šŸ”· RebelAmp

Nice, curious to hear your thoughts on it :+1:

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Just ordered one myself. The average delivery time is 7-10 days according to Rebel Audio. Please let us know your thoughts, very curious since it seems like Zeos is the only one who has commented on it.

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Yeah Iā€™ve been dragging my feet on buying another amp waiting for more reviews on it. Dying to here other feedback than just Zeos especially from people that have heard a variety of other amps in the $500 - $1k price point.

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Never be ashamed of patience. Just careful you donā€™t over research because then the reviewers and mob becomes your view. When you wake, separate, and give a listen to what the mob told you and then you find yourself in disagreementā€¦ That is where you may find yourself hating your gear, the hobby, and want your time back.

Not going to lie, this rebel looks like an interesting buy but itā€™s one I personally say pass on. If you want interesting things to heard on what a single component doing the amplification can sound like, this seems like a great entry piece.

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I got one, itā€™s good and pairs well with planars. For certain dynamic headphones I prefer my NFB-1AMP. Gain settings are good, nice volume pot, and it runs warm. The green color is very cool.

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They have them in (limited) stock! I was on the list to notify when they got stock in since probably February. I was hoping to see more independent reviews besides Zeos pop up before then so when I pull the trigger I was confident. I guess at $500 I could pull the trigger and if I donā€™t like it sell it for ~$400 on headfi.

Thanks rmsanger placed order about half hour after you posted. Shipping to Canada so who knows when Iā€™ll get it.

Anyone know where heā€™s shipping out of?

Will be comparing against a Sabaj D5 and an old Mapletree Audio Design Ear+ HD Super Custom.

Edit; Shipping direct from Ukraine.

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I would be very curious to hear your thoughts as compared to the MAD amp.

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I just put in an order for one. I will be comparing it to my smsl sp-200.

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I received my RebelAmp several days ago. These are the impressions I have so far:

  1. Customer Support - I have e-mailed a few times with them, and they are very responsive. I even got replies the same day on the weekend.

  2. The unit came very fast. It traveled from Ukraine to Texas in 4 days. Thatā€™s faster than anyone local is shipping these days.

  3. I have been using it with my Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro headphones and Topping D70 DAC. I also tried it out very briefly with a set of Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro headphones. It sounded very clean and detailed with more than enough power to drive my 250ohm headphones. I used the Low gain setting so that I could use more of the volume knob range. Also, I really like that it is green.

  4. I have a THX AAA 789 that I swapped back-and-forth between, and it sounded to me like the note decay was a little bit slower on the RebelAmp. I noticed that sounds lingered a little bit longer in the upper mid range and treble. It was subtle, but this made it sound as if the recordings were done in a larger room. The RebelAmp also seems a bit warmer and more full in the lower frequencies compared to the THX AAA 789.

  5. I also used the RebelAmp to watch an action movie, and I enjoyed it a lot. I expect to use it mostly for music, but I do use my headphones for movies sometimes. It easily handled the dynamic swings from quiet conversations to loud explosions. It has plenty of power ready at all times.

  6. I thought it was interesting that the Gain switch goes H-L-M. Iā€™m used to seeing the order as L-M-H, but since theyā€™re accurately labeled, itā€™s no problem.

I like the sound signature of the RebelAmp and look forward to using it more.

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Thanks for the comparison to the THX that is a helpful benchmark. On the detail/resolution/micro-dynamics front did you notice a step down going from THX -> RA?

On the speed/decay did it almost sound closer to a tube/hybrid than the THX?

Do you have any planar headphones to try it with?

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When comparing to the THX, I thought the RebelAmp presented a similar amount of detail, but the notes seemed more separated on the THX. Iā€™m interested to hear if others have the same experience.

Unfortunately, I have not used a tube/hybrid and I donā€™t have any planar headphones.

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Not super encouraging for those of us who ordered expecting a revelation based on Zeos video.

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I mean, I would expect it would preform well, but I wouldnā€™t expect a revelation

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Your not going to get a lot of ā€œrevelationsā€ from similarly priced SS Amps, unless you simply expect them to all sound the same.
Zeos is also somewhat notorious for over-hyping products from small manufacturers.

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Comparing to THX Z saysā€¦ Would you get a THX amp over it he then says heā€™s got a THX amp it measures far better puts out more power but heā€™d rather listen to 1 watt of Class A vs 1000 watts of anything else.

He then defends not wanting to be a shill or considered a shill. Then uses all of his best headphones off his wall (Fostex, Neuman, HP3 , SR60, Cflows) to make the case that the amp performs very well across multiple cans.

The words to describe the sound quality are nothing short of the word ā€œrevelationā€. He says ā€œitā€™s not perfect itā€™s better than perfectā€¦ But it sounds better than perfectly neutralā€. ā€œI fucking love this amp it makes all my headphones sound prettyā€¦ sound like they are the prettiest girl at the ballā€. ā€œMoving on to something else tomorrow that isnā€™t life changingā€.

It does appear that likely it may be still a quality amp per $ but possibly you leave the review and it feels a bit over-hyped.

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I would expect itā€™s a quality amp, but keep expectations reasonable here, I personally have rarely heard anything that has blown me out of the water or gave me a revelation in this hobby accounting for itā€™s price. This isnā€™t knocking the amp, I canā€™t say anything on that here (would want to try one eventually), just noting that z tends to really blow out the proportions, especially with amps and dacs where his reviews can be questionable at best imo. But from what else I have seen, the rebel amp is a quality product

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Still looking forward to receiving mine in any case as well as reading further community and professional reviews and impressions as they become available.

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Yes, I will be curious to see what you think about it when gets to you, should be nice :+1:

My general 2c on hyped product.
Donā€™t be first on the train, and be especially skeptical of large numbers of positive reviews initially itā€™s mostly confirmation bias by early adopters. Read the negatives carefully and look for patterns in them.
Then jump if you still think itā€™s for you.

Though I sometimes buys stuff from small manufacturers if they get good word of mouth just to support them. Still waiting for my SW51+.

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