When I ordered the Balanced amp on February 1st, the website stated it would be shipped in April. They shipped it April 6th, and I received it May 8th. It was packaged well and the amp was in great condition.
There was quite a bit of communication with TorAudio through
toraudioteam@gmail.com. It would take them a few days to reply to my emails, but I suspect that they are a smaller operation and don't have someone that just answers emails. They upgraded to an IEC socket, the capacitors, and darkened the stain on the bamboo side panels.
The Balanced amp was plugged directly into my Yggdrasil. Using GoldenSound's setup for measuring headphone volume (1) , these were the readings with my ZMF Verite Closed...
AC/DC's Back in Black
At 8 o'clock, the peak db was 63.
At 9 o'clock, the peak db was 90.
At 10 o'clock, the peak db was 100.
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker by Kirov Orchestra Track 1: The Overture
At 8 o'clock, the peak db was 65.
At 9 o'clock, the peak db was 80.
At 10 o'clock, the peak db was 90.
This is my first tube amplifier, so I cannot give authoritative opinions about it. It does sound fantastic though. The music has a grandeur, or a sweetness, to it. I assumed that I wouldn't hear as many details in the music compared to my Headamp GS-X mini, but the music is almost as detailed. The details are a little more obvious on the Headamp, but they are still there with the Balanced amp. Here are some examples of details I listened for:
1. They Might Be Giants, Flood, Lucky Ball and Chain, 2m10s, Left Channel has doo-doo bass.
2. Evanescense, Falen, Bring me to life, 1m37s static with note right before silence.
3. DMB, Crash, Crash Into Me, Cymbal tap changes. Initial tapping. At 11s I hear a tambourine shuffle.
4. Chris Isaac, Forever Blue, Go Walking Down There. 2m01s, 2m06s, 2m12s, 2m17s softly repeats himself, with separate recordings, in both channels
5. Chevelle, La Gargola, Hunter Eats Hunter, Triangle in Right channel at 1m38, 1m41. At 2m51s a faint, buzzy guitar moving from L to R and back to L channel
6. Disturbed, The Sickness (remastered), Down With the Sickness, 3m12s, 3m17s, 3m23s Dream echos in Right Channel.
7. Disturbed, Asylum, The Infection. 48s laughter in left channel 1m31 Dying whispered from right to left channel
8. Chevelle, Niratias, Peach. 2m28s-29s in the background of the guitar riff he says "huh huh huh huhhh" in the L channel.
9. Chuck Mangione, the Millennium Collection, Fun and Games, At the beginning he says “That's alright, keep the groove going, play what you played before.” I can hear it clearly at normal volume levels.
10. Foo Fighters, Colour and Shape, My Hero. 35s-58s and at 1:30-1:55 there is an off key guitar in L channel
Since I am listening with closed backs, I wouldn't expect them to be very holographic. With track 17 on Dr. Chesky's Sensational Fantastic & Simply Amazing album, it sounds like the singers are in a semi circle behind me. I don't notice it so much in normal music listening though.
When the Balanced amp is connected to the Headamp's pre-amp, it has a slightly more robust sound. Is the Headamp providing a gain function? It still sounds great when it is directly connected to the Yggdrasil, but does sound a little better using the Headamp as a preamp.
I tried Psvane's CV181-T Mark II Treasure Tubes. Two posts in another forum suggested that they needed 300 hours of burn in to settle. I let them play for 5 days straight. With my audio chain, they were veiled and masked details. Even though the stock tubes had less of a tube effect, I enjoy them more.
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