[joseph69]

Just figured I'd give an update on the Ear+HD. I am no longer an owner of the Ear+HD, when I sent the amp back to MAD Lloyd let me know that he received it and was going to look into the issues I had with the amp initially and also I had asked him to repaint/replace the chassis (at my cost, which I had told him I didn't have a problem with) due to the paint coming off the edge when I wiped it with an alcohol pad. A week went by and I e-mailed him to see the status on the amp, and he said he didn't get around to it yet. I was a little disappointed being that he knew the amp had issues from the day I received it, so I explained to him (nicely) that I thought he should have checked it out when he received it being it was already paid for and Had these issues when I received the amp, popping crackling, no gain on the volume (which started working an hour or so later).To make a long story short, he preferred to send me a refund (which I wasn't looking for at all, I wanted the amp). So I tried to explain this to him, and he still preferred to refund my money, so I wanted to, but I wasn't persistent anymore after the second time explaining I still wanted the amp.
So I read between the lines and understood he just didn't want to do business with me. I'm real sorry this happened, because the little time I had spent with the Ear+/RS1i was very nice, and I would still love to have (want) the amp, but I feel he is frustrated with me, and I tried my best to make it as easy as possible for the both of us but I just think he is too busy and doesn't want to deal with the situation. So I'm very upset over this and I am not in any way what so ever blaming him or bad mouthing him about any of this at all. I just feel its a shame I can't own the Ear+HD, and wish things wouldn't have gone this way at all. So being I feel I can't have a Ear+HD, I was looking/reading threads about the WA6 for the RS1i's, any thought on this amp, or my present situation on the Ear+HD?
BTW,Lloyd did get back to me and told me the amp tested fine, so maybe it was just the power tube. And once again, I'm not intending, nor am I bashing him or his product in any way, please understand this, I just felt the amp should have been looked at upon arrival, and I do understand he is a one man operation, and is swamped with work but I still felt this way about the issue, and now I'm out an Ear+HD. 

 

[whirlwind]

Wow......I do not know what to say.
 
I am very sorry that the experience with the MAD EAR turned into what it did, Joseph.
 
I am sure that there are many amps that will sound great with the RS1i.

 

[joseph69]

Yeah, I really can't believe it myself, I hope (wish) that I possibly hear from Lloyd again before I place an order for the WA6. Thanks whirlwind, I appreciate your reply. 

 

[parbaked]

SPEECHLESS! 

Sorry to hear about that experience. 
 
The WA-6 is one of the few comparable tube (price & quality) options for your RS-1.
They do have better build quality a no paint! For the same price as the MAD you can also upgrade the rectifier tube.
There are 2 for sale in the F/S forums now, with upgraded tubes, but given your experience you may prefer to buy new.
 
Maybe a good time for others to chime in on what tube amps they're enjoying...

 

[parbaked]

  Yeah, I really can't believe it myself, I hope (wish) that I possibly hear from Lloyd again before I place an order for the WA6. Thanks whirlwind, I appreciate your reply. 

If you don't have any bad feelings and want the amp, I would ask him again.
Worse he can do is say no.
 
No excuse but he did take time off last year to recover from a procedure and has taken on an associate, so maybe things are unsettled up there...

 

[joseph69]

Thanks parbaked. I did see that there was one WA6 with the Sophia princess upgrade rectifier tube for sale, I'm going to look again and see the other being you mentioned there are 2 for sale. And yes, I may just want to buy it new, just incase, because I am very caring of all of my belongings, and I don't know what I will be getting used, even if the price is right. The thing that bothers me is that you rarely see the Ear+ for sale, but you do see the WA6 for sale, makes me wonder why, there may be a reason, I don't know.
Thanks again. 

 

[joseph69]

  If you don't have any bad feelings and want the amp, I would ask him again.
Worse he can do is say no.
 
No excuse but he did take time off last year to recover from a procedure and has taken on an associate, so maybe things are unsettled up there...

I pretty much said that I do want the amp twice, but the 2nd time he said he would prefer to send me a refund I pretty much got the picture. I was also going to purchase the Alps motorized volume control to match the Ear+, and he still preferred to refund my money, and In no way at all was I nasty or disrespectful to him, like I said I just explained to him that I felt felt the amp should have been looked at upon arrival, that all, and I was willing to pay for the repaint/replace of the chassis, plus it cost me $70.00U.S. to ship, and didn't ask for that, nor did I want it back, and besides the paint removed, the amp had the issue with the crackling/popping and no gain on the volume when I received it.
And no, I don't have any bad feelings, sometimes these thing can happen with anything you buy, which I totally understand.

 

[parbaked]

The MADs don't come up for sale that often because they do no marketing and he has only made 300 and most are customized for the buyer hence an attachment.
Woo is much more commercial product/company, visiting shows etc, and sell many more amps.
Also lot's of WA-6 owners feel compelled to upgrade to the SE or higher in the Woo range, whereas if you love your MAD, there is no where to upgrade to...

