I wanted to put this review up for three main reasons:
1. Many people come up to me with "so you are into audio. Can you tell me a system that I should put together?" and my question starts with "tube or solid state" or a ridiculously long winded commentary on DACs (with buzzwords for good measure). They never come back, and that's good!
For about INR 50,000 or so, this can be a starting block for an audiophile and music lover.
2. The Clones audio products are highly reviewed (though limited forum action), but not easily available for an audition in India. So one needs to buy blind (or deaf?!), and I thought fellow audio nuts (particularly those who have my music preferences but have a limited budget) would benefit. There are many reviewers whom I wrote to and were sweet enough to reply and help.
3. Have been working on right matching my Harbeth Compact 7 speakers and this works incredibly well.
What I wont be doing in this is comparing it extensively with other amplifiers.
What do I listen to? You name it, and I do. Lately, lots more classical and jazz, but lots of rock, electronica, new wave, alt rock etc. I listen to CDs and LPs.
Here is some of the music I have played so far through it - this list is not exhaustive, but meant to tell you the different genres that I have enjoyed: Mahler's 4th (Szell/Raskin), Mahler Ruckert Lieder, Ahmad Jamal (Cross Country Tour), Borodin Qtts, Ravel (Dutoit), The Cure, The Beatles, Lee Konitz/Warne Marsh, Stravinsky Rite (Gergiev), Chopin (Pires), Scubert/Schumann (Maisky/Argerich), Schoenberg (Karajan), Radiohead (Kid A), Mavis Staples, Miles Davis, Rodrigo (Concerto - Pepe Romerez), Los Lobos (Kiko), Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody (Brendel), Bill Withers (Still Bill).
Break in is supposedly 100 hours, and this must have played 60-75 hours (estimate)
What do I want from a system? Mainly high quality tone (which is very critical for Classical, especially modern music - would die for richer tone), instrument separation, solid midrange with intelligible vocals, low sibilance, decent transparency. And yes, midrange, midrange, midrange.
What am I willing to compromise on? Bass slam, extreme imaging (decent instrument separation through tone will do), macro dynamics (more to capture ppp to p in a solo piano piece, rather than explosively recreating a Pink Floyd concert). I dont need extreme transparency as well (like listening to coins jingling in the Conductors pocket and able to say whether they were nickels or dimes).
My ideal audio reference: Quad ESL speakers (which for practical purposes, I will never own). I have heard many amps, dacs, lp players etc which I have really liked, but none captivate me as much as that one component.
The Clones: If you have looked at the preferences above, the Clones tick off. This amp gets the tone right and sounds musical. The most expensive amp, I have tried the Harbeths with is the Audio Research integrated, and it sounds really nice - but you wont find yourself lacking with musical enjoyment with this one. The Symphonic Line is another amp that I liked the Harbeths with, particularly for jazz and pop.
Bass is reasonably well defined and tight. Certainly not wallopingly strong, but will let you enjoy the impact reasonably.
Mid range is where it is at - you will make out all the words of a song clearly, for example. Strings and piano sound lovely. So do the winds.
Treble is also good, and more importantly (for me), non bothersome. That something special, that plangency, with tube designs is not there, but you can listened to solo violin without being bothered. Perhaps break in will help?
Or perhaps different cables? Is it my dac? (there you go! "Your debutante just knows what you need, I know what you want")
Loudness: Here is where the limitation of a 25 wpc with a passive volume control comes into play. For some albums, I needed to turn past the 12pm mark, which made me uncomfortable. Clones themselves make more powerful models.
What can you do better: More power would be useful. Harbeths are strangely hard to drive . Please dont obsess over the "More power" words. This is good enough for Metal, but Stravinsky can make it clip!
I hope this review has been helpful to those who have googled their heads off and are still indecisive. Go for it - you wont regret it.
Best wishes,
Vivek
PS. My sister bought it for me from Hong Kong and cleared customs at the airport. So I have no answers for shipping queries.
A shout out to Hercules, Clones dealer in Hong Kong.
