Highest Value audio power amplifier for $3K 

Nothing beats its measurements.

I sold mine. I bought it to replace my Museatex CI-60, highly modified by John Wright. The CI-60 has a wide, deep and high soundstage with pinpoint imaging. The BMs soundstage was smaller and the imaging was really poor. The BM specs blow the CI-60 into the weeds, but specs seldom tell the whole story.

You bet Peter, thanks for your feedback. If youve got time, scoot over to 11stereo.com and bevome a HiFiTribe member. Then you will be included in my communications with the tribe which is more inner circle and not for the general public. Im glad youre learning. I am still learning as well !

You got it!

Danish high end too, ,:Gryphon audio, Vitus, aavik,

And one Crown. The Powerline 4, also PS400, which is the same with different exterior.

@@henriksrensen3220 I met Rune Skov from Gryphon Audio last month. Fantastic person. He was a former teacher and now one of their top people at the company. My fiancé is also Danish so I have a love for Danish equipment too!

Kinky sells direct so its DQd as it has unfair price advantage. This piece is more powerful thats for sure and Kinki has for me zero pride of ownership. JRDG is the mack. But yes Kinki is very good for the money. I simply have a negative bias against anything Chinese at this point considering they opened thier Wuhan wet market back up yesterday as thousands are dying in 126 different countries. This makes me feel like generally speaking the Chinese do not care about others so why would they care about making american peoples hifi fantasy come true ? I simply dont trust it. But truly, my video is asking to compare power amps so we can compare apples to apples. Product bought direct from a Chinese manufacturer which bypasses all the normal channels has an unfair comparison of price. We would have to use the Rowlands wholesale value to compare with Kini. So say $1700 for $1700, i would rather have the Rowland personally. Meaning i would rather have to spend extrato get the preamp as well.

I don't think most people realize that China is the enemy to the whole free world no matter what side of the political fence you're on. We need to break them financially so their people can be freed from evil.

I would not have pride of ownership from a silly Cosmetic. You know me better than that. My pride of ownership starts with American Made, then it goes to how incredibly well built every Rowland piece is, how durable they are and always seem to never run out of power, then we can get to sonic. Gorgeous. Clearly you have zero familiarity with either Jeff nor his brand. Because if you even just meet Jeff for the first time , It takes literally 5 minutes to realize this man has high integrity. Within 15 more minutes you know he would never in a million years embellish a box in order to hide crap inside. Only real Schmucks do that. Like Corporate HiFi. perfect example. Once you know this brand and the man behind it, you realize this amp has the most clean intent matched with the highest integrity design. Honestly. It will re establish what you consider a reference build.

Please Jason dont tell me you think SMPS can not sound better than an old heavy ass linear. You realize any real R&D money has gone in to SMPS not linear for at least the last 10 years. Consider the possibility that the latest technology embarasses our beloved heavy and hot by orders of magnitude. Its because very few designers have the balls to make whats currently the highest performance for audio regardless what the Audiophiles want. I would not say this J unless i had experienced it first hand. My latest Class D amps are selling to SET die hards with higest end Wavac 300B amps utilizing original WE tubes and hand wound silver transformers. A big shift in listening is ushering in.

