Just ordered the Jungson 88D Luxury Edition.

That former owner to which Hdm refers is I. I am starting to think that the dynamic weakness I noticed was due more to the awful wiring/power of my house than the actual unit. I live in a hundred year old house that hasn't been updated electrically in a long time (I want to say that the house is not even properly grounded), and since I share a circuit with some two other people and a bathroom, I don't have the best setup in terms of power. It was supposed to be updated a few years ago, but an estimate of $70,000 to get everything up to date scared off the house manager from doing it.

Anyhow, glad to hear that the 88C is working out for you, Hdm. It is a wonderful piece especially for the price. Have you compared the balanced inputs to the single ended ones yet? I never got around to doing that (anyone done this with the 88D?). Furthermore, I must agree that it does justice to well-recorded material.

However, I have gotten around to listening a "little" to the 88D as well. By far the biggest difference between the two is the warmth of the 88D. Never before had I ever enjoyed listening to vocals (and all music for that matter) as much as I do now. More importantly in my opinion is that the presentation is not colored overly with warmth, and details remain detailed but never near a point where it can be fatiguing, just as BFS, posters here (and AA) have described.

-Dan

Actually, I wasn't really overly concerned with the dynamics issue; I was just kind of pulling your leg Dan because I read on Audioasylum after I'd bought the amp from you but before I met to take delivery that Maxx had the e-mail from you that he described above. There's no keeping anything from anyone with all the information on these forums! I figured if the amp didn't work out, I'd sell it, perhaps at a small loss, but I can assure you that won't be happening. Thanks again Dan for a smooth transaction and I'm glad your happy with your new Jungson as well.

I haven't used the balanced outputs yet and will probably not use them in a totally balanced mode anyway. My intention is to run my CD player on one single ended input, my turntable on the other and my satellite receiver (single ended) into the balanced input. Still have to buy a new phono stage.

But I'm in total agreement with Maxx that it is pretty impressive that this level of performance and quality of workmanship is available at these kinds of price points. While I don't have any sonic comparisons other than my Audiolab, the build quality of this piece at $399 U.S. full retail is comparable to things like Classe, Musical Fidelity, Sim Audio, and other pieces costing 3 to 4 times as much. Not that I'm into "audio jewellery", but it really is an "audio jewellery" piece at a Best Buy price.

The instruction manual is a bit of a hoot though; either Chinese has a bit of a problem being translated into English or there are some pretty quirky expressions and ways of describing things in Chinese.

I should also state that all of my listening with this amp has not been done with the stock power cord, which I never even put on. The cord in use on the 88C is a fully cryoed (cable and connectors) DIY cord made with JPS in-wall cable and Marinco male and IEC.

Even smaller world. LOL Hey Daniel :)

If is difficult to describe the midrange using normal audiophile jargon. But I think you've perty much hit the nail on the head. Natural warmth with detail. Funny though seems like everyone who hears this amp hears it the same way; very unusual, as we all tend to hear different.

Still using the E5? In my case the balanced thing didn't work as well as RCA because of the difference in the E5 RCA and balanced output. Like I said before I believe the balanced on the E5 must have been a after though or not worked out as well as the RCA since Eastsound didn't bother to include balanced outputs on the matching S8A integrated.

Hdm not suprised. Seem to be a fair number who are reporting the 88C is equaling or bettering amps in the $1200-1500 range and above in both sound and build quality.

Enjoy guys!

BW Maxx

Hdm, this whole email/forum thing doesn't really allow sarcasm to be fully communicated as I knew that you were joking about the dynamics when we met, just couldn't convey it via email/posting.

Maxx, I am still using the E5 (and loving it) but haven't considered comparing xlr to single-ended because it just would not be fair to compare the two.

Dracule, do you know what exactly the differences between the LE and the normal version? Obviously cosmetics play a role, but I also remember reading somewhere that there is a cap upgrade...

-Dan