Thread: Job 250 monos amps: absolutely wonderful ...

The Nords probably have more drive and might be a little bit "thicker" in tone, but I honestly prefer the Job 250 monos overall. The Job monos are more to my "taste".

Originally Posted by Devg

Joe, are the Nords at par with Job 250 monos or they are not even comparable ?

Hi Joe, it's always very interesting to follow your latest journey in the hifi world...

Originally Posted by joeinid

The Nords probably have more drive and might be a little bit "thicker" in tone, but I honestly prefer the Job 250 monos overall. The Job monos are more to my "taste".

I'm a very happy Nord owner myself, although constantly thinking about changing and upgrading things the Jobs indeed do look interesting. If I'm not mistaken you also used to have the Ayre VX-5 Twenty? If you're leaving the money question out of consideration (local taxes, another power cable etc would in the end make it about the same for me), what would your taste in preference be between the Jobs and the Ayre?

Thanks. I am a little bit addicted to gear.

Hmmmm, great question. I did have the KX5-20 and VX5-20 combo and with other gear. I do miss them very much and am actually thinking about the KX5-20 again for another system. I would absolutely take the VX5-20 again in a heartbeat over a lot of gear. The new Twenty series Ayre gear just has it in spades for me. So if I understand your question, it's Ayre, then Job monos, then Nord - as long as your speakers are a fitting match for each in turn. Obviously, speaker choice is paramount when choosing amps, IMO.

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

Hi Joe, it's always very interesting to follow your latest journey in the hifi world...

I'm a very happy Nord owner myself, although constantly thinking about changing and upgrading things the Jobs indeed do look interesting. If I'm not mistaken you also used to have the Ayre VX-5 Twenty? If you're leaving the money question out of consideration (local taxes, another power cable etc would in the end make it about the same for me), what would your taste in preference be between the Jobs and the Ayre?

Ha! Now that's a great idea.

Originally Posted by Melbguy1

If Joe ever hangs up his Audiophile hat, he will need to lease a disused Walmart store just to sell off his inventory!

Originally Posted by joeinid

After thinking about these amps for the better part of a year and a half, I could not resist any longer.

Not even broken in, they are amazing. These 250 monos are absolutely great. Solid build quality, surprisingly heavy with that distinctive sweet and fast Goldmund sound. They have better bass and more air, simply wonderful and a true high end bargain in the audio world.

Yup. 100% agree.

Had them on loaner with the 225 last year for a month. No brainer for all but the most demanding loads.

Originally Posted by joeinid

Hmmmm, great question. I did have the KX5-20 and VX5-20 combo and with other gear. I do miss them very much and am actually thinking about the KX5-20 again for another system. I would absolutely take the VX5-20 again in a heartbeat over a lot of gear. The new Twenty series Ayre gear just has it in spades for me. So if I understand your question, it's Ayre, then Job monos, then Nord - as long as your speakers are a fitting match for each in turn. Obviously, speaker choice is paramount when choosing amps, IMO.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I borrowed an AX5-20 last year and really wanted to like it, but while I just couldn't accept some of Ayres design decisions, the sound was unquestionable and truly awesome. The VX5-20 would be easier for me to "live with" though and I've been giving it some thoughts lately. That is if I can resist going down the tempting Jobs mono path though... and the Jobs would even look great next to my lovely Lampi DAC as they kind of share the same, hmm... "esthetics"...

The Job 250 monos are awesome and not a step down from the VX5-20. They have a lot in common. I wish I had them side by side to compare but my 250 monos are not going anywhere. I guess that should say what I value more.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by joeinid

The Job 250 monos are awesome and not a step down from the VX5-20. They have a lot in common. I wish I had them side by side to compare but my 250 monos are not going anywhere. I guess that should say what I value more.

I hope they're not having summer vacation yet in the Switzerland factory....

Are we thinking about getting a pair?


Aren't you from Sweden? Beautiful country.

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

I hope they're not having summer vacation yet in the Switzerland factory....

Originally Posted by joeinid

Are we thinking about getting a pair?

I think you had me at "absolutely wonderful" to be honest.... just waiting for some finances to move from one place to another before hitting the button...

Originally Posted by joeinid

Aren't you from Sweden? Beautiful country.

Yep, I'm from Sweden and it's indeed beautiful, although a bit chilly sometimes, even during summertime...