@@OCDHIFiGuy Break it open like you did that server awhile back. I'd like to see what's inside. Like I said, the chassis nowadays is the most expensive part on most high end amps because of the focus on aesthetics over performance. D'Agostino and McIntosh proved that such a strategy works decades ago. I'm ok with a fancy chassis (and even a reasonably high price for aesthetics), but I like to see what's inside since that's what counts. I'm pretty sure if you break it open you will see that the chassis IS the most expensive part in this amp. Selling it for $3k is fine, but it's $3k for mainly aesthetics. I went to their website and it does only have an SMPS power supply. They also are using the wrong speaker terminals for an amp that is bridgeable. You shouldn't use those terminals like he is doing because when you bridge it and tighten on just one spade, you will cantilever the pressure when you screw it down. Frankly, it's a common sense thing and something almost any amp designer would notice as a potential problem. He could have used individual screw down Furutech's or even cheaper Cardas that would have made much more sense for bridgeable operation. As an OCD guy about connections, you should be going ape schitt about that too. Rowland is not dumb and knows it. He just chose aesthetics over performance/common sense with this model. Look at the model above this one, he puts money into addressing this EXACT problem I'm talking about. He creates a separate third terminal for mono operation which is what he should have done for this model too (or used different individual terminals). Again, I know you like the guy and he has a great reputation, but this amp does NOT look anywhere near something I would touch for high end usage. It's basically a budget price build with the focus on identical aesthetics to other models so you can show people you have a "Rowland". Personally, I prefer the reverse for budget builds (i.e. close to identical internal parts and skimp on the aesthetics). Don't get too offended though. Like I said, the guy is competent, and I'm confident that his more expensive models give much better OVERALL VALUE when you factor in the parts, design decisions, performance, etc. I'm just warning you about hitching your wagon to this amp as an example of his great work. Those in the know will see exactly where the shortcuts were taken.

BTW, I forgot to mention another reason why nobody uses these cardas speaker terminals. They are not only hard for consumers to hook up as you briefly alluded. They are even worse for amp designers on the internal side. They require much more work to install and performance/ease of hookup is arguably nowhere near those made by Furutech.

Im not pointing to this amp as an object of perfection im just saying i dont know of anything built better for 3K. Now remember, Jeff sells it for $1700 , so before anyone starts calling this amp overpriced. Yell at the dealer. Jeff sells it for $1700. Im trying to clear the air about class D and Ice Modules being shit. So im saying Ill compete with this "cheap" Ice module with a Rowlandb designed class A , fully differential imput stage with dual Lundahl transformers. Its exactly this board which makes tjis Rowland throttle any other amp using the same module. The chassis stops vibration and resonance. Normally ice module is not given such wrll made real estate. Its why it sounds better. Ill prove it in a vid. Our industry is full of these wankers that talk like thry know something and desparige a product. I think evety audio show should have a boxing ring and lets let these big talkers come into the ring. They are pissants. I normally ignore them Jas because they are too weak to spend time on. But im cooped up and i feel like putting these jerks in thier place. So one video coming up

There is nothing inside it lol

I dont believe it. 10W is completely pigeonholed to a high efficiency speaker. Klipsch are my crappiest speakers. Ive got Voxativ coming or AER. For the comparison, i did not day sounds best. I said highest value. I personally value versatility very much. So that outs the AN for me and its $3,K ? Is it a kit ?

Very cool that you are going to try Voxativ or something similar (Cube Audio maybe?). The P1 SE Signature is indeed 3k-ish, basically it is the same circuit like Audio Note's OTO SE Signature (ca. 6k also great value at that price) but with 1 input only, no balance control and no phono stage option - things most people can easily live with I think. Plus it has got a proper preamp stage. Granted it is not very versatile but the sound easily makes up for this... Really wouldn't recommend the Kits, it is not even the same company and they take a lot of shortcuts with regard to the parts. Agreed that Klipsch is not sounding too great, even the Klioschorn is too bright...

Exactly

Yes, for sure .

Nice Priyo !!

Great. Keep your Stasis. I'll keep selling these like Tacos 🌮 ;-)

What's your point ? You either buy it or you don't. Nobody cares about your choice.

Well you do obviously 😜

Hi Scott, yes my man, you nailed it , all you have to do is meet the guy and talk with him a little bit. He is the farthest thing from typical arrogant Audio elitist . Its easy to see he is not a hustler and never has been . Jeff actually made an impression on me some 16 years ago when I was still wet behind the ears and an attendee at the shows not an exhibitor as i later became. He actually genuinely listened to me and answered questions in a very gracious manner and I thought to my self wow, thats the actual Man Jeff Rowland and he gave me the full respect of conversation as a peer would give you . I never forgot that . and I'll tell you what, you want to know about a HiFi company, find the owner at the show and watch him and how he deals with others, Its huge insight as if you want to support the product or not. Because Ive seen some beautiful looking gear with a complete jerk owner. Boulder and I'll never forget that guy nor ever even own his product itf it were given to me

