JR Audio amplifiers aka zero fucks are given - caveat emptor

[spritzer]

Here is something that has been cooking for a while but I've been just too busy to do anything about it.  So JR Audio out of China have been building our amp designs for a while now and I started to hear horror stories almost immediately.  They naturally have no right to use our designs and work in their crappy products but since when has that stopped anybody...  I have been looking for one of these amps for a while now as I want to rip it apart and well... one owner contacted me.  I'm going to ask him to come here and tell his story which is quite the tale.  Let's just say Caveat emptor...

So here is the amp and it arrived dead which will soon be clear.  It is the KGSSHV version and well... it doesn't resemble my amp in any way...  🙄

One funny thing is that the Stax socket is made from nylon so the quality starts there.  😉 

Nothing remarkable here but that voltage marking is directly lifted from my amps.  Completely identical... 

Here is where I started laughing, this thing uses clone versions of old PCB's I made back in the day.  The amplifier board (as can be seen by the date which they also copied) was in some of the older KGSSHV mini amp but this one is quite a bit bigger.  Same goes for the PSU which was in the first KGSSHV minis but this one is 2.5cm wider and 1cm taller.  All the components are in the same spots... it's just a bit bigger. 

Now here is whats wrong with it, see the bridge rectifier in the middle.  That larger chunk of plastic shouldn't be sticking out of it. 

Here is one amplifier section and I just find it hilarious that they do a direct copy of my 7 year old PCB but manage to completely fuck it up while doing it.  So all of those resistors are 1/4W units and that is a big no-no.  Most are well shy of that power level (though not all) but the voltage ratings for many of those resistors is well below safe levels.  It also annoys me (Kevin even more) that they have removed all values off the boards and replaced them with generic labels.    We have always pushed for proper markings on all boards so they can be serviced at any time. 

Another thing clear in that picture are the 10M90's on that small heatsink on the PSU.  They have a lot of voltage sitting on the metal tab so they naturally use a silpad and metal screw.  Fucking amateur hour here. 

 

Another picture of the damage and one more of the underside:

One nice attention to detail... or lack thereof is no thermal paste or silpad on the PSU pass transistors.  Nothing at all and since the chassis is powerder coated, it has a hard time passing heat through the thin metal below.  It's a shame I don't have any of these old PCB's in stock just to show how much of a blatant rip off they are.  I'm tempted to order some (as I have the Gerbers for everything) just to show off what they are up to. 

Now what happens to this amp, well it belongs to me so I'm going throw out the PSU and the transformer plus replace all the necessary resistor on the amplifier boards to make this safe.  Then I'll just keep it for shits and giggles.  I'll update the thread when I do some more work on this clusterfuck. 

[Juansan2]

3 hours ago, spritzer said:

Here is something that has been cooking for a while but I've been just too busy to do anything about it.  So JR Audio out of China have been building our amp designs for a while now and I started to hear horror stories almost immediately.  They naturally have no right to use our designs and work in their crappy products but since when has that stopped anybody...  I have been looking for one of these amps for a while now as I want to rip it apart and well... one owner contacted me.  I'm going to ask him to come here and tell his story which is quite the tale.  Let's just say Caveat emptor...

So here is the amp and it arrived dead which will soon be clear.  It is the KGSSHV version and well... it doesn't resemble my amp in any way...  🙄

One funny thing is that the Stax socket is made from nylon so the quality starts there.  😉 

Nothing remarkable here but that voltage marking is directly lifted from my amps.  Completely identical... 

Here is where I started laughing, this thing uses clone versions of old PCB's I made back in the day.  The amplifier board (as can be seen by the date which they also copied) was in some of the older KGSSHV mini amp but this one is quite a bit bigger.  Same goes for the PSU which was in the first KGSSHV minis but this one is 2.5cm wider and 1cm taller.  All the components are in the same spots... it's just a bit bigger. 

