Apos x Community Gremlin Tube Amp - Pre-order Now on Apos

[Plougski74]

Nitsch Magni Piety

Hi
I see you have the Nitsch Magni Piety...I´ve got the Pietus Maximus and I wonder how the Gremlin stacks up / differs from those Pietys in your opinion?
Cheers

 

[AstronomerXI]

Hi
I see you have the Nitsch Magni Piety...I´ve got the Pietus Maximus and I wonder how the Gremlin stacks up / differs from those Pietys in your opinion?
Cheers

Good question. I haven't listened to the Piety in a while. I got the Gremlin and the Midgard around the same time ~2 months ago. Give me a day or two and I'll listen to some of my reference tracks in a couple of genres in each with the same headphones and compare.

 

[ng5921]

Looking forward to your impressions!

 

[AstronomerXI]

These are initial impressions listening to some guitar-bass-drums rock from Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and some jazz from Chris Creek (featuring Bill Frisell, Tony Scherr, & Randy Royston). I'll be doing more close listening over the next few days. Some things to note: I used Hifiman Sundara as the headphones for this evening's listening. I'll continue listening with them and comparing amps for the rest of the evening. I used a Galaxy Audio Check Mate CM-140 SPL meter held between the ear-cups to volume match the amps. The tubes in the Gremlin are a pair of early ‘60’s Amperex (Holland) ECC88's labelled “Rogers” that I picked up last Summer in a batch of a dozen Amperex tubes from a repair shop that was closing due to the owner’s retirement. I used a Schiit Lokius tone control and kept the settings the same between the amps, with the sub bass and bass elevated ~5db and the treble and highs elevated 1db or so. All other settings were in the neutral position. the DAC was the FiiO K11 R2R (my other main DAC is the OG Schiit Gungnir Multibit, currenly at Schiit for an upgrade).

These are my impressions of the tube from a post that I made in another forum on Head-Fi: "WOW! These ECC88’s are something special. Seriously special. Wide soundstage, clear instrument separation, warm but clear bass, nice forward mids, highs have no harshness at all, and some cool euphonic/3D effects. I just listened to a song where the drums and occasional other instruments sounded like they were well behind me!"

OK, that out of the way - again these are initial impressions - I first listened to NY and Crazy Horse's "Ramada Inn", a 16-minute recorded-live-off-the-floor jam from 2012. Frank Sampedro's rhythm guitar in my left ear floated slightly in the backgound while Neil's lead guitar soared in 3D space in my centre-right to right, like he was playing in a big room that echoed, but it was nicely controlled. The bass was clear, or as clear as Billy Talbot's bass gets. The drums were slightly forward. Neil's voice was forward in the mix. Everything had a great "tubey" sound, equally tubey and distinct from my beloved NOS Telefunkens and NOS Tung Sols that I've rolled in so far. Each brand brings something different to the sound. All 3 have been my favourites in my Schiit Freya N and they did not disappoint in the Gremlin. These Amperex/Rogers tubes bring a clarity and warmth and wider soundstage. These were made for grungy guitars and are a great match for the Gremlin.

The Piety sounds like a warm tube amp and with the Sundara it's dialed up to 11. With the Sundaras it's almost too much of a good thing. The soundstage is close to the Gremlin+ Ameperex/Rogers tubes, maybe a touch narrower. But. The grunginess with the Sundaras is sonicly almost overwhelming. I had that impression when I first got the Piety when it was released, and I found that the Sennheiser HD650's were a better match with this amp for my ears. The sound is pleasing in the Sundaras, don't get me wrong, and there is clarity in the instrument reproduction, but the Piety/Sundaras amplifies the tubiness to a near ungodly level. even though the SPL meter says the amps were volume matched, the Piety sounded louder, fatter, and less nuanced. I need to be in the mood for this combo and when I am, it's fantastic and near exhausting. Listen to some live Gov't Mule with this pairing and you'll understand what I mean. The Gremlin on the other hand is more controlled and deft in how it handled the various instruments and their placement in space.

With Chris Creek, my initial impressions above were from the piece "Kino's Canoe" and my listening with the Gremlin tonight with that piece agreed with my initial impressions. The Gremlin and tubes really complimented the music. The bass was tight and the instruments were well-separated, the drums' reproduction was like you were in the room with the drums close to the right with the other players well-defined in their space with the mids reproduced in a very pleasing manner. There was no digital shimmer in the highs at all and the cymbals sounded natural and the drums had a pleasing "thwack!" and roll-off.

