Aleph 3 - Its 2013, are they still awesome ?

I would try to listen to them before deciding. It's only 30W but in the right setup with efficient speakers, it will still sound great. What other amps from that era are you considering? Not that many at 30W.

Ed

It's kind of a soft sound very tubelike weak sounding too with weak bass but also very magical with certain music if you love a tube like sound and don't need to crank it up it might be just right. It's gets super hot too. Though it does seem to do some of the magic that the pricey amps do for a cheap price (they used to go for around 800) if you can live with its limitations and are a listener of mostly delicate music it may be hard to beat.

Yes. But it was never made for difficult speaker loads. It was a great design.

I heard it yesterday and bought it, admittedly at a high price. But feel it was worth it.

Will post something more detailed about the sound soon.

Thanks for the reply, and now I need a right speaker to go with it. damn!

Don't buy it, rather buy a First Watt M2 for $1690 from Reno Hifi if they still have any refurb ones. You get the full warranty and Nelson Pass's current best effort and an amp with similar tone and strengths - only better.

No kidding. Buy one! I just did and love it.