AH! TJOEB '99: "A cd player for Hfl 899,-. Can that be something?"
Marantz builds for years cd players for that kind of money. And even with a respectable quality. What's more: if you want to have a CD player in that price, it better be a Marantz. That is not only my opinion. Just read the magazines. The conclusion can be that it is quite possible to find something of reasonable quality in that price-range. But since a few months, it is even possible to get something very, very special for Hfl 899,-: the AH! TJOEB '99.

The AH! TJOEB '99 is a cd player based on the Marantz CD38. The d/a converter of this cd player is -certainly for that money- of an acceptable good quality. The used transport of the Marantz CD38 comes from "Mama Philips" and is used by a lot of manufacturers in much more expensive machines. The limitation of the CD38 can be found in the housing -very logic considering the money asked for- and even more in the analog outputstage. This is by the way the case with many machines, even if their price is considerably higher.

"Our" Frank van Duyvenvoorde -who is already known since a very long time with all kind of famous audio topics, who checks them and if necessary repairs them- and Herman van den Dungen -who is already almost 25 years on the edge to catch everything that can improve the quality of product and service- have joined forces to produce the first high-quality tube cd player under Hfl 1.000,- out of a Marantz CD38. Both their inspiration has created something really special. As long as the machine is closed, there is little difference to see between the Marantz CD38 and the AH! TJOEB '99. If you look good, you will only notice the goldplated outputconnectors and a small "AH! TJOEB '99"-sticker on the back. But if you know how to use a screwdriver I invite you to take off the cover and search for the differences.

The outputstage with standard cheap opamps (he, this is the cheapest cd player from Marantz!) is replaced by a new pc board with 2 "proud" tubes. This board is powered separately by a toroid transformer. The transistor muting system (which provides that you do not hear any bad noises in your speaker during the on/off of your cd player) is replaced by a simple but smart relay circuit. Better output connectors are mounted and that part of the cabling which is considered as being important for the reproduced sound, has also been improved. The applied standard opamp is replaced by the best unit of "master" Burr Brown.

Of course it starts to be really interesting at the moment you are going to listen. What can you expect from a Marantz CD38 with all these modification? Is it a wolf in sheepcloth? The only way to find out is comparing with cd players from different price categories. Together with customers I did this different times. All the time we found the following strong points :
The mid's and the high's are considerably better that cd players with a price range until Hfl 4.000,=. Everything sounds more airy, more clean, more dynamic and more analog. Let's listen to classical music, like the Scottish Ensemble "Depart in Peace" (Linn label). This piece starts with loud violins. On a lot of cd players this sounds thin and sharp. The AH! TJOEB '99 can reproduce uppertones very well, what makes violins sound much more like violins. Also the space around instruments is remarkable. To get this kind of quality, you normally have to spend several thousands of guilders. On the same cd you find the well-known "In A Sentimental Mood" by Tommy Smith. A lot of us will know this number as the intromusic of the tv-programms of Simon Carmiggelt. With the AH! TJOEB '99 the saxophone sounds so realistic that you almost have to start to clean the floor from the musician's sweat. What about "Into The Labyrinth" of the former band Dead can Dance. This recording has been made in a church (by the way, Brendan Perry lives in this church). The recording is really fantastic. With the AH! TJOEB '99 you can "see" the size of the church. Also the more-than-dynamic voice of Lisa Gerrard is much more fluent, much more natural than with many other cd players.

By now you really start to realize that you have got something special in your hands. A musical instrument with a very special price/quality ratio, which is rare nowadays even if meant advertisements try to let you believe different. And for that reason it is not such a surprise to see that people from the full country come to listen and until now to buy. Not only from our country, but also from Canada, USA and even Indonesia (the country where the CD38 is produced!) people find ways to lay hands on a AH! TJOEB '99. It sounds strange, it sounds unbelievable, it sounds incredible, it sounds Ö..Ö (fill in what you want), but if you are looking for a musical cd player into a price range until Hfl 4.000,- do not forget to listen to the AH! TJOEB '99. It sounds extraordinary "bellissimo" for the asked price of not even Hfl 900,-!!! Imagine what kind of money is left for other components! Rumors go that Frank has already his fingers in a Marantz PM66SE integrated!!

