Ok. I bought it and thank you now. It is really amazing with Akliam LC5 op-amps. I am so impressed that i just ordered another one of these amps to experiment with further. I do have some amps which are several times the price of this one and I would not say this is „better“ but it brings something special to the table - especially for my harder to drive headphones like the HE6se v2 and the HEDDphone(1). But the others like my Arya Organic or Meze109 also show an interesting character with this amp. So thank you again for the recommendation and for clarifying the very old issues still dominating the forum entries for it.
@@thefritz1 Thanks for sharing! Yes it's excellent with my He6SEv2. I have no idea what was that about in these threads. Maybe the guy there had some kind of beef with BRZHifi. It was a strange thing for me that guys designing and selling audio equipment would suddenly swap channels by mistake. But I've checked all of this, and I can see that I have exactly same L&R marks on the case and PCB is marked with 1.7, also looks the same as I'm those photos. Strange thing. Anyway, I hope more guys like us will discover this gem with absolute steal price
@@k4syx I do have the V1.7 PCB as well and checked all channels, plugs, the phases, grounding, noise etc and there is absolutely no issue. It is actually very silent even with IEMs used for testing.
Great! That would be very kind of you. A visual instruction would be really educational for me in order to prevent damage to the equipment. I have to see it with my own eyes how to do it properly- otherwise its a big bang, I’m afraid. Because, I am a total disaster in this field. To thank you for your top-video about the E600 I will be pleased to offer you a friendly donation for a nice bottle of wine at a table on a sunny outdoor spot. Enjoy your holidays!
Just arrived i love, extremely small bit of cross talk between inputs very very very minor issue its not like it will be hooked up to 2 anyways lol. Also would be nice to have abt 10% more volume in low gain but again small issue.thanks for the rec really nice deal
I've been looking and wondering about that amp for over a year now. Thanks for the review!!! I've also wondered about the leaf audio cmd line. They look really good!
Thank you so much for this great video! I ordered right away. Delivery will take a couple of weeks. I'm going to listen with the default Opams first, before upgrading to the EAKLIAM LC5 class A discrete opamps. In the video you warn that "If you want to replace the Opams, you first have to check the polarity to find out where 'Pin One' is". I have no idea how to determine that. Special measuring equipment required? There will be a video on the LC5 opamp later. Could you briefly show how to find 'Pin One' in this forthcoming follow-up video? That would be very helpful.
@@joevrie Thanks! Akliams have pin one marked with small circle and number "1" printed next to it. The side with the pin 1 should go towards the curve in the socket on PCB. It's simple really, but as with all opamps (not only discrete Akliams) it's important to insert them the right way. I may do a short video on that when I'll get back from vacation.
Great! That would be very kind of you. A visual instruction would be really educational for me in order to prevent damage to the equipment. I have to see it with my own eyes how to do it properly- otherwise its a big bang, I’m afraid. Because, I am a total disaster in this field. To thank you for your top-video about the E600 I will be pleased to offer you a friendly donation for a nice bottle of wine at a table on a sunny outdoor spot. Enjoy your holidays!
@@k4syx Thanks a lot for taking the time and effort to create an inserted video fragment on this critical issue. I'm sure there are more followers of your RUclips channel who would like to do this upgrade themselves, but don't have the technical knowledge or skills to know what they're doing and how to insert the opams in the right way. I will watch your video on August 9th with great interest and will follow your instructions with extreme close attention!
Wow! Nice little amp, and another great review. Learning a lot from your insight and testing…Would love something like this with a remote, but might just go ahead and get this one 🙏🏼
@@riccitone I think remote is doable with little DIYing. The power source is there, powered pot is also there, so you just need control and IR receiver and these can be bought as sets with remote on Ali for little money. The hardest part I think would be finding (or drilling?) neat location for receiver. On the other hand I think this one is more like desk amp so it's supposed to be within your reach all the time, like for example under your computer monitor. All in all, it's great amplifier as it is :)
Thanks for great review! Have few questions What kind of dac did you use? Fully balanced? Have you tried different dac chip types (ess, akm, r2r) to match op amps? Matching DAC/amp can be tricky, even more if you switch headphones around. Your type A op amp had issus with volume on hd600 or planar HP aswell? Did it actallt makeingo case while closed (those op amps are quite big in height). I guess you can get more info for us with you next test video, will wait it for sure!
