Hello Howie,
You are customer of Audioexotics.
Pls book an appointment to visit their Divin Lab.
We wait for your report!
Many thanks!
Robert Koda Takumi K160
- Thread starter Marcus
- Start date
You are customer of Audioexotics.
Pls book an appointment to visit their Divin Lab.
We wait for your report!
Many thanks!
From the AE forum, it looks like no report/comparison anytime soon. They need someone to come back and spend time optimising the whole system, no simple swap in and out and findings published.
I guess this air of secrecy and black arts adds to the cachet and uber exclusivity of upper upper echelon gear.
I guess this air of secrecy and black arts adds to the cachet and uber exclusivity of upper upper echelon gear.
I think I will wait for the furore to die down lest I provide an unfair assessmentHello Howie,
You are customer of Audioexotics.
Pls book an appointment to visit their Divin Lab.
We wait for your report!
Many thanks!
We can go together. Safety in numbers!
Amadeus should know the price.
Yes i am definitely a big fan of Robert Koda Amplifiers i own(ed) many amps but the Robert Koda K70 is still my favorite power amp among all others Top Line of Kondo Kagura, Top line of Audio Research ,Cat, Gryphon Mephisto, Solution monos, Zanden 9600 , MBL 9008 are just some names...
Audio Exotics is the first received SN 001A and 001B Monos of the K160 think they deserve to get the first pair because no any other shop distributor nor Audiophile puts so much energy effort and love in going further in Creme de la Creme Music Reproduction as they do!
I am waiting for more than 1.5 year maybe almost 2 years for the Robert Koda K160 Amps Robert (Koch) was never satisfied enough whit the results and finally it is in production of course there will be a few lucky Audiophiles who will have the chance to hear and see them in real. As they are true hand build art works i am still waiting on mine my pair will be probably delivered before Christmas this year. I always believed in the RK K160 amps whit out hearing them because i know Robert Koch i know his his look on tonality speednes dynamic contrast and silence back ground he will not come whit something new if it will not be a significant improvement i am definitely sure it is....
The retail price will be announced very soon.
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BTW i am going to sell my Beloved Robert Koda K70 G2 amps they are in very very good condition and one of the last sets made made in 2016. They have served me the last 3 years whit love devotion and passion i own(ed) many many other amps even much higher priced but those where and still are my Flagship amps i am selling to Finance my Koda K160 amps other wise i will even not think off! They are 230 Volt i have all the original boxes/crates/manual/accessories they are extremely well cared for contact me if you are interested.
Here is a link to my add:
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9i9jg-robert-koda-k-70-gen-ii-solid-state
Here is a link to my add:
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9i9jg-robert-koda-k-70-gen-ii-solid-state
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Amazing! Congrats! So what this mean for you in terms of 'reference' pre/power: Zanden Chukoh + Koda 160?
Yes i believe so Zanden Chukoh + Koda 160 must be out of this world.
Yes, I would imagine that as well!!! Fantastic! Enjoy. Please post when it has arrived next month!!!
An interesting article and interview with Robert Koch:
http://www.fi-play.com/?p=52314&variant=zh-hk
There's also a video and this came out from google translate...
Q: Can you briefly introduce yourself and your resume, so that hobbies can learn more about you.
Answer: Hello everyone! My name is Robert Koch and I am also the founder of Robert Koda. I have been in the audio industry for a long time. I started fever at the age of 12, and was responsible for the development and production of amplifiers and speakers. My dad is an audio enthusiast and has two systems. I started to be infected when I was young. He has two very peculiar and low distortion amplifiers, and the sound is even better with the Rogers amplifiers I own. Since then I have started researching tube amplifiers to find out why some equipment is designed well, but not so well after production. Later, I had a lot of opportunities to get in touch with Hi-End audio equipment and many industry players. From then on, I can hear famous large-scale equipment such as Mark Levinson and Genesis.
Out of this interest and motivation, I intend to enter the audio manufacturing enterprise. Although I have an interest in electronics, I still need to understand and learn the nature of business and some production management knowledge in working in the enterprise. While in the UK, I was fortunate to join the work of Audio Note, and had more opportunities to directly contact Japanese Kondo manufacturers. With this communication and Kondo San's visit, Kondo San appreciated me very much and invited me to work with him and leave Audio Note UK. Kondo San did not discriminate against my South African identity. At the same time, I was in Kondo manufacturers and Kondo San have broadened their horizons and learned more, and they also understand the cruel reality of Hi-End manufacturing (how to invest and pay for products from concept to finished product, I understand from the age of 16 Become this principle and gradually get used to it). At that time, I was hoping to go to CES and have my own brand and products. The Japanese have the idea that there are good things in your family that should be shared with everyone, and after Kondo San's death, I think it's time to start my own business.
