I just got home after a long day of work and was pleasantly surprised to have a package waiting from Cesar! I must say, Cesar has been a pleasure do deal with, friendly, responsive, and forthcoming with all updates. Even when I thought I wouldn't get my amp until later this week, it was already here. His motto seems to be "underpromise and overdeliver."
Upon opening the the box, my first impression was...OMG, it is so ADORABLE! No matter how many times you see pictures of this hammond enclosure with a credit card on it, it just doesn't prepare you for how tiny amps like this are. However, despite all the foam peanuts in the box, one suggestion for Cesar would be to wrap the amp with some bubble or thin foam wrap because the amp managed to float to the top against the cardboard box and could have been damaged by some oafish USPS courier, but mine did arrived without a scratch.
Cesar did a great job with the cosmetic design of the new Portaphile v.2. The front faceplate has a great layout with the switch and volume knob on the top plane, followed by nice hex screws with contrasting black that flank the sides of the front panel, and the input and output jacks that are located on the bottom. Once fully plugged in, everything has its own space and is very nicely balanced visually. I do have one minor gripe with the faceplate though, and it is with the way the input and output jacks holes are milled. In my case while the output jack hole is drilled smoothly, the input hole is pretty rough. Of course this doesn't show when you have your gear plugged in, but it's a minor detail that detracts from what is a beautiful amp. Cesar emailed to let me know that he's looking into an alternative shop to provide the front face plates.
The power switch actually flicks left to right (instead of the usual up and down) to lessen the chance that it might turn on or off when it is accidentally snared, yet another thoughtful design element. The machined aluminum volume knob has rubber rings that give a nice tactile response and the two black rings echo the Hammond case's black bezels nicely. The knob itself is quite tight and gives more than the usual resistance to turn, which is what I would want for a portable player.
The new thumbscrews for the backplate is very rugged with deeply cross-cut channels allowing for secure grip, much better for out-on-the field battery changes than the previous hardware store screws. As ATX mentioned in the previous thread, the amp uses a battery clip. I was intially worried that a 9V may not be held securely inside. But my Maha PowerEx fits inside snugly without as much as a single rattle.
In terms of the sound...the amp sounded nice right out of the box. So far I've listened to it for about 2 hours, and the sound is starting to open up a bit and evolve. I do not plan on giving anymore feedback on the sound quality until it has had more time to burn in. But I would not be crushed if didn't improve at all. However I will update this review soon with further impressions on the sound and maybe a comparison against the SR-71 (possibly even the LaRocco Pocket Reference when I get it).
Overall I am very pleased with the amp and Cesar's service. This is exactly what I want out of a portable amp, with only one 9v, the amp is amazingly small and light for on-the-go use. Descriptions of the physical measurements can be very deceiving, though the SR-71 is a bit bigger in length, width, and height, in reality the Portaphile is just so much smaller and portable. The price is also an extremely good value for the quality of amp that you will receive. I would, even at this early stage, recommend the amp to anybody without reservation.