A lot of questions! So here it goes: Gustard X26 Pro and AK4499 based Semibreve based DACs in fully balanced mode: both of them sounded excellent. LC2 had power issues (it requires quite a lot of juice, as its discrete) and it just switched off - no audio output above some vol level until power cycle. It fits inside fine, same as LC5 I got since last night (and this one doesnt switch off!) - there is a lot of room inside!. I will do a video on LC5s and I will mention E600 there as I will asses this pairing (LC2 made me want more!)
@@k4syx thanks for answers. How's Semibreve SE output compared to this unit? Did you use it with external LPS? Can it be the case that ess chip (usually more clean and analytical) combined with analytical op amp can be overkill? Same goes for akm smoothness+ warm op-amp. Is it even audible ? Or balancing closer to neutral sounded better?. In next video, it would be nice if you add full testing setup, including source/type of connection to DAC/cables (both dac-amp and headphones). Cause sometimes when you review great device, others rush to buy it and hear quite different sound, just because their rest gear is lower lvl. Thanks for your time and efforts:)
@@nw6066 no problem. That was raised earlier - description of my test system - but it takes time in video, so maybe I'll add that stuff to descriptions. Yes I use Semibreve with LPS, it's really good, so good that it's dedicated to work with my Cayin as together they produce very realistic vocals. It's actually so good that I could live with it as my only DAC. As for combinations: it's highly neutral by itself so it basically repeats DAC signature, but you can tune it with opamps. Which you have to replace anyway to get the full potential of this amp - that's why I gave some recommendations. You're right about pairings, though I love my equipment to be neutral and detailed. My take on it is that if you need to counter (f.e) analytical and dry amp with warm speakers then you got it wrong because you're curing one problem with another :) Yes, the total can be neutral, but change just one small thing and it falls like domino.
Very good review again, when do you stop? 🙂 Also very good that you mentioned the Chord Mojo 1 and 2 to compare with. I have the Mojo 1 so for me it's perhaps not so worthwhile to buy perhaps. First a good headphone for me. I use my Mojo's as a dac in a laptop-system for a long time and I love it. so this is not a dac so it's not comparable right?
@@onnonugteren2935 Thank you :) Well Mojo is both DAC and amp, but it's not balanced. But it sounds good and one may just wonder how good balanced Mojo would be. Having said that I was always bothered and worried about Mojo's battery: these have limited life span and that was one of the reasons I've sold it. That, and the fact that Gustard X20Pro (at that time) was soooo much better as DAC :)
@@k4syx Ah yes the battery: I've changed already one: I bought it at on the internet for not much money 10-15? euro and it's great again. complete with the right connector and cable. so it is not that bad and remember: it's really portable. 🙂 I should buy once good headphones perhaps. 🙂 Gustard X20Pro: I've seen it now: nice but totally not comparable at all. (and I do use the Mojo and Quetest with external power always in a big/laptop system.)
If they come from Mouser or Digikey they will (almost) always be legitimate parts as they are the biggest wholesale operations in the US and most of the world. They usually don’t get counterfeit or relabeled IC’s as that would demolish their hard earned reputation. No fakes from, these guys. Fakes are almost guaranteed from Aliexpress, eBay and Amazon.
Aight ive been convinced just purchased, could u confirm if the alli link in the description is correct? Seems a llttle different in the pics there but im assuming its just old photos being used
@@jaminmayo7125 yes that's the one, though photos there are older - notice it's branded Weiliang, while now this manufacturer uses only BRZHifi branding.
