Disclaimer/ Personal interest in my reviews - Please read "About" section on Patreon.com/nbts In a long ass 24 minute video, I somehow managed to leave some stuff out because I got excited. I think we can all benefit from a few clarifications and few other notes: 1. When I talk about input indicators. I meant to say that there is no label. It in fact has indication on which input you are currently in with an led light. 2. Tube life span for JJ ecc99 is 10,000 - 15,000 hours. If you listen to your amp for 6 hours every day (without skipping a day), the tubes will last you between 4 - 6 years 3. It does drive the magnepan LRS and .7i in a small to medium sized rooms. But if you are the type to play music fairly loud, it will not work. All I said about it's sound characteristics holds true for the magnepans with a lot more emphasis on "air" 4. Billie amp is an all in one integrated stereo amplifier that has won our "Best Amplifier Award 2019" before. (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aKuearp9tNu1enU.html) 5. The remote they are coming up with will be backward compatible and possible with all billie amp units Hope this helps ! Cheers.

Your best review so far. More confident. The review flows much smoother and focused. I like you giving examples and what music you used...Thanks!

The one thing I appreciate the most in this particular review was how you inform us of the test tracks, and what to look for particularly in that, which can help us discern and discriminate when using/testing/comparing different gears and setups... You may also be doing this in other reviews but I have poor memory sometimes so please excuse me. And yes, don't apologize too much about your pronunciation - hopefully those people are not so picky the way you pick and criticize in your reviews! 😁 The one thing you maybe didn't make clear was the distinction if you made the review using the Internal DAC or your source was some external DAC of your preference, and IF there was a particular difference. I am assuming the review was about the unit as a whole which includes the DAC with the amp. Although separate review wouldn't be much relevant for me, it probably will to your kind of target audience. One of your nicest reviews thus far - Keep up the good work and all the best for further expansion of your career and content.

This is one amp that the back panel look sexier than the front, no small feat at that. Bravo to whoever the designers are 👏🏼

Great, great review. I have one on order, and am awaiting delivery. This review only makes me count the hours even more. I have absolutely nothing against a Chinese made product, but does it make me happy to support a Canadian upstart that delivers such an amazing value proposition? Yes it does. Update: This amplifier is such a value it's amazing. First the obvious simplicity of an integrated gives value in both cost and space. But the promised "intimate" sound? Yes, it certainly delivers. Piano, vocals, acoustic bass, simply sound more real than any gear I've owned. Having a very good streamer, a Lumin D1 really helps.

This was a review I was waiting for for quite some time. Thanks! I am very, very surprised you didn't try it out with your Tektons though!

Great job on the overview , those Elac towers are kick-ass looking ! Love to have just the 403s bookshelfs .

Great review! Gotta admit, this is a very tempting product. I think it would be a great starting product that would allow you to assemble a system for a good price that would not only be very pleasing, but just may end up being a "stay with it" system for a lot of people! ..... and Canadian made also! Good for National pride! Canada has a lot of good products by small companies that really need more attention from audio reviewers. Good job!

Thanks for the informative review 👍

Mine is wonderful. Couldn't be happier. Frankly there are just so many great products out there it is really hard to go wrong these days. This sounds great and does a wonderful job driving my Tekton M-Lore speakers. I feel like that combination works great. I would like to upgrade to a higher end Tekton pair one day.

GREAT review. Thanks!

Great review thank you.

Nice review, you are getting better and better!

Great review next best. (: Would love for you to review some master and dynamic or grado headphones if possible and give your impressions of them. Thanks.

Excited to hear your opinion on the MK2 version Jay.

10:21 Bloody hell! The bass on Limit to Your Love shook my house almost to pieces. Two bass notes were very distinct on my LS50s both with and without my Rel T7i using an Audio Vista Spark II.

Think I’m going to buy one ! 😊

Nice review, Jay. I think you forgot to mention about the two digital optical inputs that this Billie amps has and that it has no digital coaxial input. Also, I think the line out outputs should have been labeled pre-out, not line out as they have a variable volume output.

Great review Jay. Good to see a Canadian product get some attention. Do you think you could convince Sean to listen to one?

