Thank you Al and Vince, I will look up the Horenstein and Slatkin performances. one of my 'standard candles' used to gage the ability of a system to yield highly emotional music without suffering from electronic aneurysms is the Bernstein performance with the Israel Phil on DGG--tape his, audience coughs, drop bows, Lenny's 'sound effects' of podium rain-dances and thumps and singing under his breath and all included. . . 2nd movement is the most intensely lyrical I have experienced this far. . . just the opposite of Fritz Reiner's strangeley famous read-through.
It may be worth pointing out that the Bernstein other recording, with the NY Philharmonic I believe, available on SACD is a rather sleepy affair instead.
Apologies for minor thread derailment. G. |
Almarg... My house has been standing for about 180 years, and is not apt to fall down due to the 1812 overture ! After I built the subwoofer system I did have problens with rattling windows, but it was easy to find what was loose and fix it.
200 feet is too close. Where do you keep your horses :-)
Kijanki... The Maggies don't have to reproduce the subwoofer frequencies. Keeping up is simply a matter of balancing the gains. I have actually tested my system for compression at high SPL and find none up to the maximum my ears will tolerate.
Also please note that I also play quiet music, and believe that the large cones, with their minimal excursion (like a Maggie diaphram by the way) are beneficial. My large drivers have appropriately large magnetic systems, and give away nothing in the way of transient response to 7 or 8 inch woofers.
Evidently you don't like pipe organ music. That's OK. I can't stand pop. |
I never thought about it before but a truly state of the art system should be able to knock a house down (I suppose)!
Oh, well, back to the drawing board.... |
My house has a suspended wooden floor. The foundation is made of 100 year old bricks. The house does tremble when one of those boom boom boy toys drive by. There are little cones of brick dust in the basement. |
A few commented that peak creshendo takes only small fraction of time of the recording (and I agree with it) and therefore is not worth investing in truthful reproduction of these peaks (and I disagree STRONGLY with it).
Simon Thacher of Spectron who is both (retired)EE and (former) concert pianist wrote enire paper on this subject in Enjoy The Music last year:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/manufacture/0708/index.html
For lazy, he explained there what kind of distortions occur at the peaks and conclude with:
"The exploration of the origin of "listener fatigue" is extremely interesting, at least, for this writer. We believe that when our subconscious mind detects a even small unnatural trace of distortion in reproduced acoustic music (which is not recognized yet as a very low level irritant by the analytical part of our brain) it activates a subtle alarm. This forces the listener into the tense or alert mode. Indirectly supporting this hypothesis is the common description we hear from Spectron users who utilize the two powerful monoblock amplifiers (7 kW peak power, each): "how relaxing" is my listening now."
So, unless you in flute music or country music or pop and wish to avoid listener fatigue - you better pay more attention to peaks - equally or more as you pay attention to other attrubutes of your equipment.
Personally, the combination of Joule-Electra "most romantic as per Harry Pearson" LA-300ME preamp, Spectron monoblocks and B&W 802D is THE best I own and auditioned then any system at any cost. PERIOD!!!!
All The Best
Rafael |
I have emergency door lock keys that sit on top of the frame of each door with such a lock on it in my house.
Despite sitting on a thinly carpeted concrete foundation, these keys will without fail vibrate off the frame and fall to the floor a few minutes into a moderately high volume listening session on my big OHM 5s.
Other than that, the effects are not too obvious but you can feel the music just fine a good ways back from the speakers when a decent (not even great) quality recording is playing. |
Ahhhh bliss then ....... :) |
"So, unless you in flute music or country music or pop and wish to avoid listener fatigue - you better pay more attention to peaks - equally or more as you pay attention to other attributes of your equipment. "
I'd agree with that except that all kinds of music benefit from better peaks and transients in general. Clean sharp peaks and transients (even at lower levels) is perhaps the biggest difference I hear with my better speakers since moving to the Bel canto ref1000mkii IcePower amps. |
How about those ICE amps ? ............. -)
|
Guido,
If you want uncompressed and excellent performance of Dvorak 9th - then get Esoteric SACD with Kertesz conducting Vienna Philarmonic. Phenomenal recording and ....performance!
Weseixas: "How about these ICE amp" - you can ask Mapman who uses his ICE based Bel Canto to experience sharp peaks "even at lower levels". I can only imagine the SPL pressure when he playes at medium levels ! |
Dob - If you refer to my comment about "fraction of time" - it wasn't about that. It was about whole musical pieces containing peaks vs. rest of the music.
I've never said that it is not worth to invest in truthful reproduction of peaks but rather that money can be invested better in the system (timbre, microdynamics, imaging etc.) unless you listen to this type (orchestral classical?) of music often. If you listen for instance to Indian Classical music you won't find any strong peaks or desire to listen loud.
You wrote: "So, unless you in flute music or country music or pop and wish to avoid listener fatigue - you better pay more attention to peaks"
That is great simplification because most of music and instruments don't contain strong peaks. I would add to mentioned flute hundreds of other instruments (vocal, guitar, lute, violin, cello, charpsichord, all woodwinds etc.) and few centuries of music as well as many genres including Jazz, Blues, Folk, Latin, Reggae, World etc.