And until now, I do n’t want the brand to have too strong a national significance, so I named it directly after my name, and also merged with my wife ’s name, and finally set the brand name to Robert Koda, which is the machine you see now name.
Q: Can you introduce the new K-160 post amplifier you brought this time?
A: The amplifier model brought this time is K-160. If we trace the beginning of research and development, it may be in 2000, nearly 20 years ago, but the benchmark masterpiece K-70 was launched ten years ago. At that time, I I'm still learning how to focus the technology and craftsmanship into the K-70, but it also proves that the K-70's improvement has encountered difficulties. In response, I started to focus on the weak links of the K-70 to upgrade and improve. One problem was the tube and gain stage, which was something I was sure I could do at the time, and the other was that the maximum efficiency was only 25%. To achieve 70W pure Class A output, the size of the machine will increase accordingly, so I plan to design a larger model than the K-70, but the problem that comes with it is that the power is increased and the sound may not be better. In terms of power supply, when the size is increased, the power supply must be increased accordingly, and the space in the chassis is also greatly occupied. In the face of upcoming success, you must find a way to solve it. In the face of the above-mentioned proportional increase design, I find that it is not a solution. I can only find another way to solve the above problem-under the premise of ensuring the sound quality, the power is appropriately increased. In fact, the difficulties faced are all expected. It's hard. About 3-4 years ago, I found a way to implement the concept of the best pure class A single-ended line combined with the best pure class A push-pull line. This method can double the power and also the volume. Only half the size. The resulting amplifier has the characteristics of "more linear, more accurate."
Q: How does the K-160 achieve higher power performance?
A: The first method belongs to our first concept, improving high power output. This is a perfect solution, but it also means that it will generate more heat, so you must first pay attention to the stability of the power amplifier tube. For thermal management, the key is to achieve the most effective thermal design. The second is to achieve passive cooling design. The K-70 adopts passive cooling design, which means that all these things are outside and rely on natural heat dissipation for thermal management, although the use of low-speed fans is three times as effective as passive cooling.
In the second part, we used a lot of transistors to zoom in. For example, the K-70 uses 32 large transistors, and the operation is stable, but on the K-160, we actually reduced the number to 24. , Because it will be better in management and double the efficiency. When you also achieve power output with 25% efficiency, the amplifier is more economical, in fact almost 400-500W.
Question: Does the K-160 have a transistor design, does it mean that the transistor is more dominant than the electron tube?
Answer: K-70 and K-160 almost use transistor output stage, but unlike K-70, we use transistor as gain stage. 10 years before the K-70 was launched, we did our best to use the best components at its tube level, which is really very good. However, I think this is a bottleneck and has certain restrictions on the final performance of the K-70, for which I started more in-depth research than ever. I bought a lot of different kinds of circuits, but these were not what I wanted. I found that there are actually other problems besides harmonic distortion and limited bandwidth, and all the typical techniques. Although the tube sounds good, there are still some inherent problems. When we developed K-10 and K-15, of course, they were completely transistorized. This has become our way. It is also the most widely used type of development today. For K-160, this is a natural process. According to this We will continue to develop ideas to make up for the lack of short tubes in the tube while retaining the unique analog sound of the tube.
http://www.fi-play.com/?p=52314&variant=zh-hk
There's also a video and this came out from google translate...
Q: Can you briefly introduce yourself and your resume, so that hobbies can learn more about you.
Answer: Hello everyone! My name is Robert Koch and I am also the founder of Robert Koda. I have been in the audio industry for a long time. I started fever at the age of 12, and was responsible for the development and production of amplifiers and speakers. My dad is an audio enthusiast and has two systems. I started to be infected when I was young. He has two very peculiar and low distortion amplifiers, and the sound is even better with the Rogers amplifiers I own. Since then I have started researching tube amplifiers to find out why some equipment is designed well, but not so well after production. Later, I had a lot of opportunities to get in touch with Hi-End audio equipment and many industry players. From then on, I can hear famous large-scale equipment such as Mark Levinson and Genesis.
