I don't post very often since I'm still in "learning mode" compared to many of the folks here and there experience but, I thought I'd toss my $.02 worth. Received my Berning ZH270 last week, which I bought thru Allan. First, let me say that what Allan told me about this amp is definitely true. In fairness I can only compare it to the amp I've been living with, ML#23 since I don't live close to any high-end shops anymore. See my system, General Disarray under the Virtual Systems, Ever Evolving, and some nice pics of the amp.
I made some comments after I replaced the input tubes and switched to medium feedback. This made a tremendous change, just as Allan and other owners have said. An analogy would be like the change after I "chipped" the computer in my turbo Audi. Went from good performance to spooled up scary fast...
The amp has maybe 50 hours on it since I've been listening to it almost non-stop. I have to say the Tandberg 3001 tuner sounds absolutely fabulous compared to the CAL CD player. I don't have my analog rig set up yet so I'm at a disadvantage to what the amp really sounds like but after the tube changes and feedback fiddling it's really great.
If you own a ZH270 this is probably a boring post, you already know this, sorry. If you're shopping for an amp you really need to do yourself a favor and seek out a friend with one. I'm in NY, come on over and test drive it. Im sure there are better amps made but youre more than likely going to be spending more than $4500 for it, maybe double or triple and you definitely wont be buying the technology thats in this amp. This thing operates more like an FM transmitter. Ive been around electronics my entire working career, (started out on IBM 370 mainframes) this is as complex and sophisticated piece of hardware as Ive ever seen. Pretty cool actually, thats why the first thing I did was take the cover off and takes pictures and post in my system. Since only 24 are made every year you might want to think about getting one while David is still making them. Kind of like Blue Note LPs, these wont be made forever .
I made some comments after I replaced the input tubes and switched to medium feedback. This made a tremendous change, just as Allan and other owners have said. An analogy would be like the change after I "chipped" the computer in my turbo Audi. Went from good performance to spooled up scary fast...
The amp has maybe 50 hours on it since I've been listening to it almost non-stop. I have to say the Tandberg 3001 tuner sounds absolutely fabulous compared to the CAL CD player. I don't have my analog rig set up yet so I'm at a disadvantage to what the amp really sounds like but after the tube changes and feedback fiddling it's really great.
If you own a ZH270 this is probably a boring post, you already know this, sorry. If you're shopping for an amp you really need to do yourself a favor and seek out a friend with one. I'm in NY, come on over and test drive it. Im sure there are better amps made but youre more than likely going to be spending more than $4500 for it, maybe double or triple and you definitely wont be buying the technology thats in this amp. This thing operates more like an FM transmitter. Ive been around electronics my entire working career, (started out on IBM 370 mainframes) this is as complex and sophisticated piece of hardware as Ive ever seen. Pretty cool actually, thats why the first thing I did was take the cover off and takes pictures and post in my system. Since only 24 are made every year you might want to think about getting one while David is still making them. Kind of like Blue Note LPs, these wont be made forever .