A little later than expected, you can read my review of the AH! Tjoeb í98. This heavily modified and updated Marantz CD-38 from the hand and mind of Frank van Duyvenvoorde (technician of Durob Audio, Monte Q and DŠ / THE Hifiwinkels / Shop / Studio) is known overhere (until 31/12/98) as the AH! TJOEB í98 and will (as you can guess) change name on 01/01/99. With additional improvements this will be the AH! TJOEB í99. However for the moment I would like to report on the AH! TJOEB í98.
At first sight the cd player is identical to a standard Marantz CD-38. But after a closer look (remove the topcover, please) you can really see quite some differences:

Inside youíll find a full tube outputstage of outstanding build-quality (with a dedicated power supply) ; the standard (nickel??) output connectors are replaced by goldplated ones and the standard opamp (of very standard quality by the way) is removed and replaced by an ic-socket with a Burr-Brown (!) opamp. This is a large improvement and because of the ic-socket it is also possible (if wanted) to experiment with other brand opamps. Quite large differences compared to the standard Marantz CD-38!!

"I have listened to the AH! TJOEB ë98 in different systems -also a few times together with some visitors in the shop- and I can only get to the following conclusion: it is a "piece of gold" (and because of the low price itís not for the supplier). Never before, I have heard a cd player in this price category and even far above that, which was singing so much MUSIC. While you listen to it, you immediately notice its quietness, his openness and its precision. This was quite obvious with the cd "Bright Blue Gorilla" of (right!) Bright Blue Gorilla. Especially with track 11, if you close your eyes, Robin Rosenkrantz is really in front of you! On track 4 of Holly Coleís cd "Temptation", you can in fact ìfeelî the full band, including the dogÖ

This experience made me go through a lot of my cd's and I only could continue to enjoy the quality of this cd player. Besides that, I started to compare the AH! TJOEB í98 to other more expensive Marantz (so sorry) units. Among these were the CD-63KI Signature and the CD 17. It was amazing to notices the differences which were advantageous for the AH! TJOEB í98. All the time the AH! TJOEB í98 was the big winner! I could go on and on writing and talking for hours about the high quality of this cd player, but I prefer to invite you to come to my store in Weerdinge ñ Holland where I can easily prove you what I stated here.

Negative points: oh yes, the price Hfl 799,= it is for me indeed a less good point. And a few electrical and mechanical improvement. But not for this price !! I dare to say that for this price you cannot find a better cd player in the entire world.

Doesnít this AH! TJOEB í98 have any negative points? Oh, yeah! The worst point for example (for me as a dealer) is the low price of Hfl 799,-. And yes itís true, several improvements still can be made, as well electrically as mechanically. But not for the current price. And I dare to bet that in the full world you cannot find a better cd player-deal.

Reason why I can advise everyone who is looking for a musical cd player to visit once one of the DŠ/THE HIFIWINKELS/SHOP/STUDIO to listen to the AH! TJOEB ë98 (and as from 01.01.99 to the AH! TJOEB ë99). That might also be the right opportunity to check if I really didnít say too much.

My story is considerably shorter than what I originally had in mind. Partly because I think that I already have made quite clear that the offered quality is extremely high and partly because I feel that I have to leave room for you to listen and judge for yourself.

I believe I'm the first one who reviews Ah! player out side of Europe. Now, I have been listening Ah! player for 6 days so I can say something about it. Over all, it is a really fine player especially considering the price I paid for. For the first two days I did A/B comparison test between my yamaha and Ah! player. To tell the truth, I had hard time to notice a 'Real' difference, though there was 'a' difference, between the two players. There are two reasons for that: firstly, two weeks ago I got a good tube amplifier (Decware Zen 84B) which improved the sound of music significantly. I believe two third of the grainy and metalic sound is gone already before I got the Ah! player. Secondly, Ah! player needed time to break in. Actually, the sound of Ah! is improving day by day. For long time I have not listen classic piano and symphony musics because my former system of mass production, except speakers, could not handle sophisticated sound. As I said, after swaping the tube amp with the yamaha receiver, the whole system seems to be much improved though some grainy and harsh tones were still there. After running Ah! player five days eight hour per day, I played some symphony and piano sonata, and they were beautiful! With my previous player, midrange was not bad but the high and bottom bass were often harsh and unclear. With Ah! player all ranges are natural and neutural. Ah! player is really tiny and light so I did not expect much and I was wrong. The general perception of outfiting of an audio does not apply to Ah! player. This so so looking small player is a Real player in the world of audio. One miner problem is occasional thump or bit of output noise when changing tracks. I understand that is a small price to pay for the good sound. Many thank to the team of Ah! player.