@@danieleturrin5625 Hi! The versions differ only by opamps (operational amplifiers) inside, but these are user replaceable. So get the cheapest NE5532 version and replace them with opamps that you prefer :)
@@sonhouse9636 yes I had a good laugh about that. But it gives that great feeling for rotating pot, just right amount of resistance that feels nice when operated by hand
@sonhouse9636 About the build inside. The thing is, they regularly make near identical rip-offs like the McInlosh Amps (notice the t ia an l?). I've seen Alps that were only labeled Alps. They actually made Alps volume pot rip-offs. I've also seen large filter caps get cut opened to reveal a small cheap cap on the inside. What's even worse now is high-end manufacturers are starting to get their fancy, CNC machined, billet aluminum cases from there too. We make almost nothing here, so now the rip-offs are screwing us in both directions. Acid Jazz, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊
@@MrSler Sorry I don't have them. I gave up a few years ago and sold them when I realized Bursons were better, and then again OPA627 were better than Bursons :) So I have no Muses now except 8890.
@@matytinman yes that's what I was talking about, these unfortunately power down above some volume level. But I got LC5s yesterday and they work fine to mind blowing volume levels, so they are burning in now (it's class A) and there will be review for them and maybe addendum to E600 video
Ok. I bought it and thank you now. It is really amazing with Akliam LC5 op-amps. I am so impressed that i just ordered another one of these amps to experiment with further. I do have some amps which are several times the price of this one and I would not say this is „better“ but it brings something special to the table - especially for my harder to drive headphones like the HE6se v2 and the HEDDphone(1). But the others like my Arya Organic or Meze109 also show an interesting character with this amp. So thank you again for the recommendation and for clarifying the very old issues still dominating the forum entries for it.
@@thefritz1 Thanks for sharing! Yes it's excellent with my He6SEv2. I have no idea what was that about in these threads. Maybe the guy there had some kind of beef with BRZHifi. It was a strange thing for me that guys designing and selling audio equipment would suddenly swap channels by mistake. But I've checked all of this, and I can see that I have exactly same L&R marks on the case and PCB is marked with 1.7, also looks the same as I'm those photos.
Strange thing.
Anyway, I hope more guys like us will discover this gem with absolute steal price
@@k4syx I do have the V1.7 PCB as well and checked all channels, plugs, the phases, grounding, noise etc and there is absolutely no issue. It is actually very silent even with IEMs used for testing.
Just for the statistics: My second BRZHifi unit arrived and it also has no issues at all and works as well as the first one.
Great! That would be very kind of you. A visual instruction would be really educational for me in order to prevent damage to the equipment. I have to see it with my own eyes how to do it properly- otherwise its a big bang, I’m afraid. Because, I am a total disaster in this field. To thank you for your top-video about the E600 I will be pleased to offer you a friendly donation for a nice bottle of wine at a table on a sunny outdoor spot. Enjoy your holidays!
@@joevrie Thank you! I will do a short video for you tomorrow: we're getting back this afternoon :)
Just arrived i love, extremely small bit of cross talk between inputs very very very minor issue its not like it will be hooked up to 2 anyways lol. Also would be nice to have abt 10% more volume in low gain but again small issue.thanks for the rec really nice deal
I've been looking and wondering about that amp for over a year now. Thanks for the review!!! I've also wondered about the leaf audio cmd line. They look really good!
I've been wondering about this amp as well
Thank you so much for this great video! I ordered right away. Delivery will take a couple of weeks. I'm going to listen with the default Opams first, before upgrading to the EAKLIAM LC5 class A discrete opamps. In the video you warn that "If you want to replace the Opams, you first have to check the polarity to find out where 'Pin One' is". I have no idea how to determine that. Special measuring equipment required? There will be a video on the LC5 opamp later. Could you briefly show how to find 'Pin One' in this forthcoming follow-up video? That would be very helpful.
@@joevrie Thanks! Akliams have pin one marked with small circle and number "1" printed next to it. The side with the pin 1 should go towards the curve in the socket on PCB. It's simple really, but as with all opamps (not only discrete Akliams) it's important to insert them the right way. I may do a short video on that when I'll get back from vacation.
