Intimidation V1 Retro Bluetooth Tube Amplifier Valve Amp HiFi Audio Bluetooth

I'll coming back to this review. But now few things that you can think of as a basic manual.Before you start to listen to your music, turn it on and leave it for about 30 sec. You need to keep in mind, this is not digital amplifier and not even a hybrid, where you've got tubes and capacitors / resistors working together. Here you've got tubes, where power needs to run for a while, before they can get maximum of their efficiency. So every time, before you want to use it, turn it on and leave for 30 sec. This way you can help yourself extend life of tubes.As this device comes with Bluetooth, it's good to know how does it works. So here's my thoughts on this.Its better if you first turn amp ( Bluetooth works all the time ) and then you turn BT on second device ( ie tablet or mobile ) and start searching and paring. It's visible as sg168 on mine so yours can be a bit different. After that you can connect it. Small hint. If you using mobile or tablet with 3g/4g uncheck under Bluetooth settings connections made on this amp. Or you can get surprise :)Bluetooth connection is strong and great all the time. I was testing my using LG G5, iPad 3th gen and android based tablet. As well with laptop based on Windows 10. There was no problems connecting or listening music or watching films over it. But because of technology ( Bluetooth ) you'll get half sec lag with sound. You might now even noticed that. But it's clearly 'visible' when you volume up / down on tablet / mobile. Apart from that it works like a charm .I was testing that amp on pair of Avant 902i speakers. As well with home made loud speakers with twitter, mid range and bass in each L speaker and good crossover. And i've compared sound through this amp with my old Toshiba AB-S50 amp.Sound going through this one ( VI) is warmer. Bass is better and goes higher that it was on Toshiba. I've got on my collections different types of vinyls. Some drum & bass singles. A bit of heavy rock. Prog rock. Classical. Jazz. And every single one, played with using V1 it's like discovering that album again. Like it was something new. Like it was a first time.

None of the four valves on this unit have any function at all, they just for show they light up and that it. ... This is a sold state amp with a grate big heat sink which you can see through the air vents.

I'm not too sure if many of the previous reviewers are old enough to know that much about valve amps. However perhaps they are right and their amps have only the heaters wired up. However my amp is wired as a cathode follower, the valves are therefore not doing any amplification but the signal is passing through them to the solid state amp. This "shapes" the sound and is unmistakably a valve sound. You could achieve the same thing with a graphic equaliser and perhaps a tiny bit of reverb, and some harmonic distortion.

Very good qualty for the money

False advertising!! DO NOT BUY!