The Piety was much the same as above with NY & CH. There was a thick warmth to the music - not that it was muddy, but there was just more of it and while clear, it was unsubtle in its tube-adjacent reproduction. I'm not describing it very well here, but this is the best that I can do. Again, I've preferred the HD650's with this amp when it was in my office system and I'll be comparing the two amps with them in coming days. While the Sundaras are a fun headphone with the Piety, the Sennheisers have better synergy and subtlety in much the same way that I prefer the Sundaras' synergy with my Schiit Asgard 3 over the Sennheisers. The best way to compare the amps is that in the Gremlin, the choice of tubes impacts lows, mids, highs, soundstage, etc. Different tubes can push things back or forward in the mix, or narrow or widen the soundstage. The Piety reproduces the mix as recorded, and adds harmonics that sounds like a grungy (in a good way) tube, and it somehow sounds like there's more of the music in an unsubtle and not displeasing way, depending on mood.

I guarantee that the Sennheisers will provide a different impression. I'll try the HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite cans sometime as well and compare them with both, but I expect them to be similar to the Sundara, with the Sundara having planar magnetic drivers, and the Elites dynamic drivers. I've found them to be similar in general tone but each has their own thing going on.

That's my long-winded initial comparison using one headphone and a pair of songs in different genres.

 

[s2kphile]

Now people will have a companion DAC from one of the best in the business, Geshelli Labs.

https://apos.audio/products/apos-x-...d=120213856388110522&ad_id=120213856653560522

 

[Bauhaus]

Now people will have a companion DAC from one of the best in the business, Geshelli Labs.

https://apos.audio/products/apos-x-...d=120213856388110522&ad_id=120213856653560522

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y...ZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/u6EiPNT9dLDrU7ZQuF/giphy.gif

 

[Plougski74]

These are initial impressions listening to some guitar-bass-drums rock from Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and some jazz from Chris Creek (featuring Bill Frisell, Tony Scherr, & Randy Royston). I'll be doing more close listening over the next few days. Some things to note: I used Hifiman Sundara as the headphones for this evening's listening. I'll continue listening with them and comparing amps for the rest of the evening. I used a Check Mate CM-140 SPL meter held between the ear-cups to volume match the amps. The tubes in the Gremlin are a pair of early ‘60’s Amperex (Holland) ECC88's labelled “Rogers” that I picked up last Summer in a batch of a dozen Amperex tubes from a repair shop that was closing due to the owner’s retirement. I used a Schiit Lokius tone control and kept the settings the same between the amps, with the sub bass and bass elevated ~5db and the treble and highs elevated 1db or so. All other setting s were in the neutral position. the DAC was the Giio K11 R2R (my other main DAC is the OG Schiit Gungnir Multibit, currenly at Schiit for an upgrade).

These are my impressions of the tube from a post that I made in another forum on Head-Fi: "WOW! These ECC88’s are something special. Seriously special. Wide soundstage, clear instrument separation, warm but clear bass, nice forward mids, highs have no harshness at all, and some cool euphonic/3D effects. I just listened to a song where the drums and occasional other instruments sounded like they were well behind me!"

OK, that out of the way - again these are initial impressions - I first listened to NY and Crazy Horse's "Ramada Inn", a 16-minute recorded-live-off-the-floor jam from 2012. Frank Sampedro's rhythm guitar in my left ear floated slightly in the backgound while Neil's lead guitar soared in 3D space in my centre-right to right, like he was playing in a big room that echoed, but it was nicely controlled. The bass was clear, or as clear as Billy Talbot's bass gets. The drums were slightly forward. Neil's voice was forward in the mix. Everything had a great "tubey" sound, equally tubey and distinct from my beloved NOS Telefunkens and NOS Tung Sols that I've rolled in so far. Each brand brings something different to the sound. All 3 have been my favourites in my Schiit Freya N and they did not disappoint in the Gremlin. These Amperex/Rogers tubes bring a clarity and warmth and wider soundstage. These were made for grungy guitars and are a great match for the Gremlin.

The Piety sounds like a warm tube amp and with the Sundara it's dialed up to 11. With the Sundaras it's almost too much of a good thing. The soundstage is close to the Gremlin+ Ameperex/Rogers tubes, maybe a touch narrower. But. The grunginess with the Sundaras is sonicly almost overwhelming. I had that impression when I first got the Piety when it was released, and I found that the Sennheiser HD650's were a better match with this amp for my ears. The sound is pleasing in the Sundaras, don't get me wrong, and there is clarity in the instrument reproduction, but the Piety/Sundaras amplifes the tubiness to a near ungodly level. even though the SPL meter says the amps were volume matched, the Piety sounded louder, fatter, and less nuanced. I need to be in the mood for this combo and when I am, it's fantastic and near exhausting. Listen to some live Gov't Mule with this pairing and you'll understand what I mean. The Gremlin on the other hnd is more controlled and deft in how it handled the various instruments and their placement in space.

