[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Yes, VERY!!

Well after I sorted a small hiccup (loud pops/cracks during format transitions).

No it does'nt come with a remote. It comes with an app you download from Play Store (for Apple this end of June). And use your phone as remote via bluetooth.
Both in my home workdesk. I hardly need the DAC's remote (since it is relagated to pure DAC function). I use Inpol Ear's remote however since it functions as Amp/Preamp.

 

[dcguy73]

Has anyone else had issues with the veneer on these amps? On my InPol, the zebrawood veneer is starting to peel off in multiple places. The first time it happened, Upscale Audio offered to have me send it back for repair, but I glued it back in place myself. Now that it’s starting to peel in other places, I emailed them asking to send the unit back for a replacement.

 

[xtr4]

Has anyone else had issues with the veneer on these amps? On my InPol, the zebrawood veneer is starting to peel off in multiple places. The first time it happened, Upscale Audio offered to have me send it back for repair, but I glued it back in place myself. Now that it’s starting to peel in other places, I emailed them asking to send the unit back for a replacement.

I'm guessing it's probably due to the heat of the amp and the glue losing its stickiness over time combined with weather humidity?
But that's quite disheartening to hear happen, especially when you have to take time off to return it for repair or replacement

 

[dcguy73]

I'm guessing it's probably due to the heat of the amp and the glue losing its stickiness over time combined with weather humidity?
But that's quite disheartening to hear happen, especially when you have to take time off to return it for repair or replacement

I agree that the veneer will probably peel over time no matter what, but it’s been less than two months since I bought the amp.

 

[chaZZZy007]

Perhaps when exchanging with Upscale get the painted version matte black instead.

Has anyone else had issues with the veneer on these amps? On my InPol, the zebrawood veneer is starting to peel off in multiple places. The first time it happened, Upscale Audio offered to have me send it back for repair, but I glued it back in place myself. Now that it’s starting to peel in other places, I emailed them asking to send the unit back for a replacement.

Perhaps when exchanging with Upscale get the painted version or matte black instead???

 

[xtr4]

Perhaps when exchanging with Upscale get the painted version matte black instead.

Perhaps when exchanging with Upscale get the painted version or matte black instead???

And get them to gift you a zebra and a bonsai to make up the difference.

 

[chaZZZy007]

1325 hours on the Aurender
1075 hours on the Nordost Tye 2 BNC digital cables
825 hours on the Pathos
775 hours on the Reflektors
475 hours on the new upgraded power supply. The PS might still have a bit more settling in left but it's changed quite a bit the last 200 or so hours.

Apologies for taking a bit long with this but I felt it important let everything settle in so as to get 'it' just right and give the Pathos it's proper due whatever it would be.

I've done a good amount of what I'd consider critical listening. So some quick thoughts on the pathos.

If I had to describe the Pathos in 1 word it would be.

PURE

To my ears the Pathos Inpol Ear sound signature is just to the musical side of reference neutral and unbelievably transparent in everything it does. Never once has it sounded dry or bright outside of maybe a very very short period during the initial break in of a new component. It has always seemed to find a musical or neutral presentation in my system's various iterations.

Before today I made 3 changes to my system since purchasing the Pathos.

1. Upgrading from wifi streaming to my Modwright Oppo to using an Aurender N20
2. Upgrading the connection from N20 to Oppo from USB to synchronous BNC thereby utilizing the superior master clock of the Aurender
3. Upgrading the Modwight Oppo's power supply.

With each upgrade I could precisely hear all the minute differences from day 1 thru any burn-in times and subsequent changes. With each change the Pathos scaled with the changes.

WARNING HERE: The Pathos is extremely transparent to it's sources so you are going to hear quite precisely your upstream components. This is what caused me to changed my streaming from WiFi to the Oppo and buy and Aurender N20. While breaking in my CD player was sounding beautifully musical while my WIFI was still sounding a bit lifeless and 'dull'. I bought the Aurender and within 24 hours after installation the N20 was already beginning to bloom and sound quite nice. In the end be prepared to make some changes in your system to accommodate the Pathos one way or another. IMO it's quite worth it.

To my ears the Pathos renders music in a remarkably large soundstage top to bottom and left to right. (Though that soundstage is quite appropriate to the scale of the intended presentation) Instruments are spatially placed correctly in a very 3 dimensional environment.

Separation is also excellent. Instruments and voices within the sound field are easily discernible one from the other as well as their relation to one another in the 3 dimensional sound field. Remarkable!

Some of my fellow Pathos brethren here have described the amp as layered. I would agree but only as it is burning in. To me layered connotes 2 dimensionality. Once settled in the Pathos is transparent front to rear in a fully 3 dimensional presentation. All the various instruments and voices can be clearly heard one thru another without loss of spatial presence or blurring in the soundstage. YMMV based on the performance of your DAC. Once again to my ears this is remarkable.