(I just listen to Cecilia's Bartolli "Opera Prohibita" and cannot really find any strong peaks - still beautiful music) |
From Dob, contributed to Simon Thatcher: "We believe that when our subconscious mind detects a even small unnatural trace of distortion in reproduced acoustic music (which is not recognized yet as a very low level irritant by the analytical part of our brain) it activates a subtle alarm."
I play my music after it's kind. I like playing piano at realistic levels, keeping in mind the fact one has to pay mind to where the microphone is during the recording.
With a real clean CD, I use higher levels again. I have some really lovely sounding CDs. Orchestral recordings require a substantially high volume setting to get the most satisfaction out of the rolling peaks. On this system there is not a hint of any distortion at any level.
|
When it comes to peaks in classical orchestral music, the term peak is actually a misnomer. Classical music has sustained passages of high complexity which can be particularly heavy in the lower frequencies. This can place an incredible demand on power requirements for a sustained period of time. I have much music that has 'crescendos' that last minutes, not seconds. With insufficient power, those protacted moments when the entire orchestra is playing together at full-tilt can sound strained and muddy. High power is a requirement here, although power by itself does not guarantee excellent reproduction and musicality.
My speakers are not inefficient at 90 db into 4 ohms. However, I am readily drawing 500+ watts of power when listening to the final movement of Mahler #6 at a spirited volume. This movement is huge with prominent double-basses, cellos, and brass, all playing together. With that amount of power, it remains sweet and clear, with no collapse of the stage and no strain. |
Thank you so much Rafael, I will look for the Kertesz performance. G. |
I am sure I am not the first to say this but since I am late to the party and have only read the question not the answers,there are good and bad amps in all genre that can do harm to classical music, or any other music for that matter.
Wrong amp and wrong speakers and no type of music is safe.
Full blown orchestral classical music needs amps and speakers that are full range.
If your classical taste is small chamber ensembles, then small two ways and low to mid power tube amps are very nice.
I have Ice powered amps,Red Dragon Leviathan monos and have used them on Tannoy Ardens, Merlin TSM and now on Ref 3A Grand Veenas.
I listen to all types of music, and all styles of classical, so far my Ice amps have yet to be bested in a recent amp comparison I have had with some pretty well respected tube amps.
If other Ice amps are similar to mine, then I would say you have nothing to worry about. |
Where were everyone 5 years ago. I still have tomato stains staining my pride.
Lacee has it right. It has been my experience one has to have a lot of patience to
get class D going superbly. I had faith I could. I never dreamed of just how good
it gets, though. Rtn1 is right to correct our use of peak in describing orchestral
music. |
So, back to the OPs original question. While ICE amps are a tremendous value and can pack a punch in the power department, are they able to make beautiful music? That is, do they have the depth, warmth, flow, naturalness, transparency, and beauty of live acoustic music? There are many amps that make an impressive sound. I would suggest there are very few amps that accomplish the OPs original intent.
I know what people are going to say. I suspect to approach this goal, you will need to mate your ICE amp with am excellent and costly tubed preamp. There is no way around this. Perhaps people with direct experience can be more direct as to how to get there.
On another note, I now find that reproduced orchestral music sounds great at low levels and at concert levels. I am also finding that it sounds awesome at very loud levels. Playing orchestral music louder than it should be played, and finding that it sounds absolutely wonderful, is an unusual treat in audio. Most stereos at high levels will have a soundstage that falls apart and moves too far forward, with peaks that are harsh and fatiguing. It is possible to put something together that is musical and accurate when loud. |
"do they have the depth, warmth, flow, naturalness, transparency, and beauty of live acoustic music?"
Yes they do. I'm just guessing you've never heard one? |
They work in all departments for classical music.
I've found a tube pre-amp to be a very good fit however I looked specifically for an ICEPower based amp that implemented higher input impedance than stock ICEPower modules which are 10K ohms I believe in order to minimize distortion which can wreck havoc on classical music in particular.
The Bel Canto Ref 1000 mkiis are 100K input impedance unbalanced. Older less expensive BC Ref 1000s (not mkii) are stock 10K input impedance as is the S300 I believe.
Wyred4Sound amps are ~60K ohm input impedance.
There are others as well, but many vendors of IcePower amps go with the stock Icepower unit and basic configuration. That may not be a good match on paper with some tube pre-amps having higher output impedances. |
Rtn1, In answer to your statement as how one gets to great music with class D, I will give a brief summary.
First of all, your notion a tubed preamp is necessary is far off the mark. I have a class A preamp, and would never consider trading it for any tubed affair.
I started some 5 years ago with my attempt to make good music out of class D. I use to use all Pass Labs gear. Back then the Pass preamp hung on until my amp builder made a preamp that produces miracles. It works perfectly with the low impedance of ICE modules.
Through all latter changes, the amps (mono H2O) and preamp (H2O Fire) have remained. With every improvement I made in my system, my power end obliged passing on the improvement.