With Chris Creek, my initial impressions above were from the piece "Kino's Canoe" and my listening with the Grmlin tonight with that piece agreed with my initial impressions. The Gremlin and tubes really complimented the music. The bass was tight and the intsruments were well-separated, the drums' reproduction was like you were in the room with the drums close to the right with the other players well-defined in their space with the mids reporduced in a very pleasing manner. There was no digital shimmer in the highs at all and the cymbals sounded natural and the drums had a pleasing "thwack!" and roll-off.

The Piety was much the same as above with NY & CH. There was a thick warmth to the music - not that it was muddy, but there was just more of it and while clear, it was unsubtle in its tube-adjacent reproduction. I'm not describing it very well here, but this is the best that I can do. Again, I've preferred the HD650's with this amp when it was in my office system and I'll be comparing the two amps with them in coming days. While the Sundaras are a fun headphone with the Piety, the Sennheisers have better synergy and subtlety in much the same way that I prefer the Sundaras' synergy with my Schiit Asgard 3 over the Sennheisers. The best way to compare the amps is that in the Gremlin, the choice of tubes impacts lows, mids, highs, soundstage, etc. Different tubes can push things back or forward in the mix, or narrow or widen the soundstage. The Piety reproduces the mix as recorded, and adds harmonics that sounds like a grungy (in a good way) tube, and it somehow sounds like there's more of the music in an unsubtle not not displeasing way, depending on mood.

I guarantee that the Sennheisers will provide a different impression. I'll try the HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite cans sometime as well and compre them woith both, but I expect them to be similar to the Sundara, with the Sundara having planar magetic drivers,and the Elites dynamic drivers. I've found them to be similar in general tone but esch has their own thing going on.

That's my long-winded initial comparison using one headphone and a pair of songs in different genres.

Thank you so very much for your detailed impressions , that was very useful and kind of you.

 

[vandung2510]

Hello everyone. I'm someone who's currently interesting in buying the Gremlin. Although i've been in the audio game for a while, this will be my 1st ever tube amp so i have some questions -mostly related to the tube subject- and i hope you guys can help me with them.
1/How important is it to have a "matched pair" of tubes for the Gremlin? What would happen if you DONT have a matched pair of tubes?
2/ What parameters would you use to check, to see if the pair of tubes are matching or not?
3/ I'm currently reading the reviews and impressions of many others regarding the Gremlin and the Mullard 12AU7 tubes comes up a few times. How do i know if the mullard tube i'm going to buy is the old stock or new stock?
I'll probably have a few more questions in continuation to these, but i hope you guys can help me with the 1st few questions first. Thank you in advance.

 

[ttys0]

Hello everyone. I'm someone who's currently interesting in buying the Gremlin. Although i've been in the audio game for a while, this will be my 1st ever tube amp so i have some questions -mostly related to the tube subject- and i hope you guys can help me with them.
1/How important is it to have a "matched pair" of tubes for the Gremlin? What would happen if you DONT have a matched pair of tubes?
2/ What parameters would you use to check, to see if the pair of tubes are matching or not?
3/ I'm currently reading the reviews and impressions of many others regarding the Gremlin and the Mullard 12AU7 tubes comes up a few times. How do i know if the mullard tube i'm going to buy is the old stock or new stock?
I'll probably have a few more questions in continuation to these, but i hope you guys can help me with the 1st few questions first. Thank you in advance.

1. It's important. If tubes aren't matched then there may be different volumes in the headphone cups, among other imbalances. The default Ray Core tubes that come with the Gremlin are matched, however, so there's not any need to worry about the stock tubes.

2. That's a whole topic unto itself. There are tube checking kits that test voltages and whatnot, but the vast majority of audio tube users don't mess with that. Short of buying/building a tester of your own, you're stuck relying on seller claims, which is why buying from reputable sources becomes important.

3. The Mullard tubes are quite nice. NOS (New Old Stock) tubes are usually able to be validated by external markings/labels. However, this too ends up being much like (2), where most of the time you're relying upon the integrity of the seller. Paired NOS tubes can be more expensive as that supply is forever shrinking.

Before jumping into tube rolling, you might want to first get settled in with the stock tubes. Rolling tubes can become a deep expensive rabbit hole. So it fits perfectly well into this hobby which can seem like a literal minefield of expensive rabbit holes.

Another good option in this case are the Ray Select tubes, which IMO are as good as the Mullards. You might be able to find the Mullards for cheaper, but getting the Ray Select as an add-on to the Gremlin is a pretty good deal, especially since there's a small bundle discount. In that case you actually get two sets of tubes, the Core & the Select.

