No worries, James...
Here's my early portable review:
Bottom line:
I spent quite a number of hours with this little wonder last night and today, and I'll sum up my experience by saying that this is easily the most pleasurable and listen-able portable amp I have ever come across. Granted, it's also the most pricey by a decent margin, and as such, I'm a bit pressed to come up with a "worth it" value assessment, but from an absolute sound standpoint, I love this amp.
Methodology:
I've since sold off all of the portable amps I listed above save the Corda Move and A/B'd these two quite extensively. From a power / punch standpoint, the Move easily keeps up with the TTVJ Millet, but that's where things end. While the Move does offer great, quality, strong, forward sound (quite similar to the Hornet M if I recall) the Millet takes "listen-ability" to the next level.
I fully agree with previous posters about the "lushness" that this amp puts forth. The sound of the Millet made the Move sound overly surgical and too precise. That's not to say that the Millet sounded flabby or loose, very much the opposite. I found snare drum attacks to hit hard and deep, but it's really in vocals where the Millet shines.
The best thing I can say about the Millet's sound is that after a little bit, I stopped thinking about the sound, stopped thinking about the review and the comparison with the Move, and just… started listening.
I thought of this comparison today:
You know when you graduated away from that junky bed mattress you got after college? You actually spent what seemed like a ton of money in that $500 or so for a "good" mattress. It was firm, yet soft, not bouncy, and suited your needs just fine. Quite well, even.
And then, years down the road, you finally ponied up for "the bed" that $1000+ pillow top, single coil, blah blah blah boxspring mattress set, and realized… "whoa. There is more to it."
That's it right there, just that incremental, yet very tangible increase in comfort that's TOTALLY WORTH IT.
That's the Millet. I can listen to the Move just fine, and can appreciate the power, the sonics, the highs, etc. But when I move over to the Millet, I stay longer, and just relax in how the sound sounds real-er. Not necessarily "live" like a concert, but just more real in how you think a female voice or a snare drum or a piano plink sounds like.
Check out "Lesson Learned" on Alicia Keys' new CD. She sings a gorgeous, soulful tune in front of hard hitting, and very very tight bass and snare drums.
So, that's that on an absolute level for me.
Now is it "worth it"? Hm, don't know. At $500, it's definitely up there. And the "bell ringing" microphonics are very much an issue, given that it's a portable – but if you just "set it and forget it" it's not a problem. I'd like the volume knob to have a tad bit more resistance, but compared to the "need elf fingers to manipulate the Move" volume pot, the Millet is light years better.
For yuks, I'm going to compare the Millet sound to my Headroom Balanced Desktop with Home Module, running off of a CI Audio VDA2 running in balanced mode.
Ah, one last thing – headphones.
This amp exhibits super synergy with my Beyer 990. The Beyer's naturally bright, but the Millet tames it just enough to retain the Beyer's punch, spaciousness, imaging, and very nice vocals.
The Senn600 is certainly different in that the vocals are so much more emphasized, and quite a bit more forward compared to the slightly distant Beyer.
BUT, that's not to say that I preferred the Senn to the Beyer – I fully assumed going in that I'd prefer the Senn, given that it's my reference can. The Beyer's slightly distant vocals were still quite nice, and while different, I couldn't say it was better or worse than the Senn.
Drum punch between them both was pretty similar, interestingly.
Then I went to my Grado 325i. Ugh. Man, flabby, lousy, too in your face sound. I'm not sure if it's the lack of synergy, or if I'm just moving away from the Grado house sound. I remember loving my 80's when I first started out, then over the years, as I upgraded my equipment, I figured I might as well get some good Grados. I don't even really like the 325i in my balanced system either, so… guess that's that.
More to come after the balanced comparo…
Here's my early portable review:
Bottom line:
I spent quite a number of hours with this little wonder last night and today, and I'll sum up my experience by saying that this is easily the most pleasurable and listen-able portable amp I have ever come across. Granted, it's also the most pricey by a decent margin, and as such, I'm a bit pressed to come up with a "worth it" value assessment, but from an absolute sound standpoint, I love this amp.
Methodology:
I've since sold off all of the portable amps I listed above save the Corda Move and A/B'd these two quite extensively. From a power / punch standpoint, the Move easily keeps up with the TTVJ Millet, but that's where things end. While the Move does offer great, quality, strong, forward sound (quite similar to the Hornet M if I recall) the Millet takes "listen-ability" to the next level.
I fully agree with previous posters about the "lushness" that this amp puts forth. The sound of the Millet made the Move sound overly surgical and too precise. That's not to say that the Millet sounded flabby or loose, very much the opposite. I found snare drum attacks to hit hard and deep, but it's really in vocals where the Millet shines.
The best thing I can say about the Millet's sound is that after a little bit, I stopped thinking about the sound, stopped thinking about the review and the comparison with the Move, and just… started listening.
I thought of this comparison today:
You know when you graduated away from that junky bed mattress you got after college? You actually spent what seemed like a ton of money in that $500 or so for a "good" mattress. It was firm, yet soft, not bouncy, and suited your needs just fine. Quite well, even.
And then, years down the road, you finally ponied up for "the bed" that $1000+ pillow top, single coil, blah blah blah boxspring mattress set, and realized… "whoa. There is more to it."
That's it right there, just that incremental, yet very tangible increase in comfort that's TOTALLY WORTH IT.
That's the Millet. I can listen to the Move just fine, and can appreciate the power, the sonics, the highs, etc. But when I move over to the Millet, I stay longer, and just relax in how the sound sounds real-er. Not necessarily "live" like a concert, but just more real in how you think a female voice or a snare drum or a piano plink sounds like.
Check out "Lesson Learned" on Alicia Keys' new CD. She sings a gorgeous, soulful tune in front of hard hitting, and very very tight bass and snare drums.
So, that's that on an absolute level for me.
Now is it "worth it"? Hm, don't know. At $500, it's definitely up there. And the "bell ringing" microphonics are very much an issue, given that it's a portable – but if you just "set it and forget it" it's not a problem. I'd like the volume knob to have a tad bit more resistance, but compared to the "need elf fingers to manipulate the Move" volume pot, the Millet is light years better.
For yuks, I'm going to compare the Millet sound to my Headroom Balanced Desktop with Home Module, running off of a CI Audio VDA2 running in balanced mode.
Ah, one last thing – headphones.
This amp exhibits super synergy with my Beyer 990. The Beyer's naturally bright, but the Millet tames it just enough to retain the Beyer's punch, spaciousness, imaging, and very nice vocals.
The Senn600 is certainly different in that the vocals are so much more emphasized, and quite a bit more forward compared to the slightly distant Beyer.
BUT, that's not to say that I preferred the Senn to the Beyer – I fully assumed going in that I'd prefer the Senn, given that it's my reference can. The Beyer's slightly distant vocals were still quite nice, and while different, I couldn't say it was better or worse than the Senn.
Drum punch between them both was pretty similar, interestingly.
Then I went to my Grado 325i. Ugh. Man, flabby, lousy, too in your face sound. I'm not sure if it's the lack of synergy, or if I'm just moving away from the Grado house sound. I remember loving my 80's when I first started out, then over the years, as I upgraded my equipment, I figured I might as well get some good Grados. I don't even really like the 325i in my balanced system either, so… guess that's that.
More to come after the balanced comparo…
), I thought I would get some pics up for everybody. Apologies for the cheap cam I have 
