An End-to-End Audiophile Musical Feast
The products in this tour are available for purchase here:
Apos Audio graciously offers the Audiotiers community an opportunity to listen to an impressive audio kit indicative of their brand—great sound at great value. Better yet, it is optimally paired to bring great sound from your source through their amp, upgraded tubes, and upgraded cable to their upgraded Audio-Technica ATH-R70x headphones, which they branded as the Apos Refine headphones.
By providing the entire musical chain, you get to hear the music as Apos intended. Better yet, as a tube amp with both the standard tubes and the upgraded Ray Tubes select options, you can tune the sound to your preference. Either way, the listening experience is spectacular. Read on to see what is in the kit and further to read my initial impressions …hint …they were very positive.
Apos Audio Tour Kit
We have arranged for a tour kit to hear the new lineup. Only the Gremlin is in the full retail boxes to save on shipping.
Tour Kit Contents
- Gremlin Tube Amp: $120/$270 – For just $120, you’re getting a Class A, fully balanced tube amp with matched tubes—something unheard of at this price. At $270, they add select matched pair Ray Tubes.
- Ray Tubes: $179.99 -The SELECT Collection not only maintains the exceptional manufacturing quality of the CORE Collection but also makes a significant leap in sound quality. Offered at a discount when bought in the Gremlin package deal.
- Refine Headphone: $299 – This Apos exclusive is a refined version of the original ATH-R70x that “redefined the price bracket” featuring enhanced comfort, design, performance, and price.
- Magia Cable: $179.99 – The Magia Cable’s construction features double the cores of the standard Apos Flow Cable. Splitting two copper wires into each of the four weaved cords, ensures superior signal transmission, isolation, durability, and flexibility.
Apos Audio Tour Kickoff Video
COMING SOON
Tour Kit Pictures
Barra’s Quick Initial Impressions
The best part of managing tours is getting to hear all the great gear for myself. Here are some brief impressions from what I have heard so far about the tasks required to set up this tour:
- Gremlin Tube Amp: For such a little bugger, Apos packed a lot of sound and fun features while keeping a high-quality sound-first approach. This tube amp hits big-sounding full-sized and offers a great amount of audiophile detail. Of note, the tubes light up of course, but there is also a switch to light up the base which looks great. The Gremlin looks great at night
- Ray Tubes Select: Moving to the select tubes offers a tighter bass which offers more air to bring out a larger soundstage and additional detail. The select tubes take it two more notches into the audiophile direction.
- Refine Headphones: These wonderfully comfortable headphones offer great sound on low-quality setups but scale to audiophile sound quality on better setups like this tour kit. Did I say they are comfortable? I would say that these headphones get me 80 percent plus of the way there in comparison to my over $2K headphones at a fraction of the price. I do not feel like dragging out my better headphones when I where these which says a lot. Unless you invest in over a $10K audio chain, these may be all the headphones you will ever need. FULL REVIEW
- Magia Cable: I have been using the stock 3.5mm cable that came with the Refine for quite a while and have become used to it. However, I needed a new cable to connect to the 4.4mm balanced output on the Gremlin so I upgraded to the Magia. To compare the two, I switched to my Sony WM1a which has both inputs. So I can say that there is a notable difference in the sweetness of sound as well as comfort. Side by side, both the standard and the Magia are both high-end in look and feel, but the Magia is an upgrade. As for the Gremlin, I cannot contrast the two cables, but I have a feeling that the differences would translate to this chain as well.
Overall, the sound from the entire chain is outstanding. The tube amp offers a warm, but audiophile sound signature that is full-sized and intimate – think small club vs. large stadium. You get a front-row perspective from this setup with gobs of detail. The select tubes take the sound up a couple of notches with a more refined sound with etched details and tighter bass. This is a signature that anyone can recognize as a higher-quality audiophile setup.
Rules and Responsibilities
Most of our tours are offering 7-day auditions which you are required to ship out to the next participant on day 8. Yes, you pay the shipping to the next participant, but we organize it into logistically friendly orders to minimize the shipping expense.
The tour membership rules and responsibilities are described here. The key idea is that we must be communicative to participate and to keep the tour moving and interesting. It is our responsibility to follow these rules and to ensure the ability to ship out on day 8 when our turn is over.
Signing up for the Tour
To sign up for the tour, you must be a verified tour member and have joined our new AUDIOTIERs platform. The membership qualifications and requirements are described here.
New unverified members
If you are new to AUDIOTIERS and have not been verified, please go through the verification process before registering for this tour. To save your place in line, feel free to register below after applying while you are in the application process. To get started in the application process, please follow the getting started links below.
GETTING STARTED: 1) Register, 2) Subscribe, 3) Join Tours
Existing verified members
Existing verified members can register now as directed below. Your membership should show as “US TOURS” or “US TOURS REVIEWER” MEMBERS. If you are only recognized as a “MEMBER”, then please reach out for assistance, but feel free to register per the instructions below.
Tour Signups for Verified Members
If you would like to be part of this tour, please post your request in the comments below per the sample signup request.
Reviewers First Tour: This is a REVIEWERS GO FIRST TOUR, so if you would like to skip to the front of the line, please note that you would like to be a full reviewer in the request as in the sample below:
Sample Signup Request: I live in Anthem, AZ and would like to participate in the tour. I agree to follow the terms of the tour. I have emailed my required ID verification documentation to [email protected]. AS A FULL REVIEWER, PLEASE MOVE ME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.
Tour Participant Logistics
We are offering 7-day auditions to each participant. This logistics list is updated as I can to show you where we are in the order with each participant bolded to signify that they received the kit. This is where you will find the next two participants to contact when you receive the kit.
Signup Period: During our signup period, we collect the initial participants and provide them with a logistically friendly portion of the tour. This is the lowest cost portion in terms of shipping. Once this closes, we move to the latecomer portion.
Latecomer Period: Latecomers are welcome to the tour on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will continue taking latecomer requests until we run out of participants or the manufacturer asks us to end the tour.
Apos Audio US Tour Logistics
We are just now announcing our tour and will get started after a 45-day registration period. During this time, the kit will be moving out between the reviewers, but the logistics below will not reflect this until registration closes.
- @Barra – Anthem, AZ
I live in Fresno county, CA. I would like to participate in the tour. I agree to follow the terms of the tour. I have emailed my required ID verification documentation to [email protected].
AS A FULL REVIEWER, PLEASE MOVE ME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE