Jeff Rowland 535 Stereo Amplifier Review

[BDWoody]

Why not just listen and judge for yourself.

Because there is no reason to believe it would be anything other than a waste of time.

Right, but as a listener, if you can't hear it it does matter...

That's kind of the point...

If the various test results demonstrate noise and distortion at levels you have no chance of hearing, and otherwise competent behavior, what is it you expect to be different from one to another?

Do you believe there is magic woo hidden along with the frequency, amplitude and phase that we haven't found yet?

You are basically thrashing at this point. If you can't provide more than anecdote, maybe that's enough...

 

[Willem]

Right, but as a listener, if you can't hear it it does matter...

I am not quite sure what you are trying to say, but listening tests require a controlled protocol. Those done properly rarely if ever show statistically significant differences. This is not rocket science.

 

[FrantzM]

You ever listen to anyone else besides Walker...Pass, Curl, McGowan, Robert Harley...the list goes on.

Wait! You have forgotten, Michael Fremer!! How dare you?

 

[Willem]

You ever listen to anyone else besides Walker...Pass, Curl, McGowan, Robert Harley...the list goes on.

Among the living: John Siau or Bruno Putzeys?

 

[dfuller]

You ever listen to anyone else besides Walker...Pass, Curl, McGowan, Robert Harley...the list goes on.

John Siau, Bruno Putzeys... Besides, trusting Paul McGowan is just pure goofy mode. Paul doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

 

[jaulbrich]

No, measurements are not enough when it comes to the human ear and brain. We are not test equipment. If you are not listening, you have missed the point, the experience. Looking at test results is a waste of time, if you don't like the sound or listen to see if you do. Here, try this experiment, have someone line up five different amplifiers without you knowing what they are and how they measure. Pick the one you like the best. Then measure them and see if you philosophy matches your tast in sound. Or be like Einstein, and just do the thought experiment...that, in and of itself, should be enough to convince you that measurements are not enough.

 

[Geert]

Never learn, if you don't listen. By to you Mr. Stuck in his ways...

Yep, 30 years experience as a respected sound engineer but I didn't listen.

 

[jaulbrich]

Yep, 30 years experience as a respected sound engineer but I didn't listen.

I can see that...

 

[jaulbrich]

John Siau, Bruno Putzeys... Besides, trusting Paul McGowan is just pure goofy mode. Paul doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

Yeah, goofy, but his equipment sound good.

 

[BDWoody]

I can see that...

Ok... enough for you in this thread. Let's see if you can be less troll-ish in the rest of the forum.

 

[BDWoody]

Ok... enough for you in this thread. Let's see if you can be less troll-ish in the rest of the forum.

Turns out he was actively trolling to get banned to win a bet...

 

[dfuller]

Turns out he was actively trolling to get banned to win a bet...

That tracks, somehow.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Turns out he was actively trolling to get banned to win a bet...

Whoever bet against him must be pretty dumb!

 

[Billy Budapest]

Get it right--It's Jeff Rowland...Not Jeff Roland.

Tough crowd. Well, crowd of one, anyway.

 

[Sal1950]

Hmmm, kind of wonder if the tester ever listens to the products he tests. He says he cannot reccomend the Jeff Rowland amp because of the noise measurement. I guess he never reccomends tube amps. Anybody who has been in this audio game for long enough knows that a component measurement frequently does not equate to good or bad sound. We also know that components sound very different in different systems. Why would anyone, in the know, "listen" to such a review? I reccomend you listen, compare and then decide...

Turns out he was actively trolling to get banned to win a bet...

Why bother Woody, a full ban is what's called for. I could tell by his first post he had just come here to troll and stir up trouble. Send his head to the place Amir sends all the panther heads.

 

[AudioTodd]

Why bother Woody, a full ban is what's called for. I could tell by his first post he had just come here to troll and stir up trouble. Send his head to the place Amir sends all the panther heads.

I hoped my suggestion would be heeded…

 

[G|force]

There seem to be a few elephants in the room here. A near generic $200 class D amplifier for one. But there are a pair of Lundahl line level transformers. There I deeply suspect one will find almost the entire story. There is no transformer made that is really clean. I noticed on a quick look at the JeffRowlandDesign web page that there is pic of a seriously large discrete power amp, also with a pair of input transformers.

My suspicion is that the magic in their products is basically a house sound delivered by these transformers. Lundahl make very high quality transformers. Either theirs or Jensen are the go to if you need galvanic isolation. Studio gear is filled with them. Many times with the specific intent of using the inherent distortion characteristics to shape the sound. They are not cheap. Indeed they are probably the most expensive components.
But here, there is no sensible reason for them to be present except for delivering a product with a characteristic sound. Yes they provide balanced to unbalanced conversion, and are intrinsically ground loop free, but that isn't going to be it.

Overall, the selling price is about what you would expect. $200 for the class D amp. $200 for the pair of transformers. $100 for the other bits and pieces, including the binding posts. $300 for the case. USA assembly. Call it $1000 cost. By the time this makes it to the consumer via the usual high end markups, $6000 is about right.

Are you James May of Top Gear BBC fame? Your remarks are spot on.
JRDG used to make an A/B mono amp called model 7 that went through some design changes on the front end through it's life. They all had a 2.5kVA main transformer and 6 main filter caps, .6 Farads in total. (clarkson)

Early model 7 monoblocks had entirely aluminum chassis and they all sagged in the middle over time sitting on 4 feet. They weigh 130 pounds; the extruded heatsink sections are the least deformable component in the chassis.

 

[Koeitje]

Nevermind

 

[Walter]

I listened to some Jeff Rowland amps in 2000, which the last time I was seriously auditioning higher end audio components. Even then, they were out of my price range, but dealers love showing off stuff you can't afford, it seems. They were literally the only amps over $1,500 that I remember not liking. The two or three I heard all had a "gritty/grainy/rough" sound to them, for lack of a more precise description. (Lexicon processors had a similar issue.) Other than those, Mark Levinson and Pass Labs amps sounded the best yet noticeably different, and everything else pretty much sounded the same when compared to amps with similar power levels. I ended up buying a Chiro C-500, which was a sub-brand of Kinergetics, because I got a demo with a tiny scratch for half price. It had not even been on my radar until the dealer mentioned it in passing. I would have been just as happy with Classe or half a dozen other brands whose names I have forgotten--anything except Jeff Rowland.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Let me jump in here for a second. It’s commendable that you are concerned with advancing hi-fi and post on YouTube to spark the interest of a new generation. I am a member of Gen X so I am sort of in between the two audiences you discuss. Some of the “professional reviewers” who shall remain nameless do come off as very ignorant about hi-fi and do seem to be in it for access to free equipment and a chance to earn money from YouTube. So, it is admirable that you have not monetized your videos. My view is this—you mention in your videos that you sell gear. That should be enough to tip people off that you are not unbiased. Why would you sell something you don’t like, and why would you give a negative review of something you sell? Neither is going to happen. We know that and can watch your videos with that in mind. With “professional reviewers,” we don’t know exactly what their agenda is and what their biases are, so it’s even harder to rely on what they say in their videos. As far as the traditional audio press, after reading it for 30 years, I gave up entirely on it a few years ago. It simply was not useful and was not trustworthy, IMHO.

OCD HiFi Guy has posted some interesting ideas here. I might not agree with his audio equipment tastes, but I think I like him better than the “corporate” hi-fi reviewers.