Now here is whats wrong with it, see the bridge rectifier in the middle.  That larger chunk of plastic shouldn't be sticking out of it. 

Here is one amplifier section and I just find it hilarious that they do a direct copy of my 7 year old PCB but manage to completely fuck it up while doing it.  So all of those resistors are 1/4W units and that is a big no-no.  Most are well shy of that power level (though not all) but the voltage ratings for many of those resistors is well below safe levels.  It also annoys me (Kevin even more) that they have removed all values off the boards and replaced them with generic labels.    We have always pushed for proper markings on all boards so they can be serviced at any time. 

Another thing clear in that picture are the 10M90's on that small heatsink on the PSU.  They have a lot of voltage sitting on the metal tab so they naturally use a silpad and metal screw.  Fucking amateur hour here. 

 

Another picture of the damage and one more of the underside:

One nice attention to detail... or lack thereof is no thermal paste or silpad on the PSU pass transistors.  Nothing at all and since the chassis is powerder coated, it has a hard time passing heat through the thin metal below.  It's a shame I don't have any of these old PCB's in stock just to show how much of a blatant rip off they are.  I'm tempted to order some (as I have the Gerbers for everything) just to show off what they are up to. 

Now what happens to this amp, well it belongs to me so I'm going throw out the PSU and the transformer plus replace all the necessary resistor on the amplifier boards to make this safe.  Then I'll just keep it for shits and giggles.  I'll update the thread when I do some more work on this clusterfuck. 

Someone asked about JR Audio on “that other site” in the Audeze CRBN thread and someone else intervened in typical shill fashion waxing lyrical about them and how his “electrical engineer friend” or some such says they are marvellous. I wanted to intervene but had already deleted my account and only lurk there occasionally as a guest. Fortunately Paradoxper intervened and straightened the whole thing out, but not without some resistance. Looks like getting the truth to people has become a real uphill struggle in some places.  

[Knuckledragger]

I'm going to exhume by dormant HF account and post a comment saying that having experienced a JR Audio amp, I deem it to be equal in every way to a ca. 2008 McAlister product.

[spritzer]

I really need to find a McAlister amp for the collection....  😉 

[Addiction]

5 hours ago, spritzer said:

Here is something that has been cooking for a while but I've been just too busy to do anything about it.  So JR Audio out of China have been building our amp designs for a while now and I started to hear horror stories almost immediately.  They naturally have no right to use our designs and work in their crappy products but since when has that stopped anybody...  I have been looking for one of these amps for a while now as I want to rip it apart and well... one owner contacted me.  I'm going to ask him to come here and tell his story which is quite the tale.  Let's just say Caveat emptor...

So here is the amp and it arrived dead which will soon be clear.  It is the KGSSHV version and well... it doesn't resemble my amp in any way...  🙄

One funny thing is that the Stax socket is made from nylon so the quality starts there.  😉 

Nothing remarkable here but that voltage marking is directly lifted from my amps.  Completely identical... 

Here is where I started laughing, this thing uses clone versions of old PCB's I made back in the day.  The amplifier board (as can be seen by the date which they also copied) was in some of the older KGSSHV mini amp but this one is quite a bit bigger.  Same goes for the PSU which was in the first KGSSHV minis but this one is 2.5cm wider and 1cm taller.  All the components are in the same spots... it's just a bit bigger. 

Now here is whats wrong with it, see the bridge rectifier in the middle.  That larger chunk of plastic shouldn't be sticking out of it. 

Here is one amplifier section and I just find it hilarious that they do a direct copy of my 7 year old PCB but manage to completely fuck it up while doing it.  So all of those resistors are 1/4W units and that is a big no-no.  Most are well shy of that power level (though not all) but the voltage ratings for many of those resistors is well below safe levels.  It also annoys me (Kevin even more) that they have removed all values off the boards and replaced them with generic labels.    We have always pushed for proper markings on all boards so they can be serviced at any time. 

