"tack"between tracks(??)

This babe rocks!Don't your money into Wadia's.
Buy a Tjoeb and a car instead! :)

cue!

I plays discs.

Many: poor refund/review policy (you buy it/try it, your loss) Don't know if you got what you ordered as no proof unless you open it up to find out which has potential for error. Digital noise. *see review

I am aware this review will go against the grain however I have actual and factual information to support my statement.
Ommiting the tube section from this player (I am a fan of tubes) is like removeing a piece of wax paper from in front of your speakers. The tubes actually have very little current passing through them though tubes do make a difference, however if one would bypass the tube section completely the player sounds much much much better. The parts used are weak and I understand this is due to cost/expense therefore I will not write my review on this basis. The bottom line is the tube section sounds worse than without the tube section. If you don't believe me, bypass the tube section and run a line from the chip section to the output and see for yourself.
The only application I see for this unit, as stock, is if one has a very very harsh and brittle stero system, which they shouldn't, and needs to cover it up.

Similar Products Used:

Many

Every bit as good and perhaps one bit better than the previous 58 reviews.

Looks like a Marantz.

No need to add to the extensive literature represented by the previous reviews.

This is an unusual product. An extraordinary instrument marketed without formal advertizing.

We are expected to read, evaluate and
trust without any first hand experience with the unit.

It works! (Herman, I know you are there!)

The access and help available through Ah! Tjoeb, and the reassurance are
as extraordinary as the product.

This appears to be a genuine post-industrial cottage industry. With l9th Century standards of honesty and service,

(Herman: if you promise to make an affordable integrated tube amp, I will make a down-payment tomorrow)

Similar Products Used:

none

Price - Performance - Herman

none

Serial Number - VEO39928046677 - My initial choice for a CD player was the Marantz 67se and later the Dynaco CDV Pro. In fact I did order the Dynaco from JR Music World only to find that the product had been discontinued. After reading all the positive reviews on this site I decided to take a gamble on a product I knew little about. I am glad I did. Now after 48hrs of break in the sound has improved greatly. I found that straight out of the box the bass was overwhelming and non defined - the highs were veiled. All that has changed. The bass is now tight and the highs are smooth - vocals and especially piano sound just right. I am so impressed with the sound of 'tubes' that I will begin my search for a tube preamp in the next few months, any suggestions?? Thanks Herman!!!!

Similar Products Used:

two lower priced Sonys

Very musical, non-fatiguing, and price/performance ratio

I've lived with my Tjoeb 99 for two months now, and would like to share my experience.

Please bear with me, this is somewhat long.

When I decided to buy a cdp my shortlist included:
1. Cambridge Audio CD-6
2. AH! Tjoeb 99
3. Rega Planet
4. Rotel RCD-971

It took awhile but I found the CA CD-6, and ordered one from a shop in Virginia. Three days later I'm sitting on my porch and the UPS truck pulls up to deliver my new cdp. The driver gets out of the truck, takes one step, and drops the box. Well to make a long story short, the CD-6 played very well for all of five minutes. The dealer was unable to get another CD-6 from the importer, so here I am, without a cdp.

Upset about the CD-6, I purchased a demo Rotel RCD-971 cdp from a dealer with a return agreement. This player was not bad, however, it was not what I was looking for in terms of dynamics and detail, so I returned it after one week.

My local dealer had the Rega matched with Martin-Logan CLS IIz powered by Mark Levinson. I don't know the model. Needless to say this combo was outstanding. I did not get a chance to demo the Rega in my home. During this time I was communicating with Tjoeb owners Chris G. and Dennis D.
Chris also had the CA CD-6. They spoke highly of the Tjoeb. They spoke of one being able to improve the sound with better NOS tubes, so I decided to take a chance on one.