Out of this interest and motivation, I intend to enter the audio manufacturing enterprise. Although I have an interest in electronics, I still need to understand and learn the nature of business and some production management knowledge in working in the enterprise. While in the UK, I was fortunate to join the work of Audio Note, and had more opportunities to directly contact Japanese Kondo manufacturers. With this communication and Kondo San's visit, Kondo San appreciated me very much and invited me to work with him and leave Audio Note UK. Kondo San did not discriminate against my South African identity. At the same time, I was in Kondo manufacturers and Kondo San have broadened their horizons and learned more, and they also understand the cruel reality of Hi-End manufacturing (how to invest and pay for products from concept to finished product, I understand from the age of 16 Become this principle and gradually get used to it). At that time, I was hoping to go to CES and have my own brand and products. The Japanese have the idea that there are good things in your family that should be shared with everyone, and after Kondo San's death, I think it's time to start my own business.
And until now, I do n’t want the brand to have too strong a national significance, so I named it directly after my name, and also merged with my wife ’s name, and finally set the brand name to Robert Koda, which is the machine you see now name.
Q: Can you introduce the new K-160 post amplifier you brought this time?
A: The amplifier model brought this time is K-160. If we trace the beginning of research and development, it may be in 2000, nearly 20 years ago, but the benchmark masterpiece K-70 was launched ten years ago. At that time, I I'm still learning how to focus the technology and craftsmanship into the K-70, but it also proves that the K-70's improvement has encountered difficulties. In response, I started to focus on the weak links of the K-70 to upgrade and improve. One problem was the tube and gain stage, which was something I was sure I could do at the time, and the other was that the maximum efficiency was only 25%. To achieve 70W pure Class A output, the size of the machine will increase accordingly, so I plan to design a larger model than the K-70, but the problem that comes with it is that the power is increased and the sound may not be better. In terms of power supply, when the size is increased, the power supply must be increased accordingly, and the space in the chassis is also greatly occupied. In the face of upcoming success, you must find a way to solve it. In the face of the above-mentioned proportional increase design, I find that it is not a solution. I can only find another way to solve the above problem-under the premise of ensuring the sound quality, the power is appropriately increased. In fact, the difficulties faced are all expected. It's hard. About 3-4 years ago, I found a way to implement the concept of the best pure class A single-ended line combined with the best pure class A push-pull line. This method can double the power and also the volume. Only half the size. The resulting amplifier has the characteristics of "more linear, more accurate."
Q: How does the K-160 achieve higher power performance?
A: The first method belongs to our first concept, improving high power output. This is a perfect solution, but it also means that it will generate more heat, so you must first pay attention to the stability of the power amplifier tube. For thermal management, the key is to achieve the most effective thermal design. The second is to achieve passive cooling design. The K-70 adopts passive cooling design, which means that all these things are outside and rely on natural heat dissipation for thermal management, although the use of low-speed fans is three times as effective as passive cooling.
In the second part, we used a lot of transistors to zoom in. For example, the K-70 uses 32 large transistors, and the operation is stable, but on the K-160, we actually reduced the number to 24. , Because it will be better in management and double the efficiency. When you also achieve power output with 25% efficiency, the amplifier is more economical, in fact almost 400-500W.
Question: Does the K-160 have a transistor design, does it mean that the transistor is more dominant than the electron tube?
Answer: K-70 and K-160 almost use transistor output stage, but unlike K-70, we use transistor as gain stage. 10 years before the K-70 was launched, we did our best to use the best components at its tube level, which is really very good. However, I think this is a bottleneck and has certain restrictions on the final performance of the K-70, for which I started more in-depth research than ever. I bought a lot of different kinds of circuits, but these were not what I wanted. I found that there are actually other problems besides harmonic distortion and limited bandwidth, and all the typical techniques. Although the tube sounds good, there are still some inherent problems. When we developed K-10 and K-15, of course, they were completely transistorized. This has become our way. It is also the most widely used type of development today. For K-160, this is a natural process. According to this We will continue to develop ideas to make up for the lack of short tubes in the tube while retaining the unique analog sound of the tube.
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I'm intrigued by this definite tilt to pure SS amps that formally take up tubes sonic signature.
Mike's new Dart 468 amps, there's a highly respected tube amp marque that's going SS and says the new amp loses nothing to it's tubed bretheren, and these Kodas, w designer Robert saying they hold up in every way to his main tube amps.
Is this hyperbole, or are the great designers really able to take the full magic of tubes and meld them in a SS design?
Mike's new Dart 468 amps, there's a highly respected tube amp marque that's going SS and says the new amp loses nothing to it's tubed bretheren, and these Kodas, w designer Robert saying they hold up in every way to his main tube amps.