Another thing clear in that picture are the 10M90's on that small heatsink on the PSU.  They have a lot of voltage sitting on the metal tab so they naturally use a silpad and metal screw.  Fucking amateur hour here. 

 

Another picture of the damage and one more of the underside:

One nice attention to detail... or lack thereof is no thermal paste or silpad on the PSU pass transistors.  Nothing at all and since the chassis is powerder coated, it has a hard time passing heat through the thin metal below.  It's a shame I don't have any of these old PCB's in stock just to show how much of a blatant rip off they are.  I'm tempted to order some (as I have the Gerbers for everything) just to show off what they are up to. 

Now what happens to this amp, well it belongs to me so I'm going throw out the PSU and the transformer plus replace all the necessary resistor on the amplifier boards to make this safe.  Then I'll just keep it for shits and giggles.  I'll update the thread when I do some more work on this clusterfuck. 

This is my friends amp. I'll continue to encourage him to get some Stax

[Juansan2]

On 11/17/2017 at 10:00 AM, spritzer said:

One could argue that mcalister audio is just out to troll people... 

The sheer level of quality here is just startling.  If I could only attain this level someday... ahhh one can dream!!! 

 

[Dusty Chalk]

3 hours ago, spritzer said:

I really need to find a McAlister amp for the collection....  😉 

I have one, but I kinda was still holding out hope of getting it fixed.  I’ll ping you if I find it.

[kevin gilmore]

i will be posting more about this one next week. The filaments for a megatron MUST BE FLOATING! And this one has them all tied together and referenced to ground. Just like the mikhail esx. And the power supply is half wave with the power caps seeing multiple amperes of peak current. Both power transformers will have to be replaced. The gain tubes have 400v between the cathodes and filaments. (data sheet says 100v max)

the mcalister is actually repairable, but its a bunch of work. And those tubes are just about impossible to find.

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by kevin gilmore

[Turcoda]

I'm the owner of the KGSSHV Mini in question. The origin of the unit is the AU store MyHeadFi. It is quite the story for me, so I'll post the events of what happened incrementally if I get the time. I posted the e-receipt of the order that was placed. Long story short, I owned the unit for less than 3 weeks before it died completely on me. The seller absolutely 100% refused to issued a refund (Vance from MyheadFi) and I had no choice but to ask visa to file a dispute for the lost funds in questions. He was unhelpful and demeaning all around (more on that to come). I eventually won the case, but at the cost of considerable time, money, and sanity. Visa's requirement to file a claim was such that a 3rd party must analyze the ordered product and determine whether it was in proper working condition. The second requirement was that this 3rd party had to be a qualified vendor with an online store that sold a similar product. The problem with these 2 requirements was that, as far as I'm aware, Mjolnir Audio is literally the ONLY 3rd party on the face of this planet that was qualified to provide a statement to Visa because he is the only vendor of these amps with an online store and the only vendor of these amps that designed them. Spritzer and Kevin Gilmore worked in conjunction to design these amps, and, as such, every other 3rd party or diy builder either wouldn't have a registered store of their own or wouldn't be qualified to assess a defective unit. Spritzer was kind enough to do me a favor and provide evidence to visa that the amplifier in question was in fact 100% defective and in non working order. I have to pay over 200$ to have the amplifier rushed out to Spritzer and analyzed within the timeframe visa had requested, which is quite the hefty shipping fee.

