Remarkable bargain. Detailed, natural, and warm. More analog like than I thought CD could be.

Still can't beat great analog. Not yet able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Pretty close.

A remarkable CD player. I bought the fully loaded model, upgraded with goofy "shoes", a power cord, tube dampers, and, most importantly, the Upsampler. I listened to the player for about an hour before I installed the Upsampler.(It's a minor trick- you'll take a leap of faith when the instructions guide you to remove a chip set.) There is no comparison between the stock player and the player with Upsampler. Stock is warm, very likable, but not remarkable for its transparency. With the Upsampler, a kind of astounding detail comes to life. On mine, the soundstage opened up, and air blossomed around instruments. Details came to life. This is a tube player, and its greatest strength is a warm, blooming midrange. With the Upsampler, the Ah! Tjoeb midrange rivals my Basis/Benz turntable setup. It's nothing short of incredible, and music with life in the midrange (try Coltrane with Johnny Hartman) is just seductive. This is not to say that the midrange isn't accurate as it "blooms"- it is very accurate. You can hear the "pluck" of a bass string in perfect detail, from the "attack" to the final "decay", and it will all sound right. If this player has a weakness, it's in the upper frequency range. The upper range is, for my taste, a tiny bit forward relative to the rest of the music. (To moderate this trait, I switched to Kevin's Amperex tubes. I also switched to Synergistic Research cables, which worked well with this player) To be fair, part of my complaint is that this player doesn't fix the nature of far too many CD recordings- they're simply recorded to be immoderately clear and bright. If they read this review at Upscale Audio, they're going to roll their eyes at my search for a fault, and for good reason. Finding fault with this CD player is like winning the lottery, and then complaining about taxes. This CD player is flat out remarkable at drawing real music out of the compromised CD medium. It sounds wonderful, bringing a presence and warmth to music that I never thought ordinary CD's could bring. For what it's worth, I tried the Jolida tube player as well. Although I really liked the Jolida, the Ah! Tjoeb worked better for me. The Jolida offers a lush, (very lush) rich presentation that is pretty wonderful. But for me, the Ah! Tjoeb offered more detail, more balance, and a greater ability to draw me into the music.

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Arcam FMJ. Jolida JD100. Rega Planet.

Clean clear and articulate. Very detailed. Very good value for the money.

Not musically involving. Tranport is makes clunky noises when forwarding tracks. A $89 portable CD player doesn't even do that, why should something 10X that amount be so noisy?

I just don't get it, maybe I'm in some kind of audio funk, but I don't see what all the hype is about. I have been running this thing since I got it. It has never been turned off, and has been in 'repeat' mode since it came in my house so I am sure it is burned in. I have the upgraded power cord, the mat, the shoes, the ribs, I even put (4) 2.5lb weight-lifting irons evenly spaced on top and dynamated the entire chassis. Don't get me wrong, it sounds good. Maybe I just expected more with such great reviews. Maybe the Nakamichi transport with a heavily modified DAC in the Box (using Kalman's suggested mods) wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Maybe I need to try the tube upgrades. Maybe I need the upsampler. I dunno. Here are examples: small amounts of sibliance on Norah Jone's "Come away with me" and Sade's "Lovers Rock". Kinda weak bass on Bruce S. "Philadelphia". Suzanne Vega, Loreena McKennit, Natalie Merchant, Natalie Imbruglia, Gloria Estephan, Basia, Sarah K, etc. are just ho-hum. My system is geared to jazz and female vocals (tubed everything and 300b amps). The 4000 is articulate, has resonable frequency extensions up and down, images well enough, and is descent looking & ergonomic. But something, for me, is missing. I don't tap my foot. I don't get the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I find myself thinking of other things rather then getting soaked deeper into the music. I can't describe it or possibly measure it, but I know something is not right. I know everyone says this is as close as one gets to audio nirvana at less then $1k, and it maybe it is, but for me and my system, I'd hoped for just a little more.