@@OCDHIFiGuy Funny you should mention Boulder, most people don't have a clue about the early years, they actually started out here in north county San Diego, kinda of mid fi, moved to Colorado & all of the sudden became ultra high end with the attitude to match. My friend was the dealer here in town, strictly because the high rollers demanded it, along with Wilson speakers, you know because the magazines said you wanted it. I heard the stuff many times & very unimpressive with their 45K phono stage being the biggest disappointment. And the cost of their stuff makes Jeff Rowland look like mid fi pricing, plus the fact you get to deal with a true gentleman like Jeff, doesn't get much better than that.

@@512bb some owners like to boast and be outspoken and try to show off whereby others are quiet and dilligently design great product. You must seek them out as the limelight makes them uncomfortable. Its because they see thrmselves as a regular person just doing their job. Id venture to day one is more evolved spiritually and thinks of others more than the Ego driven self absorbed, compulsive, reactionary non realized human. They still bounce around here and there- banging into things.

OCD HI-Fi Guy I took down my comment, just cuz I felt like I was butting into you and Scott’s conversation. Sorry, guys. 🙂

@@NickP333 Oh no Nick, You were not butting in at all, your comment was terrific and most welcome, please don't feel like you can't participate as that's what makes it fun. And to your comment I think you buy a person not just a product. I have been into audio for more then 40 years, I have a real thing for turntables and have owned countless tables but I actually sold what is arguably one of the greatest tables ever built because dealing with the designer was always a heartwrenching experience so I know how you feel and its great news to hear you had such a great experience, don't be a stranger my friend! All the best to you and your family.

Thanks James for your support ..

Direct sale comes to mine, so if we are comparing to a direct sale piece then this is a $1700 piece because that's what its sold for by Rowland.

What do you need that you can't find between the Jeff Rowland site and this video ?

I Know Dan well and his brand is the best of Values, but its not an audiophile brand per se. Its more of Home theater stuff IMHO

@@OCDHIFiGuy If you compare how these amps are built it looks like Jeff's amp was a HT unit for the rear ;-) But to be honest I respect JR a a company very much. One expample, few years ago I considered buying JR consummate preamplifier. I asked JR about spare parts in case I need it, asked about new display (you know, the displays in these units sametimes are little burned due to age - over 25 years old preamp) and ...no problem, diplays are avalable. What a service.

@@OCDHIFiGuy Emotiva is very audiophile.

Without expending too many characters, not in my opinion and I loved what my Emo XPA-2 Gen2 did for my Maggie MMGs. With my Tekton Moabs the Arcam 8P (50w 8ohm 100w 4ohm) is leaps and bounds better and far more engaging. These are two products that at their respective release dates were about the same price. The XP-2 does loud and clear and is refined to a point, but not at the level that Mikey hangs in. To my ears the Arcam is WAY more engaging and ticks all the checkboxes for you favorite audiophile adjectives. Mikey would probably say "I hear it, but I have something that will get you more" and show me a price tag north of $3k.

They are great HiFi Pieces.... different than Bryston, but just as dependable ...

Thats cool. Everyone has thier taste. I figured people would know when I said "best" it was click bait . As clearly nothing in HiFi can be best. Cheers !

Yep many of those bad ass amps are becoming dinosaurs. No speakers these days need it and to need an appointment to move your amp to the other side of the room is a drag. Plus they waste energy BAD Krell Reference Standard, Gryphon Ref 1, I was offered these last week and can get them for a song, but I dont want those massive cant move them amps in my room ...

Hi Zack, I dont support China for political reasons.. I think they are bad for our economy and they like to keep worker slaves. Support Schiit far before any Chinese company. Buy used older gear from the greats like Jeff Rowland. Krell, CODA, Threshold, Classe, B&K, Etc...

