Chord TToby

[What Hi-Fi?]

Chord’s TToby baby power amplifier might not look like a serious piece of hi-fi kit, but it certainly packs a mighty punch.

Chord TToby : Read more

 

[Adamsandwiches]

Amplifier: **makes mechanical noises while amplifying music, something unanimously considered highly undesirable in the audio design field**

What HiFi: FIVE STARS!!!

 

[halloweenman]

I agree. Any high end amp with noisy mechanical fans is a design failure and most certainly not true high end. It should have 4 stars, not 5.

 

[audioguy]

So...noisy fans and runs out of juice at higher listening levels - and is $4k? How's that warrant 5 stars? Noisy operation should be cause for 1 star rating alone. That's a deal breaker before even listening to music through it in my opinion.

 

[Hifiman]

Prior to this review I was considering whether to audition this amplifier to complement the TT2 in a new compact setup but I too am now concerned by the comment ‘the fans were a little noisy on our review sample, which we hope isn’t typical.’ I would have thought at nearly £3K the noise should not be typical or be present even if untypical. Could the reviewers ask for another TToby to find the answer, in the same way a customer would if they found this after they had bought it?

 

[Peter Carter]

I have a TToby and have never experienced fan noise. I can only assume that the review unit had been run extremely hard for a period (perhaps with the aforementioned 85dB-efficient ATCs that were used) and the fan had temporarily kicked into its highest speed to bring the amplifier's temperature down to normal (silent) running levels.
I also notice the review was posted on the hottest day of 2020 where temperatures hit 31'C in London. Tough conditions, that's for sure!

 

[gaburko]

I understand you're focused primarily on British companies, and that's fine. But this is a serious question mark on your credibility. ANY mechanical noise in a power-amp is a massive design failure that's simply unfixable. The fact that your unit has noise and someone above mentioned that his doesn't also speaks about the lax quality assurance procedure. Be careful, credibility is easily destroyed

 

[Joe Cox]

We've been told it was an issue with our sample and isn't replicated on other samples, so shouldn't be a wider problem.

 

[audiodiplomat]

The most alarming phrase from the review is “...which we hope isn’t typical”. To me, that indicates that the reviewer never thought it important enough to even consult Chord about this negative aspect or simply considered it barely worthy of mention to us in the review.

 

[Joe Cox]

No, we did consult Chord and were assured it wasn't typical. But we put 'hope' because we can't check them all!

 

[Adamsandwiches]

Five star ratings are awarded on the honour system at WHF.

 

[gaburko]

It's almost laughable. How did you convo with Chord go?
- Hey, Chord, we have a crappy amp here, it makes noise and the fans spin
- oh, don't worry, all the other ones are stellar, you can give us the usual 5 star, no problem

whathifi awards a well deserved 5 star.

 

[halloweenman]

Fans get noisy, collect dust, and eventually fail. I'd never consider any hifi gear that has fans. It's a failure of design.

Chord Electronics sort it out. Design a great sounding power amp for TT that doesn't use fans and I might consider it.

I love my Hugo TT DAC but TToby isn't worthy to clean its boots.