Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition - Page 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by super_fied 

Now, that's what I call- "Dedication to his craft" Thumbs up to you Justin!

 

I guess I got a really long wait ahead of me now

I know I don't have a horse in this race,, but..
Dedication to ones craft:...""I am working on creating time to do that in the next few weeks"" So in a few weeks Justin will TRY,,to make time to finish something that he took a down payment for..... 2 1/2 years ago? That's not my definition. Sorry if I am out of line..I just can't for the life of me see how anything as simple as a headphone amp. can take 2 1/2 years to build. 

I don't have a horse in this race either, but my experience with SinglePower taught me if the vendor does not want to voluntarily refund a downpayment that is outstanding longer than 6 months, you have no recourse - and really it's 60 days for a stress free refund, after 60 days there is a process you go through and you are not guaranteed recovery.

I'm not in anyway implying Justin is Mikhail. I have one of his Pico portable dac (shipped promptly from stock) and returned a Pico amp that was handle very professionally and quickly. It's just now, personally, regardless of the vendor, I have a problem with a substantial down payment outstanding longer than 6 months.

well I can totally understand the frustration some might have,especially after waiting years for their order to complete.If it was me in Anders or JHellows's shoes, I would have gone loco and be really unhappy as well. It seems that they are really really patient.

Who am I to say anything especially when my order has been just put in for 4 days now and there's a long long way for mine to go.

But like I said,I've dealt with Justin on 2 occasions and the pico slim has taken well over a year for it to be fully complete so... I kinda get his way of doing things-his replies may be extremely slow and things may get delayed, but eventually it'll all get sorted out and he is a master at what he does.

I guess I will only be able to find out in 6 mths time when that time comes,if it will be delayed for another few months or year haha.///It doesn't hurt to be optimistic!(for me that is)

And yea, I've read through the entire deal about singlepower audio. It really pains me that there are people like that out there fleecing others of their hard earned money, but I am that Justin is no Mikhail and that he will deliver, though I certainly hope my wait will be within the year.

Justin mentioned to me that there was no queue/waiting list so how come some of you guys got a number or had an idea where you stood?

How come most high end headphone amps are tube based ?

in general headphone amps it would mostly appear to be Fashion, in speaker power amps there are relatively more "Audiophile" SS offerings, from "simple" topology "nfb" to Halcro's "ppb distortion" amps

Stereophile's "Golden Ears" couldn't tell a $699 Carver SS from their own choice of audiophile tube amp when the Carver was trimmed for the same frequency response, output impedance - while driving speakers with much more impedance variation than any single driver headphone

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/486598/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths/15#post_6612175

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Carver

another consideration is that  Headphone power requirements are much lower, entailing less expense and complexity for wannabe tube amp designers - so it could be "because we can"

but the low power also means you can do very well with Op Amps in dynamic headphone amps as well - talk about no respect

In the special case of Electrostats you have many fewer choices in SS transistors for handling the higher V required - tubes match well in their V handling and the low current required - and you are talking about a niche within a niche 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx 
Sorry if I am out of line..I just can't for the life of me see how anything as simple as a headphone amp. can take 2 1/2 years to build. 

It's simple, the design of the amp itself and more importantly the enclosure was not complete 2-1/2 years ago.  Justin is a fanatical perfectionist and simply unwilling to compromise.  As such the evolution of his designs are often slower than other manufacturers who are content with good enough.  All that aside these things definitely take time to both design and build, more time that most could possible understand if you've never done it before.  It's not simply a matter of tossing some parts in a box and flipping a switch. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher 

It's simple, the design of the amp itself and more importantly the enclosure was not complete 2-1/2 years ago.  Justin is a fanatical perfectionist and simply unwilling to compromise.  As such the evolution of his designs are often slower than other manufacturers who are content with good enough.  All that aside these things definitely take time to both design and build, more time that most could possible understand if you've never done it before.  It's not simply a matter of tossing some parts in a box and flipping a switch. 

Am I right to say that now Justin has straightened the design out(like he did mention to me in the email), the 6 mths delivery time as he mentioned will be possible?

Why the hold up for anders and jhellows then? (I'm not questioning on the offensive, just being really curious because I don't want to see myself in that same situation 6 months down the road.Just have to be prepared!)My only concern is that if these gentlemen have waited years for their amps? When will be my turn?

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher 

All that aside these things definitely take time to both design and build, more time that most could possible understand if you've never done it before.  It's not simply a matter of tossing some parts in a box and flipping a switch. 