@@OCDHIFiGuy China on the whole, I would agree. Run of the mill cheap crap, I'm right there with you. But top tier craftsmen the likes of Audio-gd, Denafrips, Hifi-Man, etc? Those are guys like you and me who just happened to be born in another place. Same with any other country. We're all one species living on one planet, barely a spec of dust in the cosmos. Putting up walls and discriminating against our neighbors doesn't help anyone in the long run. I've e-mailed back and fourth with Kingwa enough times, I think he's a stand up guy. Do I know him personally? No. But he's a pet lover and an audiophile like me. He works hard and he makes great products. I think he deserves our respect. And I think he deserves American dollars if we like his sound. I'm still going to audition some American gear against my Audio-gd stuff, after I have upgraded my speakers. (Looking at Tekton Moab.) I would budget around $2k for my end game DAC and pre. I might try that PS Audio unit and open to any other suggestions. At the moment, I'm driving my current JBL speakers with my Audio-gd headphone stack hooked up to my Vidar and I'm loving it. Blows my Emotiva TA-1 completely out of the water.

BENCHMARK AHB2

Dork. How the Hell do people get that ? I gotta shed the bellies off my tummy and titties.. damn.

OCD HI-Fi Guy I think it’s your cynicism and vocal cadence. Don’t be mad bro, just know I got mad respect for you. Moobs are a right of passage in the audio game 🤜🏼🤛🏼. Got mine when I hit 30.

What did you upgrade from? What kind of speakers are you using?

@@tupuhumuhumunukunukuapuaa3093 hi there! The main unit is Anthem 720, Emotiva xpa5 3rd gen is still in use for movies. Speakers? Main 5.0 set... Elac fs 407 and the rest Elac as well. Difference in stereo audition? Night and day! I couldn't belive...it's much better than I expected :D Sound stage is sooo real. Just amazing! D Class rules. Plenty juice for my quite demanding 4 Ohm speakers. Bass is reallly deep and full. No need any sub...even for movies. Btw, music in movies sounds so great now.F&Furious discovering again ;)

@@ravx799 Those Elacs look real nice. Emotiva juice is definitely really nice for movies. But in my new digs I'm not doing movies so much and two channel is always the priority so I boxed up my Emotiva XPA-2 Gen2 and put the Arcam 8P back in its place. For the Maggies the Emotiva was the amp to use but with my Tekton Moabs the Arcam 8P wipes the floor with the Emotiva, there's just something real sexy about that Arcam 8P (I know it's not even FMJ) and Tekton Maob combo. But it is a lowly Arcam 8P and I'm ready to see what these Moabs can really do. Thanks for getting back to me!

The "Carver" 275 is absolute garbage. The build quality is junk and the performance is worse.

Hey Man, how are ya ?I said ICE Module, everyone knows what it is. Its no secret.

Totally. Mad respect for Dan Laufmann

I got a SIT3 and yes, efficient speakers are best.

Its a little phenomenon

You can buy an amplifier with the same internals for 800$ elsewhere. If you spend 3k you might aswell get something like the benchmark AHB2

@@pangbangdang3672 Agreed. But it also begs the question, for ones setup, do you need such astounding specs for the $. I personally bought a bunch of 80s era class AB pro amps that got properly rebuilt. Fraction of the kind of $ were talking about here. I have other amps as well, tube, newer tech so on... They all have their own characteristics and strengths. I have to wonder about peoples room / treatments, speaker sensitivity and setup, not even going into peoples hearing and perception. I actually had the honor of talking to Zed of classic HiFonics fame. We got on the topic of amp specs of class D vs old school topology. He made the remark, you think those specs matter in the noisy environment of a car?!? Really hit me. In a nut shell, theres so many different ways to get amazing sound from all sorts of speakers and gear and other factors. Im personally in the camp of using amps with extra headroom for the application. So many of these uber expensive 100 watt +/- amps dont wow me very much. However if using my super efficient horn speaker setup thats a different story.