This is a follow up since my review 1 1/2 years ago.
Currently, I still use this player and am satisfied with it. I have upgraded the tubes. There is a difference but not that big of a difference.

Overall, this CDP is very good, especially if your like the musicality of tubes.

I have noticed though that this player sounds thin and bright when it hasn't warmed up yet.
So I leave them on for at least 3 hours before listening. The sound is so smooth when the tubes are warm. I can turn up my system without harshness.

However after leaving them on for more than a day, the tubes start to lose their magic. It sounds as if it is distorting. Anyways, it really isn't a problem for me since I listen to music at the appropriate time when they do sound magical.


My system has evolved completely since then

AH! Tjoeb '99
Creek OBH-10 passive preamp
Adcom GFA-5800 amp
Dynaudio Contour 1.3
JPS Labs Ultra Speaker and Inteconnect cables
Premier J series stands (sand filled)


I rate this Tjoeb only by how it makes me experience the music.

I had this player for about a month and I can tell that is does the job. To buy AH!Tjoeb for so less money and to hear a very good performance is a pleasant surprize anyway. I decided to byu it based on the good reviews here, but I did not stopped to compare how really good is it. OK, I compared it with following machines: NAIM CD 3.5, NAIM CDX, ARCAM ALPHA 9, SONY CD XA5 ES and some others wich I will not mention here as they are of lower class. AH! is definitely better than SONY XA5ES, compared to ARCAM it is similar or slightly better, the NAIM CD 3.5 is a small step ahead of AH!, and NAIM CDX is definitelly better CD player. Everything is good, but lets now compare the prices - all players are wore than three times pricier than AH! NAIM CDX is about $ 3700 (ten times the price of AH!). So my oppinion is without doubts five stars for AH!.
I just want to say some words to George who rates the AH! one star. George it is not fair to send three reviews by one person. I understand that you don't like AH!, but I don't understand why are you trying to force your oppinion to the others. Sending three times a review you are lowering the average score for the AH! I think that one person should send his oppinion only once. What will happen if all these fifty people here send tons of reviews with the only text "I like it" and five stars? All will loose - the users who will read them, the site audioreview.com, and most important - the reviews will not be fair. So, DON'T SEND YOUR dark oppinion again - we know it and don't need to read it more than once. Thank you in advance for you understanding.

