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Amplifier Rodeo

Posted by Fitero (A) on April 15, 2016 at 08:21:07

Last week I dragged home some amplifiers to test in my system. I didn't do a scientifically valid test, only swapping them in and out at least 5 times each comparing them to one another.

Here are the amps that I compared;

JBL S820 ATI manufactured 200WPC Class A/B
JBL SDA-8300 Crown Manufactured 300WPC DriveCore Class D
Mcintosh MC152 150WPC Class A/B
NAD M22 300WPC Hypex Ncore Class D
Classé AMP2 200WPC ? Class D
Hafler DH-220 Modified by Musical Concepts 115WPC Class A/B
Classé CA-2300 300WPC Class A/B

Eclectic mix eh?

My associated gear is; Revel F208 speakers
VTA SP-14 6SN7 tube preamp with Sylvania 6SN7W.
256DSD DAC music streamer, based on a Phison Audio
board.
I used PCM, WAV files transcoded to 256DSD for all comparisons. Mostly Tord Gustavsen Trio and Tori Amos recordings for this.


I'll get the easy ones out of the way first;
The Hafler is an older modded design that sounds nice and benign from top to bottom on my gear. It's op amps are tired, so there is a fair amount of hiss present at idle. It's ok.

JBL S820. What I would call typical ATI house sound, which means nice, gutsy sound with a slight emphasis on the treble, which means that cymbals and snare drums are more forward than on other amps. I liked this when using my Fulton FMI-80 speakers which seem rolled off on other amps. Good depth and width to soundstage. Fairly large instrument and performer size. Nice body, resonance and decay to music. Nice voices. Voices not quite as nice as Classé AMP2.

Mcintosh MC152. I wanted to like this one, as I can get one for a killer deal, and well, it's real purdy.
These are my exact notes;
Treble- nice
Bass-good
Mids-veiled
Decay-ok
Depth-at monitor for voices. Meaning, the vocals originated at the speakers, not further away or closer to me.
Piano- meh
Drums-meh
Bass guitar- meh
Voice- Somewhat veiled

So, overall....meh. If not for the hiss, the Hafler got my feet tapping more than this one.

Classé AMP2.
Again, these are my exact notes.
Less body to music than Mcintosh. Better vocals than Mcintosh. Excellent even. Lovely mids.
Nice decay and cymbals. Nice depth. Piano sounds small and light.
Bass guitar-nice -overall
Best Class D I've heard, would take over Mcintosh and Hafler. However, treble became sharp as volume was increased.

JBL SDA-8300.
Smooth like Classé. Voices slightly recessed and veiled compared to Classé. More grainy mids.
Deeper more pronounced bass than Classé. Still, smaller instrument size and soundstage compared to JBL class A/B.

NAD M22.
Slightly more bass than Classé. Slightly more veiled mid-range too. Subdued trevle, when volume turned up, doesn't get too sharp like Classé.
Resumé; Better bass and treble than Classé, but slightly veiled mid-range.

So, to boils things down up to this point; The best mid-range goes to the Classé AMP2. The best overall goes to the JBL S820.

If I were to buy one of these class D amps, it would be the NAD.

However, I reluctantly brought home the Classé CA-2300.

Don't get me wrong, Classé is from my home town. I am trying to get rid of big, bulky stereo gear though, and even a B-stock amp at dealer cost is at the very top of my budget.

These are my exact notes on this amp;
Treble- just about right
Mid-range - Slight warmth though very nice.
Killer bass.
Tori Amos - Wampum- Vibrato in voice!
Tord Gustavsen - could hear passion! "PRAT" Never heard this before.

Big beautiful instruments, sound stage and depth.


I've read the terms "PRAT" and "Hearing the passion of the performance" many times, and stopped just short of retching every time I read them. Poetic BS. I've been listening to nice, mid-range gear my whole life. Lots and lots of gear, as I have been installing it as a profession. I've never heard what I heard with this amp in my system.

No, I don't hear the frickin musicians in my room. I'm not daft. But I can hear a closer proximity with feeling. Intoxicating. I have listened a lot to the Mark Levinson 532H, and while it seems more even handed than the CA-2300, it doesn't convey that je ne sais quoi feeling that the Classé plucked from my hardened heart.

I used to have to run down and reset the breakers 2 to 3 times when turning on my HK Citation II amp in my little village house. I will have to stagger down several times with the Classé CA-2300 too. Yep, it's going to be my retirement amp. Prudence and frugality be damned.

Class D is going to surpass it soon, and more than likely has at a budget level that I can't attain. For what I can barely pay, this is the only amplifier that I have ever listened to that gave me a glimpse at the "real high end".

I wanted to prefer the class D amps, as I am a frugal bugger and want to retire with a small, cool, cheap to run power amplifier for my stereo. The results were sort of like life itself; full of irony and surprises for me. I only know and can opine what I have seen and heard, which is laughably small overall. This comparison expanded my view a smidgen, for which I am grateful.

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VH Audio

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