Project Polaris

Here is my review of the Project Polaris. ( I tried to keep it short)

Equipment used:
Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6
Project Polaris
Musical Fidelity XCAN V1
Beyerdynamic DT770 & Philips Cityscape Uptown
A/B switch box
MF XA200 mono amps
Acoustic Energy AE1 loudspeakers

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

The first impression you get when you have a really close look at the Polaris after you have unpacked it from its little carry case is - pure quality.

Only quality components are used such as the gold plated headphone socket that has a real nice feel to it when you plug your headphones in, Nichicon capacitors used throughout with good quality phono sockets to the rear. The PCB used is the same as the Ember - 3mm thick with a black coating and gold plated component pads. Build quality is also outstanding and the attention to detail is first class with all the resistors etc all the same way around.

The Polaris looks good with its light blue Nichicon caps laid down horizontally waiting to fire the music at you like mini torpedo tubes. I also like the way the amp has been designed symmetrically with the left side mirroring the right side. The blue heat sinks also add a touch of class matching the blue of the Nichicon Caps and the volume pot.

The amp looks like it would be easily moved around when plugging in and unplugging your headphones - but I can assure you the amp is very solid on its little rubber feet.

I am not sure about the star over the LED and would prefer to see some sort of raised glass to let the LED shine through it? I have just noticed that Jeremy has done this with the Aluminium top plate, so I personally would also like to see it in the Perspex top plate.

I am still not sure about the optional Aluminium top and bottom plates - RFI interference is not a problem in my house and I also like to admire the components and build quality through the Acrylic top and bottom plates. I must say though, the aluminium plates do look good.

I personally prefer the looks of the Ember to the Polaris - I just like seeing the Tube and caps protruding out of the top plate like a little miniature Taj Mahal giving it a bit of height.

The smps power supply is more than adequate for the job and it looks just like a laptop psu with a little green light telling you it's on, also when you fire it up you have a reassuring click after about 2 seconds indicating the circuit protection has successfully done its job.

HEADPHONE LISTENING:

One of the first things you notice when listening through headphones is the phenomenal level of detail with no hint of fatigue, you can listen for hours and never get tired. This is down to the very clever design by Frans of using a JFET input stage which lightly mimics distortions found in tube designs.
Everything is so musical with an extraordinary insight into the music. Transient attacks are lightning fast and everything is crystal clear with no colourations with silent passages that are inky black. Cymbals sound really metallic with voices sounding silky smooth.
There is plenty of power to drive any headphone easily and I never got past 12 o'clock when I was listening through headphones.

I tweaked with the headphone gain jumpers and listened on all three settings. These are simple to use, you just jump them over to the next setting - even with the amp on and your headphones plugged in, keeping the volume pot at the same level to immediately hear the difference.
Listening through my DT770's I preferred the input set at default - the bandwidth set to high - the gain set to high and the output set to medium.


These settings were also good for my Philips Cityscape Uptowns.


I tweaked with the input gain and again preferred it on the low setting - jumping it across increases the volume by 5db. A word of warning here (You should remove your headphones to adjust the gain setting).

Listening through my A/B box compared to my Stream Magic 6 & my XCAN V1 I could not hear any difference - I think this is because I was hearing the Polaris through the RCA output?

When I decided to listen directly out of the headphone socket it was a different story - definitely night and day difference. My DT770's almost disappeared sounding very very open for a closed back headphone with excellent control over the bass, it was really tuneful and tight - that flabby one note bass had gone, I could listen for hours without that bass getting on my nerves.
Switching back to my XCANs and the sound seemed boxed in & and harsh with voices slightly distorted and a return to the flabby bass.

From memory I would say the sound through headphones is very similar to the Ember with a tube like warmth, so if you do not want to mess around swapping valves then the Polaris is the amp for you.

USED AS A PRE AMP:

The Polaris also makes a very good pre-amp with impressive clarity and I was immediately impressed with its very dynamic and neutral presentation giving a very deep and controlled bass. Drums really thwack with the cymbals sounding very metallic, while voices are silky smooth and an excellent 3D soundstage pinpointing every musician.

Listening volume as pre-amp was a little bit higher at about 12 o'clock and sometimes 2o'clock. The unit runs super cool and never gets hot even after a long listen.
Even MP3 files sounded good.


I agree with Ian that a gold knob is a must and adds a touch of class to the overall quality feel and should be offered as an optional extra along with gold plated PCB stand offs & thumb screws.

CONCLUSION:

The Polaris is a very revealing amp just like the Ember, so make sure the rest of your system is up to scratch, if you have any weak links in your system it will soon show it up. Some people report RF interference from say mobile phones etc; I never once heard any interference.
Fully built at approximately £170 + import taxes with Acrylic chassis and £200 + import taxes with Aluminium chassis.
Kits are approximately £140 + import taxes with Acrylic chassis and £167 + import taxes with Aluminium chassis - this represents outstanding value for money.

I would like to thank Frans & Jeremy for giving me the opportunity to listen to the Polaris for as long as I wanted without any pressure whatsoever - it is a great amp and you should be very proud of yourselves.

FOR:

Stunning Sound Quality
Exceptional build quality
Very high level of attention to detail
Output Power to spare
Drives Headphones from 16 - 600ohm easily
Excellent frequency response
Easy tweakable settings to suit your headphones
Open frame - great to see all that beautiful workmanship.
JFET input stage
Fatigue free listening.
Can be used as a Pre-amp
Start up protection circuitry
Price - outstanding value for money

AGAINST:

Looks - compared to the Ember (Just personal taste) it still looks good.