[TheHipsterCow]

Apparently this is the best amplifier ever made?

The moment you listen to it, all of a sudden all other solid state amps sound the same and it becomes a drastic outlier.

After last Socal canjam, I have refused to buy any other audio equipment until I can afford a mass kobo.

Zeos is absolutely right, if you have the money listen to one before you buy. If you don’t have the money, you’re better off not knowing just how good it can get.

 

[alphaman]

Saw the Z-Review. Wish Zeos had gone ahead and removed the cover.
About MK… well it is not as if a committed designer with solid work ethics can’t achieve / out-do what MK has done.
The Chinese industrial complex should buy the whole MK line .Take ‘em apart and Xerox as much as possible; and then sell via Linsoul, Topping or SMSL guises.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

The moment you listen to it, all of a sudden all other solid state amps sound the same and it becomes a drastic outlier.

After last Socal canjam, I have refused to buy any other audio equipment until I can afford a mass kobo.

Zeos is absolutely right, if you have the money listen to one before you buy. If you don’t have the money, you’re better off not knowing just how good it can get.

Do you think high end tube amplifiers are still relevant next to this amp? Like the Woo Audio WA33 or is the Kobo 465 just too superior? (As I am a tube guy)

 

[TheHipsterCow]

Do you think high end tube amplifiers are still relevant next to this amp? Like the Woo Audio WA33 or is the Kobo 465 just too superior? (As I am a tube guy)

That’s a tough question. I don’t want to say things are “not relevant”, just because there is plenty of great gear that is relevant at its respective price category.

I am a big fan on the WA23 and the WA33 as well as the riviera AIC-10. Tube gear has a unique presentation and if that’s what you’re seeking/pairs best with the headphones you have, you can’t just replace it with solid state gear.

With that being said, I would probably take the mass-kobo over any other amplifier on earth.

 

[Alenotta]

At CanJam I heard it off some little portable DAC situation they had going just plugged directly into my phone and it sounded amazing.

Do you think high end tube amplifiers are still relevant next to this amp? Like the Woo Audio WA33 or is the Kobo 465 just too superior? (As I am a tube guy)

I heard it at CanJam and thought it was fantastic. It think he just had the Apple dongle going into it or something crazy simple DAC-wise. I had my Caldera around my neck so I plugged that up and it was perfection. I'd need to really sit down with it for a while, but it didn't make all other amps seem totally inferior to me in that flash. It was really, really beautiful sounding and clearly a special handmade object. As a fellow tube enthusiast chasing more beefy sound profile (Cayin HA-300 mkii) I vastly preferred the 465's sound to a typical solid state. It had the magic and body that is usually lacking for me.

Two other solid state amps made a really positive impression on me at CanJam SoCal for having a less solid state sound. The Nitsch DSHA-3FN has a unique top end character and holographic quality, and the HeadAmp CFA3 was bold and meaty with the Caldera. Those are both revivals of really cool amp designs.

Anyway, Mass Kobo is def one of the best amps I've heard, but maybe don't go selling your cars and riding a bike everywhere just to buy one. That's what I'd have to do.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

At CanJam I heard it off some little portable DAC situation they had going just plugged directly into my phone and it sounded amazing.

I heard it at CanJam and thought it was fantastic. It think he just had the Apple dongle going into it or something crazy simple DAC-wise. I had my Caldera around my neck so I plugged that up and it was perfection. I'd need to really sit down with it for a while, but it didn't make all other amps seem totally inferior to me in that flash. It was really, really beautiful sounding and clearly a special handmade object. As a fellow tube enthusiast chasing more beefy sound profile (Cayin HA-300 mkii) I vastly preferred the 465's sound to a typical solid state. It had the magic and body that is usually lacking for me.

Two other solid state amps made a really positive impression on me at CanJam SoCal for having a less solid state sound. The Nitsch DSHA-3FN has a unique top end character and holographic quality, and the HeadAmp CFA3 was bold and meaty with the Caldera. Those are both revivals of really cool amp designs.