Damn that's a stylish lookin amp 👌

Good vid Jay. A couple of points though ... 1. aptX is not lossless (max 16/48). I see the Heaven 11 spin doctors have suggested this on their site. Sure - it's lossless if the source bitrate is low enough to begin with. It's not even suggested that it's aptX-HD (max 24/48) - better, but still not lossless. 2. They should label the 'LINE OUT' ... 'PRE OUT'. (Perhap not so) common usage is: LINE OUT - fixed level PRE OUT - variable level (pre-amp/volume control from that device)

Great review. I get a pretty good feel of what the amp is about. How about a matchup with the Wharfedale Linton Heritage or EVO 4.3? Maybe the Emotiva T1+. One more thing. How does this amplifier compare to the Parasound NewClassic 200?

Looks very interesting and reminds me of the Rogue Sphinx. Do you work at Funall Audio? I noticed most of your gear, or at least what is used in videos is on consignment there.

yes. hearing the singers breathing indicates quality detailed amplification usually associated with tubes-especially kt88.

Great review! Just a quick question on the Billie amp. When you're connected using bluetooth with maybe Spotify?, were you able to control the volume from your device? (i've had experience with certain appliances, that takes away volume control on the device when connected and some just doesn't) With volume control on the device, I feel a remote may be a trivial need (at least for me) Also, I've read a review from Soundstagehifi mentioning that the only way to turn off the Billie amp is by turning the volume knob manually off and it was lacking an auto-off feature? But yet, I'm seeing features and specs saying that the volume knob is motorised and it shuts itself off after 45 minutes of inactivity Could you shed some light on your experiences? Thanks!

Solid review Jay! Have you matched the Billie with your BR03's? What are your impressions?

Jay check out Julie London's version of "Cry Me A River"- nice review.Wish it had a pre out main in or a External Processor Loop but guess that get's away from the straight ahead sound for price thing.Remote is needed for successful sales though once that is there - Bang!!This and the Parasound Classic 200 are some very interesting D amps but my guess is tubes gives this the sound edge while Para has the bells and whistles

Nice video. I have Fatman ITUBE amplifier and very happy with it. Is some power amplifier will bring some improvement to this amplifier or any tubes amps. thanks

I just got hold of a billie, what other tubes do you recommend to elevate the listening experience.

Hi I seen that you have had tekton speakers, do you think this combination would be good? Also seen that the Billie has a slight hiss, would high efficiency speakers be a issue? Thanks

Thank you for the review. Do you think it will pair well with the Triangle Comete EZ ?

Have you been able to have a preview of the Billie mark II with 120 Watts?. It might bring a lot more low end punch to the mix…

Thanks for your review . Would like to know you may kindly this in comparison to Hegel h120 vs Heaven Eleven Billie mk 2 , as you have looked into both theses amps and you like them both , with is more involving , power most soakers , which sound and feel you are in the rooms with the artist and music, etc… would really appreciate your advice . Thanks you . All the best

Hi, How is this compared to Parasound 200 integrated amp? For Elac Vela 403? I like to listen to classical thanks!

Hi Jay, I am wanting to study if a unit like this could be a fit for the KLH Model 5. I currently have a Moon i-3 integrated and a Moon CD--1. The CD has a Dac but nothing else would. The Billy M.2 integrated even has a dual headphone out and a saber dac. The Moon i-3 is a good match for the model 5s The Billy m2 uses a trick to create the sweet sound by amplifying the 2nd harmonic vs the 3rd harmonic on class D amp. The Advance Paris Amps kind of run in this direction without the super preamp in this unit. Would it be better to sell off the i-3 and my NAD phono preamp? I have been thinking about building a moded Audionote design. Since you have the KLH model 5s I would be very interested in your thinking. Thanks

Hey buddy amazing video as always I do my best to follow your advice because I think I could keep it real to the best of your ability I have a question for you I’m looking to put a small little system in my bedroom for light listening nothing too crazy I have a $1500 Budget I was wondering what would you recommend for a set of little speakers and a small receiver or app for this price point why would you put together please advise and I appreciate any help that you can give me thank you and keep up the great work and great video as well

Nice review! Does the billie sound better with Elac Vela BS 403 or FS 407? Regards from Germany!

I wish I would have seen your review last week. I just bought a Cambridge audio cax61 last week. I suppose I could send it back. It got phenomenal reviews. How would this amp compare to my Cambridge?

