthless kinda way. This all Class-A design, from input through to output makes for a headphone amp that’s organic, pleasant and utterly lifelike. Voices sound like voices, and instruments – yep – sound like instruments. Don’t for an instance think that this is a warm, syrupy kinda presentation because it’s not. It’s precise, revealing and yet intimate. While the HD800s can make music sound unnaturally diffuse and spacious at times, the PHA tends to focus musical detail back into your ears. I can see that mixing/mastering engineers would appreciate this approach to presenting details, but it also makes for an extremely enjoyable time to just kick back and dig deep into your music library. The HD800s are on the higher side when it comes to impedance, being 300 ohms, and so I expected to have to crank that beautifully-machined red volume knob to get them singing, but no – I couldn’t get it to 9 o’clock on the dial before things got a bit too hectic. 

To change things up a bit, I decided to see how the PHA would tango with far more transducers – namely those found in IEMs. I was a little disappointed to find that upon plugging in my Grado GR10’s that there was quite a loud RFI-like electronic noise that simply could be ignored, even when listening to music. This was slightly less present in the harder-to-drive Drop x JVC HA-FWX1, but also mildly present in the rather sensitive yet full-sized Beyerdynamic T70p – a 32-ohm pair of closed-back cans. It did try changing power outlets around my house a few times to rule out ground loops and other interference, but alas, it wasn’t the case. Perhaps an upgraded power supply (or building!) might solve things, but from my experience, I found that the PHA simply wasn’t a usable solution for more sensitive IEMs and headphones. 

There wasn’t any hint of any background noise, however, in the 55-ohm Focal Clear – what I consider to be perhaps the benchmark for balanced tuning and dynamics. The Clear/PHA pairing eked out a crunching and rollicking rendition of Opeth’s ‘Ghost Reveries’ album, with all the gusto, slam, and nuance that I’ve come to expect from these open-backed French cans, as well as a well-sorted and immersive sense of imaging. 

Moving over to another 300-ohm Sennheiser in the form of the HD650, the PHA proved to be an absolute tonal treat. A whirl through Prince’s ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ record gave me the distinct impression that the PHA is an absolute knock-out when it comes to extracting the timbral qualities from high-quality dynamic driver headphones, giving both a colourless and yet organic sense of resonance to your playback experience. It’s real reference-sounding stuff – precise, if you will. The HD650’s oftentimes placid treble department offered plenty of shimmer and sizzle when called for, while placing The Purple One’s voice front-of-stage in an appropriately intimate kinda way. 

To test the output ability of the PHA a little more it was time to add some planars into the mix. The Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire, at 92dB efficiency, are the most power-hungry cans I have around the place at the moment, and yet the PHA didn’t break a sweat getting LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ up to ‘house party’ levels. While the PHA only needed to get to 9:30 pm on the volume dial with the Aeon 2 Noire, it wasn’t quite the most authoritative playmate with the Dan Clark Audio planar headphones, providing a little less ‘pep’ and ‘oomph’ than more wattage-friendly options like the Schiit Audio Jotunheim 2. 

Switching between the Fidelice PHA and the Jotunheim 2, there were some minor and yet tangible differences between the two in terms of the way they go about playing music. ‘Morph the Cat’, by Donald Fagen, has a more airy and diffuse sound over the (substantially) more powerful Schiit amp, whereas the Rupert Neve brings the focus of front-stage musical elements much closer towards the listener for a more revealing experience. The PHA also adds a more layered approach to proceedings, creating a more distinct separation between the double-tracked vocals in terms of depth, giving Donald Fagen’s brilliantly-produced solo record a more ‘live’ sensation. 

Final thoughts

So, how does the studio know-how of Rupert Neve Designs translate into a dedicated desktop headphone situation? Pretty bloody well, as it turns out, provided you’re going to be pairing it with moderately-higher-impedance headphones – ideally of the dynamic variety. It’s precise by name, and precise by nature, without sacrificing any of the emotion and textural information that makes music, well, music. I guess with a product with the ‘Rupert Neve’ name attached to it you are buying into the idea of ‘studio greatness’, and while the Precision Headphone Amplifier’s exemplary tone and detail will get you one foot in the door into the recording studio, it’s the other little touches that help complete the emotional circle and give you a nudge closer towards your favourite artists: the studio-inspired engineering, the old-world design, and of course – the maker’s mark on the front panel.

While the Precision Headphone Amplifier will get your average planars up to foot-tapping levels, it doesn’t convince you that it has the headroom and gusto to tango with the more insensitive Hifimans of the world. On the other end of the scale, it’s not a great match for IEMs and more sensitive headphone. Then again, you’re not likely to find these in your average recording studio. This leads you to the final equation you need to consider with the Rupert Neve Designs Fidelice Precision Headphone Amplifier – the value one. It’s not exactly cheap, and you’re not getting a lot of features nor power for your buck either. There are many cheaper headphone amplifiers on offer that do a lot more for less, on paper anyway. But, this is the type of product that’s for the romantic. The music nerd. You know, the kind of listener that gets a kick from the stories behind the music, as well as the stories behind the gear. If looking at the ‘R’ initial engraved into the mahogany panel of the Precision Headphone Amplifier sound like it might put a bit of a smile on your face while you’re listening to the legendary records made at ‘Sound City’, then it might be the Mid-Century trapezoid that you need to have next to your Eames Chair.