High "fiddle-with-factor" (owner "tweakable")
Big, large, giant, huge, warm "analog-like" sound.
High "bang-for-buck" factor.

I apparently am not allowed to have/ get a schematic for it.:(

I "impulse-purchased" this thing from Kevin @ Upscale after seeing it on his site. I have to say that after putting about 20 hrs. on it, I'm very impressed and more enthusiastic about playing CDs than ever before! So far, all the hype is justified and I haven't even hit the supposed "break-in" yet. It simply sounds wonderful!!

The internal build quality and attention to detail (of the Holland installed)components is top-notch. The only questionable item(everyone has to gripe about something :)) that I can point out would be the lack of ventilation in the cover. The tubes do generate enough heat to cause the cover to get "toasty" after an hour or so of operation. It wouldn't be an issue at all except that a large bank of electrolytics populate the tube circuit board. Heat KILLS electrolytics, but with that being said, the internal temperature probably isn't high enough to be a concern.
FWIW, I replaced the stock 6922s w/ a NOS set of Amperex gold-pins that I had been hoarding.
Also questionable were the "noise killer" and "super crystal" upgrades, but for the low amount that they cost, I said "why not".
Purchasing the unit from Kevin Deal was a nice experience and it arrived packed quite well (double boxed).

In a nutshell, this thing kicks butt!

Similar Products Used:

All kinds of junky run-'o'-the-mill CD players.

High Musicality, Very Acceptable Price, Upgradability.

None that I know of.

We were looking for a cd-player being able to reproduce a less "harsh" sound, specially the hard sharp highs which (we hoped) could do netter. Searching for this we found several players in the higher price-range, but we also had to keep our budget in mind. We were very much surprised when we found the Tjoeb. This because of a. the soundquality and b. the price/quality-ratio. We bought it and are extremely satisfied. The stereoimaging is more beautiful (more wide and more deep), we have more "air" between the instruments (of orchestras), nice "polished" highs. In every opinion better than our old Kenwood (which was almost twice the price). I am going to have our Tjoeb '98 upgraded to model '99. (Let's do it!). Conclusion: a satisfied buyer.

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None of this kind.

I have been the proud owner of this product for about two weeks at the time of this writing. I have few words to describe the performance, which are simply, "I was blind, but now I can see". Others have articulated the fine nuances of this machine's performance better than I could, so read on. Two things have become evident to this skepic-by-nature however: 1) I am not getting all that can be got out of the Tjoeb (what a nice problem). 2) This product is a steal at 500 American. I thank all those who have written about this CD player, especially Dennis in Michigan. I bought it sight/unheard, but, it is one of the best purchases I have ever made. Sign me "the gushing skeptic".

Last night I compared my Wadia 860 with the Tjoeb. Guess what, the Wadia sounded better. Yeah, right.

All these reviews from people who bought their first $400 + cd player. "I compared it with a top of the line blablabla..", "it sounded better than a $10.000 Krell player", "I was blind, but now I can see"


Get a life.

Buying this CD player seems almost 100% guaranteed satisfaction and not such I high risk considering the price and all these remarkable reviews. I find it easy spending this money blindly if I could only find the darn CD player in NY or in the US. Can someone please provide me some information on how to get this player in NY because the dealers here don’t know what I’m talking about! Thank You!

detailled, warm character

Cheap Marantz construction?? (I have NO problem with it!!)

Very detailled, very well separated, warm character, simply A1 class!!!!!

I am a proud owner of a Tjoeb '98, but for sure I am going to upgrade to the '99 version. About this possibility Mr. Van den Dungen already told me in March a few small changes which are absolutely worth the trouble. Depending on his words, I can rely on the fact, that it is going to be OK. I mean, that's also the way I got the Tjoeb: a. with his valuable advise and b. because of what I heard!!! The absolute top, certainly for that price! It's like with good wine. No explanation needed: it tasts good or it doesn't.

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None

Airy, relaxing, warm

nothing particular

I heard the Tjoeb'98 in different configurations: budget sets, entry level high-end sets, as well as top of the line systems (including electronics from Krell, Jadis, Electrocompaniet; cables from Transparent, StraightWire and Siltech and speakers from Sonus Faber, ProAc and Magnepan). In all those systems the Tjoeb '98 performed very well and, after various comparisons, never turned out to be the weakest link in the system. Yesterday at my hifi dealer I saw a second hand CEC TL1x CD drive and a DCS Elgar D/A converter in the showroom. They were in excellent condition and clearly not more than 1 year old. These are top-of-the-line Stereophile Class A rated products that got rave reviews in about every hifi magazine in the world. I asked about the previous owner and I inquired to what digital playback equipment he had upgraded (they told me which client it was - the guy has Sonus Faber Amati loudspeakers (US$18,000) and Mark Levinson amplification). After a serious period of comarative listening in his home system, he had replaced his $$$$$ CD playback system as described above by a Tjoeb'99 with a couple of hospital grade tubes.......