@@daveme3582 For car equipment I agree fully, heck your also focusing on the road, maybe when self driving becomes standard hifi car audio will become a thing. Honestly the best amplifier setup no matter the price would be benchmark AHB 2 (class H) in mono-bridged. That would be 380 watts into 8ohm and 700 watts into 4 ohm with 0.0003 % THD+N. Although you can get 80% of this for a fraction of the price. I am 19 years old and currently got KEF LS50 Meta topping d90s and rega Io. My dream setup is Mola Mola dac, Benchmark AHB 2 amplifier, Benchmark pre amp and KEF blade 2. I have got some way to go but something to strive for 😊

@@pangbangdang3672 Haha you remind me of me at that age. Im 41 now. Back when I was in high school I saved my $ and bought a Yamaha HT receiver and all Paradign speakers. Pro Logic back then. Went nuts from there on out. It was a pre internet era back then. The biggest lesson I learned as time went on was about amp clipping and killing speaker. I had no idea why I kept blowing tweeters on the speakers I used as a young kid. My dad hooked me up with some nice vintage audio gear. But I didnt know the receiver was only 40 watts or so and I was driving 2 sets of 3 way speakers with an EQ in the mix. Terrible move looking back on it now. But me and my dad knew no better then. Agreed on the spec stand point the AHB2 is king. And yes if I were gonna rock em Id also use a pair bridged. Plenty of power then. And I think $3k a pop is a fair price for what it is. I simply feel for MOST peoples, even high end, needs there are plenty of less $ options with similar power. That top 5-10% of quality comes at such a high price. But Im a big bang for the $ kinda guy. You seem like a very spec focused guy. One thing I learned over the years is not just focus on specs alone. Listening is every bit as important. Im sure your a fellow fan of audio science review. Id also HIGHLY recommend checking out Elliot Sound Products website and his many write ups on all things audio. Its like the mecca of audio college. You can learn about ANYTHING there. Ive been out of the modern high end audio scene for a bit now. Got enough audio toys for 3 lifetimes as it is. Id never heard of that Mola Dac. It certainly specs nice but their website is oddly vague on detailed spec info. Regardless theres no way I would spend $13k on a Dac. Its a mini computer inside and they all fail over time. Plus if a company chooses to charge that much I would demand a warranty like Benchmark offers. 5 year with registration to the original owner. I could find no mention of warranty on Mola's site. But Im guessing its a 1 year given the absence of info. Im also a spec guy as mentioned. Its why I bought a used Prism Lyra 1 for less than half its new price. I love a quality A/D D/A box for my computer needs. With that said I recently got a great deal on a used Motu M4 A/D D/A usb box. Under $200. New its about $260. I personally feel the Motu usb units to be the best bang for the $ around. They spec right around the same other "pro" grade converters in many cases. Not tip top but damn close. I also have older nice DA converters that are non usb. So I bought a Mutec MC 1.2 interface. Great units for solid digital I/O with a PC. I also have a Lynx E22 PCIE audio card. I would personally just go with a Benchmark DAC 3 HGC and not bother with an external DAC. I trust Benchmark to make true TOTL gear. They have been doing it for so long now. That would be a perfect preamp with built in dac. Your clearly a fan of KEF. Many are as well. Just its been my experience that direct radiator speakers that use several small drivers to cover deep bass, tend to lack the visceral impact and depth of larger bass drivers. Clearly this is a generality. And I know and have heard examples that were impressive. The large old Polk SDA come to mind. They used a passive radiator as well. Im sure those Blade 2 are great and all. Just for the same $ I personally would be looking at a set of Wilson Audio Yvette speakers. Clearly Wilson knows what its doing. Plus they spec much better in the bass depo at the -3db point. Found it kinda odd KEF chose to show specs at -6db points. But hey many do as well. Also are 175lbs per speaker vs 77lbs per speaker. No cheating physics thus Wilson make damn sure their cabinets are inert and built to last. Id highly encourage you to listen to some of the many Planar design loud speakers. They really are a sound unto themselves. Same with planar headphones. Many different designs out there. I personally bought a set of hifiman HE500 headphones. I also got lucky as all heck and snagged a full Stax Lambda Professional headphones with matching amp thrifting for less than $10. Pre covid you could find amazing stuff thrifting. Still do just far less than before. This is easier said than done but if you ever get the chance to hear an all horn loudspeaker setup there is simply nothing else like it. Granted its not easy to do and takes up quite a bit of space. But wow, its life like on another level. So many great ways of getting great sound these days. You also have time on your side to discover all sorts of new ways and toys. Have fun on the journey. And try not to make the same mistake me and so many others have. Wasting $ on stuff that simply doesnt pan out. But hey part of the fun I guess LOL.

