This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below
Sibling rivalry
Anyone who hears drastic differences between the F3 through 5 and J2 amps enjoys decidedly better hearing than I. Or a more active imagination. Drastic conflicts with the entire concept. The way I see it, each FirstWatt amp aims for the same end. It simply gets there by different means. It's the means which alter the outcome; but only subtly so. Subtle is proof that the underlying concept of minimalism or anti complexity—low number of gain stages + low parts density + no or low feedback + circuit simplicity = low distortion with minimal higher-order components—is valid. The F5 is more piquant which is to say, its posture leans forward a bit if it were a listener. The J2 is sweeter to relax backwards more into the chair. It also sounds tonally a tad fuller, making the F5 a bit leaner. In matters of microdynamics—the ebb and flow, wax and wane of melodic substance—they're very even though the sharper flavor of the F5 makes transient impacts peel out more to seem even livelier. The J2 has more gain and runs hotter (higher bias?). As I've noticed in preamps, higher gain and higher bias often correlate with greater weightiness and sweetness. That does seem the case also here.

When a singer with a smaller voice belts it out, the F5 shows the edges sooner. Think Concha Buika on her gorgeous "Volverás" from the Nina de Fuego album. As one pushes her volume, the sharper timbre of the F5 gets glittery sooner. The flip side of the same equation is that the F5 appears even keener on highlighting ambient halos around performers.


I adore classic Azerbaijani instrumentals and love Turkish clarinet. A Quechua friend who operates Vevey's Larim'Art jewelry recently gifted me with his copy of Serkan Çağri's Âlâ which he'd picked up in Istanbul. I'd known of the record but failed to get my hands on it. Synchronicity. The Azeri number "Yalgizam" features massively sweeping strings, slinky accordion, powerful drums, octave-doubled solo clarinet and sinuous melodies with colorful harmonic shifts. It's highly romantic 1001 Nights stuff but seemingly recorded fully maxed out. Hence it suffers dynamic compression on peaks. You hear that clearly on the violins and in the upper registers of the Amati Kraslica clarinet.


The F5 was more blatant about telegraphing it. Unlike many tubes, the J2 wasn't kinder by stepping back resolution. Rather, it was even smoother in the upper mids and treble to take a bit more studio abuse before it too preferred to step down the volume. It took a truly first-rate recording—Persian harpist Asita Hamidi's Bazaar Blue Ark with its very Vollenweider-ish vibe—to understand just how phenomenal the J2's detail retrieval really is. Its suavity and minor sweetness don't really let on in any outrageous display of showiness before. Where many amplifiers portray the soundstage as some variation on a quarter sphere that curves in towards the middle as the soundstage retreats from the listener and thus leaves the actual room corners 8 meters behind my speakers empty, the J2 elbowed pertly into those corners to completely occupy my rear wall side to side. Not all recordings did that but when it happened as on Blue Ark, it was mighty thrilling. Then I reached a heightened sense of 'live' where the scale of space approximated what the performers took up in the real world.


The F4—no voltage, all current gain—felt rather more limpid and with the Esoteric preamp as voltage driver, somewhat hollow or stepped back compared to the J2's greater dynamic vitality and tone body. Some inner tension or gathering force had let go. The 150/300wpc ModWright muscle amp was weightier from the upper bass downwards to feel warmer, not quite as opened up artery to artery—i.e. inside the musical fabric—and vis-à-vis the F5, a bit smoother. Both the F5 and J2 were more lit up not just in the treble but as a function of 'inner speed', something like the effect of a minor caffeine buzz that clears out spider webs and muscular laziness. Interestingly, the J2 was every bit the ModWright's equal in smoothness. It simply did not achieve this effect by being downward weighted and arguably somewhat mellow on the top. It retained the F5's directness and endless open skies. Its sweetness wasn't textural—no thickening or deceleration of that inner litheness—but a flavor. That's probably the J's greatest distinguishing feature over the F5. It combines a very informative upper band with a decidedly elegant rather than charged character.

Another trademark of this amplifier —true also for the F5—is very lithe fleet-footed bass. It reminds me of what certain thin minimum dielectric cables produce. There's excellent pitch definition, articulation and control, albeit not the ultimate wallop and impact you get from the KWA-150. But where muscle amps often want to be goosed to come alive, these firstwatters live up to their name. They already deliver the goods at low levels. That's a core feature of true resolution. If you need high SPLs to feel touched, something's amiss.
 

Once again it seems that Mr. Pass preempted this review with his own very terse but to-the-bone assessment. If you remember, that placed the J2 between the F3 and F5 - more relaxed than the latter, more dynamic than the former. The suavity slash sweetness factor I described seems inherent in the choice of a power JFET output and is shared between the F3 and J2. Perhaps because the SemiSouth part is particularly robust for the breed, the J2 gains in get-up spunk to be the F5's equal in that department.


