Why hasnt yamamoto A-o11 gotten more love?

I think it's little brother, the A-08S steals it's spotlight. I feel the same way about my A-08S that you do about your A-011. And yes, the Yammies are beautifully constructed and finished.

Hifly,
Three months! well it seems it was worth the wait. I`ve ordered a Yamamoto YDA 01 dac about 7 weeks ago(by all accounts a fabulous component). I hope I`ll be as pleased as you are when it finally gets here(hope it does`nt take 3 months however).

I don't think they are widely distributed in the USA ... being handmade components, I would guess the # of them even worldwide is fairly low

I'm expecting a A-08S in a few weeks (also have a Wavelength Gemini 45. Will compare the two and sell the "loser".) I think Yamamoto's have received plenty of love. Almost all reviews I have seen have been extremely positive (over and above the usual gushing every product receives.) The amps have a 7 to 12 week wait time and plenty of people are happy to put down the 20% deposit to wait for them. In addition, almost any Yamamoto amp that goes up for sale on Audiogon gets snapped up pretty quickly at a premium to what most SET amps sell for. I think the word is out about the amps.

Charles,

I would be very interested in hearing your impressions of the Yam Dac. Also, does Yamamoto offer any delivery timeline when placing an order? Has anyone posted a review of the A-08s yet?

I hate to break-up the Yamamoto love-fest, but since you asked, this might be one of the reasons why they don't get more love:

http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/306yamamoto/index3.html

I'm not real big on measurements, but even these raised my eyebrows. Especially, the channel mismatch (nearly 3db of gain disparity between channels). The power/distortion output measurments probably turned-off many people as well. Yes, I know that most tube amps never do too well in Stereophile's measurements, but these were terrible. Not only does this call into question the whole measurements vs. how it sounds debate, but also makes you (it did me)wonder about Yamamoto's engineering and quality control.

La45,
I will let you know my impressions once I get this unit and put some hours on it.

Brawny, I`ll take my chance with a company that has multiple rave reviews on numerous components by a variety of reviewers and current owners based on it`sonics. Even the unit that measured poorly per stereophile sounded superb according to Art Dudley who actually LISTENED to it. So if it sounds wonderful but measures bad then the hell with the measurements.

I think it's probably not been reviewed in any English language magazine so hasn't had the wide exposure that the A-08/A-08S received. I have had mine for coming on two years now and it never fails to please. I have a number of other amplifiers that I switch in and out of my system but I always end up hankering to put the A-011 back in the rack.

With regard to the Stereophile measurements, JA does mention that the bottom cover on the review sample was somehow missing and therefore it was possible something had become mis-adjusted.

Does test equipment hear the same way we do? About the only benefit of test equipment is that it has no bias or opinion. Other than that its not human so it technically can't hear things from a human perspective.

Case in point: tube designs are generally accepted as noisier than transistors (and will measure as such), yet many prefer their coloration or distortion characteristics to be more pleasing than quieter transistor designed counter parts.

I agree, but a big channel imbalance is weird. It does make you question if something wasn't right with the unit, it seems to be pretty basic, and not too challenging to get right.

I've had an 08-s for a year and it's a fantastic amp. Just bought the 06-3 model which uses ad-1 output tubes.
Yes, one has to wait 3 months but with the right set of speakers
it's a marvel of an amp.
They make there own tube sockets, connectors and include tubes at the asking price!!!

The 6moons reviews have all been consistently positive.

Hi LA45
After about 8 weeks my Yamamoto YDA-01 DAC arrived today, well packed and in flawless condition. Right out of the FEDX box it really sounds very good! I may be in for quite a treat once it`s fully burned in. Flash impressions after only a few hours of listening, it`s very transparent, dynamic,fast and has a pure liquid-organic tonality. It only about 12 pounds but it has a big sound with authority and presence. It seems that MR.Ebaen of 6moons nailed it with his detailed review and subsequent comparisons to other high end CD players. I`m using a PS Audio PW transport, this is a good combination.

There is no doubt the s-phile sample was a fluke or damaged because quality control does not get to a level higher than Yamamoto's.