I can certainly vouch for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher 

It's simple, the design of the amp itself and more importantly the enclosure was not complete 2-1/2 years ago.  Justin is a fanatical perfectionist and simply unwilling to compromise.  As such the evolution of his designs are often slower than other manufacturers who are content with good enough.  All that aside these things definitely take time to both design and build, more time that most could possible understand if you've never done it before.  It's not simply a matter of tossing some parts in a box and flipping a switch. 

I think everyone who has been waiting since "the list" for this round was started about 2 ~2.5 years ago was aware there was a wait and the design wasn't complete, that you were signing up for a concept, not a finalized product.

However, the design was complete about a year ago and deliveries started, in batches of three, almost a year ago. Unfortunately, the batches ended over a half year ago and it is particularly frustrating to be one of the next "batch", paid up & stuck in limbo. For the future, it might be a good idea to change the method from batch construction in order to accomodate the current demand. That doesn't do much much for those that signed up and paid up a couple years ago for a limited run of twenty, and still wait on stalled progress.

I still want my BHSE and am willing to wait for a while longer. I have no gripes or worries about communication or eventual delivery. The delays however are getting beyond anything originally put forward or in later proposed schedules. I would caution anyone currently signing up with the idea the process is now streamlined and delivery is only 6 months out. I first heard that timeline a year and a half ago and repeated a couple times since. Maybe delivery for recent orders is 6 months out, I hope so. But maybe not. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by super_fied 

Am I right to say that now Justin has straightened the design out(like he did mention to me in the email), the 6 mths delivery time as he mentioned will be possible?

 

Why the hold up for anders and jhellows then? (I'm not questioning on the offensive, just being really curious because I don't want to see myself in that same situation 6 months down the road.Just have to be prepared!)My only concern is that if these gentlemen have waited years for their amps? When will be my turn?

I do not have a problem with waiting.  I have been on telescope lists for up to eight years before receiving a scope, but funds were not requested until just before delivery.  I even understand deposits.  But I was told the balance here would be due just before delivery and when I tendered the balance it was with the understanding that delivery was a few weeks away.  That was November of 2009.  On March 31 of this year I received the following e-mail from Justin:

"I'm expecting the work I am having done on these to be done by Friday, and that will just leave the "final assembly" to do myself.  Likely I'm going to be spending a lot of time on that this weekend"

Now we hear on this thread that Justin will be working on making time in a few weeks!  Folks, the first weekend in April was over 5 weeks ago.  My problem is pretty obvious and has more to do with the quality of communications than with their volume.

I will leave it to those thinking about buying a BHSE whether you want to endure this.  I have been waiting for a bit and will wait a bit longer, because at this point I have a good bit invested in this.  Hopefully the product will prove it is worth the wait.  Who knows, maybe this product will cause me to come out of writing retirement and I will starting doing reviews again.

JHellow

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher 

It's simple, the design of the amp itself and more importantly the enclosure was not complete 2-1/2 years ago.  Justin is a fanatical perfectionist and simply unwilling to compromise.  As such the evolution of his designs are often slower than other manufacturers who are content with good enough.  All that aside these things definitely take time to both design and build, more time that most could possible understand if you've never done it before.  It's not simply a matter of tossing some parts in a box and flipping a switch. 

Whats this a older version?
 

Quote: 8/13/09 at 12:15am

Originally Posted by audiosceptic 

I received my Headamp BHSE yesterday via Fedex. Justin did an outstanding job packing the amp and it arrived in perfect condition. I unboxed the amp, put in the supplied newer Mullard EL34 tubes, hooked it up, turned it on and nothing. After checking everything I realized it takes around 45 seconds for it to completely turn on. Yes in my excitement I was that stupid.

I'm not good at describing what I hear but I can safely say this is the best headphone and amp combo I have ever heard. It's definitely better than any of my dynamic phones through my B-52. I may add more as I continue to listen but this amp is outstanding. My SR-007's have never sounded this good. I purchased a SRM1/Mk II amp recently to use while I waited for my BHSE and was disappointed with the way my SR-007's sounded through it. The BHSE really make the SR-007 sing. I've tried the HE 1.2B's through the BHSE but it really doesn't compare to the SR-007.

Justin did a wonderful job building this thing. It is incredibly solid feeling and heavy. It does run hot so I had to put it at the top of my rack to get it more air.

Here are terrible pictures.

The case looks the same,,,(Pic. from Headamp)


 

This is the older version:

http://www.headamp.com/electrostat_amps/kgbh/

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManBeard 

This is the older version:

 

http://www.headamp.com/electrostat_amps/kgbh/

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theatrerat4 

Awesome!

LOL.. your first post is a little short.  Welcome..