I can honestly say that the Job 250 monos are amps that will be with me for life. That may be tough for some of you guys to believe but while not "perfect" they have all the qualities that I value in amplification. They are amps that I don't worry about being left on, always sound great, have great voice, depth and an open airy big 3D presentation. I think they are a superb match for a slightly warmer speaker (to absolutely suit my preference), but can see them drive anything but the toughest loads. A true taste of the high end for not a lot of money.

Well, what more can one ask for... I can't say today that these will definitely be my end game as I enjoy trying different things and explore my way forward a little bit too much. But for now I'm definitely very very curious about these monos, and I both think and hope that I'm going to enjoy them a lot and for a long time. I want my NEXT upgrade to be something else than amps..... hmmm....

There's plenty of gear out there, enjoy the journey.

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

Well, what more can one ask for... I can't say today that these will definitely be my end game as I enjoy trying different things and explore my way forward a little bit too much. But for now I'm definitely very very curious about these monos, and I both think and hope that I'm going to enjoy them a lot and for a long time. I want my NEXT upgrade to be something else than amps..... hmmm....

They will work great with the GG!

Originally Posted by wisnon

They will work great with the GG!

Hopefully they will also work great with my GA so my next upgrade is not a GG...

Seriously though, your old test reports together with the GG was of course also very helpful and inspiring in my decision....

i have heard the A+ but not yet the GA. A local buddy will soon get a GA, SO I HOPE TO HEAR THAT SOON.
Glad I could help.

Are you Rickart from the other forum?

Yep, that's me (almost)... so we have spoken in phone, and you were helpful also when I bought my DAC... hehe...

/Rikard

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

Yep, that's me (almost)... so we have spoken in phone, and you were helpful also when I bought my DAC... hehe...

/Rikard

Yup,

Much fun chatting with you.
The Job amps are 90% of the expensive Telos amps. Just the case and some tweaks missing. Stonking bargain. Champagne taste, beer budget....if people only knew...

Originally Posted by wisnon

Yup,

Much fun chatting with you.
The Job amps are 90% of the expensive Telos amps. Just the case and some tweaks missing. Stonking bargain. Champagne taste, beer budget....if people only knew...

Yeah, it sounds promising for sure and I'm really looking forward to hearing them myself... and me like Champagne...

I think the Job 250 monos should not have a problem with the Sabrina, but I would not count on the Job 225 stereo amp liking that load too much. Especially since the Sabrina are only 87 dB efficient.

Originally Posted by rubato

How is Job's amp when driving Wilson speakers? Sabrina gets a low impedance of 2.5 ohms at 139 Hz. Is it a big deal?

I think the incredible fast shipping time has been mentioned in this thread before and I don't know what relation the guys in Switzerland have with DHL, but I did NOT expect to receive a couple of boxes today...

Does it sound awesome?! Ohhh yes, it sure does...

There's only one problem... when I'm using them with my passive transformer based preamp, it gave me a very loud hum or buzz in the speakers. Could it maybe be a ground loop? Or is the pairing with this preamp simply a no no? Hmmmm....... I haven't had the possibility to test it more, but also a bit afraid to test too much to not damage the speakers....

Also, I cannot believe how small they are. Sooooooo cute!!!

And they're not even slightly warm to touch, they're the coolest guys in town!

OMG! Congratulations. Mine came in a couple of days too. Such excitement. Hmmmm, not sure what's happening with the passive preamp. I've not used a passive with these monos yet, but never had a problem with the INTegrated or Job 225.

Small but pretty darn heavy. I was so surprised how chunky they are. Solid feeling amps.

I am so happy for you.

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

Also, I cannot believe how small they are. Sooooooo cute!!!

And they're not even slightly warm to touch, they're the coolest guys in town!

Originally Posted by audio.bill

As long as your passive preamp has no power cord I don't think it could create a ground loop with the Job 250 amps. Is the passive preamp possibly positioned near either of the amps? If so the transformer windings in the passive preamp could be susceptible to picking up induced hum from the amp's power transformer. Try to reposition the passive preamp to see if the hum can be reduced or hopefully eliminated. I assume that your interconnects are well shielded or else they could also be susceptible to induced hum from the amp's transformer.