Now lets fast forward to just about 24 hours after I received notification from visa that I had won the dispute with the seller and things start to get even more interesting. I did get all of the funds back from visa after they issued a chargeback for the full amount. However, I started to receive threatening emails from the seller. I also I opened up my visa statement to find some fun surprises. Low and behold, I saw the thing I suspected I would see: Even more fraudulent charges on my account! Why did I suspect this? Well, because the seller still had all of my credit card information and boy was he still pissed at me. So in total he managed to rack up about $2000 to $3000 worth of Sony Entertainment charges, which I can only assume are related to Playstation digital goods, as well as a couple of food delivery charges for a company that doesn't exist where I live. Let me be clear in stating that I do not own a Sony Playstation, but instead own a high end PC with a brand new 3090, so it stands to reason I would never stoop that low ; ) Anyway, as I write this now I am STILL in the process of disputing all of these fresh fraudulent charges on my visa statement. I was assured by visa that all of this will go away soon enough, but it's still a huge pain to deal with. Ironically I also read what happens to online game accounts like PS4 and PS5 accounts that are flag for fraud or initiate chargebacks. Essentially their accounts get blocked until they end up covering the lost funds, so these accounts become unusable. If they spent considerable money on these accounts prior to the fraud, their library of digital goods is basically forfeit and they shoot themselves in the foot. So if you're reading this, have fun with that, I guess?

Moral of the story? Don't buy knockoff goods from crooks and scammers. Buy only from legit places or sellers you already know. Steer clear from MyHeadFi. Jr. Audio products are total utter trash. My unit failed in various ways over the course of a few days during light usage. If you want to risk it after reading this, you deserve what happens next. Remember that you get what you pay for.

[Dusty Chalk]

Hope he goes to jail for that last bit.  Sounds like he's stupider than a scammer.  They should be able to trace it back to him, given that they know who he is.

[spritzer]

6 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

I have one, but I kinda was still holding out hope of getting it fixed.  I’ll ping you if I find it.

If you want to let it go, I'd love to take it off your hands. 

[catscratch]

Wow, the idiot... committed credit card fraud because he was angry at a customer? ... ... If I facepalmed any harder I'd knock my own head off.

I have a McAlister heap of scrap too, but it's in a basement that flooded a few times (though the amp never got wet afaik) so it's probably beyond repair. I'll check. It never worked properly to begin with so no big loss. McAlister pulled some dodgy shit with shipping it too, delaying it forever then claiming he sent an amp that was lost. At the time I just wrote it off as a learning experience.

[Turcoda]

3 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Hope he goes to jail for that last bit.  Sounds like he's stupider than a scammer.  They should be able to trace it back to him, given that they know who he is.

So, here's the thing. I know he's the only person that wished me ill and had my credit card info, but the fact is that nobody can be certain if the perpetrator of the fraudulent charges was indeed him. All I can be certain of is that he used my credit card without my permission. For all I know he could have posted my credit card information out on a public forum or given it to a friend or family member.

Another funny bit of my adventures followed during some of this fiasco.

So one morning something funny happened when I was in the process of thanking Spritzer for his help, as well as commenting on how I was planning on using one of his amps to pair with my Hifiman Jade II headphones. Sadly, my Jade II's had developed audible problems in both drivers that resulted in a ticking sound, as well as other nuanced annoying behavior that I wont get into, but suffice it to say the build quality of that headphone is quite questionable. I did not care because the headphones sounded quite a bit nicer than anything that I had previously owned, and I had purchased the pair new from Headamp at around $700ish. Well worth the money in my books, considering the headphone I wanted was the 009 that retailed for more than 5x that price. Anyway, I got in touch with Hifiman support and they were kind enough to offer a replacement pair. So that morning I told Spritzer that I was awaiting my brand new pair of Jades and that I would be able to place an order with him for a KGSSHV. For whatever reason Spritzer and I had just exchanged emails about how much we thought the Jade II amp was a heap of garbage and I was glad that I hadn't bought it as a bundle with my headphone. Anyway, I hear a knock at the door mere seconds before i was about to hit the send button on an email i finished typing to Spritzer that contained my disdain for the Jade II amp - the aesthetics and build quality of it all. I rush in and open the door to greet my Hifiman package waiting for me. I go to lift it up and haul it to the basement with all of my other boxes and thought to myself "wow, this box is quite heavy for just a pair of super light headphones...". At this point in time I'm starting to feel highly suspicious of the contents. I knew right away this box contained something off. I go to tear off the first layer and notice the writing stating "Hifiman Jade". I thought, "Great, this is still it! Weird that its heavy like this...". Now at this point I'm eager to open up more of the contents and as I do I become shocked at what I find. Low and behold it was the one item on the face of the earth that I had just moments ago said I did not want: The Hifiman Jade II amp. They had actually sent me the wrong component - the amplifier instead of the headphones! So at this point I promptly have a good laugh with Spritzer and get in touch with Hifiman to figure out how to proceed. They wanted me to ship back the heavy amp on my dime to exchange for the Jade and I eventually decided against it for fear of the high shipping cost (mind you this ordeal comes days after I had just spent $200+ shipping the Jr Audio amp to Spritzer) and was not looking forward to it. Fast forward maybe 2 weeks later and I ended up selling the amp "as new" on CAM for just a tad bit more than what the headphones cost me, but I hit a snag when the buyer told me the amp was open box and looked slightly used. The box was sealed when I received it so I had no way of knowing. He send me pictures of a totally used amp that showed scratches and very large and obvious coffee mug stains on top of the amp. To this day I cant fathom why somebody rests coffee mugs on expensive amps... Anyway, being the nice guy that I amp I felt bad for screwing this guy over so I refunded him a portion of the money he paid. He seemed pretty happy overall that the amp was in fine working order, so I guess it was a win in the end. I'll just never trust Hifiman replacements ever again.

