Reviews

ap1

Reviews

Read all about the Audiophilleo1, Audiophilleo2, and PurePower in print and online publications around the world:

Feedback from users

The following is feedback from real users.  Thanks for sharing your impressions!

    Audiophilleo1/2 with PurePower

  • "The AP2 with Pure Power is even better than without: Deeper more tuneful bass, more details, richer tones, darker background, more analog, and on top of all, more musical. Musicality was the weakest point before and it is now on par with the rest. I feel deeply connected . All in all, greatly satisfying. Excellent job, Phil. You raised the bar up high." - Fred Auclair, Quebec, Canada
  • "I love it! Besides the "usual" improvements like greater clarity, much bigger and deeper sound stage, great focus from each sound, tighter and deeper bass, higher extension of high frequency, etc; the most important improvements for me is the emotional clarity that this new combo has bring to my system. The texture and minute details of the instruments and voices are so clear, I can really feel the emotion of the performances! This is not an easy feat and I am ecstatic with this improvement." - Adrianto Kumara, Singapore
  • "Hi Philip, thanks for such a beautiful product. I just posted this on the audiophilleo and anedio d2 Headfi threads: Ok, I have well over 100 hours on the the Audiophilleo 2 + PurePower. I am feeding it with a SBT + EDO into an Anedio D2 Dac which is feeding my beloved Decware Torii MKIII and Zu Soul Superfly's. I won't repeat everything said by Currawong and others on this excellent thread, but suffice to say, it is all true. It removes that last bit of glare, smoother and more organic presentation, wider and deeper soundstage, more 3 dimensional, tighter bass, more defined imaging and so on. The USB on the Anedio D2 is very, very good, but the Audiophilleo + PP clearly improves everything. These improvements are especially noticeable on High Rez tracks to which I am now addicted! I was pleasantly surprised that my sweet spot is now much wider and I can turn up the volume much louder than before. Most of all, I just love just how effortlessly the music flows. I thought my system was already engaging, but now it is simply sublime. That automatic charging is flawless. You can just forget about it. I will definitely be keeping mine!" - Bill Soukoreff, Alberta, Canada
  • "I just received back my ap with pp and hooked it up to my Wadia PowerDac and Dali Mentor Menuet's immediatly. This is just genious Philip! The lower tones are much more musical and convincing. The sound is now completely relaxed, the pp has shrugged off all traces of digitalness." - Tom Kalmijn, Netherlands
  • "[The PurePower] makes a clearly noticeable improvement in detail, extension and separation. Very nice... Wow. There's nothing I enjoy more than hearing more texture/detail. I'm enjoying this piece of kit Philip - well done! ... OK, gonna have to order a PurePower for my other AP. It's that good." - Mike Ross, Irvine, CA USA
  • "Got the upgraded AP1/PP in the mail today. Just connected it back up and if my audio memory serves me correctly i'd say my findings mirror all that's been said on head-fi in that it's definitely more organic and microdetails become more prominent, possibly due to the blacker background. I'm loving it so far! Don't suppose the PP needs "burn-in" ? =P Can't imagine it getting any better! I'm one happy camper tonight! Thanks for your continued effort to improve the AP." - David Hsieh, Adelaide, Australia
  • "The PurePower upgrade makes a large improvement especially w.r.t tone of instruments and voices, bass quality and soundstage depth." - Nikhil Bhogal, San Francisco, CA USA

