[sashaw]

Quote:

I just ordered the Portaphile 627 and I want to also add that Cesar is a pleasure to do business with.  Within hours of placing my order, he e-mailed me, and asked if I was a member of Head-fi.  I said I was, and he said he's offering an unadvertised discount of $50 during August for Head-Fi members, and informed me to feel free to spread the word.  He seems like an awesome guy.​

 
Thanks for the info.

 

[imackler]

Thanks for the review! 

 

[colinharding]

My pleasure!

 

[clone1008]

Thanks for the review!

 

[fusionramjet]

I got my Portaphile 627 a couple days ago and have listened to it for about 8 hours now.  Take my impressions with a grain of salt because I haven't listened to it very much yet, it's not burned in yet, I don't have very much experience with other amps (I have the Alo National and SR-71b, and the latter I'm comparing using single-ended mode, given the headphones I'm using), and I'm not good at describing the various parameters of sound in a way that lends itself to inter-rater comparisons.  Anyways, my setup is iPod to CLAS to (now) Portaphile 627 to Ultrasone Signature Pro.  It's my bedside rig.
So far, I think the Portaphile 627 is AWESOME - I listen to movie trailer type music and, driven by the 627, the music comes across as extremely dynamic, impactful, and alive - very engaging, and a pleasure to listen to...
So, I'm loving it so far!
A minor downside for using it as a bedside rig is that the blue led light is huge and bright... kind of cool, except if you want it to be dark

 

[colinharding]

Hahaha yeah that blue LED is REALLY bright, I have one on my preamp as well and need to replace it with something less obnoxious.  How do you feel it compares to the ALO National?

 

[fusionramjet]

Yeah, it's like a blue headlight.  I'll have to A-B it with the Alo National, because I haven't listened to the National since I got the Portaphile.  Without A-Bing it, with the caveat that memory is unreliable, I can say that I'm enjoying my music a whole lot better with the Portaphile... it seems much more weighty, dynamic, engaging, and alive.

 

[ishmael]

It doesn't look like much. As mentioned maybe a shot of the real components would help. 

 

[Pappucho]

Yes, the top of the board is pretty vacant which can be little misleading.  There are 13 IC's on the bottom of the board including three OPA627's and six BUF634's and all of the audio section thin film SMD resistors.  Hopefully someone can post a pic of the bottom of the board.
 

 

[zenpunk]

I am really tempted by that amp but the short  battery life is a deal breaker. Does anybody tried it with IEMs or customs to check if the battery would last a least 6 hours?

 

[colinharding]

My review was completed with customs, you might make 6 but that's really a stretch.  It's a class A amp so it uses quite a bit of power.  I got 5 hours max out of mine but if you listen quieter than I do you might just make 6.

 

[evolutionx]

If you can accept the short battery life, you will be rewarded with the sound quality. I use mine with the charger on when listening at my desktop so I always get 4 hours when I need them on the go.

 

[colinharding]

Finally got around to posting pics of the right side of the bread board within the original review.  Should have everything you need from those pics.  Regarding the battery life, I use mine at work so it's plugged in all day as well.  Definitely gives me at least four hours of life when I take it with me after that.  I don't think the charger supplies quite enough current (I confirmed this with Cesar) for a full charging cycle while the amplifier is on so you must turn the amplifier off, unplug the charger and the plug it back in to restart the charging cycle and get a full charge.  

 

[evolutionx]

Using my portaphile 627 to drive the audiolab M-DAC and it does a fantastic job.  Sounds even better than the build in headphone amp.  
  

 

[placebo-fi]

This amp so good, it even drives DAC