There are two good reasons why I submit this review. The first, and most obvious reason is that I want to share my opinion of the Tjoeb 99 with you. Secondly, I want to state my appreciation for the people at the Hifiwinkel. It is not easy at all to find people who understand what you want, without having the 'hifi’ vocabulary to explain it. First things first: the sound of the Tjoeb 99. I have read a lot of reviews about the Tjoeb before writing mine, and a few of them have had the same experience of sound, or at least where very good in explaining it, I had. Before I start with describing the sound of the Tjoeb, I want to provide you with a kind of benchmark by naming the cd players which I have listened to at home. My old cd player was a Denon DCD 3000 ($1500). The reason why I wanted to replace this cd player is that it has a rather uninvolving sound. The timbres of the instruments had a digital edge, ironlike violins, instead of wood, terrible and truly irritating high frequency notes, and a lack of dynamics. All in all, I was not able to listen to my favorite music, but instead I had to listen to my favorite recordings, in order to achieve some degree of satisfaction. I have cursed the producers of the eighties. I decided to work the work, and started experimenting with cd players. The first alternative was a Naim CD2 (new it costs around $6000, however, it has been replaced by the Naim CDX). An immediate improvement, the sound was much more natural (true timbres), and the groove of this player is absolutely fabulous. Listening to Taj Mahal, Dr John and Allen Toussaint was an absolute pleasure... for about half an hour. After this thirty minutes of pleasure I had a headache. The reason is that the Naim presents the music to much forward. This is a kind of live experience but in a relatively small listening room (17 m2) to much of the good things. I changed to a Marantz CD17KI. Well, this was the total opposite of the Naim CD2 sound: boring, boring...no groove, no (heart)beat, everything sounded more or less the same. But at least, in relation to the Denon DCD 300, the instruments sounded real. My (former) dealer didn’t know what to do next, and advised me to stick with the Denon. In this mood of frustration I started to visit Audioreview, I even posted some questions. The answers I get where not very helpful and serious, except one: Dennis D. adviced me to listen to the Tjoeb99 at the Hifiwinkel in Eindhoven. I took my Denon with me, and started to listen. Frank installed the players and already smiled after two seconds he heard my Denon. He didn’t say anything though. After comparing 1 song (Sly and the Family Stone: it’s time), I knew why he was laughing. It was really a joke to compare the Denon to the Tjoeb. I did some more listening, but after 15 minutes I decided that this made no sense, and I prefer listening at home. I bought the Tjoeb, warmed it up for about 30 hours (I could not wait any longer), and started to listen. Man, it was incredible. Timbres were true, dynamics fantastic and I even heared when Tori Amos used the piano pedals; I was there when Jimi Hendrix snort his whatever he used at the moment, and I sat next to him in the conversation that followed. I passed, and said ‘hello’ to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards when they were waiting on their friend, I even visited a hefty party in New Orleans featuring Dr John and Taj Mahal, and I really got scared when Elvis Costello started to sing: I want you, thinking he was referring to me, and in the end I fell in love with the combination of naivety and streetwise(ness)of Ricky Lee Jones. After a long listening session I was not tired of the music, but tired from all the experiences I have had. The Tjoeb is truly an amazing machine, dedicated to fulfill only one purpose: make music alive. I would like to thank Marcel, Frank and Ferry for their help, you know what music is all about.

A friend of mine got this cd player and was really happy with this product..I listened to it and didn't get the same feeling...Good cd player which doens't deserve all this glory i think...People seem to be too ecstatic about it ,even Audio review !!
I thanked my friend (i saved around 600 $) and will go to my local dealer when i plan to buy something...When i want to gamble ,i play blackjack !

AH/Huismerk Tjoeb 99! The reinvention of the term ëBargainí
Marantz itself has always chosen more expensive versions of their CD-players, serving as a foundation for more beefed-up versions, known as Special Editions. Copper plated sub-chassis, carefully selected capacitors, specially insulated clock-crystals, discrete opamps, ought to make the difference compared to lesser contenders. Yes, they really sound better and they still constitute great value for money! Unless Marantz really overlooks some stages in their circuit-topology, taking the cheapest CD-player available in their catalogue for modification and expecting this player to beat players costing four times as much, would seem ridiculous! Enter the AH/Huismerk Tjoeb! A high-quality tube section is added to a Marantz CD-38! No, not those light bulbs, visually enlightening some parts of a circuitry, but real ECC-88 dual triodes mounted on a separate PCB, driven by a dedicated toroidal transformer added to the most simple and cheapest Marantz available! A funny acronym Tjoeb (pronounce in English: tube) was chosen to serve as a contrast to esoteric sounding names like KI signature! Thatís what I call understatement and thatís exactly what itís meant to be.

ëThis is the main reason, why we had to take a CD-38í, Frank van Duyvenvoorde, the father of the Tjoeb explains. ëMore expensive players donít leave any space for such dramatic modificationsí. Moreover, itís less difficult to re-route signal-paths with a simple-designed mass-market player, as it is with players consisting of higher-quality transports and discrete circuitry. Outside, nothing betrays the high sound-standards you can expect. Build quality is as with the original Marantz CD-38 and at even the same price point probably some sturdier looking players can be obtained. The CD-38 does not even have a digital output (however this can be added for an additional $ 25,-), but who cares? I donít. Only after hooking up a Tjoeb to the rest of your equipment, the real qualities of this player begin to emerge. But beware, all valve-based equipment will take some time to burn-in, and this player is no exception to this rule.