As should be clear regardless of small distinctions, the J2 does not obliterate its predecessors or render them irrelevant, passé and superceded. All these amps share wide bandwidth low-distortion circuits. Within their power range, the remaining distortion is low in amplitude and complexity. Such circuits seem to produce a similar sonic finger print. It's mostly about transparent neutrality with a small remaining flavor. That flavor is subtle and pure rather than intrusive and multi-layered. As a valve fancier exposed to these FirstWatt amps, I've slowly become emancipated from wanting significant amounts of flavoring. Owning various 45, 2A3, 300B and 6C33C SETs which I can return to whenever the whim tickles, I've discovered that the impulse to do so has curiously weakened over the years. Has fascination with intoxication given way to sobriety? That's for the audio shrink to determine. I'll merely say that the best valve amps set certain compelling standards for treble quality, presence, dimensionality and layering. This meant that semiconductor amps I would enjoy couldn't diverge by much. While clear differences remain, the convergence is on gestalt. My present listening habits often show the transistors' sonic attributes turned in their favor.



Switching to a superior 300B amp like the Yamamoto A-09S reminds me why I love valves. Particularly at the more modest output levels which make up the majority of my playback however, the greater lucidity of the transistors, their more acute reach into the farther recesses of the soundstage, their more intelligible dancing bass all tend to become more important than the somewhat greater vocal seductiveness of glowing glass. That's simply personal proclivity. It's not a suggestive statement about a natural progression or advancement one should want to duplicate.


In my ongoing audiophile career, simple valve circuits prepared my hearing to favor their greater clarity, speed and purity. Eventual encounters with the FirstWatt amps recognized a certain kinship. That's what tubes then began to be compared against. Many but not all were found wanting too much to remain valid for anything but brief flings - too thick, fluffed up or opaque to undermine the energetic spark of life. Naturally, ancillary quality for this type of transistor amp remains as if not more vital than ever.



Over time, the above preference began to impose itself on very simple circuits in other components as well. As I came across suitable examples in various categories, I acquired them. Quite to my surprise, none of the later additions—Esoteric C-03, Yamamoto YDA-01—included valves. I in fact had opportunity to upgrade to the tube version of the Japanese D/A converter. Amusingly to myself, I declined. I preferred the circuit without tubes, still a single-ended zero feedback transistor, no op-amp I/V conversion affair. (Curiously, the opposite is the case for headphones. There I prefer tubes. But that's another story.) It's important to reiterate that those who love valves for their added textures won't find them here. That's not the common ground. The overlap occurs in treble refinement, soundstage layering and a powerful sense that the delivery pipes through which the music travels are utterly degunked and unclogged. It's a combination of purity, directness and speed. The closest power triode implemented in a modern circuit would be the 45.

Conclusion: The J2 coincides with a shift in the way FirstWatt has done business. This is the first model not to fall under the self-imposed prior 100-unit restriction. It's also the first one to become available through more dealers than just one. It's also the first built by the new management of Nelson's son and nephew while the maestro still calibrates and bench-tests each one that goes out (the Sweet Spot article explains why that's vital).



Sonically, the latest FirstWatt amplifier seems a guide post for the future. As Nelson Pass explained, the availability of the new SemiSouth part exploited in the J2 was entirely coincidental. Big industry spawned it for switch-mode applications, he hijacked it for audio. After the F3, the J2 now solidifies proof of concept that power JFETs in Pass circuits are a compelling way forward. What would happen if one of these specialized semi-conductor plants created a part specifically for audio applications according to the wish list Mr. Pass suggested on the previous page? Last time it took a corporate giant like Sony to get it done. Implementation in Sony amplifier circuits, of the VFETs they designed then, was apparently still limited. Nelson Pass meanwhile clearly has specialist circuit finessing in his back pocket. Could the front pocket be deep enough to push the envelope on new audio-specific output transistors as well? This is mere speculation. Alas, the J2's sonic successes do invite it. While the future is unknown, the J2 exists now. To these ears, it's a very seductive mix of various fine flavors FirstWatt has explored in previous models. Those whose priorities mirror mine would likely also join me in calling it the loveliest yet.


Resolution is very high but not sterile. Minor warmth and sweetness derive not from textural thickening, bass lift or treble shading but are present as a fine aroma. The J2 combines separation power—incisiveness—with elegance in which it reminds me very much of the Esoteric C-03 and Wyred4Sound STP SE preamplifiers. The amplifier's innate speed doesn't transmit as hyper realism or transient pushiness but by way of comparison to slower amplifiers which, despite other possible virtues, suddenly sound congested. This includes many valve amps. And the J2 is spookily quiet, thus perfect for high-sensitivity speakers. The greatest practical upshot of all the above is that listening satisfaction begins at very low levels with intelligibility and thereness. Transparency doesn't mean thinness, suavity isn't a surface veneer or gloss. If that's due to coupling JFETs directly to the speaker inputs, consider me not jaded but jay'd. Over and out.
Quality of packing: Very good, these are professionals.
Reusability of packing: A few times.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: 1, 2, 3.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Warranty: 3 years.
Human interactions: Despite being a very busy man, Nelson Pass has always replied in a timely manner. With the new team in place, I would expect Colin or Sean to step in and relieve the man of managerial tasks.
Pricing: High value for money as is tradition for this brand.
Final comments & suggestions: XLR inputs are sonically equal to the RCAs. Amp sounds best after ca. 30 minutes.		 1
FirstWatt website