First Watt J2

This is a one owner amp. I purchased it from a dealer in November of 2021. I gently used it for 14 months and then I built a new house so I packed back into all its original factory packaging. So it’s been packed up for the past 6 months. I unpacked and tested it for pictures. This amp is barely broken in. I was using it to power Devore Fidelity Super 9’s. It was a great combination. But like most other audiophiles I like to try different equipment so I’m using this opportunity to make some changes. I’ve decided to try an integrated amp for a while. I hope I won’t regret selling this great amp especially considering that it’s no longer in production. Here’s what the experts have to say say about it:
 

“In a nutshell, the First Watt J2 is a bloody good little power amp and a perfect partner for a vintage classic like the Altec Valencia 846B. It’s so close in so many ways to my $30K modified Allnic Audio A6000’s, that it almost makes me ill. The J2 illuminates the madness of this hobby like few other products I’ve heard. It doesn’t just get to 95% of the $30K monoblocks, it gets to maybe 97.125% It’s scary good.”

“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”

 

“The First Watt J2 by Nelson Pass has been written about here and there, but it seems that everyone who's written about it has been in a giant a hurry to say, "It's a solid-state amp that sounds like a tube amp." But when I experienced the J2 in my own system, I felt that this generalization was both inaccurate and inadequate. With loudspeakers of benignly high impedance, the First Watt J2 tracked complex music signals in ways I have rarely experienced.

The J2's extraordinary ability to keep close and intimate with complex music, such as early Nina Simone and Klemperer's Bach, allowed my humble reference system to display the music's fundamental chi in a singularly engaging way. Very few power amps can do this.

I used to sell $90,000, 25Wpc tube amps for a living. Currently, I use an extraordinary $4450, 22Wpc tube amp as my reference, so believe me when I say that the beauty of the First Watt J2 has nothing to do with the tubes-vs-solid-state debate. The J2 rises high above that dispute between cults. Most likely, the First Watt J2 preserves music's vital chi because it's a simple, high-bias, class-A, single-ended, low-feedback design, created by Nelson Pass—one that has no need to impress the mainstream masses or drive 4 ohm speakers.

Nelson Pass is a chi master because, like me, he's a member of all audio tribes. "There is no such thing as a perfect amplifier," he believes. "All audiophiles and their associated equipment have specific needs, but in each case there is such a thing as a best amplifier—the one that makes you happy." The First Watt J2 is, in my view, a best amplifier: Every day, it made me and my favorite loudspeakers extremely happy. Highly recommended.”