Older thread, but thought I would give some feedback on the BLACK ICE AUDIO F35 Integrated. Mine is still currently breaking in. Approximately 100 hours on it at the moment. I recently rolled some KT 150’s in place of the EL 34. Big improvement....
Anyway short summary.....easily one of the better buys currently in audio for an integrated amp. Looks very nice, sounds even better. Have had several integrated units in the system in the past two years ranging in price from 1500.00 to 10 K (Esoteric F5). I like the F35 better than all of them, with the possible exception of the Esoteric...The Esoteric has been gone for over a year, so no side by side compare, but as much as I enjoyed the Esoteric, the Black Ice F35 is just as enjoyable....Plan to put some better coupling caps in
(V Cap..ODAM) and change out the inexpensive TI op amp to a very nice discrete SPARKO op amp. This should allow the F35 to open up even more with cleaner and more relaxed, detailed mids n highs.....
Cheers....
Anyway short summary.....easily one of the better buys currently in audio for an integrated amp. Looks very nice, sounds even better. Have had several integrated units in the system in the past two years ranging in price from 1500.00 to 10 K (Esoteric F5). I like the F35 better than all of them, with the possible exception of the Esoteric...The Esoteric has been gone for over a year, so no side by side compare, but as much as I enjoyed the Esoteric, the Black Ice F35 is just as enjoyable....Plan to put some better coupling caps in
(V Cap..ODAM) and change out the inexpensive TI op amp to a very nice discrete SPARKO op amp. This should allow the F35 to open up even more with cleaner and more relaxed, detailed mids n highs.....
Cheers....