Is this hyperbole, or are the great designers really able to take the full magic of tubes and meld them in a SS design?
A few clarifications and corrections.
I do believe there were some important points “lost in translation” and therefore would like to offer some clarification and corrections without rewriting the entire piece. In the New Year the Robert Koda website will be updated so that full K-160 product background is delivered in an understandable and structured way. Until then may I make this post -
We registered the company in Tokyo, 2008. Just after the Lehman Bros. crash I believe. Both these events had no relation to Kondo sans death two years earlier of course. It was simply a case of reaching a point where we felt I had something both genuine and exceptional to offer to fellow audiophiles and music listeners.
Nothing to do with being a brand of “national significance” or not, either now or in the past, our name was a natural merger between my wife and co-founders maiden name “Toyoda” with my name “Koch”. But there was more – Koda too is the maidens name of my wife’s mother. The Koda family from the city of Sendai - The creators of finest Japanese fabrics. So fine they were as to become national treasures of Japan. This was a true inspiration to me and is an ingrained part of the “Takumi” make-up.
Indeed K-160 is a pure solid state power amplifier. As our vision of “Amplifications Ultimate Form” it was purely about using technologies I could harness best for this purpose.
The concept of “retaining the unique analog sound of tube” was simply not on the agenda. The agenda was to surpass prior “state of the art” and surpass it by an immutable and substantial margin – Weather they be tube, solid state or hybrid.
It was a simple fact, in order to achieve this, K-160 needed a better gain stage than K-70 had. It needed a better output stage too. That ultimately required the “reinvention” of the output stage and a replacement of the vacuum tube gain stage with a carefully crafted silicon counterpart embracing all I have learned to date. But these are just two basic elements of this amplifier and there is so much more. It is a multitude of concepts all wrapped into one, woven together to form a perfect synergy...
With kind thanks and warm New Years greetings to the “What’s best forum” readers,
Robert
PS – For those who would like to read about the wonderful Japanese fabrics that so inspired us - https://sendaihira.jp/english.html
I do believe there were some important points “lost in translation” and therefore would like to offer some clarification and corrections without rewriting the entire piece. In the New Year the Robert Koda website will be updated so that full K-160 product background is delivered in an understandable and structured way. Until then may I make this post -
We registered the company in Tokyo, 2008. Just after the Lehman Bros. crash I believe. Both these events had no relation to Kondo sans death two years earlier of course. It was simply a case of reaching a point where we felt I had something both genuine and exceptional to offer to fellow audiophiles and music listeners.
Nothing to do with being a brand of “national significance” or not, either now or in the past, our name was a natural merger between my wife and co-founders maiden name “Toyoda” with my name “Koch”. But there was more – Koda too is the maidens name of my wife’s mother. The Koda family from the city of Sendai - The creators of finest Japanese fabrics. So fine they were as to become national treasures of Japan. This was a true inspiration to me and is an ingrained part of the “Takumi” make-up.
Indeed K-160 is a pure solid state power amplifier. As our vision of “Amplifications Ultimate Form” it was purely about using technologies I could harness best for this purpose.
The concept of “retaining the unique analog sound of tube” was simply not on the agenda. The agenda was to surpass prior “state of the art” and surpass it by an immutable and substantial margin – Weather they be tube, solid state or hybrid.
It was a simple fact, in order to achieve this, K-160 needed a better gain stage than K-70 had. It needed a better output stage too. That ultimately required the “reinvention” of the output stage and a replacement of the vacuum tube gain stage with a carefully crafted silicon counterpart embracing all I have learned to date. But these are just two basic elements of this amplifier and there is so much more. It is a multitude of concepts all wrapped into one, woven together to form a perfect synergy...
With kind thanks and warm New Years greetings to the “What’s best forum” readers,
Robert
PS – For those who would like to read about the wonderful Japanese fabrics that so inspired us - https://sendaihira.jp/english.html
Robert, I had yr K10 on demo some years back. It left such a strong impression on me, I remember it to this day.
The K160 has arrived at the Divin Lab of Audioexotics in Hong Kong.
https://audioexotics.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/13089/robert-koda-s-ground-breaking-amplifier-??-takumi-k160-mono-amplifier#latest
That's not how to set up a Robert Koda rig, this is.
Cop no. 1, engraved "Top End Beast", in the corner. Takumi K-70 backing the grey K-10.
Lovely, lovely outfit, AE, enviable.
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