As the shots of the integrated show, its amplifying heart is the smallest part. It consists of two opamps mounted to a 6mm aluminium plate which becomes both divider and heat sink. These gain chips are topped by four denuded capacitors. The far bigger part of the box—if 'big' is even applicable considering overall dimensions—is the power supply cavity with the toroidal tranny, voltage regulator board and numerical display control logic. The smaller blue transformer in the remaining slot is purely for the remote control. Purism in action that is. This counters the creature feature to keep both hair and dress shirts pressed. Finally there's a small relay board tucked right behind the input terminals to accommodate remote switching. Funjoe must have nimble fingers to cram all that stuff into this signature box. Or as he put it—with an alias like his, our man clearly doesn't take himself too serious—"production of the 25iR is quite challenging. Too many parts, too little space, feeling quite stressed!" And there you thought that running a little atelier to build bonsai audio was all peaches? On bill paying day each month at the latest, stress is bound to rise. Is there enough in the kitty to make it all work? Considering that Clones Audio kicked into life on 12.12.12 and that by now it was 2.5 years later but kicking still, something seemed to be in good working order.

In the middle: the actual 25iR output stage assembly.

Indulging our mammon mammal nature for just a moment, we notice that January 2013's €629 25i has become August 2015's €1025 25iR; January 2014's €549 AR1 August 2015's €980 AR2. Putting on our most unruffled thinking cap, we figure that remote control alone wouldn't justify this raise. Throwing in inflation, currency exchange fluctuations and possible price increases for parts, we hit upon the most likely top contributor: dealers. When Funjoe started, he was a solo show who operated direct from Hong Kong. As dealers and distributors read the reviews and heard the wares, they came a'knocking. Turning down business is rarely good business especially when you've a family to feed. Perhaps, these new models cover two bases at once: added functionality and fine-tuned sonics; plus the necessary dealer margins not factored in at first. The sharpest bargain hunters who don't mind shopping blind will cry foul. Those who prefer hands-on auditions before they commit understand to say, "fine". You can't ever make everybody happy. It stands to reason that our man Funjoe remains confident that his tweaked-up sonics retain the high value quotient he's pursued from the start despite his now higher pricing. Let's ask him what's different with these next-gen models.


"If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito." And here is another African proverb for your amusement: "Until the lion has his own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best stories." Our lion now adds his side of the story. "As you saw, there isn't much room in the 25i. It really was a challenge how to put the input module with selector, input stage and pot in close proximity when the input module gets supplied by its own power supply with its own regulators. Meanwhile the MCU links with the display unit via shielded comm cables. This distances potential noise from the signal path to improve the S/N ratio and fine detail. About the AP2, its gestation period was long. At first I just meant to add remote to the AP1. After the first prototype, performance had improved. Now I wanted a bigger breakthrough than just stick to the original AP1 platform. So I redesigned the circuit from single to dual stage. This was good but everything was starting over. After a few months and numerous prototypes, I thought it was good enough to commit to production. Meanwhile I was at work on a 3-stage circuit for a higher-end series I'm planning to release. After testing its prototype, I was truly thrilled. It was really good and far better than the dual-stage circuit. But due to timing and other reasons, I had to hold off on this project whilst awaiting something else (of which I can't yet say more but it'll be well worth the wait!).


Clones Audio at a Malaysian dealer
"Just so, the performance of the three-stage circuit kept romancing my mind to the extent that I lost all interest in the 2-stage version. Now I decided to alter the layout of my giant module and cram it into the small housing of the AP1. This meant simplifying the whole affair whilst maintaining the structure and performance of the prototype as much as possible. This became the AP2. I don't think I've ever seen a circuit like it in this price range. There are individual power supplies for the control, logic and gain sections. The display MCU is shared with the 25iR but the firmware is different. We provide 210 volume steps with a max gain of 7dB. The signal path remains very short and I solder all main connections by hand. That's more than 100 parts just for the main board. I can say without hesitation that the AP2 is our most ambitious preamp ever, with performance far beyond the original AP1." Putting on my hazy hat, I had more questions. "Funjoe, I’m still far from clear about what really changed with the 25i besides the remote addition. You say it sounds better than the original. Something else must have changed, too? Otherwise you could be first to claim that going from manual to remote volume improved the sound. About the AP2, I appreciate that it became a three-stage affair. I don't yet understand why. 7dB of voltage gain—and you really don't need more with your 30dB amps—could easily have been done in one stage. What are the sonic benefits of the additional stages? What electrical function/s do they serve? This would explain why more stages (greater complexity) were better than fewer stages (more simplicity).


"Aren't there penalties in harmonic distortion complexity with cascaded stages? What are the gain/buffer devices? Is the attenuator a chip-based resistor ladder or motorized pot?" Like paparazzi, hifi reviewers are a nosy lot. Funjoy took it like a man though. The lion roared once more. "For the 25iR, the power supply upgrade now uses the rectifier module of the 55pm. Changing the volume section already changed the sound. Meanwhile the chassis structure is completely different. This complies with our Clones tuning recipe where half our special sound comes from the circuit, the other half from the enclosure. The alterations in scale and parts layout also affected the performance. The AP2 is an opamp design and all three stages provide active gain but I don't wish to disclose more details. Different circuits have different virtues. Some people prefer single-stage circuits, others multiple gain stages. In my view, any of them can be adopted to end up with something good and impressive. For me, more stages this time provided me with more tuning points to tweak the sonics. And the final voltage gain actually is 8.5dB, sorry. 7dB was for the first prototype. The volume controller is the BB PGA2320 chip which gives us 210 steps arranged as 70 x 0.5dB (three clicks will raise or lower the display by one digit). I needed two digits to keep the display narrow and suit my small Clones casings. Like with the Sheva DAC, the controller knob turns and depresses. Operation is so intuitive, no manual is needed." Since real men never ask directions, that's just swell.