New Budget King from Lake District

RTHerringbone

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Dec 25, 2024
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It's a very photogenic set of products with impressive specs and sadly hard-to-audition credentials for those based down South. I'm interested to see some reviews and hear some opinions once these things are out in numbers in the wilds.

One thing that faintly amuses me is the blurb for the Amp, which boasts "the Fell Amp benefits from the brilliant ESS Sabre ES9018K2M chip. Normally found in products priced in the thousands (and rarely found at the Fell Amp's price point), Fell Audio’s designers really are spoiling the ears!"

I then Googled said chip, and they have a unit cost of under £12 including VAT :unsure::LOL: What am I missing?!

Either way, the specifications and connectivity of this kit and then some of the bundles at Peter Tyson are appealing, that's for sure.
 

Jasonovich

Well-known member
Their £499 CD player looks the part too. Matching Streamer also on the way
All designed in house by the Tyson family - aka Peter Tyson and brothers. It appears they do more than just sell HiFi.
I have been all about Chi-Fi lately, particularly the budget end like Fosi, AIYIMA, SMSL and et'al but its really great a small British manufacturer can address this and make something better. I really hope these sell like hot cakes :)

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All designed in house by the Tyson family - aka Peter Tyson and brothers. It appears they do more than just sell HiFi.
I have been all about Chi-Fi lately, particularly the budget end like Fosi, AIYIMA, SMSL and et'al but its really great a small British manufacturer can address this and make something better. I really hope these sell like hot cakes :)

View attachment 8261
Agree.
They should do at those prices.
Just a pity the CD player isn't a top loader.
 
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ToppingSMSL

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Oct 10, 2024
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It's a very photogenic set of products with impressive specs and sadly hard-to-audition credentials for those based down South. I'm interested to see some reviews and hear some opinions once these things are out in numbers in the wilds.

One thing that faintly amuses me is the blurb for the Amp, which boasts "the Fell Amp benefits from the brilliant ESS Sabre ES9018K2M chip. Normally found in products priced in the thousands (and rarely found at the Fell Amp's price point), Fell Audio’s designers really are spoiling the ears!"

I then Googled said chip, and they have a unit cost of under £12 including VAT :unsure::LOL: What am I missing?!

Either way, the specifications and connectivity of this kit and then some of the bundles at Peter Tyson are appealing, that's for sure.
ESS9018K2M is a DAC chip so the amp has a built in DAC. It's not the latest model if ESS DAC chip either. Just marketing fluff.
 
I then Googled said chip, and they have a unit cost of under £12 including VAT :unsure::LOL: What am I missing?!
Perhaps that DAC chips aren’t expensive, generally. And any manufacturer buying a few thousand will pay less. The challenge is designing the right circuitry to elicit best performance, and a good analogue output.

I certainly don’t expect to hear differences between chips, especially if you look at specs where noise and distortion are vanishingly low.
 

matthewpianist

Well-known member
I've encountered these, though not had chance to listen. They feel solid and the design looks better in the flesh than in the marketing. There's a review of the amp in the latest HFC, which overall marks it out as a recommendation but the undertone is of it being par for the course around its price-point in terms of sound, which is far enough. I hope they do well.
 
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RoA

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I like the looks, very distinctive. It's like Rega and Naim had a love child.

Can't be very substantial though as it weighs 6kg only. A Brio is almost as hefty.

What is interesting is that they have not chosen the SMPS way but a linear one which is more expensive and perhaps better.
 
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I've encountered these, though not had chance to listen. They feel solid and the design looks better in the flesh than in the marketing. There's a review of the amp in the latest HFC, which overall marks it out as a recommendation but the undertone is of it being par for the course around its price-point in terms of sound, which is far enough. I hope they do well.
I doubt it needs to be the best at the price - as there's a huge amount of choice in the price range, my mind feels it's more an exercise in "we've got something you haven't got", and creating click-to-buy online packages that no one else will have.
 

manicm

Well-known member
I like the looks, very distinctive. It's like Rega and Naim had a love child.

Can't be very substantial though as it weighs 6kg only. A Brio is almost as hefty.

What is interesting is that they have not chosen the SMPS way but a linear one which is more expensive and perhaps better.

It weighs less probably because it's Class D. The HiFi Rose 280 Class D amp, which is immensely powerful, only weighs around 7kg.
 
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Not quite, the Tyson family from Peter Tyson retailers have developed this brand. The two Tyson brothers developed and designed the amp over a 3 year period. So it's their own in-house brand as opposed to just being an exclusive distributor.

Not quite, the Tyson family from Peter Tyson retailers have developed this brand. The two Tyson brothers developed and designed the amp over a 3 year period. So it's their own in-house brand as opposed to just being an exclusive distributor.
True but irrelevant.
I was responding to the quote "we've got something you haven't got"
 

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