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Post by jhelms on Aug 26, 2014 22:07:08 GMT
Hey Ian, as Frans said I do ship a power supply with all orders but the Polaris PSU is a lower amperage version vs. Horizon as Polaris uses a lot less power (helps keep costs lower). However one could use a Horizon / Ember supply on the Polaris as they are the same voltages. One can also contact me and order a Polaris without power supply if they already have one from Horizon / Ember. And also correct, one just has to supply the power cord for their country!
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xaval
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Post by xaval on Sept 21, 2014 20:35:33 GMT
Hi everyone, Been reading a bit about your amps and on the Ember thread there's mention about the possibility of the Polaris being shipped from within Europe. Is this real? I obviously live in Europe  Thanks. |
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Sept 21, 2014 20:57:59 GMT
Hi xaval,
Welcome to the forum.
Well it seems to be becoming a reality.
The one that is going to build them (in Spain) is Javier, who is one of the admins here, but do not know the status of it.
You can contact him (Javier) via PM or perhaps he is going to chip in here.
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Sept 25, 2014 18:10:17 GMT
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 25, 2014 18:34:31 GMT
I presume that you mean ASR's review? I saw that. My first thought was whether the comparison amp cost around the same. My second thought was whether he could really hear that much difference. I've always found amps very close in terms of sound and most are pretty flat nowadays - even cheap ones.
I'm curious about the Polaris since I have the Ember. Although I like tubes, I don't like their reputation for reliability so the Polaris is a really good compromise but at the moment, I have to keep a very tight reign on finance. I'd like to see how it compares with the Ember tbh. The extra reliability of SS is very attractive imo.
One SS amp that I really liked a lot was the Panda S2. However it wasn't mine so it went back. I loved its power and real authority (rather than just timbre or tone) I think amps are a very close call tbh and I bet he'd be hard pushed to tell one from the other if he did blind testing.
It's easy if you're looking and then all kinds of other factors enter the review!!
One day, I'll get my mits on one and compare myself.
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Sept 25, 2014 18:49:06 GMT
yeah, i thought it odd to mention amps that cost up to $3k (gsx and myzic) and then say "so I can sort of take a stab at how the Polaris might live up to most people's expectations".
and then use the headphones he did!!
i would have thought most people would not have heard a $3k amp anyway.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Sept 25, 2014 19:00:09 GMT
The sample Polaris is at Denmark at the moment.
Will probably float around there for a year or so.
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Sept 25, 2014 19:04:06 GMT
The sample Polaris is at Denmark at the moment. Will probably float around there for a year or so. would like to trial it sometime next year. i'm in no rush as i have another hobby which is costing me more than this one now. |
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 25, 2014 19:59:31 GMT
yeah, i thought it odd to mention amps that cost up to $3k (gsx and myzic) and then say "so I can sort of take a stab at how the Polaris might live up to most people's expectations". and then use the headphones he did!! i would have thought most people would not have heard a $3k amp anyway. It's quite funny that the more reviews I read now, the more I look into who is writing them and if possible I try to listen to the gear and compare what I think with what they write, so that I can 'identify' with the reviewers. Unfortunately, in spite of the massive numbers on HF, I find very few that are feel have any authority or real knowledge about what they're saying. The trouble is that they kind of create a mass craving for some things which leads to loads of sales, often based on some rather weird reviews. I found that particular one weird and feel that there was an underlying reason for the way it was done since the comparisons were a bit odd. You'd think that it woud be more sensible to look at the budget and compare around the same costings. I don't know why so many hi fi people compare chep things with utra expensive and then tell you hw the cheap thing isn't as good!! Surprise, surprise. We all know of things that punch above their price level, but they are great value and so, in my eyes, good stuff. I can find a lot of merit in really cheap items if the competition at the same price isn't close. The little nx1 amp is one of them, which I got at a ridiculus £21, so in my eyes, it's a great piece of gear for someone on really tight budgets. Horses for courses I guess. I didn't step in on the unfairness of that review since I haven't heard a Polaris yet, but I would have if I knew more about it. I didn't like the unfairness of it if I'm honest. I also felt that the reviewer hadn't seen the intended purpose of the amp, which produces a richness of tubes in it's timbre but is essentially SS with configurability. He seems to have missed its USP and blindly compared it some something that is kind of irrelevant in that particular market. Oh well....... the fairness of critics .... I've always hated them!!! |
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oldson
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Post by oldson on Sept 25, 2014 20:37:13 GMT