Great! That would be very kind of you. A visual instruction would be really educational for me in order to prevent damage to the equipment. I have to see it with my own eyes how to do it properly- otherwise its a big bang, I’m afraid. Because, I am a total disaster in this field. To thank you for your top-video about the E600 I will be pleased to offer you a friendly donation for a nice bottle of wine at a table on a sunny outdoor spot. Enjoy your holidays!
@@joevrie I've done it for you ;) its scheduled for 9th, just a few days (there was a queque that I've crashlanded this one in ;))
@@k4syx Thanks a lot for taking the time and effort to create an inserted video fragment on this critical issue. I'm sure there are more followers of your RUclips channel who would like to do this upgrade themselves, but don't have the technical knowledge or skills to know what they're doing and how to insert the opams in the right way. I will watch your video on August 9th with great interest and will follow your instructions with extreme close attention!
@@joevrie No problem, that was actually a good idea and motivation to move towards video with opamps comparison :)
Wow! Nice little amp, and another great review. Learning a lot from your insight and testing…Would love something like this with a remote, but might just go ahead and get this one 🙏🏼
@@riccitone I think remote is doable with little DIYing. The power source is there, powered pot is also there, so you just need control and IR receiver and these can be bought as sets with remote on Ali for little money. The hardest part I think would be finding (or drilling?) neat location for receiver.
On the other hand I think this one is more like desk amp so it's supposed to be within your reach all the time, like for example under your computer monitor. All in all, it's great amplifier as it is :)
Thanks for that review.
Thanks!
Thanks for great review! Have few questions What kind of dac did you use? Fully balanced? Have you tried different dac chip types (ess, akm, r2r) to match op amps? Matching DAC/amp can be tricky, even more if you switch headphones around. Your type A op amp had issus with volume on hd600 or planar HP aswell? Did it actallt makeingo case while closed (those op amps are quite big in height). I guess you can get more info for us with you next test video, will wait it for sure!
A lot of questions! So here it goes: Gustard X26 Pro and AK4499 based Semibreve based DACs in fully balanced mode: both of them sounded excellent. LC2 had power issues (it requires quite a lot of juice, as its discrete) and it just switched off - no audio output above some vol level until power cycle. It fits inside fine, same as LC5 I got since last night (and this one doesnt switch off!) - there is a lot of room inside!. I will do a video on LC5s and I will mention E600 there as I will asses this pairing (LC2 made me want more!)
@@k4syx thanks for answers. How's Semibreve SE output compared to this unit? Did you use it with external LPS? Can it be the case that ess chip (usually more clean and analytical) combined with analytical op amp can be overkill? Same goes for akm smoothness+ warm op-amp. Is it even audible ? Or balancing closer to neutral sounded better?. In next video, it would be nice if you add full testing setup, including source/type of connection to DAC/cables (both dac-amp and headphones). Cause sometimes when you review great device, others rush to buy it and hear quite different sound, just because their rest gear is lower lvl. Thanks for your time and efforts:)
@@nw6066 no problem. That was raised earlier - description of my test system - but it takes time in video, so maybe I'll add that stuff to descriptions. Yes I use Semibreve with LPS, it's really good, so good that it's dedicated to work with my Cayin as together they produce very realistic vocals. It's actually so good that I could live with it as my only DAC. As for combinations: it's highly neutral by itself so it basically repeats DAC signature, but you can tune it with opamps. Which you have to replace anyway to get the full potential of this amp - that's why I gave some recommendations. You're right about pairings, though I love my equipment to be neutral and detailed. My take on it is that if you need to counter (f.e) analytical and dry amp with warm speakers then you got it wrong because you're curing one problem with another :) Yes, the total can be neutral, but change just one small thing and it falls like domino.
Very good review again, when do you stop? 🙂 Also very good that you mentioned the Chord Mojo 1 and 2 to compare with. I have the Mojo 1 so for me it's perhaps not so worthwhile to buy perhaps. First a good headphone for me. I use my Mojo's as a dac in a laptop-system for a long time and I love it. so this is not a dac so it's not comparable right?
@@onnonugteren2935 Thank you :)
Well Mojo is both DAC and amp, but it's not balanced. But it sounds good and one may just wonder how good balanced Mojo would be.