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Sony ES, Nakamichi, CAL, Audio Alchemy

After getting new speakers four months ago, my Onkyo DX-C330 CD changer revealed its true colors: too bright and fatiguing. I couldn't listen to it for more than 30 minutes at moderately high volume without my ears hurting. So I hunted around for a warmer, less harsh player and got a Denon DCM-380 changer. The DCM-380 is a good unit for the price, utilizing low-end Burr-Brown DACs. Sure enough, the harshness was gone. But I wanted more warmth and detail. Enter the AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000. After thoroughly running this unit through its paces for over three months, I think I can make some helpful comments for those considering it. Mine has the following upgrades: 24/192 upsampler upgraded power cord upgraded feet Siemens 7308 tubes The first thing is that I can confirm what other reviewers have described about the break-in period. When I first received the unit and hooked it up directly to my amplifier (the NT4000 has a digital volume control), I was not very impressed. It sounded about the same as my Denon changer. It took about two weeks of leaving it on before the soundstage deepened and widened. After another two weeks it sounded great, hooked directly into my amplifier. If I routed it through my Harman Kardon AVR55 receiver, I lost quite a bit of detail and bass. At about that time I started reading about how digital volume controls work. If you do some research, you'll learn that they attenuate the signal by reducing the resolution of the bitstream! In other words, the sound quality gets worse as you lower the volume. So ideally you'd want to run the analog output at full volume into a nice preamp. A month later I got my hands on an Aragon Soundstage Preamp Processor containing an excellent analog section. The nice thing about this preamp is that it outputs to the subwoofer even while using the analog passthrough. After pushing the NT4000's volume to full and controlling the volume with the preamp, I immediately noticed that the subwoofer output was tighter and better integrated with the speakers, much smoother bass. I couldn't pin down any other specific benefit from going through the preamp; all I can say is that the improved bass quality and overall musicality had me listening to my system for hours at a time, a few times a week. I listen mostly to rock and pop; I like it pretty darn loud. Whereas before I'd play the music in the background while I did other stuff around the house, now once or twice a week I'll plop down on the couch and crank it up, close my eyes, and just sit there soaking in the music. This player, along with a good preamp, is really killer for the money. Now here's the strange thing. About a month ago I tried running the digital output of the player into my preamp and using its high-end Crystal DACs (skipping the entire tubed output stage of the player). Immediately I noticed even more bass and a more detailed upper midrange, albeit a narrower soundstage. I was aghast! For a week I listened to some of my favorite songs over again and I came to the conclusion each time that I could hear more detail. I wasn't sure if I preferred the sound, but I could definitely hear subtle things that I couldn't make out as clearly with the analog output. Had I just wasted hundreds of bucks on this player when I should have just gotten a transport instead? What made the decision for me was sitting down for an extended listening session. After a three hour session using the digital output, I realized that I was tired of listening and wanted to shut it off. When repeating the experiment with the analog output, I found that I didn't want to stop listening. I kept listening until I had to be somewhere else, and I'd be late for get-togethers with friends etc. because I just wanted to listen to one more song! I guess that's what the tubes do: sacrifice a bit of detail for a more laid-back sound that is darn enjoyable to listen to. My other equipment: Sonus Faber Concerto speakers ACI Titan subwoofer Aragon 4004 amplifier Aragon Soundstage preamp/processor

SOUND, REMOTE, POWER CORD (IF YOU BUY THE UPGRADED CORD) ISOLATION (IF YOU BUY THE UPGRADED FEET) CAN BE USED AS A HIGH QUALITY TRANSPORT, YOU CAN CHANGE TUBES TO TUNE IT TO YOUR TASTE.

DIM DISPLAY.

I THINK THIS WILL BE ALL YOU EVER NEED TO PLAY RED BOOK CD'S. IT EVEN COMES CLOSE TO MY VYNIL STUFF. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BETTER SOUND IN A CD PLAYER AT $1000.00 YOU WON'T FIND IT. IT HAS WORKED PERFECTLY FOR THE PAST YEAR. IT SOUNDED GREAT BEFORE I INSTALLED THE UPSAMPLING KIT AND AFTERWARDS EVEN BETTER. BIG BADDA BOOM! THIS THING IS ONLY LIMITED BY THE STUFF YOU FEED IT. MY SETUP: DAHLQUIST DQ-10 (rebuilt at Regnar) THORENS TD-125MK2 (sme arm, shure mk4 cart.) BLACK CUBE (tt pre-amp) MORRISON ELAD (pre-amp) PS AUDIO HCA2 (pwr amp) SVS (sub)

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DENON, TECHNICS,, SONY, PHILIPS.