I contacted Herman and ordered the Tjoeb 99 with the Coax Digital Output, AC Noise Killer, and SuperCystal. Out of the box the Tjoeb makes great music, which improves after the first 40-50 hours. I replaced the original Philips tubes with a pair of NOS Siemens 7308s (thinks Chris and Dennis) which improved the detail and clarity. I add an IEC chassis connector (thanks Darren K.) and presently I'm using a pre-molded Belden No. 17604 6 ft power cord (thanks Jon Risch). I reduced the output voltage from 3.5v to the standard 2v, thanks Herman. To reduce the output voltage you need a small Allen wrench, I don't know the size. The small wrench used to tighten the Magnepan speaker binding post works.

Also, thanks to the UPS driver who dropped the CD-6.

System:

Pre/Pro: B&K Reference 20
Power Amp: B&K AV5000 Series II
CDP: AH! Tjoeb 99
DVD: Toshiba SD-3109
Front L/R: Magnepan MMG
Rear L/R: B&W 602
Center: B&W CC6
Subwoofer:Velodyne VA-1012X SeriesII (Upgrading to the HGS-10)

Speaker Cable: Nordost Super Flatline (front) and Straight Wire Rhythm (rear)

Interconnect: Straight Wire Sonata (CDP/Pre) and Rhapsody II (Pre/Power)

Thanks,
Tom

Very musical and emotional
Price/performance ratio

Looking for a budget cd-player to replace my Marantz CD62
wich was the weak part of my system I came across the Tjoeb
on the internet.

Reading the very positive story's from other Tjoeb users I got curious so Imade an appointment with Rob Wilms to
audition the Tjoeb in Beek.

After a very warm welcome and a cup of coffee we, I brought along one of the guys from our small audioclub, sat down to give the Tjoeb a thorough listening session.
First we listened to my old CD62 wich I brought along to get familiar with te sound of the set-up.
After a little while we switched to the Tjoeb, the difference was enormous.
Beautifull naturall voices and instruments, tighter and deeper bass and very musical overall.
It sounded just right, we were immidiately convinced.
I bought one right away with Supercrystal and Noisekiller.

At home I heard the difference right away.
After a few weeks it became even better and better.

Because I was so positive about what the Tjoeb did at home I brought it along to one of the guys from the club.
He owns a system much better than mine so this should be the ultimate test for the Tjoeb.
The Tjoeb was compared to a van Medevoort/Audio Alchemy
drive/dac combo wich included a seperate jitterbox.
Amplifier was an Array pre/power combo all connected with Monster interlinks, M1000 for the v.Medevoort, M800 for the Tjoeb.
So there was a slight disadvantage for the Tjoeb because the M1000 is a better cable.
After warming up the Tjoeb we started serious listening.
Well, the guys were very , very surprised.
How could such a "cheap" cd-player come so close to a drive/dac combo costing SIX times the price of a Tjoeb?
Differences were marginal, a little less air around voices and instuments was the only thing noticable in favour of the v.Medevoort/AA combo.
The Tjoeb gave a deeper bass, in some cd's the plugged bass was easier to follow!
After all a very revealing experience in favouer of the Tjoeb and leaving 3 disappointed guys who paid a lot more for a fairly same result behind.

In the meantime I replaced the powerchord for a better one wich makes the Tjoeb even more consistent and revealing little details even better.
The next step will be deadening the casework with bitumen.

To make a long story ( wich is is by now! ) short:
I love the Tjoeb for it's musicality, it makes you listening to music with emotion, not listening to the
equipment anymore.

System:

Amp: Naim Nait 3
CDP: Tjoeb99 supercrystal& noisekiller
Speakers: Monitor Audio Studio 2Se
Subwoofer: Rel Strata II
Stands: Target TR60
Speaker cable: Cable Talk Concert 2.1 biwire
Interconnect: Puresonic Blue

Lifelike sound. Good value.

I just received my Tjoeb 99 CD Player a week ago. I am
very satisifed with the sound. Classical music sounds very
lifelike, I have been listening to Beethoven's 6th symphony
and it sounds very detailed.

