I can see that, you can get small thick pieces but buying a board 42 inchs by 6 inches by 3/4 is not so easy lol.
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Guys, why spoil surprises, Schiit makes this a fun hobby and Jason usually gets out a blurb post at some point when the box in development looks like it will actually end up a viable product instead of ending up in the trash compactor as an āalmostā.
As far as Paladinās Incvbvs design is concerned it is an amp with a sound unlike any solid state, hybrid, or even modern tube design Iāve heard. And itās the perfect and best Iāve found yet to mate to one of my favorite phones, the Senn HD800 & HD800S (I own both). It also works exceptionally well with Oppo PM-1ās and Utopia which I own / owned. And if I could direct drive the RAAL SR1a with it I would!
I did an extensive write-up / review of the demo unit I auditioned in January. I told Paladin to share it with whomever he wants to. Hereās just an excerpt;
What is Incvbvs Elegan? For me, a time machine that takes me back to the 50ās and 60ās in the days before transistors. When tubes were the sound of music and dinosaurs still ruled the earth! When reproduced music had a presence, a relaxed delivery, and a believability of sound. The Incvbvs Elegan sound has great body; flesh, and blood, and bones. Many current amplifiers seem hell-bent on resolving minutiae of the details through straining at the boundaries of transparency and may miss a bigger picture. Like focusing on a leaf and missing the rest of the tree.
As luck would have it the week before I wrote my review I attended my last concert of the season (thanks to the pandemic) at the old Academy of Music with the Phila. Orchestra, in Philly. Rach 3rd Symphony was the closer. The next day I listened to a performance of the same with the Phila. Orchestra on a Decca CD from 1990 and it hit me like a blow to head! The Incvbvs was glorious in its ability to give me the illusion that I was back in the hall if I closed my eyes.
This may not be everybodyās sound. Itās possible that younger generations brought up on solid state and MP3 could have different perceptions and expectations. Other folks Iām acquainted with are very positive on the sound of the Incvbvs as well and have their own Incvbvsās, and most are jazz, rock, and other popular genres oriented, where Iām mostly classical.
Keep in mind, these are hand built and fabricated from start to finish; wood cabinetry and finishes, metal plates, hardware installation, and most importantly to my way of thinking, point to point hard wired. No copper traces on a board for this amplifier design.
Now, Paladin is one guy working alone in garage space shared with a potter. His only assistant is Finnegan, the cat. You canāt put anything in a cart, check out, and get a tracking number the next day. This is what I use to refer to (when I worked for a living) as a personal relationship business. These take some time to build after customization is determined and youāll want to audition a demo unit so you can to be comfortable that it meets your criteria for a headphone amp and conventional pre-amp.
Now, and the most important point to keep in mind. Paladin is currently nursing a minor thumb injury allowing him to chat more than usual at present. When the bandages come off he is tasked with completing my second Incvbvs build (with some refinements over my SN001 build) for my upstairs HP rig which is in mid-build as of today. So, when he comes off injured reserve leave him alone till my new Incvbvs ships.
Peace!
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Copy that! Who am I to stifle a swift rehabilitation @Paladin.
Thanks for sharing the excerpt. The sound signature you describe appears to be spot on in terms of what Iām seeking:
Iām willing to sacrifice resolution, dynamics, sound stage, transparency, punch and slam.
Peace to you, sir!
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I am not so sure you would be sacrificing a lot. My audiophile group uses 25 criteria to analyze equipment and the Incubus did quite well, even in its early stages. The four I donated did not have the level of capacitors I am now using and hopefully in a couple weeks FLTWS will like the minor changes I made. It is a tube amp with as pure a signal path as I can create. This is their standard for judging 6sn7ās and 6080 series power tubes. One person described it as some tubes sound 60/40 in other amps, in this one it is more like 100/50 and the guy who said that can tell you in double blind testing a Bad Boy from a Ken Rad VT-231 from a CBS/Hytron 5692.