Value/price (a very high number), sound (open, warm, detailed, effortless and very musical) and upgradability.

The Marantz 4000 transport. At least one other reviewer has complained that the ransport on his unit failed. Mine did after just over a year of daily use. Kevin at Upscale supplied a replacement transport at a very substantial discount, even though the unit was out of warranty - another example of the excellent service I have come to expect - but never take for granted - from him. I was able to install the new transport in about 45 minutes and it has worked perfectly since. Hoping there may be a transport upgrade in the future.

I believe this player may be the best audio bargain of all time. I auditioned everything from Sony ES series players to Musical Fidelity, Meridien and even Wadia but simply could not bring myself to pop for these spendy units to put in my less-than-perfect listening space. Fresh out of the box with new stock tubes and OPA604's the sound of the Njoe Tjoeb was an order of magnitude better than the venerable Sony it replaced. Once it was properly burnt in - ohmigod! And once I replaced the op-amps with OPA627's (from Digikey - sorry Kevin) the soundstage opened up even more. Looking for a bit more warmth I followed the advice of Kevin at Upscale Audio and opted for a set of Amperex 7308's - and WOW. I'm looking forward to the next upgrade - the 24/192 upsampler. I'm listening through a bi-amped system, with an Acurus DIA-100 driving a pair of custom mini-monitors for the highs and an Audible Illusions Modulus 2A feeding a Classe CA-150 driving a pair of custom 10" subs for the lows. I want to note that Kevin Deal at Upscale is the "real deal". He personally stands by this product. He is also a great resource for tubes - the matched Russian 6H23's he recommended and supplied brought my Modulus 2A back to life.

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There's nothing quite like it.

Sound, tubes for cheap, nice looking, tweakability, nice little remote with volume control, Upscale Audio.

None. Buy it, you'll love it!

I must chime in with the other reviewers. This is a wonderful CD player. After my beloved Adcom GCD-575 started acting up after 12 years of listening the search was on for another affordable, quality CD player. I just love the idea of tube output on a CD player but most are just out of my price range even. I narrowed it down to two. The Jolida JD-100 (for some reason not yet reviewed on this site) and the Ah! Njoe Tjoe 4000. I must admit all the possitive reveiws on this site swayed me towards the Ah! I'm sure the Jolida product is very good at a reasonable price of $900 base price. If you can do without the aluminum face plate you could have a spected out Ah! for the same price. Because of my budget I bought the unit without any options for right now. It has just made my system sound so much smoother and recordings that have aways annoyed me in the past have come back into the rotation. Female voice sounds much better now. Loreena McKennitt, who can test the limitations of any system, sounds so sweet now I just can hardly believe the only thing I've change is my CD player. My equipment: Perreaux PMF 2150B Melos GK-1 Ah! Njoe Tjoe 4000 Celestion DL8's HSU VTF-2 sub

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Listen to many "used" only Adcom and a very old Sony.

Numerous, Cannot be beat for the price.

My previous post

This is a follow up to a previous post about my Njoe Tojeb cd player. I have been astonished with the level of attention and consideration to my previous complaints with the CD player. Upscale audio and the manufacturer gave more attention to the issue I had with the player than I could have ever expected. They fixed the plyer (out of warranty) and returned it to me at no additional charge (except for the cost of a new carrier). They paid for the shipping and returned the unit to me in time for the holidays. I am amazed at the level of service that was given for a unit under $600.00. I was upset at first because the unit played beautifully. when it did not play I thought it was too good to be true and immediately scorned it. The unit plays like nothing in it's price range or even close! I felt that I was taken. After the recent attention to service I feel I have wronged the manufacturer and the Distributor. I hope this entry rectifies that situation. I do not know f I have ever been treated more fair by any company. This is a thank you to Upscale Audio and Herman for a great CD player and greater service. I applaud your effort and am proud to call myself your customer. Cheers to the Njoe Tojeb!

Tremendous instrumental clarity and definition. Wonderful spacial, sound stage qualities. The high and low end are great, and the mid-range is fantastic.

None that I'm aware of thus far.

