There is a dedicated buy/sell and looking for thread in the off topic category. You can try posting it there.
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how does the A90 compare to the Rebel?
Itâs not necessarily that class A amps always are more powerful per the same wattage but many are. And this tends to be the case by the way class A amps are designed verse class D amps which scale very differently. This becomes much more noticeable with powering speakers, my bedroom setup of LS50âs struggled to be powered by 75 watt per channel class D integrated amp, then switching to a class A 25 watt per channel amp with a separate dac and they are well powered and have better separation and bass response. Also fill the room with sound drastically better, warmer sound, while class D amps tend to become thin as they max out and clip more easily with a spike in power. While class A seems to just become less room filling and might smear sound. From what Iâve learned this is because class A amps run at full power or near full power all the time. Then there are near no cross overs for a more linear response, making class A not necessarily the cleanest sound but the most direct and linear sound.
Well, yeah, probably your class A amp is better than your class D in terms of sound quality. Then again, the two things are not necessarily connected, although some people swear by that. Also, although class D amps technically âwork all the time clippedâ, distortion levels and true clipping will be more related to amp design than class in itself.
For my own question and that of @LeDechaine, I think I found a plausible reason for it: the filtering stage after Class D amps probably attenuate the voltage signal, and that will affect the final SPL of the driver, especially on speakers.
Absolutely, with sufficient power reserves, very dynamic, powerful bass, lots of detail, precise stage and completely âstress-freeâ in the higher frequencies.
Ask yourself where you would rather be when you feel good?
In the operating room of a hospital, extremely clean, even sterile, well-lit and always ready for precise emergency treatment âifâ you need it.
Or rather at home, in the cozy living room with a drink in hand and your loved ones around you.
Thatâs roughly how I would describe the tonal difference between the two and the REBEL.
For my part, I fitted almost all of my headphones with 6.35mm plugs again, because I use the Rebel 75% of the time.
Unfortunately, emotionality in music reproduction cannot be measured technically 
.
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What are some competitors to the RebelAmp?
I think the Flux Labs FA-12 is positioned as a natural competitor to the Rebelamp.
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Technically I would say the FA-12s is the more direct competitor as that is the single ended version of the FA-12. Also thereâs the HeadAmp Gilmore Lite Mk2 which is a class A single ended amp so that is another similar kind of amp in the same price range.
I actually have a FA-12 coming in the mail as I wanted a balanced amp with (hopefully) similar tonality to the RebelAmp so it will be interesting to see how the two compare.
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Wouldnât the Burson âlower-endâ stuff be in the competition too?
Right now thereâs only the Playmate, which is a DAC/Amp, but according to Burson staff, a new version of the Fun (HeadAmp/Pre-Amp) should come this year.
I saw Zeos confirm (what I had suspected since itâs release) that Flux and RebelAmp are closely related.
I had assumed incorrectly that they were being produced in the same factory somewhere in Eastern Europe but according to Z, Rebel was started when an engineer left Flux to start his own company and allegedly copied Fluxâs secret recipe for amps along the way.
This definitely cements my opinion that Flux and Rebel are directly competing with one another.
I had a RebelAmp but sold it because it didnât do sparkly magical things to my headphones as Zeos would have us believe. It was an okay amp with no major issues.
Iâm still keen to try something from Flux. Probably would like an FA 10 though.
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Honestly I agree with you as well, itâs a competent amp but really didnât do much that impressed me for the cost, nothing really to complain about but nothing to write home about compared to other amps in itâs range
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Iâve always wondered about the relation between flux and rebel and thatâs the first real answer Iâve seen so thanks for sharing that. I wouldnât be surprised if the FA-12 and the Rebel sound mostly the same but hopefully they have some different qualities
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Yeah I thought I was being conspiratorial by assuming they were rebranding common components but it turns out the juice was much juicier than initially thought. In any case itâs mentioned in Mad Science Hour Part 4 about 54 mins in. He also gets direct kickbacks from from RebelAmp which by his own admission is partially why youâll see that flash of green on his new half-rack setup instead of either Flux model.
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Some had a suspicion that this was a rebranding, but everything really turned out to be more complicated.
Now Iâm waiting FA10 Pro to replace FA10. I want more sparkling HF, which the Pro should have.
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Have you found an amp that does these âsparkly magical thingsâ? I havenât journeyed down the amp rabbit hole much but I do like the pairing of the RebelAmp with my LCD-4z. I would be curious to know what youâve settled on instead.
I bought a Phonitor X at roughly the same time as the Rebel. Not a fair comparison but I still have the Phonitor.
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Hi, other amps like?
Stuff like the lake people g111, monolith liquid platinum, rupert neve rnhp, hagerman tuba, feliks echo to name a few around under the 600 range, all of those amps impressed me in some aspects and offered a higher level of performance than the rebelamp could accomplish overall (assuming good synergy with the headphones at hand), whereas I really never had a moment like that with the rebelamp, it was never flat out bad but it never really showed me anything that would make it worthwhile to me over some of the aforementioned amps
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Are the hagerman tuba, feliks echo hybrid?
No both are full tube amps, tuba is transformer coupled, echo is an OTL.
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