jp11801

a sold state stat amp could be built from what Craig said pretty quick as he had a channel of it ready to test. If there was interest people should ping him, I'm sure he'd build it if there was enough interest. It was a friend from his Harmon Kardon days that he worked on the amp with, basically a guy who all he does is design discrete amp topologies. So Dan is the meet this saturday or the second saturday in August??

I'd reach out to Craig on pricing and options, the one I have is the base version he can make it with a tube rectified ps that is more like the ps in my amp. It's a no brainer to get the better ps. The outputs are the 307a tube and I think the driver is a 6sl7 but the amp is not in front of me at the moment.

Ryan, on this amp it does look as though he has ordered the transformers for the first run of 10 so it does look like the BA is being made. The speakers are a heartbreaker as he has been struggling to get these made for over a year.

Dan I'll be there, depends on the size you want, maybe make it an invitational? LMK when you want to hear it, I can come over or host you here.

Dude just set it up and announce it and I'll be over. I am sure the dac will be great if it is as good as the moth dac he uses.

No it does not 'crush' the Nautilus but is a clear step up from it. Yes and other than the first weekend in August I'm around. We'll probably have a mini meet soon.

We did not mention it but there was an entry level balanced amp there as well. I may get this wrong but, it has one gain stage runs off WE437s or the russian tube that is the equivilent (forget the number). Sounded good just tough to go from the BA to the smaller amp in the listening session. Smaller form factor with the tubes inside the amp. As much as a I like the Zana the BA and Nautilus had it beat to my ears but I like transformer coupled amps. . I think we'll see the BA get made and probably not the Nautilus based on what Craig was saying and what we were hearing.

I'd put the millet 307a, the BA from EC in that upper tier as well as the pagano 300b amp. I'm not sure why the pagano amps did not take off while expensive they are in the range of some of the more esoteric SP offerings and won best in show at the 2006 annual meet from Stereophile.

here are a few pics with the HD2 for reference. I am told the finished amp will have the transformers inside the amp and will have a better finished metal work of course. Keep in mind this amp is the working proto that was shown at CanJam. It will obviously look better if produced as a production run. I'm using the Audio Technica AD2ks with it now and it is even up with the HD2 with this can. They have a slightly different presentation with the BA having a more intimate feel with slightly more body and the HD2 presenting a wider stage.

well I've got it for the month so all we have to do is set a time and place to fire it up. only bad weekend is the first in August. No way this is traveling to the east coast unless Craig ships it, sorry. It's not too heavy bit it is a bit much for carry on.

While this may or not may not fit the Websters definition of fanboyism (god I hate that term). The problem to me at least is when an SP customer raised concerns here or on headfi there seemed to be a universal response of " yeah I waited a long time and dealt with the BS but in the end it is totally worth it" or you'd get a few responses well I ordered my amp 6 weeks ago and I got it last week. Both of these answers without SP customers with issues chiming in had the effect of masking the issue. So people continued to send there cash to Denver thinking nothng was amiss. With that said though if you ordered a standard boiler plate mpx3 or extreme you probably got that in short order. If you added a bunch of upgraded to your amp that had the effect of stuffing 10lbs of sausage in a 5 lb casing then there were delays.