I had read positive comments on the AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 in an audio magazine, and took a leap of faith to order it over the internet from Upscale Audio. I am thrilled with my purchase. I bought this CD player to replace a 13-year old Nakamichi MB-3 Music Bank which had given me repeated problems over the years with the CD storage system. The Njoe Tjoeb 4000 has dramatically better sound than the Nak had, with better depth of sound, more distinct instrument clarity, and a far superior soundstage. The Njoe Tjoeb 4000 has very nice spacial characteristics, creating music which sounds more like the band is in your listening room. I run the Njoe Tjoeb 4000 through an old NAD 1130 pre-amp and NAD 2200 amp, with B&W 804 speakers. I hear more music in the music than I have ever heard before. Despite that fact that I'm unlikely to change the tubes any time soon, it's fun to know that I can try some other tubes if I ever would like to experiment. I feel this is great sound, and great value. Last but not least, Upscale Audio delivered the CD player on time, as promised, and was very easy to do business with. I will be comfortable buying other components, as needed, from them in the future. The transport in the Njoe Tjoeb 4000 has an extremely solid feel. I did find that the player was a bit bright sounding at first, as I had expected, but after leaving a CD in the player, on very low volume for a couple of days to burn the tubes in, I find that it is just wonderful sounding now.

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Nakamichi Music Bank 3, and a Yamaha CD player before that.

Ability to communicate emotion, easily tweaked, dependability of new player versus old player at same price range

I'm sure there must be some, but in the price/value heirarchy there aren't any weaknesses for this listener.

I love this CD player. I'm using this as the source component in a dedicated headphone setup. This is the first upgrade that I've made to the system in a while. I wanted a digital front-end that would grow with the system and resolve enough detail that I felt like I was getting everything off the disc. After a long period of research, I came to this product. I read the online reviews and hopped through some discussion boards -- I never found a trace of negative feedback. That, along with the fact that you could tweak the player to change the sound, helped make my decision. I thought about a used player in the same price range, but decided that I wanted the reliability of a new model rather than a 5-year old offcast. I bought the 4000 with the upgrade power cord, the upgrade feet, and the 24-bit upsampler installed. The "I'm too busy to mess with it" solution. The player arrived a few days after I ordered it, ready to go. The player sounds great. And it sounds great with all of my discs. Plenty of detail, plenty of liquidity, plenty of bass. Right now the setup is Njoe Tjoeb 4000 > Kimber PBJ > Audio Alchemy Headphone Amplifier 1.0 (w/crossfeed engaged) > Sennheiser HD580's w/stock cables. Images are warm and round, the background is quiet, and there's great top-end detail. I've been listening to a lot of historic Grateful Dead concerts lately, and they sound really great (tape hiss and all) through this rig. When the Dead are really on a roll -- into a crescendo or powerful transition -- my chest gets tight and I'm really feeling the music. Ditto acoustic stuff. Ditto Miles Davis. Ditto everything that I've put into the tray. Professional reviewers talk about components that can communicate the emotion of music -- this is one that does. I've never been around a player (or a complete rig that you could duplicate for ~$2000, for that matter) that would do that for me. The CD player upgrade was the key. Everything downstream sounds better because I made the upstream component change. I'm going to put some NOS tubes in this player one of these days, but it sure is enjoyable just the way it is. It's hard to imagine that you could do better than to call Kevin right now and order one of these players. This is a serious piece of soul-stirring equipment.

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Audio Alchemy, Rotel, Sony

Sheer unfatiguing musicality that is virtually on a par with vinyl. Deep, tight bass, huge soundstage, dynamics and space between intruments.

OEM Marantz case. But if this was housed in a Musical Fidelity type of offering with a 10mm solid alloy fascia it would add £1000 to the cost! This unit totally outperforms my A3. Takes a long time to run in! But gets better by the day!

Well the unit is FANTASTIC. I got the upsampler version. All the reports are true, and you can buy with confidence. The reason why the unit is relatively cheap is because its made by enthusiasts, not a large corporate, and is sold direct or through limited retailers, cutting out the middle-man. There is nothing to fault with the electronics, which is state-of-the-art, and I certainly cant see any connectors to short out when the lid is replaced! In fact AH! encourage you to look inside and carry out the upgrading mods yourself, providing you with a special screwdriver and detailed instructions.

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NAD 320 MUSICAL FIDELITY A3 PS. Special thanks to Dave at www.icon-audio.com who set the unit up while I waited!