I admit to being a bit of a skeptic after reading the reviews on this site. However, there is now a domestic
US dealer for these players at www.upscaleaudio.com, so
you do not need to worry about an international order and
shipping charges.

Also,you can return the players for a small restocking fee, so I figured that I did not have much to lose by trying. If you try this player I bet you will find that you will not need to return it either.

Kevin at Upscale Audio has been very helpful. So I have
to give 5 stars on the performance of the player, the
price to value ratio, and the service I have received.

musical, transparancy, clarity,

till few weeks ago nothing at this price or maybe

Begin of this year I've bought my Tjoeb 99 after reading the many reviews at this site.

Before I've owned a Cambridge Audio 4SE ansd a Marantz 63 KI,67 OSE. No doubt, these players have a good price quality rate.

The Tjoeb is a good player, but few weeks ago I've bought for my sleeping room an second player,
Philips CD 753. The specs at some points are better than the entry level Marantz and 6000 serie players.
After an burning periode of 4 days I play my favourite CD's. It's was just a surprise that the Philips, a budget player from $150 Usd (fl. 340,-), at many point sounds like the Tjoeb.
In mine opinion the weakness of the Tjoeb in comparison with the Philips is that the Tjoeb sounds sometimes a little bit too warm and coloured, although this is very personal. In detail, analytical and musical no difference.
Look at the difference of the price, $ 350 usd, it's unbelevaible. Believe it or not, at this moment the Tjoeb plays in my sleeping room coupled with Marantz PM 78 and Acoustic Energy AE1 speakers.

Mine setup;
Integrated amplifier Job(Goldmund), "they do a very good job"
Speakers Monitor Audio Studio 2Se (since 4 years my favorite speaker) with stands Target R4 (weight 50 kg)
Interlinks JK Acoustics type II (sounds better than mine Siltech FTM4)
Speaker cable UTP Belden CAT 5, designed for computernetworks voice/ data, BiWired (better than
all cables I've auditioned till $50 usd/ meter) price $0,50 Usd/ meter!!!!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

several products Sony 50ES, Marantz CD 17, Denon 1550/ 1650,
Rega Planet, Marantz 6000 OSE

Musical, Tweakable and the best cd player I've had in my system for my budget

Midbass/Bass and the midrange could be a little more present but I'm working on this with differnt tubes.

My review was going to be short and sweet until I purused the latest copy of Stereophile and read Sam Telligs less-than-enthusiastic review of the Tjoeb 99.
I mention this because, if we were to really be honest with each other, we are all influenced to some degree by the reviews and reccomendations we read, especially by the 2 big boys, Stereophile and TAS.
Case in point are 2 purchases I made based on reviews and reccomendations from Mr. Tellig. The first was the Musical Fidelity X-10D that he feverishly reccomended to hook up to anyone owning a Marantz 63SE. This item is a tube buffer for the analog stage of the Marantz.
At first I was admittely blown away with the sound but upon continious listening I noticed something wrong...the music had actually "slowed down."
My first thought was, "Am I the only one hearing this?" Other reviews praised this gizmo as the "most cost effective CD upgrade ever!" O.K, maybe it was me, I thought,but I continued to be aggrevated with the music"s lack of pace.
Wouldn't you know a few issues later, the Reccomended Componets issue to be exact, that 2 of Stereophiles reviewers noticed the same thing and stated so.
So, my question is, how could one reccomend a componet that has such a detrimental effect on the music?
The second item I purchased was the muched hyped Rega Planet. I mean, c'mon, the Planet actually graced the cover of Stereophile. How could I go wrong?
ST mentions in his review of the Tjoeb 99 that listening to it made him fall asleep. Let me set the record straight-if any CDP will make you fall asleep it's the Planet.
Lifeless,nonmusical and uninvolving are 3 words that describe the Planet. I'll go so far as to say it's probably one of the biggest audio hypes of all time. It probably makes a superb transport, but that's as far as I'll go.
The point I'm trying to make is that one needs to be carefull before dishing out your hard earned cashish on products that all the "important" reviewers deem as great. As you can tell, I've learned this the hard way.
This at long last brings me to the Tjoeb 99. Believe the hype on this one! At long last a CDP for those of us who appreciate audiophile sound but cannot and probably never will own a Mark Levinson because of life's little priorities like mortgage payments and the kids college fund.
This is a great sounding player that has me listening in awe to my CD's again. And isn't that really the acid test?
One important note: THE TUBES YOU USE WILL MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!
I'm still in the process of audtioning tubes because I haven't owned the Tjoeb all that long but I can honestly say I'm excited with the potential the Tjoeb has to offer.
Last but certainly not least, it's refreshing in this day and age of snobbish, nose in the air audio dealers to be working with Kevin at Upscale Audio. An owner of a audio store that actually follows up with you and listens to what you have to say. What a concept! I appreciate Kevin's time and enthusiasm.
Bottom line-the Tjoeb 99 is a great player for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz 63SE and Rega Planet