The Tjoeb was originally auditioned in its í98 design, but later on I switched to the í99 edition, the latter being the basis for this review. Loudspeakers used were Sonus Faber Concertino and Signum, Linn Kaber LS500, Aerial Acoustics 10T and my own Proac Response 2.5. Amplification comprised a Krell KAV-300i, Linn Majik & LK-100, Conrad-Johnson PV-10AL, Electrocompaniet AW180M and even a 15 year old Yamaha amplifier! Cabling varied from cheap $10,- p/meter loudspeaker cable, Symo Interlinks to Transparent MusicWave & MusicLink Ultra. I think itís extremely important to review this kind of equipment using both very affordable equipment as well as more expensive High-end equipment. In this way you can judge whether some intrinsic qualities not only emerge with dearer pieces of gear, but also are still audible with more down-to-earth equipment. For this review I can only say that this judgement speaks in the advantage of the ëTjoebedí CD-38!

First impressions are of a player that is both highly communicative and dynamic sounding, especially compared to the laid-back presentation of my own Teac VRDS-10. After some days of continue repetitive playing, things began to settle down and considerable ease and smoothness were added. This player gives natural bloom to human voice and at the same time portrays crescendos with real force. Threedimensionality isnít restricted to the location of individual instruments in the sound stage, but instruments themselves are painted in life-like proportions. A trademark of high-end playback! An excellent example of this is Sinead OíConnerís performance of ëDonít cry for me Argentinaí (from: Am I not your girl?). Sineadís voice sounded like melting ice!

Bass had real punch and authority and sounded immensely coherent. On Massive Attackís Mezzanine the sloppy bass of some cheaper players could easily mess up the soundstage. With the Tjoeb this CD was a joy to listen to. Bass-lines slammed along whilst maintaining enough separation with the rest of the sound-spectrum to keep it from deteriorating human voice or melody-lines. Nowadaysí popular recordings tend to be bottom-end heavy and every piece of equipment that doesnít over-emphasise this, is very welcome.

This player is very revealing without being too unforgiving towards lesser or older recordings. Maybe this is inherent to tube-like distortions. These kinds of distortions are certainly measurable, resulting in tube-equipment being almost always inferior in this aspect compared to solid-state components. However the side effect seems to be a more enjoyable and revealing sound. Itís nevertheless peculiar that (older) recordings that are known to be recorded using tube recording-equipment still sound more listenable while also being reproduced through valve-equipment!

Take for example the DCCís 24-karat gold-disc version of L.A. Woman from the Doors. DCC states that a special ëtube reproducerí is used during the mastering process. Reproducing this CD through the Tjoeb simply gave me the impression that I was listening to none-digital equipment, like a good turntable!

Pace, timing and rhythm were excellent and a revelation compared to most players costing $2000 or less. On Terry Callierís TimePiece (is this coincidence or not?) one of the songs is Lazarus Man, an old biblical story. Terry Callier more or less recites this story, while the music sometimes grows and climbs to a climax and then suddenly declines. The real and intense drama of this song is expressed in a magnificent way. On the CD Moon Safari from Air, the special atmosphere really blossoms and made this music mainly consisting of electronic instruments come to live. Another great CD I recently bought is BB Kings Deuces Wild. On this CD the King of Blues has recorded several duets with some famous artists like Bonnie Rait, Eric Clapton, Tracy Chapman, The Rolling Stones and even rapper Heavy D! This music played on the Tjoeb made my system threw a beautifully deep soundstage with a conspicuous solid bass line and a great layering of instruments and voices.

Going very, very loud, the Tjoeb really began to swing. Especially Metallicaís newest CD Garage Inc. was simply breathtaking. Am I Evil? Really had marvellous separation between voices and instruments, like guitars and kick drums. Talking ëbout kick drums. Take time to hear the bandís cover of Queenís Stone Cold Crazy. You canít get bass any faster than this. The Tjoeb really cooked, without sacrificing its treble characteristics. This really is the reason why I like the combination of tube equipment in conjunction with solid-state power amplification.

Going Classical, the Tjoeb also excelled in soundstaging and dynamics. Aaron Coplandís Billy the Kid on ëAn American Panoramaí (Dorian DOR-90170) had great contrasts between minuettos and crescendos, combined with a crystal-clear see-through transparency. Although this recording consist of a broad range of musical instruments, every individual instrument retained its natural characteristics.

One of the most remarkable recordings of the last few years is strange enough a combination of the music types mentioned in the previous two paragraphs (Classical and Metal). Iím talking about Apocalyptica, a Finnish band playing metal on four cellos! Especially their CD Inquisition Symphony is a splendid recording and very demanding material for your equipment and ears. The Tjoeb never gave in! On every listening volume, whether inherent to recording or playback level, the sound never became harsh or fatiguing! With the Tjoeb I never got an unnatural favour towards a particular kind of music. This is an essential indicator when deciding which equipment to buy and which not!

