First of all, I tried Verus as a headphone amplifier with a low impedance Philips Fidelio X1 and a 300 ohm Sennheiser HD-650. As in other recent designs by S.A.Lab on K504UN2B builds, the noise level here is such that, with the headphones on, you won't understand whether the amplifier is working at all or not. This is some kind of a deep, bottomless silence, out of which music suddenly wells up. The character of the sound is very similar to the one that I described in the GAP-07 — soft, but detailed, light, with an abundance of timbral shades. But Verus has a noticeably better dynamic properties, most likely due to a more powerful power supply. The beat is filled with perfectly drawn attack, and the amplifier appears absolutely indifferent to headphone impedance — in both cases, diaphragm control was exemplary. And on every music track there is this wonderful velvety sound inherent in germanium. Add to this the complete absence of synthetics, and you get a comfortable sound that can be listened to for a long time and tirelessly. Of course, I am describing the general impressions of the sound, which does not imply that the individual features of the headphones have been canceled. But then, it is indeed the features, and not some annoying artifacts.
«And in any case, this wonderful velvety sound is inherent in germanium with a complete absence of synthetics.»
As a preamp, Verus was tested with the CR Developments tubed integrated amp (the signal was fed to the back end) and the top-end Technics A1000 Mark II. I don't really like the latter because of its too transistor-like sound, but in conjunction with "Verus" it demonstrated completely unexpected musical capabilities. While it was devoid of any drive before, now a pleasant charm is felt in the presentation, a noble breed was palpable. The cymbals clanked silvery sound, clean and clear. Who would have thought!