Plenty of reserve to drive power-hungry LCD-2s without going much beyond 12 o’clock on the volume knob.

The transformer is encased separately to reduce noise, which is part of the reason why the amp is noise-free even with custom balanced armature IEMs. Carefully selection of parts/gain and meticulous attention to build quality/wire routing also ensure excellent sound quality.

The amp was professionally built by head-fi user ShinyFalcon. He has built several Beta 22s.

Although this amp was built with a plain budget enclosure, all internal/electronic parts are of high quality. Please refer to the photos. There are some coloring irregularities in the amp faceplate. Also note that the IEC socket on the power supply is slightly loose. This has never been a functional problem, just a minor inconvenience when swapping cables. If you have a hefty audiophile plug you may need to brace the socket assembly when removing the cable.

This Beta 22 is a two channel version. A two channel Beta 22 actually measures better than a 3-channel one and generally both topologies sound identical. It’s a fantastically detailed, yet smooth amplifier.