Musical, Tweakable and the best cd player I've had in my system for my budget

Midbass/Bass and the midrange could be a little more present but I'm working on this with differnt tubes.

My review was going to be short and sweet until I purused the latest copy of Stereophile and read Sam Telligs less-than-enthusiastic review of the Tjoeb 99.
I mention this because, if we were to really be honest with each other, we are all influenced to some degree by the reviews and reccomendations we read, especially by the 2 big boys, Stereophile and TAS.
Case in point are 2 purchases I made based on reviews and reccomendations from Mr. Tellig. The first was the Musical Fidelity X-10D that he feverishly reccomended to hook up to anyone owning a Marantz 63SE. This item is a tube buffer for the analog stage of the Marantz.
At first I was admittely blown away with the sound but upon continious listening I noticed something wrong...the music had actually "slowed down."
My first thought was, "Am I the only one hearing this?" Other reviews praised this gizmo as the "most cost effective CD upgrade ever!" O.K, maybe it was me, I thought,but I continued to be aggrevated with the music"s lack of pace.
Wouldn't you know a few issues later, the Reccomended Componets issue to be exact, that 2 of Stereophiles reviewers noticed the same thing and stated so.
So, my question is, how could one reccomend a componet that has such a detrimental effect on the music?
The second item I purchased was the muched hyped Rega Planet. I mean, c'mon, the Planet actually graced the cover of Stereophile. How could I go wrong?
ST mentions in his review of the Tjoeb 99 that listening to it made him fall asleep. Let me set the record straight-if any CDP will make you fall asleep it's the Planet.
Lifeless,nonmusical and uninvolving are 3 words that describe the Planet. I'll go so far as to say it's probably one of the biggest audio hypes of all time. It probably makes a superb transport, but that's as far as I'll go.
The point I'm trying to make is that one needs to be carefull before dishing out your hard earned cashish on products that all the "important" reviewers deem as great. As you can tell, I've learned this the hard way.
This at long last brings me to the Tjoeb 99. Believe the hype on this one! At long last a CDP for those of us who appreciate audiophile sound but cannot and probably never will own a Mark Levinson because of life's little priorities like mortgage payments and the kids college fund.
This is a great sounding player that has me listening in awe to my CD's again. And isn't that really the acid test?
One important note: THE TUBES YOU USE WILL MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!
I'm still in the process of audtioning tubes because I haven't owned the Tjoeb all that long but I can honestly say I'm excited with the potential the Tjoeb has to offer.
Last but certainly not least, it's refreshing in this day and age of snobbish, nose in the air audio dealers to be working with Kevin at Upscale Audio. An owner of a audio store that actually follows up with you and listens to what you have to say. What a concept! I appreciate Kevin's time and enthusiasm.
Bottom line-the Tjoeb 99 is a great player for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz 63SE and Rega Planet