Well I was down in the LA area on business and to check out a few hotels with David (909) so a stop by Craig's (Eddie Current) house was in order. So on my way home I stopped by with David (909) for a listen. Craig has been cooking up a new balanced amp since the Mayberry on Acid meet. The Balancing Act and the Nautilus have been in various states for prototyping for a while now. So we were able to hear the Nautilus which debuted at the recent NorCal meet in San Mateo and the latest version of the balacing act. The BA first appeared at the Maberry on Acid meet with smaller tubes that were enclosed in the amp. While we all liked the amp Craig scrapped that one and present V2 at Can Jam this time with 300bs in it. Once again it seemed to be well received but was scrapped in favor of the Nautilus. Now the Nautilus was at the meet we held about a month ago and was a hit a the meet and fared well against the HD2 (my amp). Well yesterday we heard the Balancing Act with a new tube set the 307a tube. Now my first reaction was ok this is going to sound like the millet 307a amp we jsut had at the last Norcal meet. I could not have been more wrong. This amp was some of the most beautifull tone I have heard from an amp in a long time. The two amps come from very different sonic places, both great but may appeal to different users depending on their preference. Ok on to the two amps, we listened with both Senn 600s and L3000s. The Nautilus was as good as I remembered it to be. Wide open sound stage with a presentation that was slightly set back like maybe 3-5th row style sound. Very nuetral across the spectrum but with an ever so slight wooliness in the bass. This is only in comparsion with my amp or the new BA if you did not have either as a point of refernce you would not notice it. The Balancing Act just blew me away! It represented a clear step up from the Nautilus with a more wet tone with a closer presentation. With vocals they are right smack dab in the middle with all the detail from great recording like the wet mouth lip smack and every breath the vocalist takes is present on good recordings. Ever instrument seemed to have more body with guitars really standing out on this amp. The differences were more apparent with David's L3000s than with the 600s. We listened to the Mudcrutch cd, Neil Young Harvest, Black Sabbath Paraniod and Pink Floyd DSOTM. A reall wow moment was War PIgs from Parniod the guitars really shined out of the BA over the Nautilus. At the end of the meet I was joking with Craig and asked if I could have the BA for a month to get a feel for it against my amp the HD2 and he suprisngly agreed. So I'll be checking this out with the HD2 for the next month. I'll probably post a comparision in the high end room at some point using the balanced 650s, Audio Technica AD2ks and Grado RS1's (old school version).

I've looked for these off and on and have not found one. Looks like back in march there was one on canuck audiomart for $125.

I have also been shopping for a second dac as I have set up a stat rig in the bedroom. Not sure where the trans dac will reside yet but its small form factor favors the bedroom. Right now I am looking at the: Theta dacs from the gen V tor the pro basic lll I am also looking at the Levinson 36 dac but it is $1900 Anyone heard the theta?

I can honestly say this little dac is pretty amazing. Many dacs I have listened to or owned have glare of high end hash that you pick up on after listening a bit. The trans dac while not the last word in detail has musicality in spades where it counts in the midrange. It is one of the most musical dacs I have heard and although I am a frequent gear buyer/seller this dac will have a place in my rig for a long time. $500 while worth it for the sound you can get is about $150 over market price. You are not going to touch this quality for the price and I would take it over the dacs you listed originally

they will not sound that way once you hook them to the 307a

anyone use their iPhone/touch as an iTunes remote? What program are you using

Looks like it was a fun and enlightening time, nice to see you both enjoying the 307a. Keep the impressions going if you would please.

your thoughts about the b52 vs the 307a mirror mine although I have not heard them side by side. The 307a does an amazing job with the HP1000 series headphones we had Ken's pair at the NorCal meet and they sounded sweet out of this amp.

I plan on being there

if anything the source in NorCal was a significant step up from CanJam. The NWO is a world class player that is incredibly smooth and detailed.

The307a sounded amazing, I listened to it with ps1s, hp2s and ed9s. While it sounded great with all three the hp2s sang through this amp. Normally I prefer the ps1 but out of the 307a the hp2 was the winner. This amp is clearly a top performer and should be considered by anyone purchasing a top of the line amp. Personally at 6k I would like to see a better case but my EC hd2 is not going to win a beauty contest. I am actually suprised to see this amp not steal some thunder from the b52 or rudi balanced amps.

after hearing this amp while 6K is alot of cash and I prefer a different look it is easily a top flight amp and taken in context of other top end offerings stands on it's own given the price. If I were looking for an amp that kicks ass with a wide variety of headphones and sounds great with them all this would be one of 2 or three amps at the top of my list. At 6k I would take it over the B52 and it right up there with my HD2 and the SP SDS xlr amps. It has the added advantage of being readily available as well.

no unfortunately the specs would have been lost on me anyway.

ETA is tough as is price, it may get the Moth exterior treatment which would be cool but may add to the price. Probably upper 2k range and probably late summer early fall. The other potentially interesting news is Craig may have a SS stat amp in the works as one of his colleagues from his Harmon days has a new circuit built up. Right now it's just a singlr channel test bed but we'll see. When asked I though he could sell a run of 5-10 if it was in the mid 2k range and performed at or above the kgss.