G&W TW-J1 amp

monkeyboy69 · 11-02-2005, 10:13 AM

I've seen this offered but dont' have the opportunity to try it out before I buy , can anyone give me an idea about this amp and whether its suitable for senn 650

avanzato · 14-02-2005, 10:12 PM

I don't think there's many of these amps around in the UK yet, I got mine before Christmas and it's doing a great job with my Ergo phones. The manual which I can't read as it's in Chinese has a list of phones in the back that I assume were used in it's development. There are several Sennheiser's (amongst others) listed the 600, 580's etc but not the 650. I can't think you'll have any problems using the 650 with the amp. The amp's fairly big and solidly made, usual thick plate of Chinese alloy for the front panel. I do however get some mechanical hum from the transformer but can't hear it with the phones on. The phones output itself has no hiss or hum and the sound quality is very clean with excellent bass and a refined treble. Well worth the £100 odd pounds it cost to buy.

HTH

eviljohn2 · 12-07-2005, 10:11 AM

I'm looking at a few of these with the potential to upgrade the capacitors inside if necessary. Any more thoughts from Avanzato or newer owners?

StevieDvd · 12-07-2005, 11:33 AM

There was a lot of discussion about these over at head-fi as some units were rated excellent and others poor. It seems they are not all built the same and it could be the luck of the draw whether you get a good or bad one.

Steve

eviljohn2 · 12-07-2005, 1:19 PM

I've just read that discussion myself thanks Steve, I think I'll probably pass and go for the Bada PH-1 which seems like a safe bet.

avanzato · 12-07-2005, 1:49 PM

I'm still happy with my amp but then I bought it from someone who wasn't the 'offical' importer in the UK (if you've also read that thread on head-fi)
If you're going to be modding what about the White noise headphone amp kit, it's £160 but gets almost universal praise as sounding excellent.
White Noise Audio

eviljohn2 · 12-07-2005, 3:04 PM

I have been looking at the WNA amp but the latest price is £176 inc to the UK which is about 3 times more than I want to pay.

I'd love to put one together as a project though.

StevieDvd · 12-07-2005, 5:33 PM

As you'll see in my signature below I have one of the early WNA models. I had someone build the kit for me and it's been the subject of some tweaking which has influenced the latest WNA version. It's going back for an update now to bring it up to the latest spec, so it shows how happy I am with it.

I also have the Ant Amber which is not available as a kit but is another nice UK supplied amp.

Either will be fine with Sennheiser (I have the HD650s) and both are fine with Grado (I have Alessandro MS-2i and a customised MS-1).

If budget is less than £100 then both these would likely to be rules out unless you get the WNA pcb and source the components yourself, you'd need to do the sums first though.

I think Alex who makes the Ant Amber was thinking of a lower priced amp as well - must be a market there!

Other than that there are smaller/cheaper amps more in the diy area such as basic cmoys to the more involved ones (better design pcb, better components etc).

When I get my lazy bones working I'll take some pics as I'll be selling a couple of amps (cmoy/mint) and my Porta Corda II as I've recently updated my portable setup.

Grif · 12-07-2005, 5:53 PM

I can recommend the J1. I'm using it with 650's and it sounds superb....so much so that I bought another and I'm using them in duel mono config with a modified Oelbach cable that I bought from Steve (cheers m8

) .I've also dropped some Balckgates and Hexfreds in there, just because I fancied a play....and it's sounding fabaroony, even though the new caps are'nt fully burnt in yet.
As stock though, they are an excellent bargain....perfect for senns.

eviljohn2 · 12-07-2005, 5:56 PM

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm using Senn HD570s which are fine through my AV amp but lacklustre from my TV and mini-system which is what I bought them for. Hence the ideas about an amp.

I can tell this isn't going to be an easy decision.

Rickdomino · 01-08-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkeyboy69

I've seen this offered but dont' have the opportunity to try it out before I buy , can anyone give me an idea about this amp and whether its suitable for senn 650

I have been using the TW-J1 for about a year now with my Sennheiser 650's. At first I was a little disappointed with the sound finding the higher registers rather hard and brittle. However after using the amp regularly (leaving it switched on all the time) for about six weeks there was a obvious improvement in the sound quality. Now I am completely won over by the Senn 650 / TW-J1 combination. The hardness has completely disappeared and the sound has a transparancy and clarity which is amazing. Gone is the hard and brittle character of the female vocals and the treble is now sweet, delicate and well extended. Midrange is natural and the bass full and deep with excellent control. At the current, recommended price I would say the TW-J1 is a terrific bargain, hard to beat at twice the price. Cheers.

StevieDvd · 03-08-2009, 4:20 PM

Wow digg up a 4 year old thread and guess what my reply is still the same today:

"There was a lot of discussion about these over at head-fi as some units were rated excellent and others poor. It seems they are not all built the same and it could be the luck of the draw whether you get a good or bad one."

Steve