Rogue Audio Sphinx Tube Hybrid Integrated Amplifier | The Absolute Sound 1

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Class D With A Difference by Ron Doering (/articles/?authors=59) | Oct 04th, 2013 Categories: Integrated amplifiers (/articles/?categories=11) | Products: Rogue Audio Sphinx (/articles/?products=1310)

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Use and Listening I’ll be honest. I don’t have a clue why the Sphinx sounds as good as it does. The obvious non-answer is good design and carefully chosen if not super-premium parts. Mark uses a pair of JJ Electronic 12AU7 tubes in the preamp section and Hypex UCD180 Class D modules for the output stage. Important to making this all work well is the power supply, according to Mark, who uses a fairly hefty toroidal transformer from Avel Lindberg. The headphone circuit has its own discrete amplifier section and is the same one used in Rogue’s more expensive preamps.

While there are none of the sometimes very steep tradeoffs I’ve learned to accept if I want cheap and good sound, the need to make some accommodations with respect to the user interface is still present. The materials and fitand-finish of the Sphinx’s faceplate and controls are competitive for this price sector, but anyone who has had even the briefest experience with, say, a McIntosh or Accuphase control amplifier will be reminded of the massive engineering effort that can be devoted to issues that have nothing to do with sound. So soft-touch controls and microprocessors are absent. Instead, the stand-by power switch is a hefty spring-loaded affair, while the source-selector feels both stiff and a bit spongy due to the long torque tube spanning the deep 17" chassis. Sorry, there is no tape loop, but the Sphinx does accept up to three line sources and has a moving-magnet phono input. A balance control is welcome, as is the optional motorized volume control ($100), which quite commendably worked without overshoot. With this option, the all-metal dedicated remote volume control is large, heavy, and all business. Drop it on your big toe and you’ll know it! The EIC power socket, the main power switch, widely separated three-way binding posts, and surface-mount RCA connectors on the back panel make good use of the plentiful acreage found there. Nearby is a pair of fixed and variable line-level outputs suitable for processors, subwoofers, external headphone amplifiers, or power amplifiers. Speaking of headphones, I found the built-in headphone circuit to be sweet sounding and very refined, yet I could have used a little more gain to better suit my power-hungry Sennheiser HD 600s.

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Some operational notes before I get into the sound. Mark designed the Sphinx to be energized in stand-by mode, but that doesn’t apply to the two input tubes, which only see current when you throw the front-panel “power” switch, and are then slowly ramped up to full power—a process that takes about 20 seconds. It might not be the craziest thing to buy the Sphinx for its phonostage alone, for it really is that good. Dynamic, spacious, quiet, possessing very good resolving power, it is a simplified version of the circuit used in Rogue’s solid-state Triton phono preamp, and it made for a splendid fit with either of my moving- magnet cartridges.

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Be forewarned, though, as you may find some of your old vinyl favorites no longer listenable. I had to chuck up the dough for a fresh pressing of Dark Side of the Moon [Harvest SHVL 804] thanks to the Sphinx’s ability to demonstrate just how noisy my three-decade-old edition had become. Annoying, but I can’t shoot the messenger. So how does the Rogue sound on the new record? Well, DSM is, of course, a creation of studio wizardry but its fame as the hi-fi demo record for the last 40 years is justified. Floor shaking heartbeats? Jet airplanes leaving the tarmac? A cacophony of alarm clock bells? Gorgeous female vocals? They were all there, fresh as the day I first heard this masterpiece of 1970s pop-art. The Sphinx also found a way to make my mono soundtrack of Porgy and Bess [Columbia] sound fresh, vibrant, and vital, even after 54 years. Adele Addison’s performance of “I Loves You, Porgy” (her voice was used to dub that of the film’s star Dorothy Dandridge) is brief but oh so devastatingly lovely. If you have no use for a phonostage, the Sphinx would still be a bargain for the price. (Mark might even change out the phono circuitry for an extra line-level input if you ask him nicely.) « Previous (.)

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donunus 5 years ago

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How does this stack up with the peachtree Nova125? Has anyone done a comparison here? 22 △

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The Replacements > donunus 4 years ago

Toss up, more smoothing sounding tube sound, out of the Rogue, but frankly I think the Metis Magnum and a good A/B am is better. The Digital ICE B&O Amps are getting better especially if you warm them up with some good tube gear.

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RON BUFFORD 5 years ago

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Buy this,add Magnepan MMGs at $600,Oppo 103 disc spinner at $500,Project Debut Carbon turntable at $400,nagaoka MP100 cartridge at $90,Speltz anti-cables $150. You're in business! 7△

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Vic > RON BUFFORD 5 years ago

Great choices and I own one. But I would go with the better Kimber 4TC for speaker cables and add a Pangea power cord. Great value and sound for dollar.