 

[vandung2510]

1. It's important. If tubes aren't matched then there may be different volumes in the headphone cups, among other imbalances. The default Ray Core tubes that come with the Gremlin are matched, however, so there's not any need to worry about the stock tubes.

2. That's a whole topic unto itself. There are tube checking kits that test voltages and whatnot, but the vast majority of audio tube users don't mess with that. Short of buying/building a tester of your own, you're stuck relying on seller claims, which is why buying from reputable sources becomes important.

3. The Mullard tubes are quite nice. NOS (New Old Stock) tubes are usually able to be validated by external markings/labels. However, this too ends up being much like (2), where most of the time you're relying upon the integrity of the seller. Paired NOS tubes can be more expensive as that supply is forever shrinking.

Before jumping into tube rolling, you might want to first get settled in with the stock tubes. Rolling tubes can become a deep expensive rabbit hole. So it fits perfectly well into this hobby which can seem like a literal minefield of expensive rabbit holes.

Another good option in this case are the Ray Select tubes, which IMO are as good as the Mullards. You might be able to find the Mullards for cheaper, but getting the Ray Select as an add-on to the Gremlin is a pretty good deal, especially since there's a small bundle discount. In that case you actually get two sets of tubes, the Core & the Select.

Thank you for your detail reply man. I appreciate it

 

[paulwasabii]

Hello everyone. I'm someone who's currently interesting in buying the Gremlin. Although i've been in the audio game for a while, this will be my 1st ever tube amp so i have some questions -mostly related to the tube subject- and i hope you guys can help me with them.
1/How important is it to have a "matched pair" of tubes for the Gremlin? What would happen if you DONT have a matched pair of tubes?
2/ What parameters would you use to check, to see if the pair of tubes are matching or not?
3/ I'm currently reading the reviews and impressions of many others regarding the Gremlin and the Mullard 12AU7 tubes comes up a few times. How do i know if the mullard tube i'm going to buy is the old stock or new stock?
I'll probably have a few more questions in continuation to these, but i hope you guys can help me with the 1st few questions first. Thank you in advance.

Mullards from vivatubes come hand marked on the box but don't think you can test on your own. I only looked at matched pairs but thought the price difference wasn't that significant.
https://www.vivatubes.com/testing-matching/

In the listing there is a production era, new or current vs vintage/old stock

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,
would have preferred to call the new Dac Gizmo, which would have been a great fit for the Gremlins film of that time, if some of you can remember it.
Gizmo was the good and sweet little boy who ate after midnight and evil gremlins hatched as a result.
That would have been a great fit for the Gremlins amp, and Gizmo for the sweet little lovely gentle Dac.
The film is from the end of the 80s if anyone wants to take a look, it was a funny and heartfelt film with 2 parts I think.

 

[ch1525i]

Hello,
would have preferred to call the new Dac Gizmo, which would have been a great fit for the Gremlins film of that time, if some of you can remember it.
Gizmo was the good and sweet little boy who ate after midnight and evil gremlins hatched as a result.
That would have been a great fit for the Gremlins amp, and Gizmo for the sweet little lovely gentle Dac.
The film is from the end of the 80s if anyone wants to take a look, it was a funny and heartfelt film with 2 parts I think.

That would have been a good name. That's exactly what I thought of when the Gremlin came out

 

[ttys0]

Hello,
would have preferred to call the new Dac Gizmo, which would have been a great fit for the Gremlins film of that time, if some of you can remember it.
Gizmo was the good and sweet little boy who ate after midnight and evil gremlins hatched as a result.
That would have been a great fit for the Gremlins amp, and Gizmo for the sweet little lovely gentle Dac.
The film is from the end of the 80s if anyone wants to take a look, it was a funny and heartfelt film with 2 parts I think.

And always remember to never feed your tubes after midnight!

 

[Apos Audio]

Hello,
would have preferred to call the new Dac Gizmo, which would have been a great fit for the Gremlins film of that time, if some of you can remember it.
Gizmo was the good and sweet little boy who ate after midnight and evil gremlins hatched as a result.
That would have been a great fit for the Gremlins amp, and Gizmo for the sweet little lovely gentle Dac.
The film is from the end of the 80s if anyone wants to take a look, it was a funny and heartfelt film with 2 parts I think.

Gizmo was definitely one of our top choices as well. We also considered naming it the Rialto in honor of Rockn Rick Rialto. Okay, when I say "we", I definitely mean "me" since I loved Gremlins so shout out to the other old farts here. However, I think it was wisely(sadly) decided that we'd probably eventually run out of Gremlins specific names for other future devices and opted for a more open naming scheme that won't find us digging into the secondary gremlins from the sequel like "Spider Gremlin".

-Alex