Nice, curious to hear your thoughts on it
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.
Yeah Iāve 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.
Never be ashamed of patience. Just careful you donāt 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 itās 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.
I got one, itās 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.
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 donāt 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 Iāll get it.
Anyone know where heās 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.
I would be very curious to hear your thoughts as compared to the MAD amp.
I just put in an order for one. I will be comparing it to my smsl sp-200.
I received my RebelAmp several days ago. These are the impressions I have so far:
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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.
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The unit came very fast. It traveled from Ukraine to Texas in 4 days. Thatās faster than anyone local is shipping these days.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I thought it was interesting that the Gain switch goes H-L-M. Iām used to seeing the order as L-M-H, but since theyāre accurately labeled, itās no problem.
I like the sound signature of the RebelAmp and look forward to using it more.
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?
When comparing to the THX, I thought the RebelAmp presented a similar amount of detail, but the notes seemed more separated on the THX. Iām interested to hear if others have the same experience.
Unfortunately, I have not used a tube/hybrid and I donāt have any planar headphones.
Not super encouraging for those of us who ordered expecting a revelation based on Zeos video.
I mean, I would expect it would preform well, but I wouldnāt expect a revelation
Your not going to get a lot of ārevelationsā 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.
Comparing to THX Z saysā¦ Would you get a THX amp over it he then says heās got a THX amp it measures far better puts out more power but heād 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 ārevelationā. He says āitās not perfect itās better than perfectā¦ But it sounds better than perfectly neutralā. āI fucking love this amp it makes all my headphones sound prettyā¦ sound like they are the prettiest girl at the ballā. āMoving on to something else tomorrow that isnāt 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.
I would expect itās 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 itās price. This isnāt knocking the amp, I canāt 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
Still looking forward to receiving mine in any case as well as reading further community and professional reviews and impressions as they become available.
Yes, I will be curious to see what you think about it when gets to you, should be nice
My general 2c on hyped product.
Donāt be first on the train, and be especially skeptical of large numbers of positive reviews initially itās mostly confirmation bias by early adopters. Read the negatives carefully and look for patterns in them.
Then jump if you still think itās 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+.