Not sure if you mentioned already, but, when you test those tracks, did you use the DAC on the Billie Amp? What streamer or sources did you use?

Jay, did you happen to try out this amp with the Pendragons? I’d think it’d probably be a good match at 60 wpc going into 95dB efficient speakers, but ya never know until you try. Thanks for the review on this amp. I’ve been curious about them. Btw, I also agree with @Keystone that this was your best review so far. Good job, dude. 🎶🔊🙂

Very cool product. I wish it would have a USB input.

Hi, can you give me a hint - I am considering either to by the Billie or a combo of Schiit Freya + XTZ. What would be your recommendation?

You should try Aiyiama T9 Pro. Paired with Triangle BR03 it’s a killer combo for less than 600 $.

would this go well with the new Klipsch Heresy 4?

I am assuming this is the first iteration of this amp? The Billie Heaven II is available now too and it would be good to hear your thoughts on the differences.

If you're making an expensive Class D amplifier, at least use the efficiency of class D to get big power. I get it, the amp looks nice, it's hand made, you have your own awesome sauce in the tube preamp section but FFS replace the puny 125asx2 with a 1200as2. As a manufacturer buying in bulk you're paying what, a couple of hundred euros more to get the 600W module instead of the 60W module? Most people would gladly pay double/triple the extra module cost to get big power.

Awesome review! I have been waiting for some time to hear your thoughts on the heaven 11 Billie amp. I just purchased a pair of Klipsch Cornwall 4S and have considered powering them what the heaven 11 Billie amp. What are your thoughts on the Synergy between the two? Thanks and keep up the good work.

best of both worlds? how about the Vincent sv237?

You've raved about the sound quality...but you didn't let us get a sample of its character. I look forward to a listening sample, not merely a sales promotion.

I have heard there is a high level of background hiss in this amp at higher volumes. Is this true and how do you remove it?

Is the remote going to be possible on the current units or coming with a new version of the HW probably?

Silly idea having the tubes stuck up like that be better if they're inside the chassis or lying flat on top. Have you tried tube rolling. You're saying the bass is not good what is the amps current output.

Would this match well with the Tekton Lore?

I think tubes work well after dacs and chips It doesn't seem to make sense to use a chip amp after the tube , Maybe I'm wrong? I know I hate the chip amp section in my Marantz and use a buffer into a big A/B

What about pairing with Double Impacts?

Nice review! Does this amp connect to WiFi or is it just Bluetooth? If no WiFi, is there a better way other than Bluetooth to stream hi res audio from apps like Tidal? Thanks!

S400+billie amp vs active S400(A500)

Could u please answer? Is it good match to pair with Sound Artist SC8B speakers?

"if you are an old fashioned person" 😂

good news or bad news? all stock sold out !

Any slam...any?

Magnepan LRS will go well with this amp?

I just wish it had more power, if it did it would justify it's price point. only 60w into 8 homs with ICEpower modules?! wtf?! what modules are they using? there's very little information on their website. I need the details of the modules, and power/distortion graphs. 60w at what thd? they could have used higher powered ice modules for not much more money, there are very high power options with those. I want this exact amp with minimum double the power, preferably 3-4x. and better tubes than JJ's. the ess sabre, if they're using the latest top end model which I assume they are, is an incredible DAC. i wish there was more info about the phono stage. if it had a top quality phono stage, and top quality tubes, and 2 to 4 times the power, then 1500 would actually be a great price. a DIY setup with "separates", discreet components, would probably run you 1500 bucks if you covered all those bases (ice based amp, ess sabre [khadas tone board], phono preamp, tube preamp, bluetooth module though I could definitely do without that), so you're basically getting the integration and awesome case design thrown in for free. I don't care for the wood knobs, I'd rather have all aluminum with an anodized gray or black or gold on the knobs, but it's fine.

Realy wouldn't expect low level tubes to be positioned so close to AC input and speakers terminals! That is a beginners mistake!

That amp goes to 11 - not 11 o'clock. One more than 10!

For that price I would rather get Hypex NC400 with a Schiit tube preamp.

nice one, but 10min max. would be better for me...

So, if you live in Canadah, & don’t speak French, then what do you speak?

“old fashioned person”??? Dude!

If it sounds like a good AB amp, just get a good AB amp, I think

Old fashioned because you listen to vinyl??