Black ice Audio owners, pet peaves


The new Jolida Black ice ,Jim Fosgste assisted, is better then the fusion which was good 
most parts good ,except in the past thin sheet metal cases, you would think a sturdy 2-4 Oz copper trace circuit board  good quality tube sockets the bosrd in fusion models which I owned literally flexed when you want to tube rolll, I broke solder joints and was very easy on installing remov8ng tubes ,even used Stabilant-22 
contact enhancer which works great and helps ease tube removal you would think for a lousy $50 orless 
toput in a top quality board with a thick bottom plate with stand offs to secure the bosrd from flexing 
whst good is a great sound8ng component when you have cheap internal parts ,just dumb.
my good friend is a 40 year vacuum tube expert ,and I ask him to mod put much better coupling capacitors in ,and Vishay naked coupling caps ,better connectors , he stated he was concerned the circuit board too thin ,minimal he said should ge at least a 2 Oz Coppergold double sided board  for under $50 much better conductivity,as welll as longevity,and mounted on 6 standoffs . Put some dam thought into the build . Many companies if you can’t see inside we will cut corners ,that tells me as a True Audiophile $$ comes before your pride in building a quality component .  I tell it like it is sometimes the truth hurts.prove me wrong. As Audiophiles sonics,and dependability are a Paramount .i would much rather spend an extra $200-300 to get a muchbetter product in the key areas copper Furutech IEC, less then $15 ,vs the $3 junk even in many $10k electronics Why ? 5 x more resistance to start 
stupid . Military grade 2-4 Oz Gold copper trace boards, Gold copper rca  at least off as a SAe option 
no extra labor if built as a SE model when being assembled. If they don’t like whst I have to say a Too bad , then show some dam pride .i know from experience if m6 name is on it I know everyth7g is better then average ,and when buying parts in quantity the prices go down to under 50% retail.
before buying question the mfg ,look for product description. In detail if it is not ststed or says 
proprietary it is BS, that just means there is nothing special and trying to cover their low cost tracks,
it’s your money Lin this small boutique Audio market ,it is about time companies especially the larger well name companies stop living on their name and lofty way over priced gear.quality  conpetive priced gear is what the majority of the market wants . Happy listening. 😎🎶

128x128audioman58
I just pulled the trigger on a Black Ice Audio Fusion F22 integrated amp.  Looking forward to my first tube amp experience. And I am keeping my Foz SS-X for now.

FYI, there are a couple of recent reviews of the F11 and F22 integrated amps up on hometheaterhifi.com

My buddy sure is enjoying his F22 from Black Ice Audio past four months.

He is not a tube roller, he simply bought it, plugged it in and uses it for his 2ch audio and even uses it with his big TV with stereo speakers quite often. Added a nice DAC and seems quite pleased with it so far.   
When making a budget product, every nickel saved is significant.  If better parts are used for the amp, it is a different product that would have to be sold at a significantly higher price point.  For a lot of buyers of budget gear, even just $50 more can be a deal breaker.

I agree that a cheap PCB is a potential source of trouble, particularly if repairs have to be made.  This is the sort of amp that is worth repairing rather than being treated as disposable.  But, the fact that it is not easy to "upgrade" by replacing parts is not a big fault of design--this is not the sort of amp one would expect buyers to be upgrading.

I am also not that big a fan of tube sockets being directly soldered to PCBs.  I own a very expensive amp where this is done--Audio Note Kageki--so I am extremely careful when it comes to pulling tubes even though the PCBs are extremely thick and well supported.  
I like companies that offer a great product at a fair
price, and provide options to upgrade.  A few months ago,
Black Ice modified my SS-X Sound Expander with new resistors
and output capacitors.

The lower noise floor and improved 3-D image
results in more music information, with no trade-offs.

Michael and Jerred and terrific to work with.  They care!