Having said that I was always bothered and worried about Mojo's battery: these have limited life span and that was one of the reasons I've sold it. That, and the fact that Gustard X20Pro (at that time) was soooo much better as DAC :)
@@k4syx Ah yes the battery: I've changed already one: I bought it at on the internet for not much money 10-15? euro and it's great again. complete with the right connector and cable. so it is not that bad and remember: it's really portable. 🙂 I should buy once good headphones perhaps. 🙂
Gustard X20Pro: I've seen it now: nice but totally not comparable at all. (and I do use the Mojo and Quetest with external power always in a big/laptop system.)
@@onnonugteren2935 yes I've used my Mojo for headphones but ALSO as DAC for my Stax setup - that's not really mobile :)
If you need some muses02 anyway you get two for the price of one when you buy from digikey or mouser. They could be fake of course.
If they come from Mouser or Digikey they will (almost) always be legitimate parts as they are the biggest wholesale operations in the US and most of the world. They usually don’t get counterfeit or relabeled IC’s as that would demolish their hard earned reputation. No fakes from, these guys. Fakes are almost guaranteed from Aliexpress, eBay and Amazon.
Aight ive been convinced just purchased, could u confirm if the alli link in the description is correct? Seems a llttle different in the pics there but im assuming its just old photos being used
@@jaminmayo7125 yes that's the one, though photos there are older - notice it's branded Weiliang, while now this manufacturer uses only BRZHifi branding.
@k4syx appreciate ya dude o7
Hi,
Best headphones for this amp?
Grado or planar?
Thanks for your work.
@@fernandoleitao382 Any, actually. It's so powerful that it will be fine with anything.
It can even drive He6SEv2 perfectly fine, without a sweat!
Sorry if I am late, I don't understand which are the differences between the different versions... If you could help me I would be grateful😁
@@danieleturrin5625 Hi! The versions differ only by opamps (operational amplifiers) inside, but these are user replaceable.
So get the cheapest NE5532 version and replace them with opamps that you prefer :)
@@k4syx thank you! Can you link those 828 op amps please?
@@danieleturrin5625 OPA828 DIP8 Dual Operational Amplifier Dual OP AMP Upgrade NE5532 MUSES8920 OPA2604 LME49720 OP275 AD827
a.aliexpress.com/_ExBlvWv
Thanks! Have you already tried Akliam LC5? @@k4syx
@@k4syx thanks! Have you already tried Akliam LC5?
Hi, great build inside. The use of a motorized pot without remote cntrol is strange, though.
@@sonhouse9636 yes I had a good laugh about that. But it gives that great feeling for rotating pot, just right amount of resistance that feels nice when operated by hand
@sonhouse9636
About the build inside. The thing is, they regularly make near identical rip-offs like the McInlosh Amps (notice the t ia an l?). I've seen Alps that were only labeled Alps. They actually made Alps volume pot rip-offs. I've also seen large filter caps get cut opened to reveal a small cheap cap on the inside.
What's even worse now is high-end manufacturers are starting to get their fancy, CNC machined, billet aluminum cases from there too. We make almost nothing here, so now the rip-offs are screwing us in both directions.
Acid Jazz, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊
And yes don't buy extra's listen to him! 🙂
😂😂😂
How does it sound with the muses02?
@@MrSler Sorry I don't have them. I gave up a few years ago and sold them when I realized Bursons were better, and then again OPA627 were better than Bursons :)
So I have no Muses now except 8890.
@@k4syx ok. Thanks
is it a benchmark copy?
Looking at HPA4 PCB - I don't think so. Why?
@@k4syx reminds me of older benchmark products
HiFi Zone: Discrete opamps - are they any good? AKLIAM LC2 class A review
ruclips.net/video/ueCNWs-S5Mo/видео.html
@@matytinman yes that's what I was talking about, these unfortunately power down above some volume level. But I got LC5s yesterday and they work fine to mind blowing volume levels, so they are burning in now (it's class A) and there will be review for them and maybe addendum to E600 video