I just had a chance to spend some time with the updated version of Glow Audio's Amp One. This is a 5 wpc SEP amp, utilizing two EL84 tubes for power and two 6N3s. It has USB input and a headphone jack. Amp retails for $648, with free shipping at the moment.
My impressions:
Sound - The amp sounds very nice. Never wanted to turn it off or down. Does an excellent job on lesser quality recordings. Strengths: Smooth and musical. Very quiet for a tube amp. Bass was acceptable sans subwoofer. Did not get boomy and was fairly tight. Highs were good. Seemed to cut down on sibilance on a few tracks. Weaknesses: I listened to the amp for a while and didn't notice any weaknesses. But, when I did some head-to-head listening with Virtue ONE t-amp I noticed more resolution and transparency with the Virtue.
Style - Wow, kind of off the chart on this one. Amp is beautiful. It would be an awesome centerpiece in a 2 channel listening room. Paint and finish is excellent, and amp appears to be very solidly built. The warm glow of the tubes is sweet for late night listening with the lights down low. I'm personally not a big fan of glowing ring around volume knob, but that can be turned off so not a big deal.
Functionality/Versatility/Value - Very impressive to get this sound + USB connectivity + headphone amp in one box for a very modest price. When you consider the build quality compared to some other sub $1000 tube amps the value seems ridiculous.
I compared same tracks as flac files from PC via USB and from CDs on modded PlayStation1 via RCAs. No subwoofer was used. I thought the CDs sounded noticeably better. I've run the same experiment with other gear and found little or no difference.
All listening was done with Onix/av123 Ref1 monitors. They are 85dB sensitivity/4 Ohms. The Amp One powered them with with no issue, easily getting them to 90dB with no loss of sound quality.
I was extremely happy with sound on headphones, although I did notice some hiss/hum at lower volume setting with no music playing. I compared the Amp One headphone quality to a Keces DA-152 and found them to be equally proficient.
Conclusion. If you want a versatile, super-stylish tube amp that sounds very good I think the Amp One fits the bill at a modest cost.
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