My experience in listening and ownership comes from the 2 channel side of things. I've had pretty extensive listening in 2 channel systems with a price range of between 50k-350k. I also extensively auditioned the dCS Bartok before purchasing the Pathos. In all my auditioning and listening I've never tapped my foot as much as with the Pathos. As a matter of fact the only system that made me just zone into the music like the Pathos is a 350k system featuring 100K+ speakers and speaker and XLR cables that retail for more than my entire 2 channel system. The Bartok is not part of this system.

Every time I sit down with the Pathos I almost immediately get dialed into a session. I can barely make any critical listening comparisons because the Pathos gets me in a zone and I just close my eyes and listen. Haha

Other times I will want to look for a specific song to compare something to, and before I can find it on Qobuz, another song will start that just draws me in and I stop what I was doing.

I will make further posts on the Pathos and how it compares to other amps in the near future. I am going to CanJam this year so after that I'll be able to post more on some direct comparisons.

To my ears when it comes to 2 channel listening this combination of transparency, soundstadstaging, musicality, separation, and dynamics are very very difficult to find outside of spending multiples of what the Pathos costs. IMO you have get into a very SOTA 2 channel solid state amp to do the combination of things that the Pathos does so incredibly well. Once again this is remarkable.

Thanks to all those who took the time to post about the Inpol Ear and helped me make my decision to make the Pathos purchase. It is really one of the stellar decisions I have made when it comes to my system.

I hope this helps those sitting on the fence in one way or another.

 

[chaZZZy007]

New Rectifier.
I decided to finally roll a NOS 1971 Western Electric 422a black plates rectifier I have into the Modwright 9.0 power supply.

This is supposed to be the #1 5u4g rectifier. The U52 it replaces is amazing and a similar in performance #2.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dub...mparison-rectifer-tube-rolling-thread.694525/

Let's see how they compare.

 

[sahmen]

1325 hours on the Aurender
1075 hours on the Nordost Tye 2 BNC digital cables
825 hours on the Pathos
775 hours on the Reflektors
475 hours on the new upgraded power supply. The PS might still have a bit more settling in left but it's changed quite a bit the last 200 or so hours.

Apologies for taking a bit long with this but I felt it important let everything settle in so as to get 'it' just right and give the Pathos it's proper due whatever it would be.

I've done a good amount of what I'd consider critical listening. So some quick thoughts on the pathos.

If I had to describe the Pathos in 1 word it would be.

PURE

To my ears the Pathos Inpol Ear sound signature is just to the musical side of reference neutral and unbelievably transparent in everything it does. Never once has it sounded dry or bright outside of maybe a very very short period during the initial break in of a new component. It has always seemed to find a musical or neutral presentation in my system's various iterations.

Before today I made 3 changes to my system since purchasing the Pathos.

1. Upgrading from wifi streaming to my Modwright Oppo to using an Aurender N20
2. Upgrading the connection from N20 to Oppo from USB to synchronous BNC thereby utilizing the superior master clock of the Aurender
3. Upgrading the Modwight Oppo's power supply.

With each upgrade I could precisely hear all the minute differences from day 1 thru any burn-in times and subsequent changes. With each change the Pathos scaled with the changes.

WARNING HERE: The Pathos is extremely transparent to it's sources so you are going to hear quite precisely your upstream components. This is what caused me to changed my streaming from WiFi to the Oppo and buy and Aurender N20. While breaking in my CD player was sounding beautifully musical while my WIFI was still sounding a bit lifeless and 'dull'. I bought the Aurender and within 24 hours after installation the N20 was already beginning to bloom and sound quite nice. In the end be prepared to make some changes in your system to accommodate the Pathos one way or another. IMO it's quite worth it.

To my ears the Pathos renders music in a remarkably large soundstage top to bottom and left to right. (Though that soundstage is quite appropriate to the scale of the intended presentation) Instruments are spatially placed correctly in a very 3 dimensional environment.

Separation is also excellent. Instruments and voices within the sound field are easily discernible one from the other as well as their relation to one another in the 3 dimensional sound field. Remarkable!

Some of my fellow Pathos brethren here have described the amp as layered. I would agree but only as it is burning in. To me layered connotes 2 dimensionality. Once settled in the Pathos is transparent front to rear in a fully 3 dimensional presentation. All the various instruments and voices can be clearly heard one thru another without loss of spatial presence or blurring in the soundstage. YMMV based on the performance of your DAC. Once again to my ears this is remarkable.