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I didnāt mean to suggest Iād be sacrificing with your amp in particular. I was speaking more in general terms of what I listen for now / hold as more important. Itās fantastic to hear of the progression and reception, especially by such perceptive ears.
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The Incvbvs doesnāt sacrifice any of those qualities (resolution, dynamics, sound stage, transparency, punch and slam.), to my ears. Many of those aspects have more to do with the qualities of the recording. and capabilities of the transducer. Compared to Incvbvs a lot of the SS and Hybrid designs Iāve heard over the decades and presently own have a decidedly electronic haze that rides along with the sound giving me the impression of listening thru a veil of sorts. Incvbvs is a squeaky clean window on the sound that brings a sense of vibrancy to the sound of instruments. But thatās why auditioning is important, you need to be able to experience the difference with the gear you have and have had experience with. When I audition / compare gear I try to avoid drawing winner/loser, or good/bad conclusions. Identifying what makes them different from each other is my goal. Two pieces can be different and yet enjoyable for their respective strengths. But there is something special to my ears about this OTL tube design.
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Does anyone have a general preference for tube versus solid state rectification? What design objectives are met when one selects tube versus solid state rectification? Does/should each result in the same sonic experience?
Solid state is cheaper, and arguably easier to implement as you donāt have to supply heater filament current to diodes like you do with tubes. My preference only lies in how well either is implemented. Clean steady power results in better sound.
Cleanly converting AC to DC, just using different methods. The appeal of tube glow. Price. Size. Heat.
It should, with subtle nuances. Keep in mind: This is Audiophile-land, where placebo, ignorance, and confirmation bias are forces not to be ignored. For tube rectification, I still believe that the less of a difference you can hear between different rectifier tubes, the cleaner/better the power delivery should be. For SS, using better diodes (like Schottky) means less voltage droop, which can matter to the downstream components, which could explain why a very subtle difference (some say improvement) is heard from the Schottky diode mod on the Bottlehead Crack.
I would guess that amp designers have to balance cost against performance against space constraints/layout when choosing how they want to convert your wall AC to usable DC voltage. For example, on the Crack all that is a very real consideration and balancing act, but on the Crackatwoa where price and space are less of a concern they can include betterer stuffs.
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Thanks for your thorough response. I get how SS is cheaper and easier, how whatās important is the implementation, the need to balance cost with performance with space, and how Christmas tree light tubes are pleasing to the eye.
To your point, Iām raising the question in order to determine what really drives the sonic experience. And when I make a selection of equipment, I am informed/aware of what is fully loaded and matters versus fully loaded and doesnāt matter versus with compromises that matter versus with compromises that donāt matter.
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If youāre looking for what some may call the intangible differences, then placebo and preference drives it.
If you heard a tube rectified DNA Stratus, and compared it to a diode rectified Crack, could you reasonably proclaim tube rectification is better because the Stratus was more pleasing to your ears? Or would you acknowledge that there are so many more factors contributing to the sound difference as to make the rectification comparison irrelevant?
IMO, it is more sane to compare an ampās sound as a whole against other ampās sound as a whole, and disregard which rectification methods are used.
In short, the answer to your questions might be āO, that way madness liesā¦ā.
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I hear you on placebo and acknowledge that there are other contributing (even more important) factors.
For any comparison to be meaningful, it must be apples to apples. I wouldnāt compare a Stratus to a Crack. But Iād compare a Starlett (tube rectified) to a Euforia (solid state rectified, I believe).
I agree - the sound dictates and what matters most. However, if the sound is equal or equivalent within tolerable variance, then selections can be based on design philosophy.
Apologies for contributing to the madness, during these uncertain times.
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I have owned and designed S/S and tube amps, and own and owned many examples of each, but at this point I want tubes.