[Turcoda]

So right now I have no amp, no dac, no electrostatic headphones, and therefore basically crap audio. I still want to purchase a KGSSHV amp from Spritzer I'm looking for an epic matching headphone that won't beak the bank, and I feel like the ES1A might be a good fit. I'm currently running ribbon headphones that I got on sale from linsoul, the GL1200s. I like how open and full they sound but I cant stand their slow transients. I don't think ribbon headphones are at all for me. I was curious about buying a pair of tall magnepans recently, but this experience drove me away from that. I just ordered an SMSL VMV D1se dac from shenzenaudio to pair with my future amp, so I'm waiting for that to come in. Hopefully it pairs well with a KGSSHV. I also ordered a THX AAA amp from them as backup for if and when covid ends and I need to take in my lesser quality headphones to the office again.

[Turcoda]

I recalled just now having spoken to the manufacturer of the ES1A from ES Lab, and how he had also had a previous problem with a Jr Audio product. I would like to share his comment below, but I asked permission just now to quote the email he wrote to me in confidence. If I get permission I'll post it here in a short bit.

[johnwmclean]

4 hours ago, Turcoda said:

The origin of the unit is the AU store MyHeadFi.

Looks like a Chinese company that’s pricing using AUD.

I have wondered how they made their amps so cheap. What a steaming pile of crap.

[Turcoda]

@spritzer

@kevin gilmore

Since I have your attention here, let me begin by prefacing this with stating that I'm just a lowly software developer currently working in transportation software and mostly autonomous vehicles. I have no electronic engineering background, and as such, you'll have to forgive my total ignorance in the matter. However, sometimes I do like looking into potential side projects for fun. I'm honestly curious about something that crossed my mind a few weeks back and wanted to know your take on it. Something I was genuinely curious about was whether either of you have ever used software to generate any of your amp designs, and if not, whether there would be any value to it. I would be curious to know what an algorithmic approach to developing amps could achieve and whether some kind of evolutionary approach using something akin to genetic algorithms would optimize parameters and specs of a schematic to either reduce cost, maximize efficiency, increase simplicity, or increase performance. I'm sure some kind of fitness function could be derived to determine some of these parameters, but I doubt all of it would be very trivial. Firstly, I'd like to know if there exists anything like this out there. For all I know amp designs are as efficient as they'll ever get... but I am kinda curious about algorithmic takes on the matter.