Yes, it's located a bit too close perhaps, I put the monos up temporarily just to be able to plug them in quickly and have a listen.... will try some re-positioning tomorrow, thanks for the suggestions! I do recall having a somewhat similar experience once before, but don't remember what I did then, if I changed power connections maybe. My power distributor has some star grounding method where there's a main ground outlet for preamps or integrated amps, I have put my DAC in there and the monos on each side of it, it seems most logical to me.

Originally Posted by joeinid

OMG! Congratulations. Mine came in a couple of days too. Such excitement. Hmmmm, not sure what's happening with the passive preamp. I've not used a passive with these monos yet, but never had a problem with the INTegrated or Job 225.

Thanks, and yes... I'm feeling very excited!! Hopefully I can sort the preamp issue somehow... I would really hate having to let it go, but on the other hand, the monos adds some of the weight that the preamp gave me before. mm... we'll see....

Originally Posted by joeinid

Small but pretty darn heavy. I was so surprised how chunky they are. Solid feeling amps.

I am so happy for you.

Indeed, one can not believe the weight of them. Very solid!

Congrats! Dang you got me thinking Job again ... I'm sure you will sort the preamplifier issue out.

Joe, is your 250's making any noise in the speakers when not playing any music?

I just can't seem to get rid of it... I've tried everything I can think about. Different cables, different sources, everything else disconnected etc... it's not acceptable the way it is, I don't even need to put my ear very close to the speaker, I can hear it from the listening position.

I'm in touch with the Job service guys, hopefully we can sort it out but I'm starting to run out of ideas....

I really want these to work, becuase when playing music they sound absolutely fabolous....

My Job 250 monos, like all my Job gear is dead silent. I do use either my Burmester 948 or a PS Audio Humbuster III with the amps and plugged directly into the wall AC outlets. I have dedicated outlets as well but my AC is still not the best. All my gear had been silent this way, and my Job gear especially has been silent.

I absolutely hope you get this sorted out because my Job gear will be the last to leave my hands when I can no longer hear. It's some of the best gear regardless of price for me.

Hah! I JUST got it to work!!!! Finally!! And the preamp is back in the chain and was actually part of the solution. It was actually interesting to live without it for a day, the dynamics just jumped a few levels when it got back in there. I love it!

I don't dare to touch anything right now, but will try some things tomorrow just to verify the issue....

@a.wayne, I did have noise with nothing connected, oinly when I inserted the RCA plugs I got silence. Which resulted in that I bought a pair of XLR-RCA adapters. These did not seem to do anything on their own, but as a last attempt before throwing myself out of the balcony I tried inserting the preamp again while also using the RCA adapters, and it worked!

Music is a lot better on a pitch black silent background...

I'm so happy for you. They are absolutely wonderful amps. Enjoy!

Please give us us updates as you get more time on them.

ps. The RCA plugs supplied with the amps NEED to be removed, regardless. You can't use both inputs at the same time and shorting the RCAs with those plugs just shuts off the XLR too. I made that mistake myself until I read the manual.

I will, and finally I'm feeling comfortable to actually start any burn-in process... I will give them some time for sure, but they're already out of the box sounding wonderful I'd say...

Haha, yeah I know... I actually read the manual first thing because I found it so cute, just as the amps themselves....although I admit I had to read that sentence a few times to understand they should NOT be in there while using XLR. Makes me wonder WHEN you actually have any use for them... haha...

Ha!

In my opinion, they was no reason to ship the RCA plugs with the amps. I initially hooked up the XLR's and got no sound. I said to myself, WTF? Something is wrong. Off go the amps, out comes the manual. Lo and behold, I read the same sentence several times, thinking to myself, why even have the shorting plugs because if you use RCA they have to come out. If you use XLR, they have to come out. So, why ship them with the amps?

The Job 250 monos only get better. Enjoy the ride!!!!!

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

Joe, is your 250's making any noise in the speakers when not playing any music?

I just can't seem to get rid of it... I've tried everything I can think about. Different cables, different sources, everything else disconnected etc... it's not acceptable the way it is, I don't even need to put my ear very close to the speaker, I can hear it from the listening position.

I'm in touch with the Job service guys, hopefully we can sort it out but I'm starting to run out of ideas....

I really want these to work, becuase when playing music they sound absolutely fabolous....

These amps are DC coupled. Plug em direct to wall outlet and avoid any Power conditioner in between.