    • Audiophilleo1/2 without PurePower

  • "The sound is...simply the best. The clarity, transparency, three dimensional sound image, etc...What a terrific DDC! The highs is so detailed, but without any harshness. Though I love my main transport, which is the DCS Verdi hooked up to the Elgar Plus, I can easily put Mac-mini and AP1 into the system right now." - Yoshi Nagai, Japan
  • "Just wanted to let you know I am thrilled with the Audiophillleo2 beats the pants off of the Weiss INT 202" - Charles Russel, Mesquite, Texas USA
  • "The screen and built in features are fantastic. Invaluable which actually got me so much by surprise that prompted this email. I have several volume control options in my system namely jriver preamp volume. J play volume and finally the burson analogue volume control which is a resistance ladder. I always used audiopholleo volume for fine tuning and bursons as main. But one month ago I made an extensive shootout between these options and WOW. To my surprise audiopholleo volume was by far the best. It wasn't a matter of taste and colors no. It was on much higher level in every respect and still plain to hear after one month. Bravo! now I use burson in low gain with volume bypassed." - Mehrdad Golabgir, Malaysia
  • "I recently got a Berkeley alpha usb with the idea of giving it to my dad and inheriting his Audiophilleo. No such luck – he doesn’t want to let go of the AP. The AP just has so much air around the music and dimensionality!" - Francois Du Plessis, South Africa
  • "As a vinyl fan perhaps one of the most interesting discoveries was when i first played a Joni Mitchell 16/44 CD v. a 180gm 'super-pressing' (via Dynavector front-end on a Funk Vector turntable). Apart from the inevitable clicks & pops to my amazement the two systems sounded virtually identical. I have since repeated this trick with various other albums and have never previously managed to make vinyl and digital converge in this way. To my thinking this seems like a decent state of affairs really and the AP2 has played a great part ... So, many thanks for a great product and musical re-invigouration - I wish you many more contented customers." - Nigel Doe, UK
  • "I got myself a used 24/96 Diverter...I'll be upfront about it...the AP2 sounds way better in my set up. The addition of a SPDIF digital cable for the Diverter may make the comparison less meaningful but as far as the end result is concerned (and I've tried out a handful of SPDIF digital cables on the Diverter) your AP2 is head and shoulders above the Diverter. ...out of a slew of converters I tried such as the Stello U3, Lindemann, Bel Canto, HagDac, and HiFace your AP2 topped them all...and by a large margin too." - Kwang-ho Kim "Kenny", South Korea
  • "The sound of the unit is now properly stunning – with huge soundstage, pinpoint 3D focus, a harmonic richness I've never heard this side of vinyl – and an irresistibly natural flow to the music. I've had a bunch of audiophiles visiting the house recently and they've all been blown away – first when they heard the system, then when they found out the digital source I was playing for them was NOT the (however outstanding) Bow ZZ8 that sits in my rack…It's taken me years to find a way of playing digital music that comes close enough to my trusted and loved turntable for me to seriously enjoy digital playback – no questions asked, no restrictions. To think that the solution was there in my iMac is at the same time REALLY annoying (oh, the cash I could have saved) and incredibly satisfying. Then again my DAC is no slouch (last generation Brinkmann Zenith III, tweaked and modded by them) and neither is the rest of the system (Brinkmann / Amphion). Your Audiophilleo 2 is in good company. Thanks for your help and or making such a stunning product. It's worth every dollar and 5 times more." - Michel Jouveaux, Switzerland
  • "I just wanted to let you know: the AP2 outperforms the Halide Bridge even with just a few hours in it. It is efficient in bringing more out of my Audio-gd NFB-8. The AP2 sounds really high-end. There is more focus, it's more relax. Better imaging, better timbres, more neutrality. No need to do any back and forth, it's clearly better. High-end audio out of computer is a tricky game and thanks to you, I got the missing link for a fair amount." - Fred Auclair, Canada
  • "I have never written a letter to any audio company in my 60 years on this earth! I have owned and operated an audio shop and had access to some of the great names in audio! I have used 4 different USB conversion pieces in my system to varying effects in the last 18 months ... I ordered the Audiophilleo2 ... this little box is a winner. It presents the Weiss 202 with the cleanest, richest signal it has ever received from my MacPro. Musical, extended, dynamic and to my ears tonally accurate. The only fact that I would caution listeners on is to not judge until this converter has a least 150 hours of continuos use. Give it a chance to beak in and settle in. It is worth the wait! Congratulations on a wonderfully musical piece of engineering!" - Paul Van Name, Georgia USA
  • "I really hear improvements of my W4S Dac2. Obviously it is more better than W4S DAC2 USB asynchronous interface." - Ran Chen, China
  • "First listening impressions: fantastic! Much more insight in recordings, more emotion while listening. The AP is a remarkable device with superior qualities. Thanks for bringing it to the world! With 50 listening hours I still notice improvements, it's without a doubt the best upgrade to my already good set. The AP fits very well with the Rega DAC, as promised by reviews I read." - Marc de Groot, Netherlands
  • "I'm really enjoying music using the Audiophilleo 1 with my DACs. A significant upgrade in dynamics and realism over the Hagerman USB - SPDIF converter I was using. The speakers somehow disappear much more readily when using the Audiophilleo." - Jeff Mai, Australia
  • "I'm still stupefied about the overall gains in sound quality AP makes in my system. I listened for several hours last night and was just wagging my head! It's the biggest update I've made in my system in several years!" - Mark A. Waidelich, Oregon USA
  • "It's good, it's great, it's very very good ... real problem solver in regards to digital harshness ... I'm really amazed. Great Job there!!!! I used John Kenny modified and a m2tech hiface2 before. ... I drive a pair of super revealing BMS4550 horn drivers with 113 dB sensitivity and no passives (with a 800Hz Traktrix horn) and they are SUPER revealing and unforgiving ... all I can hear with the audiophileo is a cleaner sound, but not more agressive, on the contrary, more musical and 'flow'. " - Philippe Galowich, Paris, France