[spritzer]

1 hour ago, catscratch said:

I have a McAlister heap of scrap too, but it's in a basement that flooded a few times (though the amp never got wet afaik) so it's probably beyond repair. I'll check. It never worked properly to begin with so no big loss. McAlister pulled some dodgy shit with shipping it too, delaying it forever then claiming he sent an amp that was lost. At the time I just wrote it off as a learning experience.

If you want to let it go then I'd love to mess with it.  Having these basket cases around is just so much fun... 

3 minutes ago, Turcoda said:

@spritzer

@kevin gilmore

Since I have your attention here, let me begin by prefacing this with stating that I'm just a lowly software developer currently working in transportation software and mostly autonomous vehicles. I have no electronic engineering background, and as such, you'll have to forgive my total ignorance in the matter. However, sometimes I do like looking into potential side projects for fun. I'm honestly curious about something that crossed my mind a few weeks back and wanted to know your take on it. Something I was genuinely curious about was whether either of you have ever used software to generate any of your amp designs, and if not, whether there would be any value to it. I would be curious to know what an algorithmic approach to developing amps could achieve and whether some kind of evolutionary approach using something akin to genetic algorithms would optimize parameters and specs of a schematic to either reduce cost, maximize efficiency, increase simplicity, or increase performance. I'm sure some kind of fitness function could be derived to determine some of these parameters, but I doubt all of it would be very trivial. Firstly, I'd like to know if there exists anything like this out there. For all I know amp designs are as efficient as they'll ever get... but I am kinda curious about algorithmic takes on the matter.

Something like that could work as a helping hand (similar to what we have in Spice and other simulation software) but it's no replacement for the human mind.  The issue with everything is that building stuff (as in physical stuff) is hard and you run into issues that nobody thought of.  One thing comes to mind, my very expensive office chair at home failed this week.  It basically split in half where it was attached together with 4 M8 screws.  Now they were large torx units and the head was only about 10mm in diameter and with the deep torx head, there was not a lot of material there to actually make the connection.  Add to that they had not been properly tightened at the factory and bam... the heads broke off.  If they had been torqued to spec then it would have been fine but just that little bit of play (plus I'm a mountain of a man ) was enough to make them fail.  We've had similar stuff happen with the PCB's we've used and parts that should work just fine but are marginal. 

Then we have the issue that if you were to design like that, that means trusting datasheets etc. and well no... just no. 

[Dusty Chalk]

3 hours ago, Turcoda said:

So, here's the thing. I know he's the only person that wished me ill and had my credit card info, but the fact is that nobody can be certain if the perpetrator of the fraudulent charges was indeed him. All I can be certain of is that he used my credit card without my permission. For all I know he could have posted my credit card information out on a public forum or given it to a friend or family member.

There are other ways, though.  I had someone who charged a phone with it, the credit card company contacted the phone company and tracked them down that way.

[spritzer]

Some progress on my end, the amp is up and running now.  It only took a new KGSSHV psu, new transformer, new power switch and I also swapped out the Stax socket as that nylon one just bugged me.  I also dropped the voltage from +/-400V to +/-350V as hacking up the amplifier boards would have been a lot of work and the lower voltage negates most of that. 

Couple if funny things, the sheer number of misspellings on these boards is hilarious, bias is always written "Bisa" and look carefully at the text on those amp boards for some hilarity. 

One other thing, I was going over the PSU board and noticed one thing, the caps for the bias supply are 630V rated... now to generate the bias this is a voltage doubler, it takes the raw AC input (which is 325V or so) and doubles it.  For that the parts need to be rated at least double the input voltage and guess what... 2*325V is more than 630V.  That is assuming the line voltage remains stable and there are no spikes.  Yeah everything done to save just a little bit of money. 

[TubyAndWobbly]

On 9/2/2021 at 11:57 AM, Juansan2 said:

Someone asked about JR Audio on “that other site” in the Audeze CRBN thread and someone else intervened in typical shill fashion waxing lyrical about them and how his “electrical engineer friend” or some such says they are marvellous. I wanted to intervene but had already deleted my account and only lurk there occasionally as a guest. Fortunately Paradoxper intervened and straightened the whole thing out, but not without some resistance. Looks like getting the truth to people has become a real uphill struggle in some places.  

