[oneeyedhobbit]

In this thread, several technical criticisms were leveled at the G&W TW-J1. I contacted the official distributor of the amps and asked what gave. They told me they would get in touch with the designer to find out whats going on, and promised a response from him. Here it is:

Ok, actually not--they sent me scanned images of a letter written by the designer, and I'm not entirely sure to post a picture here--can someone host and help me get these up?

 

[EdipisReks]

imageshack

 

[Borat]

Yes, please share it with us hobbit.

I finally got my TW-J1 up and running this morning when Fed Ex arrived with my Step-Up/Step Down transformer from Power Bright. Nice unit.

I'm listening now but I'm not experienced enough with amps to know if mine uses well matched components.

What tools do you need to perform the DC offset that sean-xenos mentioned in the other thread?

 

[sean-xenos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat I'm listening now but I'm not experienced enough with amps to know if mine uses well matched components. What tools do you need to perform the DC offset that sean-xenos mentioned in the other thread?

Hi Borat,

hope you got a good version of this amp; I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I can send you the instructions Mike gave me, they are really good.

You need a multimeter to meter the offset, that's all.

Did you end up to buy a Sennheiser HD600 to go with the TW-J1 or did you get the Beyerdynamic DT880 ?

YGPM (forwarded instructions by Mike)

 

[PinkFloyd]

.

 

[Borat]

Thanks for the instructions sean-xenos. I hope that I got a good one from our friend Sherman in Hong Kong too. I don't have one of those multimeters but I'll try to get one.

I bought Sennheiser HD-600's. I bought them used from a gentleman here on head-fi. Another gentleman was selling DT880's at the same time but I decided to go with HD600 because of reported better synergy with the TW-J1 and the DT880's were the old version with coiled cord which can be bothersome.

Thanks again.

 

[sean-xenos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Holger, PM means "Private message" On this occasion feel free to publish my private message to you but do it again and I'll whip your arse. Mike.

Sorry Mike,

I should have asked you if it is ok to send Borat your instructions. Please don't be cross with me, I did not intend to anger you.

Holger

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean-xenos Sorry Mike, I should have asked you if it is ok to send Borat your instructions. Please don't be cross with me, I did not intend to anger you. Holger

It's OK mate but private is private.............


No hard feelings.



Mikey.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks imageshack

Über-simple if this works:





Edit: And it did, thanks for the heads-up edipis. Note that I'm just posting the message, if you have a gross beef with the content please contact the designer himself!

I'd actually like some clarification on the different parts used (i.e. from here on out can we expect the TW-J1s that are sold to use the same parts set that has been tested and matched).

 

[PinkFloyd]

. Quote:

Originally Posted by oneeyedhobbit Über-simple if this works: Edit: And it did, thanks for the heads-up edipis. Note that I'm just posting the message, if you have a gross beef with the content please contact the designer himself! I'd actually like some clarification on the different parts used (i.e. from here on out can we expect the TW-J1s that are sold t o use the same parts set that has been tested and matched).

 

[sean-xenos]

Hi hobbit,

thank you very much for sharing the letter

So the TW-J1 is actually designed for use with the HD650 and HD600. No surprise for me.

But knoxed-com sold them on eBay saying: "G&W TW J1 Headphone Amplifier/ Pre-amp use with GRADO
Item comes with 12 month warranty use with GRADO"
and that's lousy

. Now they changed that to "use with Sennheiser", hmm, after selling how many units?

They answered my complaint with:
"Dear Customer,
When our engineers tested the equipment they recommend the GRADO RS-1 to be used with the amplifiers.
Thanking You
Emma
Customer Care"

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean-xenos Hi hobbit, thank you very much for sharing the letter So the TW-J1 is actually designed for use with the HD650 and HD600. No surprise for me. But knoxed-com sold them on eBay saying: "G&W TW J1 Headphone Amplifier/ Pre-amp use with GRADO Item comes with 12 month warranty use with GRADO" and that's lousy . Now they changed that to "use with Sennheiser", hmm, after selling how many units?

You have a way with rhetoric that baffles me. The letter only said they test each unit with the HD 600/650, not that they designed it specifically for those headphones (though this is possible). Further, I would imagine knoxed added on Grado to make the auction searchable in the same way as many CMoy or other amp makers throw on, "AKG, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Grado" without upping anyone's ire.

Edit: The edit that you tossed in is a whole nother story sean-xenos, but kindly refrain from editing AFTER I've posted

. Just reply.

 

[Borat]

Yes, thank you for uploading that letter oneeyedhobbit.

The reference devices listed on the first page are also inside the glossy manual that came with the J1.

As for the use with Grados, well, there is a listing of different headphones in the manual and no Grados are there, just Senns, AKG, AT's, and some Beyers. Oddly enough, the first three headphones that are mentioned on page 6 are (in order) ATH-W100, AKG K501, and Sennheiser HD600, which according to his profile, are the exact same three headphones PinkFloyd owns. No wonder he has had such a good experience with his J1.

I noticed that he also recently acquired Grado 325i's so maybe he can shed some light on how they sound with the J1.

 

[Grif]

Pinkfloyd Sir.....at the risk of getting my 'arse whipped', I wonder if you would be kind enough to copy me on those instructions you sent to Sean to check offset.
Multimeter at the ready...just don't know what to do with it

Cheers
Grif

 

[Hornet600]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat Yes, please share it with us hobbit. I finally got my TW-J1 up and running this morning when Fed Ex arrived with my Step-Up/Step Down transformer from Power Bright. Nice unit. I'm listening now but I'm not experienced enough with amps to know if mine uses well matched components. What tools do you need to perform the DC offset that sean-xenos mentioned in the other thread?

Man, why are people still talking about the components? It's very normal that a brand changes the components of its products without noticing customers. Read the menuals of other HiFi products: Sony, MF, Arcam, Marantz --- there is always such a sentence like this : "We reserve the right to make any changes without further notice".

Once again, I have to say that I really cannot tell which components are good ones and which bad ones from the pictures given in the other thread. "The differnent parts affact the sound", "50/50 that you get the good J1 or the bad" --- this is very objective and could have given a bad name to G&W that doesn't belong to it. As I understand, some people like opening the machines and make changes to them, then blame them for poor performance --- my friend, maybe it's true that the designer really doesn't know his product as well as some others, but is the judgement justified when orginal offsets changed? 50/50 chance, I really don't think one should make such a judgement to an audio device by looking at pictures or reading others' comments or presumption.

Lots of Hifi fans in China know that Wu Gang is a trustworthy and honest man in this field. His quick response has already shown the reason why he is respected by so many audiophiles --- there were cases in China like Mercedes blamed the driver for using unsatisfactory gas when their car broke down often / Honda blamed the driver for too high speed when the car hit a dog and crashed into two parts(the dog did not die at once). They never gave quick response and thought consumers are fools.

As a pure hifi fan, I have realised that I won't make judgements because of few people's comments or the price if I get the device from different source (GBP250 in the UK does not necessarily get you better things than RMB2000 in China does). Rather than 100% believing others' comments and looking at prices, I listen and compare, then I make decision according to my own feeling. Some said Musical Fidelity A3 is very good with excellent musicality, but some said it's too "coloured", I either believe this or that unless I have a listen to it myself. And I will pay attention to the setup system when I listen to it, as not every device matches well the other.

And Borat: I won't say using a step up transformer is not as good as using a 110V version product, but I am sure the sound will more or less be affected if the transformer is not good enough.

Cheers!

Eric