Fatman iTube Carbon Edition – Original Owner

Description

Fatman iTube Carbon Edition
I bought this for myself and have been the only user.
Why pass digital audio through tubes? To warm up the sound – it’s fantastic!
This expensive amp has a beautiful glossy hard black finish reflects the golden and blue lights of the vacuum tubes when this is playing. It is mesmerizing to watch it while listening to the warmed up sound it gives to digital recordings (almost everything is digital these days). It is very heavy, sturdy and beautiful.
Originally made for iPods, I easily adapted it to my iPhone and am including this little adapter that I bought on Amazon.  It will also work with anything that uses a standard 3.5mm audio output, or a lightning output.
Its original purpose – to take the edges off of digital music by passing it through tubes and warming up the sound – is even more important now that Apple adopted the digital lossless standard for the music in its Music app and iTunes app.
The amp measures
14 1/2  inches wide
7 inches front to back
5 1/2  inches high
I bought my first Fatman iTube vacuum tube amp years ago (the iTube Red-i) to warm up the sound from my first iPod and then my iPhones. I loved it so much that a year later I bought another one (this one: the Carbon Edition). They were expensive (around 0 each), but well worth it in my mind. I have been the only person to use this amp. We are a smoke free home and take very good care of our things.
The Carbon is so beautiful looking and sounds so good still to this day. The vacuum tubes create a variability in the sound that makes it sound warmer than you get with straight through digital recordings. The filaments in the tubes glow a soft warm color when the power is on, and the sound is excellent (be sure to pair these with some good speakers and cables – they don’t have to be huge speakers, but it’s worth spending some money on good speakers).
All the photos (except for the first stock photo) show the amp with the safety cover over the tubes. I took the cover off when it was sitting on my desk so I could see the tubes better, but the tubes do get hot, so if you do this, be careful.
When we moved from our home of 25 years into an apartment two years ago, I put my two Fatman amps in a closet. We just don’t have the extra rooms like we did before in our old three story home where I had two home offices and a music listening room. It’s a shame they are sitting in the closet, so I am selling them in two separate listings so others can enjoy them.
I made sure last weekend that this Fatman Carbon stills work perfectly with my iPhone 12, and it does.  The Fatman Carbon has a 30-pin dock built in (for the early iPods), but nothing uses that anymore, so I use the RCA inputs on the back of the unit with a cable and adapter. See the photos of this setup – it’s not complicated and works perfectly. I will include the lightning adapter and RCA cable needed to use your iPhone with this.
Very Carefully Packed
I have already packed it in a cloud of bubble wrap and a hard cardboard box (see photos). I packed it very carefully and it is ready to go - will ship it quickly.
Included
Amp
Power Cord
Remote Control and 2 extra CR2032 3v batteries (it uses 1 at a time)
RCA to 3.5mm audio cable
3.5mm to lightning adapter
Condition
It is in excellent condition – works perfectly – only a couple of scratches you can see from up close. I have included high-res closeups. Because that part of the amp has more of a mat finish, it isn’t easy to see unless you are close. If that bothers you, please don’t buy this. I want you to love it and enjoy it for years like I did.
Review
This particular unit is the Fatman iTube Carbon. It is the newer of the two Fatman units I own, and here is what the reviews had to say about it when it came out:
“A five-star rating is easily attained.”
“The high-gloss sound of Steely Dan's
Any Major Dude Will Tell You
is a perfect fit for the Carbon - the warm, eloquent valve characteristics of the Fatman give the song low-end weight and substance, and the airbrushed vocal is polished to a highly communicative sheen.”
“Percussive sounds at the top of the frequency range are just about bright enough, and the Carbon integrates and separates the differing elements confidently.”
“Unsurprisingly, the Fatman excels when it comes to stereo focus and imaging - not everybody will want separate speakers, but those who do will reap considerable benefits.”
“Alternative to a micro-system.
In fact, the Carbon has enough inputs to support extra equipment, and separate speakers introduce the possibility of upgrading speaker cable for even better results.”
See the May 6, 2008 YouTube video by Googling:
Fatman iTube Carbon Edition – Audio Advisor