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Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Bel Canto Design e.One S300 Amplifier (SS) by bullethead

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REVIEW: Bel Canto Design e.One S300 Amplifier (SS)

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Model: e.One S300
Category: Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price: $1,395
Description: Digital stereo amp, 150 watts/ch 8 ohms
Manufacturer URL: Bel Canto Design

Review by bullethead on August 02, 2008 at 08:28:05
IP Address: 71.190.235.189
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for the e.One S300


Bel Canto S300 Dual Mono Class-D Amplifier Review

I first became familiar with Bel Canto around the year 2001 when I purchased the DAC2 to "upgrade" my digital setup, it was essentially the first plunge into the "high end" and the many different ways of obtaining the closeness to music I have experienced over the past 7 or 8 years. At that time I was excited to see an extremely well built product with a minimalism to the design which I have not seen elsewhere in anything else audio related I which have bought. Time went on and as I acquired more financial independence I have since upgraded to the DAC3 and have recently overhauled my system to an all digital setup. I have a respect for well recorded, and most importantly well archived recordings. Since my setup is completely PCM based digital, I only use redbook cd or FLAC lossless compression when I choose to archive the redbook audio for safe keeping. The plunge to an all digital setup was caused by my acquisition of the Bel Canto S300 amplifier, having the Bel Canto DAC3 as a preamp, I now have retired my vinyl collection / turntable /tube preamp. Noting that since my entry into this hobby I have been familiar with single ended RCA type connections, slowly realizing that digital (whether optical / AES/EBU / USB etc...) into a world class DAC was the way to go I happened to land into a situation where I could finally own a true balanced pure digital system.

The system contains the following:

1. USB Audio at 16bit 44.1khz provided by ALSA running on a rt-linux kernel with the FLAC player running in real time. The USB Audio output is directly connected to the Bel Canto DAC3's USB input, and the DAC3 acts as a digital preamp into the S300.

2. NAD M5 in redbook transport mode using an AES/EBU triple balanced digital output to the DAC3.

3. Logitech Squeezebox v3 (FLAC) in transport mode using a Toslink out into the DAC3.

4. Bel Canto DAC3 using / digital inputs to the Bel Canto S300 using triple balanced XLR interconnects.

5. S300 into Dynaudio Contour 1.3MKII loudspeakers

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Just some notes from listening sessions recently:
___

Burzum - Filosofem - "Rundgang Ungagng Umn Die Transzendentale Saute der Singularitat"

Synthesizer melts into the room. Rest of album: Substantial produced performance, one of the most complex electric guitar albums in the world, incredible.

MZ.412 - Nordic Battle Signs - "Der Kampf Geht Weiter" (FLAC)

Battle drums / electronic hum drone
marching sounds sound like something from the history channel
the vocal sample MZ.412 uses with the echo effect on that track seems to itself out of the soundstage right near my head into the area of the listening position. 3 dimensional is one way to describe the sound. It reaches out to the room as the wall of noise creates a holographic launching effect. How 2 Dynaudio speakers and the rest of the equipment can create such a theatrical experience is beyond me.

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The sound is incredible. It is also "dark". Hypnotic, magical and involving. This setup is the best I have heard. Sound is between relaxed and engaging, or for that matter possibly completely neutral (is digital dark inherently?). It's the compact disk laser light beamed right out into the room through the speakers. The level of "unknown" is apparent. Something completely alien to what I have heard before. It's a different sound than my older tube / SS setup. It seems as if the sound is not from this world, sort of another dimension which the listening area is completely engulfed in. A force field of sorts.

Soundstage is holographic and three dimensional. About 20 feet behind the speakers and about 20 feet in front of the speakers. Left and right soundstage extends to about 10 feet to the sides of the speakers. I am completely shaking in how frighteningly realistic the music is. To explain the sound completely I would need to know an advanced language other than english, which probably does not exist. I was afraid of the setup sounding bright, this is definitely not the case. Sounds like I have found the right equilibrium of the reproduced musical experience.

It is indeed the music that is coming through the system which causes this description of how the amplifier/system sounds. I have found a closeness to music now which I haven't ever experienced before this synergy. I'm simply explaining how the music sounds. There is no system playing the music, the system and all components have completely disappeared.

To conclude the S300, yes I would recommend to a friend as the amazon.com book store would say.


Product Weakness: need extremely good sources and cables, expect to spend more money on cables and sources than the actual amplifier.
Product Strengths: beautiful design, has bananced inputs, excellent build quality


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Bel Canto S300
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Bel Canto DAC3
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Real Time Linux USB Audio
Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3MKII
Cables/Interconnects: Audioquest King Cobra (XLR)
Music Used (Genre/Selections): avant garde
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Bel Canto Design e.One S300 Amplifier (SS) - bullethead 08:28:05 08/2/08 ( 0)