Dirt cheap "Chi-Fi" APPJ Mini2013 Versus HD800

Haha, ok sorry for those bad jokes. The reason is because there's this guy who wrote an honest review of a piece gear, and received so much doubt and criticism. I hope we could be more open-minded. Let them speak.

 

On a reliability standpoint: the first unit I received was a lemon.
There was an obvious issue with the volume pot, where it would sometimes get stuck at a certain volume and only forcing the pot to go beyond its course would change the volume in either direction. It's quite an issue when the thing is stuck at max volume and there's no way to lower it!
The sound was almost mono-like in nature, as a result.

Massdrop promptly arranged a replacement, but had to wait for the new batch to be shipped to them, which took a few weeks.

Beyond that, the sound is worth the struggle. This amp (and the older "2 tubes" APPJ amp, that I used to own a long time ago) produce a sense of immediacy and clarity that is plain fun.
Can't expect its 2x3.5W to fill your room with deep/extended bass - especially with standmounts -, but at least it's tight and well defined down low.

I don't recall hearing much hiss on my Electra 1008Be, which is a bonus.

 

Well, it wasn't much of a review. More like a bunch of quick impressions. Some things need to be clarified (for instance, "PRAT"?) and the OP has not responded to the legit questions yet (like has he tried the amp on something other than Aune S16? Which I'm quite certain not a lot of us here have heard). Also, his name is an obvious troll/joke name for anyone who realizes it, so there's that. If this was a Vietnamese community, trust me, someone with his name will receive literally zero serious feedback. That's how much stigma that name carries.

Also like I explained, the skepticism and doubt is a part of the culture here. I get the same thing myself even as a "regular." People here are just conditioned to be skeptical because they know what they want, and if there isn't enough information, or that something is potentially contradictory/troublesome, they tend to ask. It's normal. See Andromeda thread if you don't believe me. In fact, people are skeptical because they want to take these impressions seriously, which should be taken as a good sign.

In short, I think you are mistaken. People are definitely open-minded around here, but they aren't gullible, and they aren't gonna believe everything written by any person, much less someone they don't know. Again, this place isn't Head-fi or reddit. It's not a dumpster for random impressions and reviews with ambiguous meanings and terms.

That said, @Clemmaster has the right idea: he's clarifying and reinforcing the OP. He's someone we know well, and I for one knows how to calibrate his impressions, so that's why I don't have much to ask.

P.S.: sorry, not picking on you or anything, but I feel like all of that needs to be spelled out because someone else who's new to the place may again mistake our intentions when we question the OP like that.

 

I don't bring this out of nothing. Check around SBAF, there are so much unfairness and prejudicing. I don't hate Schiit, I have Schiit gears. They are fine, especially the DACs, they are much more than fine. Now, the problem is not Schiit, the problem is the culture and fanboyism here. It's very very clear that where the bias is here. There are people who laugh at SBAF being Schiit Best Audio Friends. It's easy to measure this. Check the number of likes if a statement is in favor of amp X which no one has heard before against the number of likes if a statement is in favor of a Schiit gear. Right? In all honesty, I don't know why people get upset if a piece of gear is better than theirs. I have an ECBA, I don't bash Woo Audio, nor do I get upset if someone say his DNA amp is better. I can't imagine the sensation. Now SBAF is quite notoriously known in foreign site. You all want to shake this off? Start with yourselves, be open-minded to people and any brand. I don't care it's Schiit or Faak or any other brands. Don't criticize or doubt if you haven't heard one yourselves. Truth will reveal if what they say is not true. Don't be lazy trolls and cheap talkers. You are judging a person based on his nickname, how ridiculous. Remember, Schiit haters exist because of your behavior. I don't believe they are all associated with some brands. Otherwise most of them are just normal headfiers like you and I.

 

@zeissiez How about contributing some meaningful/worthwhile content yourself, instead of bitching about what others are doing/thinking?

And nobody here cares about some alleged, un-named, foreign site.

 

That's precisely when you should criticize or doubt. Might as well go out and buy a new piece of gear anytime some random person on the internet loves something.

 

I have the APPJ PA1502A.
They share similar PSU and same company but I believe mine is more output and much more tube rolling choices.
Pic of it is in bottom my avatar.

In stock mode these amps are lean.
The "switching" type PSU is not capable of huge currents.

But the advantage is the pure triode strapped tube design running in class A.

All that is needed is an upgrade of the bottleneck areas and the amp really climbs.

No need for small hybrid amps or old expensive designs,
when you can have it all class A tubes running off a lower cost switching type PSU.

High sonic value with this Chinese APPJ brand.
Quality is the weak area but as expected with low cost.