Today, I've had the Decware 300B amp for one month, and it is NOT going back. That probably does not come as a big surprise to anyone, but it almost did go back. For me, the 300B was not love at first…listen.

A little background: This was my fourth Decware amp. As the original owner, I have had and sold both the Torii MKIV and the 84UFO. A local seller put up a perfect 84UFO25 that I grabbed a couple of years ago, and I don't think I will ever part with that amp. So, when I recently referred to the Decware 300B in a post here, I said, "Right out of the box, the sound was......" Well, it wasn't good, and I was stunned.

When I turned the amp on with no music playing for the first time, all I could hear was a hum. Immediately, I reached for the hum control knob on the amp. With that control, I adjusted the hum level from what I initially heard to an even worse version. I was crestfallen. I had waited 31 months, 1 week, and 2 days for a "hummer."

To fill in some missing pieces of information, an amp that hums is a trip wire for me. I'm binary: hum negative, no hum positive. My first Decware amp had a hum that I found unacceptable. I returned it for further investigation, and Steve determined the hum level was within acceptable limits. So, I had some history there. When I heard the hum as the 300 B powered up, I thought, "This isn't going to work for me."

Over the following listening hours, my initial response softened as I found that with music, I could carefully adjust the hum control to a point where I could not hear it any longer. Still, however, I could not let it go. It seemed imprinted on my ears, and I knew it was still there. With more time, this internal struggle continued.

I called Decware and made an appointment to talk with Steve. In a nutshell, Steve explained that eliminating the hum (apparently, that could be done) would also eliminate some of the available audio bandwidth, which makes the 300B extraordinary. As the amp's designer, he felt that was not a good choice. Instead, he chose to preserve that bandwidth and provide a means to control the hum to a level that cannot be heard at the listening position - at least by most listeners. His explanation was a perfect reframing statement for me. Managing rather than eliminating the hum resulted in better sound quality.

Finally, Steve said to experiment with the hum control and give the amp more time to settle in. If I was unhappy, I could send it back, and we would work on other options. Hearing that, I started to relax. I did what Steve suggested, and the hum issue vanished over the following days and weeks. It is still there when the amp turns on but is not discernible with music. I found that I could relax and be captivated and enchanted by the amp's sound and music. My concern and attachment to the hum completely fell away. Like I said above, this amp is not going back.