12/15/2023 0 Comments Audionote vs bottlehead![]() point-to-point debate, I was very impressed with the part quality of the upgraded TU-8600 and the pcb's, which were beefy. And Austen, while I don't want to get into the pcb vs. Victor then makes his own pcb's to simplify wiring the transformers AND he custom makes the wire looms. Perhaps an ANK phono or DAC kit is in my near future.Īccording to Victor, the Lundahl's are custom made for the TU-8600. Finished, it looks more like a commercial product than a kit. It is also not a romantic tube sound - it is super fast and detailed. It's still breaking in so I'll hold off on any comparisons to my Bottlehead 2a3 Stereomour II, but the Elekit is dead quiet - as in it must not be working - but it is. This was my first all circuit board build and if you can be nimble with a soldering iron, it is all very straight forward, and as mentioned above, Victor is always just an email away. Other factors that tilted the scale for me were the Part-Time Audiophile Best of 2017 shout-out here and Herb Reichert's favorable impression here. Parts quality was high grade for both kits if you went with all the upgrades each offered. I liked the looks and synergy of the C-Core Kit 1, but it was going to be at least an extra $1000 with lesser tubes (the stock EH's). Victor's passion and customer service are otherworldly - he literally responds within minutes of any questions even though he has a full-time job outside of VK Music. I don't think it was possible to make a wrong choice, but I ended up going with the fully loaded Elekit TU-8600 that Victor Kung offers at ELEKIT TU-8600 with the Genalex Gold Lion tube set. Now everyone responds - after I made my choice! Most companies that make all kinds of tube amplifiers - E元4 and KT88 are the entry level offerings - then the SET amps are their flagships. Parallel 300B also has big bold sound so this is also very different than the 8 watt DHT 300b. The sound from the 2a3 Empress is entirely different which makes the speakers sound entirely different! Bad rooms and good rooms also factor in but still. Personally I am not a big fan of the 300B and usually when I read people who don't like the sound of Audio Note rooms it's usually a 300B amp connected up. Perhaps they will make it to market eventually. And now I favour the 2a3 thanks to the Empress amplifiers.Īudio Note was working on the E元4 Cobra amplifiers but they seem to have disappeared from mention - they looked to be a good affordable entry. Although the ECL82 in the I Zero makes a strong case. I tend to favour the EL84 in push pull amplifier. All the designer can do is to try to make the best sounding E元4 amplifier he can but if you're not an E元4 amp sounding sort of fan then it won't likely be the amplifier for you. Find the one you like the most and go with that. The question is more about which kind of sound do yo like based upon the design of the amps - so in this case a kit with el34S just doesn't sound like a 2a3 or 211 or 300B. This amplifier is near & dear to Andy’s heart and he has used many years of amplifier design knowledge to come up with this E元4 tube amplifier for the DIY market." ANK Audiokits - L4 Series Power Amplifier - E元4 C-Core Stereo EditionĪnd let's be clear - Audio Note finished product amplifiers don't sound the same - an OTO and a Soro and Meishu don't sound the same. "The E元4 stereo CLASS AB1 amplifier from AudioNote Kits was designed by master craftsman Andy Grove of Audio Note UK. Much of the parts are still Audio Note or you can buy them as optional extras - so if you don't want Mundorf caps you can buy Audio Note Kassei caps at probably an additional charge. The fact is Andy Grove has designed most of Audio Note UK stuff AND most of the ANKits stuff - same designer = same ear. With regard to AN Kits not being Audio Note - that is true because they generally make different products - E元4 amps, push pull etc but I think it is the dealers that try to push the differences so that you will buy the finished products.
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