Black Widow [Update] - Second round official, 100 amps total, single chassis

Props to Craig for sticking with the font, too.. what a savage.

 

Black widow is here, perched atop Gungnir Multibit. Photo tag to stop the lurkers here that post all BW related info on HF. Skipped out of work early to listen as much as possible. Looks bad ass to match the Eddie Current house sound. Real reviews to come later, but this amp is certainly worth the praise it has been getting.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. Hell.. I want to buy a BW just because of the font .

In an era of obscene pricing and mostly limp dick performance, I absolutely appreciate the small (but important) middle finger the lo-fi script sends to the industry bastards who perpetuate the madness and the interested parties that will (legitimately) complain (or worse, flat out avoid) the amp because the faceplate doesn't tickle their butthole. To those folks, I think the general EC response can be summed up as:

 

Wish that Gungnir Multibit is the same colour as the BW. Looks like a great combo there.

 

Now this is a combo I'd love to hear one day. EC needs to expand to Europe!

 

Mine arrived yesterday!
As for the cheesy front, well, I don't find anything bothering me, I'm fine with the logo on the front or top.
As long as my oven volume knob is there I'm fine.
Actually, it's quite the looker together with my all black Zana and Marantz stuff.

For what concerns the sound, I liked what I heard right out of the box. That's about all I can say for now, need some time to have a good listen.

And I'm pretty happy with the loop out, immediately patched it through to a vintage receiver.

 

Look like the same color to me:

 

Damn...

While I've praised BW for its stunning sonic performance and ridiculous value, I did say that I didn't like its final design. But seeing it on top of that black Gungnir Multibit like that, I should take back what I said. It's one badass looking amp.

 

a quick comparison with the ZOTL2 please??

 

It would be without that “BLACK WIDOW” ARIAL type

 

If all we can continually complain about with this amp is the font of 10 letters, Eddie Current is probably doing something right. When I was listening last night, I certainly wasn't concerned with the font...

 

I see a recall action coming from EC to change the font.

 

Sweet. I haven't really followed the thread so I'm not sure if more will be made in the future?

That looks awesome. Am I mistaken if I say that you own, or have owned, Liquid Carbon? Would love a comparison.

 

The MicroZOTL2 seems more like traditional solid state - fast. I like how it speeds up the laid-back nature of the HE-1000.

I'm not really sure what to make of the sound of the BW, as I have nothing to compare it against. Wide open, spacious, uncongested - it really tricks me into not realizing how high I've set the volume. It goes really well with everything (HE1K, HD800S, PS1000e). I really like what it does with the dynamic drivers. It's the first headphone amplifier that I trust to turn up the volume with my HD800S. I tend to listen to music at low volume, and high volume was exclusive to the HE1K. The BW changes that.

I'm tempted to try HD800 before the mod.

 

I had it, but ultimately decided it did not do well with my low impedance headphones, such as Grado and Fostex. There are no such issues with the BW.

There's a small space on the shelf, just to the right of the stack, holding for the next newer generation of Liquid Carbon, in which I've read they improved the single-ended phono output. Quick from memory - the Liquid Carbon edits the sound. That was the primary reason I went to the MicroZOTL2, which I felt more immersed in the sound. The BW holds just a little something back, makes the sound more natural and easy to approach. But it does not, no way, no how, edit the sound. The full scale information is all there, from bass to treble, it's completely there.