@@daveme3582 Haha you got me. I studied science from 16-19 and am a very analytical person. I will for sure check out Elliot sound. I wanted to go all out on benchmark, but I would also like a streamer and that is built in to the Mola. My parents got KEF r3 then I got the LS50 meta. Meta measure very very freaking good at mid to low volumes. That said they do not deliver below 150hz, but they are to my current subjective taste perfect down to 150hz. I listened to 5k$ b&w at a local store and they had a lot more below 150hz but they couldn't compare above. Blade 2 got the same directionality as the LS50 meta but got the full spectrum. Even if you look at the measurements of the blade 2 in stereophile it shows it is the current pinnacle of the KEF sound. I have been interested in hifi since I was 12 years and purchased Sennheiser hd558s , then I used a years saving when I was 14 to buy audioquest nighthawks. I introduced the hifi world to my dad who was not enjoying a concert at home on the Bose speakers we had 🥲. I showed him the KEF r3 connected to a Naim atom and he was sold (he did not even ask my mom for permission to buy them 😂). The best part about this is that I will probably experience the KEF blade 2 before I buy them because my dad will have the money to buy them when he retires in 10 years or so.

Say whaaaaa ?

send one for shootout...,

Smartest Soundman in all of RU-vid. Skull like an inflated Melon with a mind the size of a peanut inside. you know nothing as proven by your comment. .🤣

Sometimes its way better, sometimes it is not. Just try it and determine for that particular system.

Klaus !!

Cool. The 'Stronz knows a trick or two. Which model do you speak of ?

I am your Link. Rowland does not sell direct. I am a dealer. The reason I work so dilligently providing these videos is to earn your business. Ive got a follow up video coming with the sound vs the other Rowland gear

Conflict of interest here? Why wouldn't you be biased?

Swedish i meant lol

Tim Peck They are made in China though, just like Hegel

Actually since 2000 they have had parts manufactured in Taiwan and China. most of the internals are europian made and the chassis are made in sweden so it's abit of both really...

​@@timpeck4296 It doesn't make sense for Primare make the case in Sweden, the case is the part you can make the biggest savings on if you manufacture in China. AFAIK only the 60 series is made in Sweden. Don't worry though, this Rowland uses ICEPower modules that are also made in China. :) IMO as a high-end manufacturer you either make an amplifier your kids can use after you're dead (class A/B, fully discrete, through-hole, top quality parts, repairable forever) or you go cheap with class D. Expensive class D amps are a bad investment.

And a benchmark ahb2 paired with a topping d90se running balanced would destroy everything

whatever you do, forget the heavy is good thing, thats over with. new technology is neither hot nor heavy. But this little amp is 8 LB which is a lot for something 2 inch by 8 inch by 12 inch

Thanks Marcin ,-)

Robert it does not matter about dealers, its just to price level. match, since Ricky is selling to end users at dealer cost. so this makes Jeffs amp $1500 presuming he were like Ricky selling direct. I cant find a pic of it. How does it look ? Then we would have to listen, Ill feature it id Ricky wants to send one. He knows me from the shows. .

Boulder is not on my radar... complete asshole founder... fuck him and his brand..

Interesting. Ive not seen them but I do know Jeffs trademark look pre dates EP and Wally. I believe Jeff has been doing this finish since mid to late 1980s

@@OCDHIFiGuy Yelp, started it on the model 8s & 9s, must be seen in person to be appreciated.

