Thanks go to BroonsBane for his great packing!
Over the past few days, I've tried our wee little Mouse with three different pairs of speakers, listening to a variety of music ranging from traditional bluegrass to jazz to metal:
1.
Klipsch La Scala (DH Labs Silver Sonic T-14 cable, Monster Cable Interlink 300 Mk II interconnects, Rega Planet)
Replacing an Almarro A205A MK III 5 WPC SEP, the Mouse turned out to be quite a surprise, esp. given it's small size. Even with the La Scalas high sensitivity, the Mouse was as quiet, as well...a mouse. Any setting on the volume control above 10 o'clock was blisteringly loud. I found a good listening level between 8 and 9 o'clock.
The lower bass was good, the upper bass was slightly bloated, the midrange was excellent, and the highs were fair, with a touch of grain in the upper ranges of treble. This etchiness faded somewhat after about a half-hour of warm up. The Winsome didn't have the upper sparkle and openness of the Almarro, however, it's bass remained tighter than the Almarro's at higher listening levels. The Mouse's sound seemed to harden slightly during highly dynamic passages.
2.
B&W DM 602 s2 (Lovan Jazz 18" shot-filled stands, Wire King 14g zip cable, DH Labs BL-1 interconnects, Musical Fidelity X-10 v3, Musical Fidelity A3)
Replacing a McIntosh MC 502, results were very similar to those of the La Scala. I heard the same slight upper bass bloat and high treble grain. However, while turning the Mouse's volume control to around the 12 to 1 o'clock position, I noticed that it simply got louder, with no change in it's sonic character nor audibly increased distortion. Again, I heard some hardening of the sound during super dynamic passages. Compared to the MC 502, the Winsome had less weight on the bottom and was brighter on the top.
3.
Dynaco A-25 (with Morel MDT-20 tweeters and Dayton 1% caps, same front end as #2)
To my ears, this was the most enjoyable pairing. The Dynacos loved the Mouse. The sonic anomalies I had heard with the other speakers weren't as evident with the A-25. Perhaps because of their soft-domed tweeters, which aren't as revealing as the B&W, the upper treble was not nearly as harsh. This combo would get loud, without compressing. The bass, although not super deep given the Dynacos size, was very smooth, and the bloat was not as pronounced. I was astonished at how good they sounded together.
Regarding the build quality of the Mouse, I feel it could use more substantial binding posts which will readily accept banana plugs. Although upgradeable, the volume control doesn't have the highest quality feel to it. If one uses heavy cabling or interconnects, the mouse will easily move at the touch of a finger. A few dabs of blu-tack took care of this. Also, the Mouse "popped" slightly upon power up with every combo I tried.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the Winsome Mouse. It would be ideal for building a small system for the bedroom or office where space may be limited. It has more than enough power to push most speakers to adequate listening levels without straining. When considering speakers for the Mouse, one may want to choose soft-dome tweeters, which, to my ears, tamed it's inherent upper treble sizzle.
I had fun playing around with this little amp. Congratulations to Winsome for putting so much good sound into such a small package.
Thanks for allowing me to audition the Mouse.
Regards,
Ken
Cableguy, I'll be sending it your way Wednesday, probably Fed-Ex ground. I'll PM the tracking number.