Lehmann Audio Drachenfels
Compact yet impressively expansive, the Lehmann Audio Drachenfels delivers neutral, clean sound with confident scale and deft handling of fast transients. Fidelity Magazine found it especially composed for long listening sessions, while its modular upgrade path, dual headphone outputs and pre-out add rare flexibility to this refined analogue headphone amplifier.
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Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
86/100
Build Quality
88/100
Features Usability
85/100
Value for Money
85/100
Pros
Neutral, clean and controlled presentation with reliable handling of fast musical events.
Comfortable, engaging long-session performance with Beyerdynamic Amiron Home and AudioQuest NightOwl headphones.
Modular architecture supports optional Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Bluetooth input upgrades, alongside pre-out functionality.
Premium-feeling controls and connections, including a smooth ALPS potentiometer and gold-plated Neutrik headphone sockets.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 86/100
Review listening impressions describe a confident, neutral and unusually large-scale sound from this compact amplifier. It is praised for clean handling of fast musical events and for sustaining engaging listening with both Beyerdynamic Amiron Home and AudioQuest NightOwl headphones, though the review offers no direct observations on background hiss.
Transparency Resolution
90/100
Fidelity finds the Drachenfels clean and assured rather than exaggerated, describing it as "huge in sound" despite its small enclosure. Its account of cleanly rendered tones supports a clear, composed presentation.
Tonal Balance Musicality
91/100
The reviewer particularly values the amplifier's confidence and sense of neutrality, contrasting it with headphone playback that can sound imposing or overblown. It also proved a satisfying long-distance listen with both tested headphone models.
Dynamics
90/100
Fast sound events are said to be handled reliably, with tones depicted cleanly and without either understatement or exaggeration. That points to controlled transient behavior rather than an artificially punchy or softened presentation.
Noise Floor
75/100
The review does not directly discuss hiss, hum, or background silence with sensitive headphones or IEMs. The published specifications cite a signal-to-noise ratio above 85 dB, but there is no listening evidence here to establish how quiet it is with especially sensitive loads.
Headphone Compatibility
84/100
Fidelity reports successful, long-session use with the Beyerdynamic Amiron Home and AudioQuest NightOwl, two meaningfully different full-size headphone pairings. The review does not test sensitive IEMs, difficult planar models, or a wider range of impedances, so its broader pairing behavior remains less documented.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
88/100
The review highlights gold-plated Neutrik headphone sockets and an ALPS volume potentiometer. It describes the control as smooth and solid in operation, although it offers little comment on long-term durability or internal construction.
Features Usability
85/100
The Drachenfels provides two headphone outputs and a pre-out, with the volume control also governing the pre-out when headphones are disconnected. Its modular platform can be upgraded with Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and future digital-input boards, though these capabilities depend on optional modules rather than the basic analogue configuration.
Value for Money
85/100
At roughly €500, or approximately $525–649 in the supplied price range, Fidelity positions the Drachenfels for demanding home listening. The review does not make a direct value judgment or compare it with similarly priced competitors.
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Specifications
- Input impedance
- 47 kohms
- Maximum gain
- 12 dB with maximum potentiometer setting
- Frequency response
- 10 Hz (-0.3 dB) to 35 kHz (-1 dB)
- Signal to noise ratio
- > 85 dB at gain 0 dB
- THD
- < 0,006 % at 18 mW/330 ohms
- Channel separation
- > 80 dB at 10 kHz
- Output power
- 330 ohms/110 mW 33 ohms/180 mW
- Output impedance
- pre-out 105 ohms phones out 5 ohms
- Connectors audio
- Neutrik headphone sockets with gold-plated contacts 1 x pre-out 2 x phones out Line in/pre-out: RCA
- Power consumption
- app. 4 W through external wide range wall power supply (without any optional pc board)
- Outer dimensions W x D x H
- 160 mm x 120 mm x 43 mm (audio section)
- Weight
- 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs.) net (audio section)
Manufacturer's Description — Lehmann Audio
With the introduction of the Linear in 2004, Lehmannaudio raised the sound quality of headphone amplifiers to a new level. The Drachenfels now represents a new generation of headphone amps: our champion with an entry-level price tag scores with leading-edge technology and, owing to its modular options, can be matched to ever new situations. With regard to sound it’s particularly the tremendous wealth of detail that strikes the ear, together with a perfect control of what’s going on. Even in the thickest musical hurly-burly the structure remains discernible at any time and every detail clear-cut.
Analogue? Digital? Drachenfels!
The modular design with cutting-edge components opens long-term perspectives for quality-minded music lovers who have demands on sustainability. No matter if streaming via WLAN or ethernet, linking Bluetooth sources or conventional digital players – owing to modular pc boards, which are available at short notice, the Drachenfels gives the right answer to all of these requirements. Even with the advent of new digital standards, a simple swapping of both module and rear panel will enable an upgrade!
The Drachenfels offers 12dB of practice-oriented gain which, due to the smooth running ALPS Blue Velvet potentiometer with excellent synchronism and the ultra low-noise circuit, dispenses with the need for a gain switch. The power switch located on the front reduces the power consumption in standby mode to an eco-friendly value of less than 1 W. Moreover, its space-saving dimensions offer you plenty of placing options for the Drachenfels. Use it as a headphone amplifier or preamp and discover the happiness of intense music listening.
- Drachenfels D The Drachenfels D complements the detailed, light-footed sound of the analogue model by a digital-analogue converter of the latest generation. The Sabre DAC from ESS on the quad-layer circuit board, which is optimised against RF interference, offers both digital S/PDIF and TOSLINK inputs. Low-loss mica caps on the mainboard and in the analogue filter of the converter as well as ultra fast amplifier stages on the converter board guarantee reference quality in transient reproduction. Enjoy your digital musical treasures from a streamer or CD player in full Lehmannaudio quality!
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- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- ALAIN CHOUKROUN — online and in-store — Paris, Île-de-France, France (website)
- Alpha High End — online and in-store — Brasschaat, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium (website)
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Arizona Hi-Fi — in-store — Phoenix, Arizona, United States (website)
- Art & Voice — online (website)
- AUDIO 2000 — in-store — Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany (website)
- Audio Affair — online and in-store — Deritend, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Audio Art Cable — online and in-store — San Diego, California, United States (website)
- Audio Creativ — in-store — Riedenburg, Bayern, Germany (website)
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