Is the Cmoy amp any good?

To my ears, the Cmoy amp is an incredible sounding amp. Although I cannot compare it to the TA (I have never heard one) I have built a number of Cmoys (over 10), along with a higher number of Cmoys with Apheared's mod (over 20). They both sound fantastic. It depends on what you are going to use with them. I prefer Apheared's mod because I generally do not care for crossfeed.

Have fun!

Also, you might get more responses with this in the DIY forum as most people's experience with Cmoy's amp are those who built it themselves. Let me know if you want to move the thread.

It's well worth it to build one. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I just finished my first cmoy last weekend. It is the stock cmoy paired with Jan Meier's Natural Crossfeed and an output buffer stage. Sounds great to me. I did listen to just the stock cmoy when I had it on a breadboard and that sounded great also.

I can't compare it to the TA either, sorry. The highs are not rolled off as far as I can tell, so if that is what you are wanting (to tame the brightness) then maybe some of the experts in the DIY forum could explain some mods to the stock design that would do such a thing.

I have three cmoy amps built for me by JMT......these all have the mods (Apheared), and all of them sound better to my ears than the TA, which sounds a bit muffled and constricted in comparison. The TA is an excellent little amp and does have the crossfeed (which I don't like), but, for Grados at least, it doesn't sound as dynamic to me as the DIY amps. Of course, this is all just my opinion......please don't take it as fact.

I just received one of JMT's "Penguin case" CMoy/Apheared47 amps, and its one heck of little powerhouse. Runs my Grados, Senns and even my demanding AKG's without breaking out a sweat.

Go for it Goober, it has to be one of the best, most satisfying and most economical ways to do your phones justice. You should be really pleased with the results.

i've built a number of cmoy amps with and without mods. i've built a number of barebone ones without on-off swtiches or an LED too. they sound great, and the barebone ones are super small. (with a battery they're the size of the boostaroo, but sound a hell of a lot better!).

mbriant wrote:
Aah.........verification of what I've been saying all along. This little Penguin is one helluva'n amp! But the Altoid one he built for me is even better......no caffeine!
Thanks again, JMT!

 

The Cmoy must be good since it creates happy customers with a minimum number or parts. But "good" is subjective. Build one, buy a professional model, compare the two with concert hall or Chesky format.  Think about your headphones.  A low impedance one might degrade the slew rate of the headphone amp, which is usually unbuffered.