yeah, i thought it odd to mention amps that cost up to $3k (gsx and myzic) and then say "so I can sort of take a stab at how the Polaris might live up to most people's expectations". and then use the headphones he did!! i would have thought most people would not have heard a $3k amp anyway. It's quite funny that the more reviews I read now, the more I look into who is writing them and if possible I try to listen to the gear and compare what I think with what they write, so that I can 'identify' with the reviewers. Unfortunately, in spite of the massive numbers on HF, I find very few that are feel have any authority or real knowledge about what they're saying. The trouble is that they kind of create a mass craving for some things which leads to loads of sales, often based on some rather weird reviews. I found that particular one weird and feel that there was an underlying reason for the way it was done since the comparisons were a bit odd. You'd think that it woud be more sensible to look at the budget and compare around the same costings. I don't know why so many hi fi people compare chep things with utra expensive and then tell you hw the cheap thing isn't as good!! Surprise, surprise. We all know of things that punch above their price level, but they are great value and so, in my eyes, good stuff. I can find a lot of merit in really cheap items if the competition at the same price isn't close. The little nx1 amp is one of them, which I got at a ridiculus £21, so in my eyes, it's a great piece of gear for someone on really tight budgets. Horses for courses I guess. I didn't step in on the unfairness of that review since I haven't heard a Polaris yet, but I would have if I knew more about it. I didn't like the unfairness of it if I'm honest. I also felt that the reviewer hadn't seen the intended purpose of the amp, which produces a richness of tubes in it's timbre but is essentially SS with configurability. He seems to have missed its USP and blindly compared it some something that is kind of irrelevant in that particular market. Oh well....... the fairness of critics .... I've always hated them!!! absolutely what i was trying to say. you are so much better with words than me, Ian.  another quote from his summary "The Polaris was simply an extremely capable amp. Actually an amazing amp, especially taking into account its relatively low cost ($250 USD) and factoring in everything else about it—all of its various functions, and the fact it's American-made (which may seem irrelevant for non-Americans, but for us Americans that's no small thing), and made by a business that provides excellent customer interaction. There's absolutely nothing bad that I can say about Garage1217!" yet his "audio quality" score looked a tad over 60% on the chart! |
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 25, 2014 20:44:37 GMT
Yes .... it's an odd review. I sometimes feel for the people who sell things or make them, who have to sit it out and basically switch it off. That's actually hard to do as well!! I wwrote a reply to him on HF and then had second thoughts so I left it!!
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Post by jhelms on Sept 25, 2014 21:58:33 GMT
Thanks for saying that Ian ^ It is very hard to let your little one(s) that you have worked so hard for out in the world or give an OK to a reviewer to do his thing. Some will love them, some will hate them... Some will be utterly confused by them and do not understand their true intentions or do not take fully into account what they are designed for (some do not have the right gear to review or really utilize said gear). Trust me, leads to many sleepless nights as it can hit home personally (Imagine it can get to Frans too with all the magic and work he does and puts into the thingies) But the good outweighs the pain for sure! And I am not referencing the above review at all - ASR is a good, nice guy. I believe he has NO political motivation in reviews and just wrote what he thought at the time and I am cool with that. From the design perspective, some of the things he really liked and favored on Polaris were the things we were going for such as the mid / bottom / tubeish sound / spaciousness / imaging so the translation was made! But as with any review (from a manufacturers perspective) you wish for certain things - certain points made or equipment tested with the unit but you never know the results until they are all over the internet. Overall I have no regrets sending the review unit - I am quite a Polaris fan  You are right, 99% of the time the seller cannot interject, correct wrong info, defend their honor or anything else. We just watch through a little window and occasionally want to jump out of it when we see BS or miss-information. Oh the stories I could tell! Actually I should not even be replying to this thread but feel there are enough friends around I can talk candidly which is refreshing - but being on this side of the counter is quite a lonely place which I never realized when I stepped into this world, but I sure am glad I did! It has been an amazing journey. |
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Sept 26, 2014 4:46:38 GMT
Did the reviewer get the version with the 'overactive' BW settings ?
Maybe that's the reason he may have found it lacking in 'transient response' ?
The amp is quite fast (100kHz - 0.5dB) at full power isn't exactly lacking...
On the 'medium' setting (with the early values) it was rolling off already.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Sept 26, 2014 5:17:06 GMT
Exactly Jeremy. It must be hard to sit on your typing fingers and just watch. Same for musicians who get steam rollered by critics who can't play as well as people who have no idea of the market you're aiming at.
I sometimes think that guys into hi Fi are so much into the gear that they forget important things like the price and what it is intended to do for its target audience. Although I'm not fussed about them, the Beats headphones are one example as well as Bose. They get some pretty harsh criticism without anyone referencing them with the intended audience. Mind you, Beats are laughing since they are a massive seller with that particular audience. They got it right in spite of the critics.
I think the reviews are missing the point of the Polaris in many cases. The intended audience isn't everyones' taste and they seem to miss it. As soon as I (eventually) get my hands on one, I'll say so!!
Internet is really great for communication, like the recent thing about IPhones bending. It gets the company to react quickly, but it also leaves room for incorrect or biased info which many will believe because it's written down!!
In this case though, I don't think it was meant to be as 'hard' as it read, if you see what I mean. I just thought the comparisons were a bit off key.
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Post by jhelms on Sept 26, 2014 15:55:11 GMT
Frans,
The reviewer received a unit with the aggressive bandwidth settings but per review, only used the high setting which is identicle to the mellow future rev.
Ian,
Indeed and understood on all points!
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