I mean there wasn't really any resistance, I wasn't planning on buying from them after Paradoxper had first said some pretty strong negative things about them, but it shouldn't hurt to confirm that he was without a doubt in the right. I do have to really thank him though, without him I probably would've only really that other guy's shilling to consider. 

[Juansan2]

On 9/3/2021 at 10:29 PM, TubyAndWobbly said:

I mean there wasn't really any resistance, I wasn't planning on buying from them after Paradoxper had first said some pretty strong negative things about them, but it shouldn't hurt to confirm that he was without a doubt in the right. I do have to really thank him though, without him I probably would've only really that other guy's shilling to consider. 

I didn’t mean resistance from you, I meant from the shill called “Not Deaf”.

 

[Turcoda]

23 hours ago, Turcoda said:

I recalled just now having spoken to the manufacturer of the ES1A from ES Lab, and how he had also had a previous problem with a Jr Audio product. I would like to share his comment below, but I asked permission just now to quote the email he wrote to me in confidence. If I get permission I'll post it here in a short bit.

 

I just got word that he's cool with me quoting it. He did specify the timeline and it truly was about a year that it took for JR Audio to repair a defective HEV70 from him. Kinda sad and unfortunate that it got to that point. I also recently found out that JR Audio doesn't like to play nice with any of the competition and and doesn't appreciate talks of other diy'ers and other amp builders out on his forums. I think this speaks volume of his character.

 

From ES Labs owner:

"I build my own  KGSSHV, and speaking of JR audio, I have a problem with him too. Once I shipped a HEV70 amp to him for repair and it took him around a year. When I receive it the amp does not work. Then I send him a message and ask for help, I am told to do the troubleshooting myself since '' You are an amp builder anyway''. Upon investigation there is a loose solder point on the board. So I do not recommend JR audio product and service based on my own experience and many others who bought faulty amp from him."

 

In the end, I honestly don't think anybody respectable in the community would recommend JR Audio products, and this quote just reaffirms that.

 

On an unrelated note, I've been looking far and wide for a new electrostatic headphone and Spritzer mentioned to me that he enjoys the ES1A from ES Labs. This is how I got into contact with him in the first place. Thanks to Spritzer, I think this is going to be my next purchase.

[Sarieri]

11 hours ago, Turcoda said:

 

I just got word that he's cool with me quoting it. He did specify the timeline and it truly was about a year that it took for JR Audio to repair a defective HEV70 from him. Kinda sad and unfortunate that it got to that point. I also recently found out that JR Audio doesn't like to play nice with any of the competition and and doesn't appreciate talks of other diy'ers and other amp builders out on his forums. I think this speaks volume of his character.

 

From ES Labs owner:

"I build my own  KGSSHV, and speaking of JR audio, I have a problem with him too. Once I shipped a HEV70 amp to him for repair and it took him around a year. When I receive it the amp does not work. Then I send him a message and ask for help, I am told to do the troubleshooting myself since '' You are an amp builder anyway''. Upon investigation there is a loose solder point on the board. So I do not recommend JR audio product and service based on my own experience and many others who bought faulty amp from him."

 

In the end, I honestly don't think anybody respectable in the community would recommend JR Audio products, and this quote just reaffirms that.

 

On an unrelated note, I've been looking far and wide for a new electrostatic headphone and Spritzer mentioned to me that he enjoys the ES1A from ES Labs. This is how I got into contact with him in the first place. Thanks to Spritzer, I think this is going to be my next purchase.

Es1a is just a sloppy clone of omega. It sounds okay but the build quality is no where near any of the stax, the headband especially. Seems to be 3D printed with some type of nylon coating, which peels off easily like hail.

[JoaMat]

Deleted!

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by JoaMat