Whats Nord ? French ? How much $$ ?

Yes NCORES are ridiculous. I need another pair.

Of course I can. Thats what I'm here for. ;-)

@@OCDHIFiGuy Sent you an email the other day. TY!

@@BenjaminJGold i responded. Let me make sure its not in the outbox!

@@OCDHIFiGuy Not seen it yet, I'll check the ol spam filter as well....

@@BenjaminJGold call me please 404 seven six four 62three three

Thx

Exvcept if you have 4 ohnm speakers you cant use them with the benchmark if you bridge .

@@OCDHIFiGuy you don't need to bridge benchmark. 100w RMS should enough for normal room and listening levels. Even In low gain mode I hardly use it's 10 or 15w power most of the time.

@@OCDHIFiGuy From AudioScienceReview:"500 watts into 4 ohm! Stunning 0.00026% distortion at 500 watts!!"

@@scottmichaels1764 wouldn't it be great if there were numbers that equalled great sound???

You can put the banana plug on its side and tighten the post carefully so as to not smash it.

Its spade, tightening bananas in there a lesson in anguish. I make banana to spade adapters though.

@@OCDHIFiGuy is the Rowland 125 a class D amp?

@@bernardinovite2707 of course it is ! Whatever you do, dont get caught thinking Class D is not good for HiFi. Witin the last 3 months we released a new type of class D, that is the new way we will listen. Within ill say 5 years, the market for hot temp. Heavy weight hifi will all but disappear.

@@OCDHIFiGuy I'm not against class D amps , it's still growing on me. I know they're more efficient in many ways. The sound has improved a lot since the first models came out. It's like the CD vs vinyl debate. Which one is better. At this point I like tubes because to my ears they sound more natural. I'm sure the day will come when class D will sound as good as tubes. But then a better tube could be just around the corner.

Hi Hemant, good questions. Simplest answer is that this is a purist design power amplifier that is balanced XLR=Balanced, if you are purist, you do not allow for conversion steps on the input to facilitate a connector designed for home use (RCA) There is actually a point that the equipment sounds good enough that it does not need treble of bass control. If you must constantly reach for bass and treble, something is wrong. A good system has balance naturally. This is not a product for you. Your perfect product is a Simon Audio Lab All in One . Go to 11stereo.com to see one..

@@OCDHIFiGuy Thanks, that's kind of what I thought, but your explanation is great. I will check out the Simon Audio!

Thought the same thing, but yea the Rowland is better looking as if that matters, I hope the Rowland isn't just an ICE module stuffed in a custom chassis.

looks good on paper, but its 20watt at idle, i dont want that in my room.

@@matthewhilty4209 I think it is...

Nice looking amp the Rowland but i think parts are no more than 200 dollars if any without the case.Also 125 watts is nothing for the price

I have heard the AHB2 a few times at audio shows paired with Martin Logan speakers. It always sounded terrible, bright, clinical, stale, not pleasing at all.

You dont know me well enough to accept straight talk I understand. You need to listen to it. watch my other videos, the one from the day earlier shows it and Ill be featuring it the next few days inm videos comparing the sound , sound comes first before anything, but for us audiophiles it goes without saying, so I dont say it. There is only one way and thats to let that little amp prove itself, which I will do over the next few days.. Stay tuned !

404 seven six four six2 three three

nope, i know EJ tho

@@OCDHIFiGuy i got them a few days ago, on maggies 3.6r, they sound phénoménal! it's an endless volume reserve with very precise yet enjoyable sound. the bass response is amazing. oh and the dynamics... never thought the maggies could be that punchy

I guess he doesn't sell those. Bummer!

But seriously the Levinson is on my desire list.

Um you mean the demo vid ? Or the actual cable ?

OCD HI-Fi Guy the actual cable.

@@alexiheaka6128 it will be on 11stereo.com shortly. Thanks for the heads up !

Not by the founder of the company will they repair thier gear.

