UltraSonic Studios Oblivion Review

Going by my own experience, both.

If nothing else, Veritè has tasteful ZMF bass rise, so combined with the uncanny speed of the drivers any bass weakness gets a big fat spotlight shined on it, and no matter how small it becomes perceptively amplified.

That's why I prefer the T4 to my no-feedback Af for the Vs.

There's other reasons, but the slight bass looseness of an nfb Af is the most immediately apparent.

 

There're good impressions on head-fi with the Verite -> Oblivion pairing. He has the impedance switch though. I've not heard the Verite so I can't comment but like to point out that there're folks that like the pairing as well.

 

Coming in the near future. Apologies, but the CV19 stuff has put a kink into my plans quite a bit. Cheers

 

Yep.

Piggy backing on this and what Marv already mentioned; I've just heard better when it comes to Verite's micro and macrodynamics. The Universe lambskin pad rolls off to much at the top so it sounds clear but dark. Swapping to the suede Universe pads helps bump up the treble but even then the micro and macro dynamics still feel flat. The Be2 pads helps further it along but at that point I found it too forward.

Even with an amp like the Stellaris or Apex Teton you're going to have pairings that sound fine but not great. Being on this forum we all know we're looking for great. The Oblivion is a detailed, fast, and clear amp. With the Auteur, personally, I find it a great pairing. The amp provides the speed, separation, layering, and clarity while the headphone carries the ball the rest of the way.

 

Speaking of Grado, the GH1 w/G cushions (my preference) as well as the GS2000e pair excellent with the Citadel Custom,

 

The issue is that there are those with shitty music selections, and then blame the amp, when the Verite is actually very genre specific.
My comments about it is because although I like the company, I do not accept a headphone above $1k that is so genre specific. Just look at the frequency response of the headphone.
Same issue with Dan clark Headphones, so people take my opinion as if I have attitude.
My attitude is of no BS.
I don't stroke imperfect accomplishments with some golden shlong award.

 

I don’t own and haven’t heard Oblivion. I did own Verite for a long enough period to say that @Maxx134 is full of it. Verite is an excellent headphone over all genres that I tried.

I have Af with a tertiary feedback switch and @Taverius is absolutely correct: there is a looseness to the bass in NFB mode. It was too sloppy with Verite in certain genres but welcome with others. Let’s focus the discussion on the Oblivion amp and here I will STFU and pay attention to people who have a modicum of credibility.

 

So what do you mean by shitty music....?

You know what, I give up.

 

I speculate it's because the paper drivers of the Auteur, light paper woofers are usually an easy control on the amplifier, even pure tubes based.

Also we are forgetting about the high output impedance option of the amplifier, which gives ×2.5 times power on the 300 Ohm loads. It may alleviates the weakness of the nfd design.

 

Bacteria paper poop*

 

TL;DR - A well made and pretty powerful tube amp that appears to be appropriately priced for its performance and is a great addition to the tube HP amp world. Some potential shielding issues that might impact some.

--------

So have now spent some quality time with the Oblivion, using both my reference Verite C Ironwoods and Ether C HPs. Source is JRMC from my PC to Singxer SU1 which feeds the DM Convert 2 and then onto the Schiit Freya before the amp. Here's a pic of my stack with the Oblivion at the bottom:



Have been comparing the Oblivion to my reference Cavalli Liquid Gold, matching volumes as best as possible and using a fairly wide range of my go-to testing music (including Beck's Sea Change, Peter Gabriel's Up & OVO, Chieftain's Tears of Stone, Rammstein's Reise, Reise, Rostropovich's Bach Cello Suites, Eiji Oue's Reveries).

Before I talk about my thoughts on the sound of the Oblivion, I did encounter one issue that was kind of a pain. Specifically, with the Oblivion in my chain I was getting a good amount of RFI – I can hear the local 93.3 FM station when using both my Ether C and the Verite C with the Oblivion, with the HP cable acting like an antennae to something that seems to not be shielded fully in the Oblivion. Have never had this issue on my LAu or any other amp I've tested. The radio interference is only noticeable when there is nothing playing or in very quiet passages (so for some classical pieces it's especially worrisome) but it's definitely there. As you can see from the above picture, my rack is near a window, and moving away from the window might help address this issue, but hefting over 100 lbs of gear (not including the weight of the sand-loaded rack) isn't going to happen. YMMV of course based on your setup, just wanted to make sure this was noted.

Also want to make clear that putting the Oblivion against the LAu isn't really a fair fight, as this is arguably (one of) Dr. Cavalli's masterpieces and retailed for a few times more than the Oblivion when the LAu was still available. However, it's my reference and I much prefer to compare gear head-to-head versus rely on memory for other amps I've had in the past.

And wanted to point out that the build quality of the Oblivion is also top notch - this thing is really well put together and heavy. I like the spikes and metal base pucks that are included with the unit. This version also has the fan on the bottom, but I never heard it.

Verite C LTD:
Using the VCs the Oblivion sounds good, but it's not as emotionally moving or refined. Specifically there's less weight in the impact of the lower end, the bass notes don't hit with the same authority or have the same level of definition, almost as if the leading edges are a bit rounded off. This can be felt in Rammstein's driving bass lines and kick drums as well as the lower notes of Rostropovich's cello. The mid-range also sounds somewhat hollow and as not as present. For example, Beck's vocals sound a bit recessed on the Oblivion, like there's something between you and the singer. I didn't sense as much of a difference in the higher end frequencies, although there was a slightly lower level of extension. The overall picture is solid, just not as fully coherent as the LAu. The Oblivion's soundstage is also not as expansive, being incrementally narrower and shorter, like being in a smaller room, but I did find it to have good depth. The overall level of detail retrieval was good and had nice sustain, especially in the upper registers.

Ether C 1.1:
Given what has been shared online about the VCs not being a great fit with the Oblivion, I pulled out my Ether C's to see if that changed the picture at all. Short answer is that it did. The points mentioned above were not as pronounced with the ECs, although at the same time the EC is not as resolving as the VC. The bass impact still not as physical/textured with the Oblivion with the ECs, but again to a lesser degree. The "hole in the middle” is less prevalent as well, and the soundstage differences are to a lesser degree as well. Overall I enjoyed the Oblivion more through the ECs than the VCs and I could be happy with the Oblivion/EC combo, but I am fortunate to have the LAu and VCs.

Summary:
Assuming that the RFI issue could be dealt with, I feel that the Oblivion is a solid addition to the tube amp world at a price point that doesn't seem to have as many great options. While it falls short in a few areas to my reference, it appears to punch right where it should and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend people take a look for a tube HP amp under $2K.

Note: I didn't have the opportunity to try out the Oblivion as a 2-channel amp, although this unit did have the speaker output terminals and selector switch.

 

@mscott58
Thanks for the review!
About the RFI you were experiencing.
Was this interference in both channels, or only one? I'm wondering because all signal wires are shielded correctly with one end connected to ground (except for short runs, which are not shielded). Maybe it's one of the tubes that're picking up this. I have taken precautions for this as well but I can do more if necessary. This is the first time I'm hearing about this though.

 

Both channels. Cheers