No further comments

Similar Products Used:

various Theta combinations; Meridian 508.24; Arcam Alpha 9; Krell KAV 300 CD

I have owned my Ah!Tjoeb'99 cd player for about four weeks now, and I have over fifty hours of listening time. My player is the basic unit offered by Hifiwinkel, ie no supercrystal chip, no digital output jack, no AC noise killers, etc. While the sound was a little rough around the edges upon first powering it up, after about 15 hours of playing time this player really started to show its stuff. The sound is very dynamic and musical, and within my system the Ah Tjoeb projects a wide yet well defined soundstage, like no LP or previous CD player in my system has presented. I used to listen to a lot of live blues music, and the music that this machine makes is the closest thing that I have heard to a live music experience.
My CD player is in a cabinet which has an open front and rear, but does enclose the sides, top and bottom (with an air-space to allow cooling). The clicking or relay noise which has been noted by others is audible, but not annoying or distracting in my experience. This is my first experience with tube electronic equipment. Of course, when it is first switched on, it does not sound nearly so good as it does after 30 minutes of playing time.

Some of the music which I have been enjoying lately, and showing off the attributes of the Ah Tjoeb with include the new Santana "Supernatural" (try "Put Your Lights On", as well as Jazz at the Pawnshop and Susan Tedeschi "Just Won't Burn". I have gone through my older CD collection just to find out what I was missing off of many of the discs.

For reference, the rest of my system includes:

Audio Research LS3 preamp
Bryston 3B-ST amplifier
DH Labs Silversonic BL-1 interconnect cables (RCAs)
Vampire Wires (shotgun style)
My own design of loudspeakers (3 way with Audax mids and tweeters)
Mordaunt-Short MS20i Pearl loudspeakers

By the way, I just sold my turntable/arm/cartridge set-up. I don't need to fuss with it any more to get musical sound.

Those of you that are interested in buying should note that the UPS shipping charges have now dropped to about half of what I paid, making this CD player even more attractive. People selling $1200 to $1500 CD players had better sit up and take notice. This $500 machine is for real.

Not sure I'm comfortable classing myself an an 'audiophile', it sounds so technical - I just like listening to music...
I've had a Linn LP12 in one form or another since 1979, and despite going into CD fairly seriously, have always thought that vinyl sounded better. I think it's to do with timing - I can even tell which cassettes are from which source in my car by whether I tap my foot/sing/dance(or try to)- or not!

I'd got to a Wadia CD player a few years ago and had settled on it as being the best sound I'd heard at that point. After having the Linn serviced recently it was clear, again, that there was a big gap in the way the music was presented between vinyl and CD.

I heard about the Tjoeb '99, and was sceptical. For one, it was about a quarter of the price I had expected to pay for a new player. The dealer in Eindhoven was very laid-back about its qualities. 'People tell me it sounds better than much more expensive ones, but you have to judge for yourself'. No hard sell, silly price, so I bought one, figuring it could always be used for my second system if it didn't work out.

It's not very exciting to look at. In fact, it's a Marantz CD38, it must be mostly air inside because it weighs nothing. If it wasn't for a small 'TJOEB' sticker on the back you'd never know. I plugged it in and left it on repeat play for a few days (using 'Exile on Main Street'). A bit on the front edge of the top plate got quite warm, so I guess the valves are thereabouts!

It sounded just fine to start with, and I kept turning it up - but over the next week or two something magical happened - I'd get home, pull out a CD and just listen to it. CD's I hadn't listened to for ages 'Pretenders 2', Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll Animal' - for example. I'd press 'repeat' to hear tracks again - on really old stuff, 60's Who or Stones, I'd get the same buzz as I got lying underneath the radiogram when they were first played on the radio!

I always thought that when people said they rediscovered their record collection, they were kidding - but it's true. It's not just me, either, I've noticed the way people tap their feet when they come round, even when it's just playing in the background. I think the right word for the Tjoeb is 'euphonic'. I read it somewhere, and I think it means that voices sound like voices, guitars like guitars, and the like.

For the money, AH! Tjoeb 99 it's unbeatable. Despite the weird name. I've heard it against a big name CD player and yes, the bass is slightly softer, there are subtle differences, but at three percent of the cost, it produces an awful lot of music.

If you get the chance, try one or buy one.

By the way, my one didn't make it to my second system. It's playing one of those 'live concert' CD's as I write... AH!

At first, I felt I had to write an elaborate review on all of the Tjoeb'99's qualities to explain my enthusiasm. Now, I think I can be brief about this...The essential details described by the other reviewers are true. What is important to me, is that the AH! Tjoeb'99 CD-player delivers a lot of fun and musical experience to me every time I listen to whatever music I desire.
The player likes it all, therefore I can enjoy it all: Jazz, Cross-over, Rock, Metal, Symphonies, Chamber music, World music, you name it.
Although it is truly modestly priced, it can compete directly with players costing upto four times as much...
The Tjoeb'99 really is a good starting point and program source for your music to capture you and leave you in awe! (This emotionally based remark still holds, even after owning the Tjoeb for two months.)

If you are looking for a 'musical' and rewarding CD-player my advice is: give the Tjoeb'99 a listen!