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William

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5 years ago

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I have been using a Sphinx with a pair of 1958 Amperex script logo D getter foil strip 12AU7's in the preamp section with a pair of 94db Silverline Audio Sonata III speakers and a Canary Audio CD 200 as a transport and a modded Eastern Electric Minimax DAC with Black Cat Morpheus IC and Speaker cables. this system lacks nothing.it does everything well, .i own multiple tube amps including SET amps and I have felt no need to put another amp or preamp into my two channel rig. 3△

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Frans

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5 years ago

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Damping factor is something well overstated and often not well understood. One has to look on the whole chain that follows the output terminals, including X over parts and internal resistance of the voice coils, speaker cables. An amplifier with an DF of 1000 doesn't make a better amplifier than one with a DF of 100. (there are even reasons why there is more than a remote chance it sounds less) 3△

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mowgli66 > Frans 5 years ago

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In my experience (30 years in the business), a higher damping factor does lead to better bass control and less "overhang", particularly with speaker systems with a large reactance component to their impedance, ie large diameter (heavy) woofers. 5△

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Destin > mowgli66 4 years ago

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agree, a well damped system is more accurate ! 1△

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ricky_csc 5 years ago

I bought this about 4 months ago and paired it with the Golden EAR Avon 3, Marantz SACD and the music is just simply awesome. 2△

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jmar > ricky_csc 4 years ago

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Hi, your comment matters to me as I just ordered a pair of Triton 5's and I'm looking for an amp. So far focused in NAD, Arcam A19, Rotel but I'm quite thinking about a Sphinx, but as many I have some thought around class D amplifiers. Do you still have this set up?

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Destin > jmar 4 years ago

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I've been using a Sphinx with a pair of Definitive Technology StudioMonitor M65 speakers for several months. No complaints ! to get a better amp you will spend more..! additionally the class D modules which are designed to Rogue's specifications double the output power when the load doubles (going from say 4 ohms to 2 ohms)... something you don't get with most mid and lower amps. Sound listening experience, I can say my Rogue Magnum 88 power tube amp is one great amp, and it is impossible to discern a noticeable difference when comparing the Magnum 88 with the Sphinx's performance ... for the money its a steal...! In a true blinds test I seriously doubt golden ears would be able to hear any difference..!

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difference..! 1△

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Destin > jmar

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4 years ago

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I've been using my Sphinx with a pair of Definitive Technology StudioMonitor M65 speakers for several months. No complaints ! to get a better amp you will spend more..! additionally the class D modules which are designed to Rogue's specifications double the output power when the load doubles (going from say 4 ohms to 2 ohms)... something you don't get with most mid and lower amps. Sound listening experience, I can say my Rogue Magnum 88 power tube amp is one great amp, and it is impossible to discern a noticeable difference when comparing the Magnum 88 with the Sphinx's performance ... for the money its a steal...! In a true blinds test I seriously doubt golden ears would be able to hear any difference..!

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bradbort

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5 years ago

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I’ve been putting the sphinx throught its paces, driving PSB t-2 speakers, and feeding it with a Rega rp3, oppo 105, or sonos. It sounds really really good. Better sound stage and base than the Brio R I was using (and that unit is no slouch). The headphone amp sounds good driving some hifiman 400′s. What is intriguing to me is that, while it sounds very good with vinyl, the biggest improvements are from digital sources. Its probably the tubes, but even the sonos connect source sounds smoother coming through the sphinx. (I might market this as the tube amp for folks who are scared of tubes :). Given their projected life, you might not change them more frequently than the fuses…1x every five years or so. This is a really nice unit…. 1△

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Frans 5 years ago

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Typo: should be "well over rated" 1△

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Nam An le Tran a year ago

I love Rogue Audio very much . 10/10

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George Navedo 2 years ago

Peachtree nova is not all that any more the Rogue Sphinx V2 is a much better never and improved technology close to the performance of the McIntosh that cost over 5 k, go to cnet., or google it, that's why you get them cheap now days at ebay .

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brion

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4 years ago

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I had a Sphinx, but found it a bit on the dark side of the force. It just was not my cup of tea, with decent, but not greatly resolved harmonic information. Decays were chopped off, and a slight grain to the presentation. Returned it.

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George > brion 2 years ago

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You needed to upgrade those tubes.

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Bill 4 years ago

How many amps current output does the Sphinx have?

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brion 4 years ago

What is anyone's experience about allowing time to break in before serious listening?

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