[Poimandres]

  Customer service is the cornerstone from which a company will build a relationship with it's customers.  From responding to a multitude of questions in a plethora of emails, most of the time within minutes of being sent, to going out of the way to make certain that the customer is ecstatic about their purchase.
 
  I have had the pleasure of dealing with a few companies that stand above their competition and the latest company is Portaphile.   Cesar Aguilera the owner of Portaphile will go the extra mile to solidify the relationship and ensure that the whole process is as silky smooth as his products.
 
 I recently purchased the Portaphile 627 from Cesar in which he installed a screw terminal for easier battery replacement for me at no additional cost.
 
 Today I received the 627 and so far I am completely impressed with the with what little time I have spent with it.
 
 The sound stage and sound quality if absolutely phenomenal, Average Joe is spot on here.   I thought the soundstage and detail retrieval of the TTVJ Glacier was something special and top notch but the 627 really blows me away.  Instruments sound the way that they should from strings to percussion, wind and brass everything sounds so natural.  The 627 is really something special.  I am looking forward to pairing it with my dacport lx which should arrive tomorrow.  
 
 Some of the shortcoming are the thud when you turn the 627 on and off.  It is more prominent than the other amps that I have used but is certainly not a deal breaker in any regard.  There is a slight hiss that gets louder as you turn up the volume as Joe had mentioned however it seems to disappear after a short period of time which made me think that it was coming from my iPhone 4S and not from the portaphile, so I unplugged my lod and...totally black no hiss whatsoever.
 
 The enclosure is certainly adequate however the build quality is nowhere near the Glacier and is reminiscient of the UHA-6S MKII.  Again not a deal breaker in anyway.  
 
 Lastly so far the 627 is not affected by rfi.  I had my iPhone 4S strapped to the top of it and unlike the Glacier there is no audible interference.
 
 More to come after I spend more time with the Portaphile.

 

[AnakChan]

I've heard this name come up from time to time but never really paid much attention to it until someone compared it against one of the amps I have in my possession and claimed it was "better", and that piqued my interest in this amp. I read the Portaphile 627 review thread and glad this one has come up too and hope to see more owners contribute their experiences of this amp here.
 
Subscribed.

 

[Poimandres]

It is a certainly an extraordinary amp and pairs excellently with the DACport LX.  I am sure other owners will chime in as well if they are ever able to put the 627 down.  On a side note I have decided to build my own mini to mini interconnect cable and have ordered the viablue t6s 1/8 plugs, 26 AWG 7N Pure UP-OCC Stranded Silver + 1% Gold Custom Wire (transparent black) and some Mundorf's supreme gold solder.  If everything goes to plan I should have two interconnects 6 inches long.

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks for creating the thread. I am in contact with Cesar for getting one, the only issue is that to get it in China, I might pay crazy customs...if it ever gets here. So I am still not sure what to do...I also wonder how it compares with the T1 so I might get both !
 
I have a question for you. Mike from Headphonia said the amp was as little bass light, even if the bass quality was very nice. That is really not what I want. What is your take ?
 

 

[DigitalFreak]

I heard the battery life on the 627 was only 4 hours. Can you confirm or deny this?

 

[Poimandres]

I certainly wouldn't say that it is bass light at all. The power and weight of the bass will remain true to the recording. The bass also has great definition and is very natural. The same came be said for the mids and the highs.

You certainly can't go wrong with the 627. If you pick one up I look forward to your impressions.

 

[Poimandres]

Most of the time so far I have been plugged into the wall using the 627 with the dacport lx playing flacs through foobar. I will try to test the capacity for you but I have read that it can get up to 5 hours or a little better depending on listening volume.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

I heard the battery life on the 627 was only 4 hours. Can you confirm or deny this?

 
So apparently a newer version of the 627 is being made with a heftier battery. The thing is that the news only came out early Jan and I'm reading people ordering now (end of Jan). I'm not certain if those people ordering are getting the 4 hr battery version or the new bigger battery version.

 

[ChrisSC]

Do you know if the newer version has any other changes besides battery life? I'm really interested in this amp, and will be watching this thread

 

[Poimandres]

The larger battery version isn't expected out until later on this year.  From what I know that will be the only change other than a larger size case.

 

[xnuthecaveman]

Having paired the Portaphile 627 with the DX100, it really improved the sound stage.  I want to attest that it's a pleasure dealing with Cesar. He's very responsive and open to suggestions
 
To extend the audio bliss, I have used an 10k-mAh external battery (5V and 2A out). Now I have a triple stack for portable rig, but I don't really mind it because I love how it sounds lol

 

[Poimandres]

Nice how long does the external battery last? Is that something that you talked to Cesar about?

 

[xnuthecaveman]

haven't tested the longevity of the external battery, quite busy lately but I will give it a shot this week end.
 
as for the external battery idea, Cesar gave me the idea of using external batteries - (5V center positive and at least 1000mA out) but he was not able to give an exact model/brand of batteries.
 
I selected the ankar because I tried to match the specification of the adapter and I looked something that I can use with the DX100 (great SQ but mediocre battery) too
 
I'll try to put numbers soon 

 

[Poimandres]

Thanks it is a great option to have however I am not sure if I would want to lug around a battery too. Where did you pick the battery up from?

 

[imackler]

Has anyone compared the portaphile with the AHA-120 or maybe the Neco Soundlab V3? (I know Average_Joe compared it to the V2 but not sure how much difference there was.) I had a AHA-120 for a short time and can't count how many times I've thought about how good it sounded with the HD650. But from reading Headfonia, the Portaphile seems to have that same kind of magic, too. I'd personally be ok w/ the 4 hour battery life if the price were lowered. I'd also be happy if the battery were user replaceable on the go. That would be cool, too. I wonder how hard it would be to have a detachable back and slide in battery.