Funjoe is very responsive and helpful.
1. Many people come up to me with "so you are into audio. Can you tell me a system that I should put together?" and my question starts with "tube or solid state" or a ridiculously long winded commentary on DACs (with buzzwords for good measure). They never come back, and that's good!
For about INR 50,000 or so, this can be a starting block for an audiophile and music lover.
2. The Clones audio products are highly reviewed (though limited forum action), but not easily available for an audition in India. So one needs to buy blind (or deaf?!), and I thought fellow audio nuts (particularly those who have my music preferences but have a limited budget) would benefit. There are many reviewers whom I wrote to and were sweet enough to reply and help.
3. Have been working on right matching my Harbeth Compact 7 speakers and this works incredibly well.
What I wont be doing in this is comparing it extensively with other amplifiers.
What do I listen to? You name it, and I do. Lately, lots more classical and jazz, but lots of rock, electronica, new wave, alt rock etc. I listen to CDs and LPs.
Here is some of the music I have played so far through it - this list is not exhaustive, but meant to tell you the different genres that I have enjoyed: Mahler's 4th (Szell/Raskin), Mahler Ruckert Lieder, Ahmad Jamal (Cross Country Tour), Borodin Qtts, Ravel (Dutoit), The Cure, The Beatles, Lee Konitz/Warne Marsh, Stravinsky Rite (Gergiev), Chopin (Pires), Scubert/Schumann (Maisky/Argerich), Schoenberg (Karajan), Radiohead (Kid A), Mavis Staples, Miles Davis, Rodrigo (Concerto - Pepe Romerez), Los Lobos (Kiko), Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody (Brendel), Bill Withers (Still Bill).
Break in is supposedly 100 hours, and this must have played 60-75 hours (estimate)
What do I want from a system? Mainly high quality tone (which is very critical for Classical, especially modern music - would die for richer tone), instrument separation, solid midrange with intelligible vocals, low sibilance, decent transparency. And yes, midrange, midrange, midrange.
What am I willing to compromise on? Bass slam, extreme imaging (decent instrument separation through tone will do), macro dynamics (more to capture ppp to p in a solo piano piece, rather than explosively recreating a Pink Floyd concert). I dont need extreme transparency as well (like listening to coins jingling in the Conductors pocket and able to say whether they were nickels or dimes).
My ideal audio reference: Quad ESL speakers (which for practical purposes, I will never own). I have heard many amps, dacs, lp players etc which I have really liked, but none captivate me as much as that one component.
The Clones: If you have looked at the preferences above, the Clones tick off. This amp gets the tone right and sounds musical. The most expensive amp, I have tried the Harbeths with is the Audio Research integrated, and it sounds really nice - but you wont find yourself lacking with musical enjoyment with this one. The Symphonic Line is another amp that I liked the Harbeths with, particularly for jazz and pop.
Bass is reasonably well defined and tight. Certainly not wallopingly strong, but will let you enjoy the impact reasonably.
Mid range is where it is at - you will make out all the words of a song clearly, for example. Strings and piano sound lovely. So do the winds.
Treble is also good, and more importantly (for me), non bothersome. That something special, that plangency, with tube designs is not there, but you can listened to solo violin without being bothered. Perhaps break in will help?
Or perhaps different cables? Is it my dac? (there you go! "Your debutante just knows what you need, I know what you want")
Loudness: Here is where the limitation of a 25 wpc with a passive volume control comes into play. For some albums, I needed to turn past the 12pm mark, which made me uncomfortable. Clones themselves make more powerful models.
What can you do better: More power would be useful. Harbeths are strangely hard to drive . Please dont obsess over the "More power" words. This is good enough for Metal, but Stravinsky can make it clip!
I hope this review has been helpful to those who have googled their heads off and are still indecisive. Go for it - you wont regret it.
Best wishes,
Vivek
PS. My sister bought it for me from Hong Kong and cleared customs at the airport. So I have no answers for shipping queries.
A shout out to Hercules, Clones dealer in Hong Kong.
Funjoe is very responsive and helpful.
