REVIEW : Jaben's GoVibe Porta Tube Amp - Review Thread (ex demo) - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by severim 

I was in Jaben today, and another gentleman was trying out the Portatube while I was comparing the Rx Mk2 to my E11. We got to talking after I heard him mention the Continental - one of which I have arriving from ALO in the next few days. After he finished his testing, he passed it over. I listened for a few moments to the intro of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" and the difference between the Mk2 and the Portatube was night and day. More ... "raw" is the only way I can describe it. It was one of those moments where you push something away that's too expensive lest you become addicted. A great portable amp... Hope someone more knowledgeable reviews it against the Continental.

Uncle Eric's comments may be informative regarding your Conti.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/563201/alo-the-continental/

Nice reviews so far, I may have to drop by Jaben soon and test this out.

Hi Everyone, Here is my review of the Go-Vibe Porta Tube.

This is my first time writing a "review" of an equipment. I hope you guys can find it helpful in your future gear purchases. This review was done with my Cowon J3, Audio Technica ATH-M50, and the amplifier. All of the tracks were in FLAC format. Before I start though I'd like to mention that because I only have the M50 that is already quite well driven with the J3, the amp was reviewed almost only as a tube buffer instead of an amplifer. 

I will review by comparing how each track sounded different with and without the amp. 

"The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson.

Going from without the amp to with the amp, first thing that's noticeable is the guitar string. If any of you guys play the guitar, I'm sure you are familiar with the sound when the string isn't fully pressed down to the fingerboard and the string vibrates on the frets. With the amp, this sound was less visible. Throughout the song, I felt the textures of the strummed guitar strings were more visible without the amp. 

"What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

Again when I went from without to with the amp, I could hear the treble details being covered up. What's unique to this song, is that you can hear Israel's heavy breathing when he starts out playing the ukulele. I would agree that M50's treble is a little emphasized, but with the amp, it was too quiet. When looking at it in terms of faithful reproduction of music, and it wasn't quite the case. However, there was an aspect that I thought helped cover up M50's weakness, the upper mids (or very lower end of treble region.) The small amount of added upper mids made the ukulele sound reproduced more like it should have been when listened to M50 without the amp.

"The Elgar Concerto" by Jacqueline Du Pre.

In this track, I felt that everything just came together with the amp. The amp tuned down the white noise apparent in many old classical recordings (The texture details I talked about in the above two tracks was largely unaffected, since the white noise ate up most of the details without the amp anyway,) while the small bump in upper mids (I would describe it as the notes on the D string of the cello mostly) helped convey Du Pre's emotional play better. Going back to it without the amp, I felt the track didn't get me to that emotional state as it did.

Inception OST "Time"

The amp made the low bass on this track more bloated, making other instruments more difficult to hear.

Overall, the general characteristic of the amp was that while it cut away at the treble details, it's added upper mid bump made guitars and cellos sound more "musical." The bass sometimes was too bloated, making other part of the music difficult to hear.

This experience was a precious one. First, it helped me quench my curiosity on how a high-end, well designed gear sounded like as well as how much or little difference I should expect when purchasing a new gear. While the difference in sound with and without the amp was not as drastic as I thought it would be from reading the reviews, that didn't mean I didn't appreciate the changes. Afterall, I did have my revelatory experience with the Elgar Concerto. Moreover, this loaner program allowed me to get an idea of what audiophilia meant, the beauty of taking the effort and resources to get that small improvement that DID make a difference and brought you one step closer to heaven. I hope a day comes when money is no object to my enjoying music. Lastly, the program gave me the comfort of knowing that I didn't have to have expensive gears to enjoy music in a satisfactory level, which I guess is enough for a budget-bound college student like me. 

Thank you so much to Josh and Jaben for the loaner program!

The amp does not really need any warm up. I turn it on and cannot notice and difference in SQ, even after listening to it for more than 2 hours.

I was not part of the loaner program but thought I would post a link to the other thread with my impressions. I am enjoying the portability and sound of this amp very much ..dB

Anyone had a chance to test a unit with the dac as well?  Is there a thread somewhere about that?

Brooko. Great review.Great equipment esp.the Beodynamic headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fejnomit 

Anyone had a chance to test a unit with the dac as well?  Is there a thread somewhere about that?

I linked to the dac version above - perhaps not as obvious so here is the other thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/562045/govibe-porta-tube ..dB

anyone had experience pairing this amp with DT800/600? currently using this setup.. still feel that there is something lacking.. which i can't seem to point out where exactly it is..

Hey Sorry to resurrect a semi-necro, but does anyone know about the 6,3mm and the 3,5mm outputs? Are they the same? Say, does the same current flow through the 3,5 so that DT880 600Ω don't have to step up to 6,3mm phono jack? Conversely, what happens when 3,5mm phones are plugged into the 6,3mm with a step up jack?

These plugs are in parallel - ie same thing on both, no real value in using an adapter. It is convenient having both available..dB

Thank you for that. I wish Jaben would release this information publicly. It's difficult to always sort out later.

Come on down and listen one now! My office is open always. Im charging three and two more for later. These are favorite amps among Japanese audiophiles so come one and listen. I can agree to disagree little the original the person who posted. High is not rolled off, but may be its more closer in high ranges that make it sounds darker. But I dont know about that. This amp is the target. 

Haha, you are forgetful; I already heard it. Amazing sounding amp. Not so sure about it as a thought-out package though. If sound only was worth the price, then yes. I'll hear it again as I love it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DimitriTrush 

Come on down and listen one now! My office is open always. Im charging three and two more for later. These are favorite amps among Japanese audiophiles so come one and listen. I can agree to disagree little the original the person who posted. High is not rolled off, but may be its more closer in high ranges that make it sounds darker. But I dont know about that. This amp is the target.