  • "Phil, the Audiophilleo has completely changed my outlook on computer served audio. I've basically disconnected my transport and exclusively serve my collection via computer to the A2 and then to my DAC. I've tested everything and the difference is profound. I had no idea the proper timing could make such a difference. Thanks for your hard work. You deserve to be handsomely rewarded for the Audiophilleo." - Rob Priore, Massachusetts USA
  • "Your AudioPhillleo 2 device is excelent! It outpasses any transport used to feed the SPDIF input of my DAC or the SPIDIF input of any other DAC involved in listening tests (Zodiac+, Weiss DAC2, Weiss DAC202), presenting music with a clear and spacious soundstage." - Christos Patelis, Greece
  • "Using your short USB cable and direct-connecting to my dac and using Reference Recordings HRX files – I have never heard anything like this!" - Karl Youtsey, IL USA
  • "I was using the ap1 with PM 1.74 for a good week and I can truly say that the difference it made in my system was huge. Firstly it leaves the HiFace in the dust...the ap1 brings a much higher level of clarity and a deeper soundstage... Secondly I can now take my preamp, S/PDiF and some balanced cables which allowed me to greatly simplify the system and have less devices in the audio chain (always a great thing). I feel that the internal pre in the ap1 in promode is more articulate than the pre I had in my system, which is a very nice pre-many accolades from audio users, but the ap1 (to my ears) beats it." - Tom Sutliff, Andover, MA USA
  • "After a 50 hours grinding, the interface now sounds like a charm ... I really enjoy your product, I took a risk by ordering one by only reading the comments on the net, I am a lucky man and you are a really good engineer :)" - Christophe Coquet, France.
  • "The difference between Audiophilleo and my usb m2tech hiFace is remarkably dramatic. Very clean clear sound, high medium and low frequencies much more defined ... My most sincere congratulations for the excellent product" - Antonio Pasquariello, Italy
  • "Reputation of my favorite Dac, Chord Dac64, mostly came from its comfortable sounds obtained through its RAM buffer. But, when feeding S/PDIF signals from AP2, I found the sound with no RAM buffer is more excellent. Clear and sculptured... Simply stated, S/PDIF output of AP2 surpasses that of an expensive CD transport that costs about $ 5K." - Ryutaro Murakami, Japan
  • "I am very pleased with the AP2 as it has taken the last bit of harshness out of my system without having to use a tubes. ;)" - Duncan Cox, New Zealand
  • "Philip, As you know, my vocabulary in English is quite limited. So, I won't try to describe my emotions as I listen to my system with your product. But in a word: you're a genius. Many thanks for such a wonderful product." - Guy Gendron, Quebec Canada
  • "Received my Model 1 today, and it is outstanding. Very well engineered little device. From the packaging to the plug & play, first class. And the sound is wonderful." - Greg Hammond, CA USA
  • "I want to let you know how much I’m enjoying the Audiophilleo 2. I am using it with an Eastern Electric Minimax DAC, which sounds wonderful but requires a high-quality digital stream. My old digital sources (Denon DVD 3800 used as a CD transport; Dell laptop connected directly to the DAC’s USB input) had unacceptable levels of coloration and distortion. The Audiophilleo cleared up those problems when connected between my laptop and DAC. Overall, the sound is much more delicate and subtle. The garish tinge and fuzzy imaging are now gone, revealing all sorts of inner detail that I didn’t realize were present in 16/44 recordings. The three-dimensional rendering of instruments and vocals is truly mesmerizing. Played through the Audiophilleo, the CD drive in my laptop absolutely kills my old CD transport. Regular redbook CDs sound like SACDs. Of course, high resolution files (24/96+) played from the hard disk sound even better. Thank you for making a high-performance product at a reasonable price. Compared to other options in this price range, the Audiophilleo is a screaming deal!" - Stan Goto, WA USA
  • "Your unit makes a clearly audible difference in several quite different setups I have tried. A part from the much improved definition and what I believe is better micro-dynamics, in several instances it transforms the broad impression to something close to analogue. Impressive." - Morten M. Holst, Sweden
  • "Hi Philip, I must tell you that this product is one of best I ever had in my audiophile system!! The sound is like X100 better than other setups I tried. it gives you the quality of an $$$ head unit. I can even hear the quality when connect the device to regular amp&speakers. in one word - AMAZING!!! thank you very much" - Leon Meguira, Israel
  • "So far I am extremely happy with the unit, finally my external DAC setup sound better in all areas than my previous CD-player...a clock modded Pioneer player with ultra lower jitter.   It is way better than the built in USB input on my Lavry DA11, however I do hear a difference with a different usb cable (Locus Design Nucleus) but only subtle. Before the Locus Design Nucleus cable made a huge difference." - Torje Coldevin, Norway
  • "After a short but serious listen, I must say that I'm more than satisfaction with it. The sound is solid, well defined yet rhythmical and musical. I cannot express much but it's really the best digital source I've ever heard indeed." - Zheng Qiang, NY USA
  • "In one word, no actually in three words, detail, detail, detail… The Audiophilleo has allowed the music to come through my system as if untouched. The level of detail I have been hearing with the Audiophilleo has me looking for better recordings and not better components." - Roger Wong, NJ USA
  • "I've gone through the steps you've suggested, and now my A1 is working. WOW!!!.............the sound is incredible." - Sid Davis, Lincoln, Nebraska USA
  • "I have got Augio-gd Digital Interface (USB to SPDIF) and while it sounds not bad ap1 absolutely kills it in terms of practicality and portability still having a better SQ." - Igor Zenkov, Chandler, Arizona USA
  • “It has single handedly solved the problem I was having of not quite being able to feel fully immersed in my music besides my fairly nice headphone setup (around $2k now).” - David Foster, Chandler, Arizona, USA
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