a warm glow

Call me crazy but even knowing that playing compressed digital audio through one of these isn't gonna push it a whole hell of a lot there is something about the Glow: Amp One that makes me want one. While valve amps do have a more distinctive sound I feel that their legendary "warmth" is a bit of a myth. Sure, play a guitar through one of them it sounds amazing, but an iPod...I wouldn't be so sure.

For me it was always the smell of a warm valve amp that was so distinctive. For years my Dad had this same battered old amp that would be lugged from gig to gig. I can remember him changing the valves several times through my childhood and my being fascinated peeking through the grille of the amp to see the tubes glowing.

Perhaps that's why the diminutive bookshelf USB Amp One has me rubbing my knees with childish excitement.

Over the last few years i've accrued some great old tech and given i'm moving to another city soon I'm looking forward to shedding some of my old stuff and kitting my prospective abode out with a housewarming gift or two. I think I may have found one here for $488 at Glow Audio.

Purporting to be equal parts style and substance the Amp One, at least on paper seems to deliver. Using point to point wiring and hand-wound amp transformers Glow Audio's aim is to take the complexity of modern day amps back to older days whilst offering DAC and a USB port as well as the ubiquious auxhilliary in on the back. I gotta say I admire the aesthetic of their workmanship greatly. Needless to say the proof shall be in the listening.

Glow Audio via BLTD