Interesting….as they say opinions are worth what you pay for them.
British Audiophile bores me to tears. I can’t make it through his reviews. We have different taste, for certain.
I’ve been fortunate enough to call Heaven11 and happened to get him when I called the company and spoken to Iti (sp?) when he picked up the phone.
Let me say he’s forgotten more than any 10 people here know about audio.
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Just a little experience with Itai (President of Heaven11). I bought his personal demo unit BillieAmp. He said he had it tested, replaced the tubes, updated firmware before shipping. Being a demo (allegedly his personal amp), no 30-day trial but did come with a 1 year warranty.
The thing hummed like a dozen hummingbirds. And, only on one source (analog)…even if no source was connected. Send Itai a vid of the amp humming. He agreed it was bad. Sent it back. His staff couldn’t fix it.
Again, under warranty, but he could not fix it. Wouldn’t replace it. And, to rub salt in the wound, made me pay for shipping to get the amp back.
I tried different receptacles, tried an eliminator, tried another power cord, tried it with and without sources connected. Tried two different set of speakers. Tried different speaker wire sets. STILL HUMMED LOUDLY!
I paid him 5 figures for a paperweight. He won’t even honor the warranty!
I think he bends over backwards for the YouTube folks. But, a cash customer? I’m stuck. If you get one that works, great! If not? Too bad, so sad! Buyer beware! |
@tubeguy76 …sorry it’s taken a while to respond. I actually went on vacation to Alaska.
I appreciate the offer. I had sent the BillieAmp to a YouTuber (skunkiedesigns.com). The lady who runs it does some of her own designs but also critiques different units). Not sure, but I think she’s an electrical engineer…nice lady. Anyway, she said the hum of the BillieAmp, on any outlet that she tested, on a multitude of audio set ups, was constantly present. Like me, she tried all the usual fixes with no luck. She believed that while the case was nice, the internals were not probably audio grade PCB’s or point wiring was haphazard. Up until that point, Haven11’s president, Itai, really tried to push off the warranty on the unit. He refused to admit anything was wrong, even though I sent him videos of the issue. When he found out a YouTuber had the unit, he changed his tune and took it back. He gave me a refund, but not until I had dropped hundreds of dollars shipping it to him and paying to have it shipped back, diagnosis fees, and shipping it to and from the YouTuber to fix it. He finally agreed that something was wrong. But, by that time, I was out about $300 even after he refunded the purchase price. My communications with him led me to believe he was kind of a huckster. He sent pre-tested units to reviewers while the regular units that are shipped to normal users were dicey. In short, proceed with caution. Their support is poor and QC isn’t any better. I question their viability in the audio community with only one product, too. |