My experience in listening and ownership comes from the 2 channel side of things. I've had pretty extensive listening in 2 channel systems with a price range of between 50k-350k. I also extensively auditioned the dCS Bartok before purchasing the Pathos. In all my auditioning and listening I've never tapped my foot as much as with the Pathos. As a matter of fact the only system that made me just zone into the music like the Pathos is a 350k system featuring 100K+ speakers and speaker and XLR cables that retail for more than my entire 2 channel system. The Bartok is not part of this system.

Every time I sit down with the Pathos I almost immediately get dialed into a session. I can barely make any critical listening comparisons because the Pathos gets me in a zone and I just close my eyes and listen. Haha

Other times I will want to look for a specific song to compare something to, and before I can find it on Qobuz, another song will start that just draws me in and I stop what I was doing.

I will make further posts on the Pathos and how it compares to other amps in the near future. I am going to CanJam this year so after that I'll be able to post more on some direct comparisons.

To my ears when it comes to 2 channel listening this combination of transparency, soundstadstaging, musicality, separation, and dynamics are very very difficult to find outside of spending multiples of what the Pathos costs. IMO you have get into a very SOTA 2 channel amp to do the combination of things that the Pathos does so incredibly well. Once again this is remarkable.

Thanks to all those who took the time to post about the Inpol Ear and helped me make my decision to make the Pathos purchase. It is really one of the stellar decisions I have made when it comes to my system.

I hope this helps those sitting on the fence in one way or another.

Amen

New Rectifier.
I decided to finally roll a NOS 1971 Western Electric 422a black plates rectifier I have into the Modwright 9.0 power supply.

This is supposed to be the #1 5u4g rectifier. The U52 it replaces is amazing and a similar in performance #2.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dub...mparison-rectifer-tube-rolling-thread.694525/

Let's see how they compare.

Amen, may the InPol Ear get more and more feet tapping, and even set a few on fire

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Compared the Pathos Inpol with XLR balanced inputs and RCA single ended inputs both from my digital Chord DAVE & M Scaler source and my analogue / vinyl Rega P10 TT, Rega Apheta 3 cartridge and Rega Aura Phono Stage with my Susvara HPs.

The XLR balanced inputs were far superior to the single ended RCA inputs for both digital and analogue / vinyl sources.

If I can say how different in a couple of words......a lot more 'meat on the bone' with a greater bass depth and impact, bigger sound stage, more clarity and separation between instruments, much fuller midrange and more precise treble. These qualities were more so with the analogue / vinyl source especially when playing high quality vinyl.

I had the Inpol Ear volume set at 140 to 150 for both sources with XLR balanced inputs and 155 to 165 for RCA single ended inputs using my Susvaras from the headphone XLR output for all music genres.

 

[chaZZZy007]

Only 15 hours on the NOS WE 422a rectifier.
It does not play around.
WE 422a=

 

[chaZZZy007]

Hey all,
For those who are interested, there is a shootout going on at another forum I am on over @ Audiogon. It's a fully loaded MSB Reference DAC vs dCS Rossini w/clock. 3 videos with music a/b and the first was just put up today. The shootout is part of a very long 300 page thread that started out about amps.

Apologies if this is a bit off topic but we've talked about DACs quite a bit here and this shootout should be quite good. Enjoy.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussi...review-of-each?lastpage=true&page=327#2189834

 

[sahmen]

I think my unit is now past the initial 600 hour continuous "burn-in" run. What is the best state in which to maintain the InPol Ear when it is not playing. I am sure it wouldn't be wise to keep it turned on all the time since that would quickly decrease the longevity of the tubes, so is keeping the machine on standby with only the blue power light on the best policy or must one switch the unit completely off using the switch on the back?

 

[chaZZZy007]

I think my unit is now past the initial 600 hour continuous "burn-in" run. What is the best state in which to maintain the InPol Ear when it is not playing. I am sure it wouldn't be wise to keep it turned on all the time since that would quickly decrease the longevity of the tubes, so is keeping the machine on standby with only the blue power light on the best policy or must one switch the unit completely off using the switch on the back?

Yes.
Standby only.

 

[dcguy73]

I upgraded my tubes to some Amperex ECC88 from Tube Depot. Nice change from the Siemens Cca tubes — warmer and easier to listen to for long stretches of time. However, after installing the tubes, I noticed some slight background noise from the InPol. I was listening to the amp with Focal Stellias, which are pretty sensitive headphones, and the intrusion of noise into the music bothered me.

So I installed Herbie’s Tube Dampers on the tubes (had to remove the InPol’s cover to put them on, due to the sharp guards around the tube sockets) and inserted an iFi noise-cancelling SupaNova power cable between the InPol and my Power Plant P5. It sounded a bit restrained and sharp that way, so I plugged the InPol directly into the wall. Presto! A more relaxed and open presentation. Plus, no background noise that I can detect anymore.

Making those two changes made the amp sound a little less warm and more precise. I’m trying to decide if I like that or not.