 

[joseph69]

Well I just PM the 2nd seller of the WA6 (not the black one), so I could ask him some questions, is he the original owner, what year the model is and if theres a factory warranty, hours and so on, so I'm waiting to hear from him. if the amp is in excellent condition and comes with all documents, manual, and box, I may try to save myself a few hundred dollars, (maybe).
Thanks for letting me know about it.

 

[HPiper]

  Well I just PM the 2nd seller of the WA6 (not the black one), so I could ask him some questions, is he the original owner, what year the model is and if theres a factory warranty, hours and so on, so I'm waiting to hear from him. if the amp is in excellent condition and comes with all documents, manual, and box, I may try to save myself a few hundred dollars, (maybe).
Thanks for letting me know about it.

Where are you seeing these for sale, here or on ebay or something like that. I very seldom see any Woo amps of any kind on sale.. I don't really have anything against the Chinese amps, but I do see a lot of people with complaints about build quality, ground loops, and ect, so I have pretty much decided to buy American on the next amp I get. Even if the sound isn't the last word, but I think Schiit and Woo can easily compete with overseas company's and at close to the same prices too. There happens to be a nice Valhalla on ebay I am watching as we speak.  I also wouldn't mind some of the German. Danish and English amps I see, but they seem to be pretty expensive all things considered.

 

[joseph69]

 
Where are you seeing these for sale, here or on ebay or something like that. I very seldom see any Woo amps of any kind on sale.. I don't really have anything against the Chinese amps, but I do see a lot of people with complaints about build quality, ground loops, and ect, so I have pretty much decided to buy American on the next amp I get. Even if the sound isn't the last word, but I think Schiit and Woo can easily compete with overseas company's and at close to the same prices too. There happens to be a nice Valhalla on ebay I am watching as we speak.  I also wouldn't mind some of the German. Danish and English amps I see, but they seem to be pretty expensive all things considered.

The WA6 I'm interested is in the Head-Fi for sale forums under amplifiers, there are 2, I'm looking at the 2nd one for sale in the line up with the Sophia Princess rectifier tube upgrade, (not the 1st one which is black). I also have nothing against the Chinese, but would prefer to buy American also, but there only has to be a certain % of American parts in something to say "its made in America", and I'm sure no matter what brand amplifier you buy, there are parts that are made in China, even though they are manufactured in America, (this is also a discussion I don't want to get involved in). Do you have any suggestions on some English/German, or any tube amps for that matter I could research? I'm also looking at the GLOW ONE amp at the moment which I was recently informed about, and it also comes with a DAC as another option, while I wait for a PM from the WA6 seller. Believe me, if I would have known this was going to happen, I NEVER would have sent the amp back to MAD, but I wanted it repainted and checked for the issues it had when I received it, now look what I'm going through!!!

 

[austonia]

.

 

[parbaked]

It's last purpose was to help my friend Amber
 

Amber looks like she can hear just fine without cans!
Big ears!!

 

[HPiper]

  The WA6 I'm interested is in the Head-Fi for sale forums under amplifiers, there are 2, I'm looking at the 2nd one for sale in the line up with the Sophia Princess rectifier tube upgrade, (not the 1st one which is black). I also have nothing against the Chinese, but would prefer to buy American also, but there only has to be a certain % of American parts in something to say "its made in America", and I'm sure no matter what brand amplifier you buy, there are parts that are made in China, even though they are manufactured in America, (this is also a discussion I don't want to get involved in). Do you have any suggestions on some English/German, or any tube amps for that matter I could research? I'm also looking at the GLOW ONE amp at the moment which I was recently informed about, and it also comes with a DAC as another option, while I wait for a PM from the WA6 seller. Believe me, if I would have known this was going to happen, I NEVER would have sent the amp back to MAD, but I wanted it repainted and checked for the issues it had when I received it, now look what I'm going through!!!

I was looking at the Meier amps and dacs myself. They are solid state but have sterling reviews and some nice features that you don't see on a lot of other headphone amps, like the crossfeed feature. My headroom amp has that and I really like it, from what I have read Meier did a real good job on theirs and it is supposed to be very well done. The sell a combo package with the dac and amp at a pretty good discount.
Another plus is that being solid state the low impedance Grado shouldn't be a problem for it and it is said to have enough power to drive the Sennheisers well also. Free shipping isn't a bad thing either when dealing with an overseas company.
 I don't see very many European tube amps for some reason they seem to prefer solid state.

 

[joseph69]

Thank s for the info on the Meier amp/dac combo, I appreciate it, I'm going to look read up on their site, but the only thing was that I do want a tube amp because I want to add it to my main system, and I already have a SS amp in the system, but thanks again I'll take a look just for the knowledge alone.