Well, I have been thinking about this for a long time, but finally decided to give it a try.
I ordered the Clariphonic, and yesterday started testing it out, mostly on the 2-bus. I must admit, that most of what has been said about this box appears to be true. It really is very impressive, addictive and irresistible. Once I have patched it on my mix bus, I really was unable to take it out, because the improvement in the overall sonics of the mix was so apparent... every single time. It really is astounding at times, how within seconds, a mix you thought sounded OK, suddenly sounds like muddy crap when you bypass the Clariphonic. Kind of frightening actually! It can be super subtle, if you want, or it can be very aggressive. The weird thing is, that even when it is "aggressive" it still feels subtle in a way.
One thing that I wish was there is that it either:
—had a single bypass switch, and/or
—that the signal would travel through it when the unit is powered down.
When mixing I would like to be able to disengage the unit easily, or not have it on at all, but not necessarily have to re-wire the mix bus chain. I like that my api-s for example have these multiple type of bypass scenarios implemented. With Clariphonic, to bypass signal you need to flick 2 or 4 switches. This is impossible to do in a single stroke, so makes the A/B a little different. BUT the piece sounds like million dollars, so: I guess it's a minor consideration.
Anyway: I just started the 2-week evaluation period. But at this moment I can hardly imagine sending it back to Vintage King.
p.
PS
The box also LOOKS very cool in person. I really appreciate the fact that even the back panel has been considered aesthetically (choice of type, color, layout). This is definitely one of those situations, where the physical object looks much stronger than any picture of it I saw. Complements the black api 2500 layout nicely, and the LEDs used on Clariphonic "blend' in with the colors of the LED colors of the api line very well... ;-)