Anyone listen to the Bel Canto e.One S300i amp???

The Portal would be the ticket except the lack of remote is a deal breaker for it's intended use.. Too bad cause it looks the shintz :-)

Bel Canto units are fantastic sounding and a bargain. Bright sounding, NOT! Only clean and detailed. It seems the term digital is still closely related to bright or "edgy" etc,etc. This is simply not the case. My Bel Cantos bridge a gap between my tube amp and solid state equipment that leaves me smiling. Is there better out there, maybe, but it's all relative to your ancillery equipment. Monitor Audio makes a wonderful product and I think you will be amazed at the power and neutrality of the Bel Canto

Just to chip in on the S300. This little amp uses the standard Icepower 200ASC modules which is a cheap version of the hegher end 250ASP model. In the ICEpower spec, the ASC modules are for "mass market" applications for car audio & subwoofers.

Comparing this amp with the likes of Rotel RMB1077, the Rotel uses 2x250ASP for front channels and 5x250A modules for the other 5 channels, the Rotel is clearly a more superior product base on price performance. Even if you do not need 7 channels, the amp can be used to bi-amp the speakers ie using the front for the HF and the surround for the LF since the 250A modules are design specifically for HT sub woofer application. If you also look carefully at the Rotel amp design, I believe it is highly customised version of the ICEpower modules bec they have eliminated the grounding to lower noise floor which Class D amps typically suffers from.

Bottomline is, if you like the Bel Canto, you owe yourself an audition of the new Rotel class D. You get more technology and sound (IMHO) than you pay for.

Cheers

Hello Once Again,

My criticism of the Bel Canto's sound is based on sound not the fact that it is digital. In my post near the top I admitted that the Rotel sounded smooth and refined and I said it was the best amp Rotel has ever made.

Because the Monitor Audio Gold series is very smooth and warm it would be a good match but that just confirms my belief that Bel Canto is bright. Clean, yes, detailed, yes, detailed because it is bright and accentuating the level of detail, yes. Just like Spectral, Dunlavey, and Thiel.

Duane

S300 is not at all bright with my Nordost cables and Joseph Audio RM7Xls.