After having heard the Tjoeb Iím absolutely convinced that almost every manufacturer contending the so popular $400 - 500,- CD-player market area, makes more or less (in) different decisions in relation to their design process than those that lead to optimal performance. Of course, numbers do count at this price-point. The consequence is that priorities tend to be given to more commercially interesting factors, like looks and gadgets like faders and dimming Liquid Crystal Displays. The Tjoeb is the ultimate proof that a $450,- player thatís ëpurely designed-by-soundí, can outperform most players costing $1500,- or even more. My three four year old Teac VRDS-10, in a highly appreciated and accepted modified version, costing a mere $1500,- in those days, was outperformed in every area! The Tjoeb is even less expensive than the first CD player I once owned, which couldnít exactly be delineated as an audiophile product!

It is very, very hard indeed to be critical about this product. Major areas of criticism really had nothing to do with the sound and could easily be explained considering the ridiculous low price! I can really say nothing else than that this player simply is too cheap considering its performance. Iím sorry to say this, but I canít find any reason investing $2000 in a CD player when itís almost certainly beaten by this, thisÖ. Monstrous Thing!! Unless you donít care about sonics at all and you only want to visually impress your friends with players weighing at least 20 kg! Itís really the triumph of simplicity that prevails over meticulous construction we used to see in most high-end contenders.

Itís a shame itís only sold in The Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) although I heard that the "Tjoeb"-people are working very hard on an export-version! But if you cannot wait for that, you can always come over and visit our country and buy one locally! Or have it sent by mail or UPS. And please, excuse me for putting an exclamation mark at the end of almost every sentence in this review. I really canít help by doing so!!!!!

"Last wednesday I bought in Tilburg at The Hifishop (to be precise: from Koos) an AH! Tjoeb '99 cd-player. I am the customer from Leiden. I suppose that what I write here is no surprise for you: after breaking in (2 - 3 days) the sound is marvellous and finally I am recovered from my prejudgements towards cd's. The sound is clear and warm, veryÝ dynamic, no sharp edges, a lot of space.Ý
Compliments! Except do-it-yourself loudspeakers I didn't know that products existedÝ with such an excellent price/quality-ratio. I wished there were more of those, so that much more people could really enjoy music!"

After 3 months of Tjoeb '99 ownership, I believe I can now share my experiences with fellow enthusiasts. Much has been written in this site
about the quality of the music played by this unit and I don't feel I can
add much to these testimonials. The quality of the service I have
received from Herman & Frank was also praiseworthy. It really has been
great dealing with these guys, both on a personal level and also for the
top quality service offered, which is all the more surprising when you
consider the budget nature of this product. I have been impressed by the
both the AH products and philosophy, and hope their business prospers.

Since my player was delivered, I have made numerous improvements, ranging
from the simple to the sublime, and the player has just returned from
having the supercrystal and ac noisekiller fitted. Earlier mods included
fitting the Philips JAN tubes with pearl coolers (a desirable addition if
you leave the unit switched on), extensive chassis dampening with bitumin
pads, mass loading with a granite slab, Michell Tenderfeet, an externally
earthed IEC plug with a shielded mains lead (from Audio Counsel -
excellent value), and more recently a replacement opamp (AD825 module 1
from LC Audio of Denmark). All of these tweaks have been cheap to
implement, in keeping with the spirit of this project, and can be
recommended.

My impatience has dictated more than one modification being fitted
simultaneously, so I haven't maintained detailed before/after notes for
individual changes. The big hitters were the crystal, opamp and external
earthing (we have a 3 phase mains supply in UK, so this is easy to
implement), which impacted favourably upon lowering the noise floor,
tightening bass and expanding the soundstage.

Finally, I'd like to thank all those who have contributed to this site,
Tjoeb or otherwise, for taking the time to share their comments. We
Tjoeb owners really are members of an exclusive underground club! Much
as it shames me to admit it, I feel that I should mention that it took
Herman two weeks to persuade me to buy this player. For those who have
yet to take the plunge, just do it; you won't regret it.