@@OCDHIFiGuy of course not you don’t expect the CEO of a company to fix anything. The point I was making is no matter how old the equipment is they will still fix it. I’ve seen a lot of companies come and go through my lifetime in the stereo Hobby . A lot of these companies like Marantz, pioneer and others either don’t exist or wouldn’t even fix their equipment after it was 10 years old if something went wrong with it. Today some of these old piece of equipment are hailed as great pieces of stereo equipment but the company’s that made them still will not touch them and fix them for their customers. Yet, I could buy an old piece of 1977 Of CJ amp and sent it back to them and they’ll fix it and update it for me.

@@anoxicfiltrationplenums ok. I get it now. Yes not only will. Jeff Rowland Design Group fix any of the very old amps , Jeff actually has not stopped doing the repairs, he does every single one. Shows you how few there are...but he also brings them up to higher spec than original as usually he upgraded a certain part of the circuit, etc. Thats pretty much unheard of and really great. Thanks for your feedback !!

@@OCDHIFiGuy you sell really good stuff and I know JEFF backs up everything that He’s ever made since 1977 along with Conrad Johnson and audio research. Keep up the good videos I like watching them.

Thanks Dr. Kev. Audio Research has been bought and sold a few times now I think. I believe CoJo is still with the original guys. As soon as they are sold out from the founder I no longer trust the brand. Its usually when investors get involved and its only about jacking profits up as a corporate entity

What are you, 16 years old ?

Its not light, I am simply very strong and macho. Lol. $3K is it. Ive got 2 avail now.

Strong power, dynamic, and transparent ,.

Made in USA is FAR better than Made in China. Chinese cant tune anything well. They do not innovate they copy others , but they can only reverse engineer the physical build, not the tuning Dont get me started on China right now, they have FUCKED the whole planet up, are you blind and deaf? Millions of people are dying a miserable death due to China. There is only dark emptiness and no interesting discussion about China

@@OCDHIFiGuy Dude everyone is on edge. But what you are saying is not cool. Not cool and you are cool guy.

My best class D is one company only. AGD production. Easily the best ive heard

I might have it tonight. Its $4K

@@OCDHIFiGuy hmm my guess is Dena Frips Terminator

@@jasmeetsinghism strike one. NO. I sell a better DAC than Termi called Audiobyte Hydra VOX/ZAP much more versatile and better sounding.

No it does not due to its differential nature.

DED NSIDE TA-N7B is a masterpiece!

Look at my other video, I have it driving the larger .7i's it is killer with Maggies. This will turn a Sony inside out.

@@OCDHIFiGuy I have to agree As much as I love the Sony and L-O8m Kenwood monoblock I think you've put the best under 5k Combo together on RU-vid , regardless of era . Do you have a recommended for a pre amp ?

@@PrimeHiFi Yeah its probably the best commercial AB solid state ever made . I dont think anyone knows what it is but a handfull of people. It was the economic world crisis of 80' That did it in unfortunately , and the move to mosfet at Sony . It's a tough call

@@dednside5229 that Sony is cool because of when it was made. Right now that technology Vfet means nothing more than cool nostalgia, there are not many people that will take speaker pins and pinch hole connectors serious. This rowland is a far more viable piece. How will you use the preamp ? Volume only or other things as well ? Do you want a DAC in the pre ? Cheers M

Nope, can't keep printing trillions and expect the value of a FReserve note to stay the same...simple economics. Blame the system...

Yes

The next Vid Clarence I did a live demo Friday night but the music got it blocked , I'll make another today

LOL, you sound like an Idiot..

They are now ....

I believe I have neen told but OK. Perhaps you could strengthen your position with facts- make your argument. Otherwise you are counting on me to research and compile evidence against myself. Prolly not gon duit....

That's OK. Many others do however..

No, Its not. This company is a world class company. This amp is a baby version, clearly not world class level at $3K, but represents the world class level better than any other amp at $3K, do you disagree with that >? If so show me a better example.

Bel Canto not usually applauded from my experience. Never heard it I simply know nobody raves about it ...

Nope, Try again... They are Bridge tied load monos and are push pull the whole way to the output posts