Nightfall
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2002
- Posts
- 1,937
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- 11
As you might have already read in the Detroit Meet followup thread in the Member's Lounge, I thought that the Twinhead MkII that Jude so kindly allowed us to audition at that gathering was simply spectacular.
my previous comments:
"For me, the clear champion of the amps there was the simply superb ASL Twinhead MkII, or as Fred calls it, "the CES Twinhead MarkII ringer" (more about that later). The amp simply blew me away, and was far and away the best headphone amp I have ever heard. I regretted that it was the first amp that I seriously auditioned at the meet, as nothing else could truly compare. The soundstage was huge.........the sound so liquid, and velvetlike and rich that it provided the most amazing headphone experience I have ever had. I listened to it for extended periods with the Beyer DT 880's, the Sony CD-3000's, and Tuberoller's Equinoxed Sennheiser 600's. After hearing that amp, I dont know that I can live without one."
Even going in, and expecting a lot, the Twinhead just completely astounded me with its sound. As much as I absolutely shouldnt be spending virtually $2000.00 on a headphone amp, after listening to that one, I suspect I would turn to crime if necessary, to own one.
As is often the case in life, this isnt an easy situation to sort out though. The amp that we all auditioned at the meet, is more properly, as described by Tuberoller, "the CES ringer version". He has listened to other units that simply did not compare to the one Jude has in his posession.
Now I realize that Joe Lau has noted, as posted here at Head-Fi, that he recently discovered a problem in the production run of Twinhead mkII's and has addressed it, and Joe is, based upon the comments of everyone who has met him, a great guy. But I am still uneasy about this. There have been concerns expressed in the past about ASL reliability and consistency of a specific product offerings.
I am, in the end, more than a little worried about dropping 2k on an amp that may, or may not live up to the sound of the "CES ringer version". To do so, I would want some sort of reassurance or guarantee , in the form of say, a money back offer to at least allow me to verify that I have what is expected.
If I know that I too can purchase a MKII that will equal the sound of Jude's pre-production, CES Demo version, I intend to do so. It would also be nice if its appearance also matched that one's though it appears the changes previously announced for the production version are unlikely to be changed. It is a beautiful amp as presented in the pre-production version, with the chrome top panels of both the amp and power supply sections, as well as the lack of tube cages.
JC
my previous comments:
"For me, the clear champion of the amps there was the simply superb ASL Twinhead MkII, or as Fred calls it, "the CES Twinhead MarkII ringer" (more about that later). The amp simply blew me away, and was far and away the best headphone amp I have ever heard. I regretted that it was the first amp that I seriously auditioned at the meet, as nothing else could truly compare. The soundstage was huge.........the sound so liquid, and velvetlike and rich that it provided the most amazing headphone experience I have ever had. I listened to it for extended periods with the Beyer DT 880's, the Sony CD-3000's, and Tuberoller's Equinoxed Sennheiser 600's. After hearing that amp, I dont know that I can live without one."
Even going in, and expecting a lot, the Twinhead just completely astounded me with its sound. As much as I absolutely shouldnt be spending virtually $2000.00 on a headphone amp, after listening to that one, I suspect I would turn to crime if necessary, to own one.
As is often the case in life, this isnt an easy situation to sort out though. The amp that we all auditioned at the meet, is more properly, as described by Tuberoller, "the CES ringer version". He has listened to other units that simply did not compare to the one Jude has in his posession.
Now I realize that Joe Lau has noted, as posted here at Head-Fi, that he recently discovered a problem in the production run of Twinhead mkII's and has addressed it, and Joe is, based upon the comments of everyone who has met him, a great guy. But I am still uneasy about this. There have been concerns expressed in the past about ASL reliability and consistency of a specific product offerings.
I am, in the end, more than a little worried about dropping 2k on an amp that may, or may not live up to the sound of the "CES ringer version". To do so, I would want some sort of reassurance or guarantee , in the form of say, a money back offer to at least allow me to verify that I have what is expected.
If I know that I too can purchase a MKII that will equal the sound of Jude's pre-production, CES Demo version, I intend to do so. It would also be nice if its appearance also matched that one's though it appears the changes previously announced for the production version are unlikely to be changed. It is a beautiful amp as presented in the pre-production version, with the chrome top panels of both the amp and power supply sections, as well as the lack of tube cages.
JC