Also, get AC curator sweetcords if possible.

Read the 6moons review of the 225 for more insight.
With extremely low distortion, especially IM distortion, literally zero group delay distortion, ultra-wide MegaHerz bandwidth and DC coupling, extreme silence and cool operation, it can be played at high level with the same impression of ease than at low levels.

From 6 Moons:
To extrapolate for today's assignment, a/ cost-effective assembly in Switzerland is possible despite our carefully groomed image to the contrary; b/ go easy on enclosure bling and save a bundle; c/ refine and tweak a proven circuit to the hilt and make superior sound to one whose internal logic is fuzzier though it flashes all the big-name parts. On to the job at hand. With 35dB of gain and unloaded output noise of <2μV across the full bandwidth—unusually high gain, ultra low self noise—those who rightly anticipate a wide-bandwidth DC-coupled* amp to be lit up, fast and lucid to think valve preamp for a Levinson-type circuit tuning need an equally low-noise partner. More so than low-gain amps, the 225 will shine a spotlight on any noise farther up the chain. That's merely common sense but fair to point out. You could go passive or DAC-direct to eliminate redundant gain stages. Chances simply are that you'd err on the side of sinew over substance. And unless your DAC had analog volume like SOtM's sDP-1000, the 85dB of digital attenuation you might have to invoke with a 4V variable-out converter like AURALiC's Vega into the Job's 0.75V input sensitivity won't sound as good as doing it analog. Whilst my Nagra Jazz valve preamp explodes the bill, it's what I own and thus used. A fine far lower-priced alternative could come from the German house of Octave for example.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________________________

* Directly from the owner's manual, "the Job 225 is a DC-coupled amp without protection. If it is associated with a badly designed or defective analog preamplifier (often true for tube preamps or some 5-channel processors) the speakers could easily be damaged by DC. The Job 225 doesn't amplify DC but DC applied at the input is passed to the output."

The most advanced AC-conditioning technology in use. Not only does the AC-Curator circuitry filter the high frequency but it also filters the low frequency spurious noise generated through the AC power line by other equipment or nearby machinery.

AC Curator.

Thanks Norman, I guess I really need to look into that Sweetcord tomorrow....

Now, I don't know if I ever had any kind of credibility, but what I'm about to say now will definitely ruin it forever if so....

Get this. I was sitting in the sofa, watching some television while I suddently hear voices (no pun intended) from the other side of the room, where the amps and loudspeakers are, so I walk over to listen carefully. TV and hi-fi gear is not connected in any way. It's quite loud, but not very clear, it's some kind of message being repeated over and over again in english... it sounds like a transmission from a plane or maybe a UFO?! The only thing I understand is something about "need more power".

Now.... how in **** was that possible, what did I just pick up? Was it the monos doing this?! What kind of frequency are they operating at really?! Something is definitely weird here.....

And no, I'm not crazy... my wife heard it too.... I promise!

"VoicesInMyHead" says it all.

Ha!

Hehe... agreed Joe ...

haha...

This shit is crazy though... I don't think I dare to sleep with the monos turned on... if I can sleep at all that is... I think I'll have to take the burn-in process slowly...

Seems like the recent changes in your system setup has caused a pretty healthy RFI problem.

You are one of us now. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

haha...

This shit is crazy though... I don't think I dare to sleep with the monos turned on... if I can sleep at all that is... I think I'll have to take the burn-in process slowly...

Originally Posted by Jack

Seems like the recent changes in your system setup has caused a pretty healthy RFI problem.

You could say that...

So I've always read that the Lampi Atlantic DAC could be a bit "microphonic" due to its 4P1L tubes, but haven't really thought so much about it until now, but I guess the combination of my DAC, preamp and amps it has turned into one heck of a microphone... quite scary actually....

Originally Posted by joeinid

You are one of us now. Enjoy.

Haha, cute.... thank you!

Only worry if the Jobs start walking around the house or cooking themselves some breakfast. I would say burn those suckers in!

Originally Posted by VoicesInMyHead

You could say that...

So I've always read that the Lampi Atlantic DAC could be a bit "microphonic" due to its 4P1L tubes, but haven't really thought so much about it until now, but I guess the combination of my DAC, preamp and amps it has turned into one heck of a microphone... quite scary actually....

Now you can find out what Putin is up to. LoL