Tubes offer a chance to change nuances if done properly, I prefer different tubes with different types of music. Since discussion of the Incubus got moved over here, one of the major drawbacks is the generation of heat and inefficiency. I have mostly Class A amplifiers and prefer their SQ. Solid state can be very accurate yet it does not get my foot tapping, I can listen to a well designed tube amp for hours but most SS amps I have heard, lack the wow factor. YMMV. I am not a big fan of hybrid amps, or using tubes as buffers. Tubes can be expensive, there are a few modern tubes that are decent. My purpose in building the Incubus was to really hear the tube sound, and that shocked some people and yet they fell in love with the sound, but only those who heard it. 
I was a little concerned my local friends were humoring me so I shipped an early prototype to @FLTWS and a couple other people I only know online whom I know to be honest and realistic. Then I began thinking I may have something lol.
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Iāve read his impressions write-up and Iām very intrigued. May your hand have a swift recovery
Iāve heard and own/owned examples of SS and hybrid that Iām okay with, they bring different things my listening experience. Iām happy with the XI Audio in use with my Abyss and my Ragnarok 1 was slightly warmer and I liked that a lot too with the Abyss, Utopia, and I think, even, the HD800S. My biggest issue with the Rag was the 64 steps for the volume control. It was fine with Jazz and rock where the volume levels remain fairly stable but with my āmeat & potatoesā classical I always found myself turning up the softest passages and turning down the loudest. I prefer to set it once and be done for an entire work and I find that easier to dial in with a standard pot. The lack of remote didnāt bother me and I have no experience with their new 128 steps design. My MJ2 strikes me as a very clinical sound, but the Valhalla 2 and especially LYR3 Iām okay with. I also have a Jotunheim and thatās a bit too āin my faceā for my liking. The Rogue RH-5 is another nice sounding amp as well, it has 184 steps but they are, I believe, electronically derived not a discrete resistor (ladder?).
But class A OTLās tube amps are a rare and beautiful sounding beast and I just loveāem. I still remember my brother and I driving to Harvey Rosenbergās up in NY many, many years ago to listen to NYALās Futterman OTL design driving Harveyās modified stacked Quads (the originals) with those 20 watt mono-blocks, glorious! As is the Incvbvs with my headphones. But still, it maybe not everyoneās first choice depending on different listeners expectations and perhaps even choice of music genre.
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Thatās a cool story with the Quads.
Interesting you mention the RH-5. I recently came across a listing for a pre-owned Cronus Magnum integrated stereo amp that Rogue says includes a headphone circuit/output that is a simplified single ended version of the RH-5.
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Right now I have an obligation to those who have heard the amp, or have ordered one because their friends heard it. In the case of those I do not know well, they pay up front and I hold the money in escrow for a week or two to be sure they are happy with the amp. If for any reason they do not like it, I return the money upon return of the amp. This has never happened. I now have four to build before I can send another sample, one person was saving up and I did not know when he would have the money.
When I send a sample, there is no charge but I have five levels of capacitors and a few levels of potentiometers, and resistors. I am more apt to use mid level parts on the samples in the event I never see one again. In the past I have donated one like that after a few folks heard it.
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Do you mean Quad ESLs? If so, I inherited a two pairs of the ESL 55 (aka 57) from my dad. I hope to stack them some day.
Thank you for introducing me to Harvey Rosenberg. I just did some google sleuthing, saw this, and will now read more about him - he sounds like he was quite the character!
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Understandable and makes sense. Your wait list and product return rate are telling and indicative of its quality.
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Yep the ESLās. I keep trying to remember his house, big old Victorian(?), columns out front(?).
But His L/R had a low platform at one end with 4 OTLās and 4 (?) ESLās stacked per side, if memory serves.
Wish I had a picture.
@Baldr over at Head-Fi made note of encountering Harvey, perhaps at a CES or other industry convention in one of his past posts.
And yes, Harvey was a character.
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Thanks for sleuthing and to @FLTWS for the introduction.
Iām going to try tracking down his book. He seems like quite the luminary/personality.
I believe this is his website. http://www.meta-gizmo.org/
Audio. Not the search for transparency. Or technical excellence. Or accuracy. Or even truth. But ecstacy. I dig it.
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