Anyway, Mass Kobo is def one of the best amps I've heard, but maybe don't go selling your cars and riding a bike everywhere just to buy one. That's what I'd have to do.

The owner of this company should really license his designs to a bigger company and make a lot more money doing so and bring the cost of each unit down.

 

[TheHipsterCow]

At CanJam I heard it off some little portable DAC situation they had going just plugged directly into my phone and it sounded amazing.

I heard it at CanJam and thought it was fantastic. It think he just had the Apple dongle going into it or something crazy simple DAC-wise. I had my Caldera around my neck so I plugged that up and it was perfection. I'd need to really sit down with it for a while, but it didn't make all other amps seem totally inferior to me in that flash. It was really, really beautiful sounding and clearly a special handmade object. As a fellow tube enthusiast chasing more beefy sound profile (Cayin HA-300 mkii) I vastly preferred the 465's sound to a typical solid state. It had the magic and body that is usually lacking for me.

Two other solid state amps made a really positive impression on me at CanJam SoCal for having a less solid state sound. The Nitsch DSHA-3FN has a unique top end character and holographic quality, and the HeadAmp CFA3 was bold and meaty with the Caldera. Those are both revivals of really cool amp designs.

Anyway, Mass Kobo is def one of the best amps I've heard, but maybe don't go selling your cars and riding a bike everywhere just to buy one. That's what I'd have to do.

I had a similar experience, literally just plugged in a btr7 that I carry around and connected via Bluetooth using Spotify. Plugged my LCD-4 in and was immediately blown away. Easily the single best presentation of it I’d ever heard. To think how little the rest of the source chain matter in that moment really got me thinking. Why am I wasting all of this money on dacs/dsd files/tube rolling preamps/cables when none of that mattered. Sure the improvements could be 1-2% for each part, but that amp was night and day different.

 

[kumar402]

Wow 17K just for headphone amp. If it could drive speaker and headphone with same authority then it would have been popular amp. 17K is too much for just a headphone amp when most move to speaker for serious listening at that price point.

Hopefully it will be there in Canjam NY.

 

[TheAbyss2022]

Wow 17K just for headphone amp. If it could drive speaker and headphone with same authority then it would have been popular amp. 17K is too much for just a headphone amp when most move to speaker for serious listening at that price point.

Hopefully it will be there in Canjam NY.

I think it's time to sell a kidney....

 

[Ike1985]

So this paired with something like a chord hugo2 would be glorious. Not a bad setup I guess if you consider you can get a hugo2 for $1500. Problem is as others have mentioned, it doesn't run speakers. Has anyone tried it with good IEMs/CIEMs?

 

[Ike1985]

I had a similar experience, literally just plugged in a btr7 that I carry around and connected via Bluetooth using Spotify. Plugged my LCD-4 in and was immediately blown away. Easily the single best presentation of it I’d ever heard. To think how little the rest of the source chain matter in that moment really got me thinking. Why am I wasting all of this money on dacs/dsd files/tube rolling preamps/cables when none of that mattered. Sure the improvements could be 1-2% for each part, but that amp was night and day different.

Yes but how much better could the Kobo be with a good DAC? I think it would be much more than 1-2%.

Does anyone know what exactly he is doing from a technical perspective to make this thing sound so good? Is it power?

 

[smodtactical]

Anyone have internal pics of the 465 ?

 

[YungOmbat]

price is crazy but it is the best

 

[Ike1985]

price is crazy but it is the best

Wish I could get more detailed impressions; note weight, image size, layering, seperation, stage skew/dimensions, vocal forwardness, etc.

 

[ardbeg1975]

The owner of this company should really license his designs to a bigger company and make a lot more money doing so and bring the cost of each unit down.

I disagree. Artisanal build approach doesn’t typically scale with mass production w/o losing something.