[Astral Abyss]

Looking forward to this chat after placing an order with Justin for the Bigger Ben!

Already upgrading?

 

[Bhk1004]

Whoa. Justin = celebrity guest

 

[nwavesailor]

Already upgrading?

Yup!
I really like the Pendant and have bought WAY too many tubes for it, but want to see what a bigger iron and a KT-88 amp sound like. Good news is I already have some pretty good tubes lined up for it's arrival sometime in January.

 

[MRHiFiReviews]

Pumped to see you in the chat! A few short hours away!! See you soon if you can make it! 7pm PST

 

[MRHiFiReviews]

Pumped to see you in the chat! A few short hours away!! See you soon if you can make it! 7pm PST

Just a reminder the 10% off coupon from our live stream with Justin for all amps on his site https://www.ampsandsound.com ends tomorrow so make sure to get your orders in before then if you are going to pull the trigger!

 

[JChasL]

This will be a treat. Justin spent 2 hours on a Friday evening helping me decide which of his amps would be right for me. I chose the Mogwai SE, which he dropped off at Fedex 30 minutes after we hung up. I'd buy it again in a New York second! Justin clearly has a passion for his products and I'm looking forward to hearing him chat some more.

Similar experience a couple weeks ago. Ordered a Kenzie after an extended phone conversation with Justin. He happened to have one nearly ready to go, so I have been listening and loving it. It is a real pleasure to talk with Justin, and then to make a great choice of headphone amplifier as a result--although I doubt that there would be a poor choice among the Ampsandsound lineup. Generally his amps are built to order, but it usually takes only a few weeks. Well worth the wait.

 

[ScooterHD122]

A (brief) review of the Amps & Sound Kenzie Ovation:

I recently received the Kenzie Ovation headphone amp as well as pair of Verite Closed cans. I have only had the rig for a few days, but I thought I would post my thoughts and impressions. I am by no means a YouTube sommelier of audio gear, and so I will not go into an exposition of soundstage, frequency response etc. There are others who are better suited for that kind of thing. Instead, I will just say that this combination is freaking magical. I could use that very tired cliche about how I heard things in familiar songs that I never had before (although it's true), or the raw emotion it delivers (I damn near had chills). But I won't. Rather, if you believe being an audiophile is the pursuit of the joy of listening to music instead of the relentless analytical pursuit of the next decimal point, I encourage you to experience this combination. Be warned though; you may objectively forget your FOMO on the next best thing in audio gear, and just get chills.

Happy Holidays, and thanks so much to Justin and Zach!

Gear: A&S Kenzie Ovation (stock tubes), ZMF Verite Closed (leopardwood, stock cables, Auteur suede pads), Schiit Yggy (upgraded to unison USB and analog 2), Bluesound Node 2i via RCA SPDIF), and A&S XLR to RCA converter

Headphone Bibliography: Sennheiser HD800, Hifiman HE-500, HE-560, HE-1000 v1, Audeze LCD-2, LCD-X, and Focal Elear, Utopia

 

[branislav]

A (brief) review of the Amps & Sound Kenzie Ovation:

I recently received the Kenzie Ovation headphone amp as well as pair of Verite Closed cans. I have only had the rig for a few days, but I thought I would post my thoughts and impressions. I am by no means a YouTube sommelier of audio gear, and so I will not go into an exposition of soundstage, frequency response etc. There are others who are better suited for that kind of thing. Instead, I will just say that this combination is freaking magical. I could use that very tired cliche about how I heard things in familiar songs that I never had before (although it's true), or the raw emotion it delivers (I damn near had chills). But I won't. Rather, if you believe being an audiophile is the pursuit of the joy of listening to music instead of the relentless analytical pursuit of the next decimal point, I encourage you to experience this combination. Be warned though; you may objectively forget your FOMO on the next best thing in audio gear, and just get chills.

Happy Holidays, and thanks so much to Justin and Zach!

Gear: A&S Kenzie Ovation (stock tubes), ZMF Verite Closed (leopardwood, stock cables, Auteur suede pads), Schiit Yggy (upgraded to unison USB and analog 2), Bluesound Node 2i via RCA SPDIF), and A&S XLR to RCA converter

Headphone Bibliography: Sennheiser HD800, Hifiman HE-500, HE-560, HE-1000 v1, Audeze LCD-2, LCD-X, and Focal Elear, Utopia

Thank you for your impressions. Have you tried it with your other headphones, namely Elear and HD800's and if so, what do you think of the pairing?

 

[ScooterHD122]

Hello. I haven't tried it with the Elear yet, but the Utopia worked well. (The Utopia can be too resolving with some amps). I sold my HD800s years ago..

 

[nwavesailor]

Already upgrading?

I mentioned ordering a Bigger Ben to see how a more powerful tube amp paired with the VO and Empy. Now it gets a bit more interesting having added a Susvara hp a couple of days ago. It does sound really sweet with the Pendant but is WAY underpowered.

The BB should arrive later this week and should drive the susvara nicely!

 

[Astral Abyss]

I mentioned ordering a Bigger Ben to see how a more powerful tube amp paired with the VO and Empy. Now it gets a bit more interesting having added a Susvara hp a couple of days ago. It does sound really sweet with the Pendant but is WAY underpowered.

The BB should arrive later this week and should drive the susvara nicely!

What's the output difference between the two?

 

[nwavesailor]

Pendant:



Bigger Ben

 

[pkcpga]

Looking for some advice. Looking to get into tube amps, I have a great solid state but like to get a nice starter tube amp. I own the ZMF Verite Closed along with a bunch of headphones so I was thinking of getting the Pendant or Kenzie or going cheaper with the Tuba or WooAudio WA2? Since I have a Chord Dave for my solid state if I want over the top detail, I’d like the tube amp to bring the traditional tube warmth and maybe some low end slam instead of everything being so precise and fast. Was set on the Pendant but everyone seems to think it sounds similar to solid state over the warm typical tube sound. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[JChasL]

Given the rest of your gear, I doubt that you would be happy long term with anything less than a Kenzie or Pendant, and I'll bet you would be very pleased with either. That said it sounds as if the Kenzie is closer to what you are after and would likely be superb with Verite Closed. I also considered both of those amps and chose the Kenzie--very happy with the choice so far using HD 6xx and AKG K701--while waiting, waiting, and waiting (patiently) for ZMF Atticus Marblewood. I imagine that you already know that the Kenzie is a gorgeous little amp with a beautifully sweet and musical presentation, though not lacking in authority to my ears. The Pendant should be punchier and offers more options for modification of the sound via tube selection, which you would probably enjoy down the road. Hopefully a Pendant owner can comment and add to this. You could also talk with Justin at Ampsandsound by phone (very helpful in my selection as I noted in an earlier comment), and possibly Email Zach at ZMF as well.

 

[steve468]

Pendant owner checking in! Although I haven't heard any other ampsandsound amps to compare, to me the Pendant is more like halfway between typical tube and solid state sounds. It brings a lot of the best qualities of both techs, marrying a meaty midrange, expansive soundstage and lovely sweet treble (tubes) with speed, slam and details (solid state). Is it the best at any one of those things? Probably not, but it's the combination of everything that makes it a good match with VC. Though, even with the most tubey tubes (i.e. bassier, smoother), it still will be overall more neutral than otherwise. It's a sound I think synergizes well with VC, which is so nicely balanced as it is.

I'd love to hear a Kenzie someday though. Is it weird that attracts me more than the more expensive ampsandsound stuff?