There are tubes in my system, four to be exact. They are in my Audio Note DAC. This particular DAC has been transformed with a minor adjustment replacing four diodes. I have found, on my system, all the great number of oversampling CD players, including SACD, sound atrocious.
Last of all, I found out how utterly important the cables are. This system is so transparent that every misstep will announce itself loudly. All insulated cables produce a hiss. Paul Speltz, on his site, describes the phenomena succinctly. My system proves Paul is correct. I found no speaker cable served my needs. So, I created one.
To summarize, the only component that has a signature is the AN DAC, and what a marvelous sound that is. My system will match your, "depth, warmth, flow, naturalness, transparency, and beauty of live acoustic music," plus dig deep into hither to unknown recesses of every CD. All the 90 db dynamic range is utilized. My 1 ohm speakers sound the same at any loudness level. No other type amp can do that through 1 ohm speakers. |
Muralman1,
Are you using H2O amplifiers to drive a 1 ohm scinnie,is this correct?
The H2O was to replace your Pass amplifiers ?
I do understand about the high and low difference when playing a 1 ohm load, I'm having the same issues with my 1 ohm ribbon, perfect at low to moderate levels then there is a sweet spot, above this the system loses it's near
perfect balance. |
Hello Muralman1,
What model of Henry Ho amplifiers you use to drive your 1 Ohm speakers?
It would be SHOCK to me if this is the amplifier with switching power supplies...
Thank you,
Rafael |
Weseixas,
Correct, and the Fire is an essential partner.
When I play Bolero, I set my volume at 12 o'clock. When the finale raises up
at huge volume, all instruments remain distinct. In the past, with 4 ohm
speakers, and for a while, my 1 ohm speaker, I used Pass gear. The finale
then sounded like a singular mythical wild beast of some sort. For all ears,
that worked. In fact, having all the instrumentation identifiable does dispel
any notion of magic. Of course a live performance would do the same thing.
For another example, the same demystifying happened with Lorena
McKennitt's, "The Highwayman." With the Pass gear the
background was unidentifiable eeriness, and real spooky. Now that all the
musical instrumentation is identifiable, the music is much more engaging,
but the ghosty background fog was dispelled.
By the way, the X-600 ran out of gas at high levels and tripped off. I have had
the pleasure to listen to all the new Pass gear, and they do offer a better
performance than the older models.
There is one more very important point. I sold my grazzled speakers. They
didn't work with my gear. I kept my Apogee ribboned speakers. |
Amenh Rtn1! Fact is that starting with the ending of the Classical era, throughout the Romantic and post-romantic period, there has been a steady swelling of orchestral forces and dynamic demands on them imposed by applicable scores. Bass range is not the only affected by such demands. . . a listen to various works, starting with later Beethoven symphonies, Brahms symphonies, Berlioz, mahler nearly entire opus, Bruckner, Dvorak symphonies and cello concerto,Stravinsky fauviste  works, early Schonberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Varese, Stockhausen, and Ligeti just to name very few, show massive tutti full range treble-to-bass orchestral sostenutos. Not to mention all those fizzy kitchy transcriptions of the Moussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibitions, whose orchestrators should be all suspended by their thumbs for crimes committed against good taste.
G. |
Hi Dob, You are absolutely right. There is a difference between the on board ICE module power supply and a good add on. H Ho will make either type, digital power supply, or his own analog power supply as ordered. The one I am using has four huge caps that store a lot of ready power. The big caps also serve as a deep lake to quell any ripple. There is also a bank of fast firing caps for quick transients, and smacking power for rim hits and other sharp noises.
It is important to note, all the music I hear is the result of my DAC. The preamp and amp only pass it on to the speakers in a way to optimize the speaker's capability. |
I must invite henry over ...... lol...
|
Dob - AFAIK none of Icepower modules can drive below 2ohm and none of the H2O product either. They might be able to drive 1 ohm but are specified at 2ohm min. At 2 ohm min strongest Icepower module 1000ASP used in highly regarded Bel Canto REF1000 mkII can drive 2ohm with 40A peak delivering 3200W. In addition supply voltage doesn't drop since it is regulated (SMPS).
In reality, if you think how linear power supply operates - it is SMPS operating at 120Hz that requires huge transformer because of low frequency. Toroidal transformer at 100kHz that carries the same power can be 10x smaller.
SMPS high frequency, is easy to filter while 120Hz is not. For this reason Jeff Rowland uses SMPS in Capri preamp. |
Hello Muralman1,
What model of Henry Ho amplifiers you use to drive your 1 Ohm speakers?
Caps provide store energy only. Incidently, intial Spectron Musician III also has two or four huge caps. In next geberation they changed it to 100 smaller caps (10-12 times reducing ESR) and difference in sound was more then drramatic.
Ar any rate, I am interested if your amp has switching power supplies or it was based on traditional transformers. Also, switching power supplies are not digital. First Spectron class D amplifier in 1974 also was based on switching power supplies but they do notn use it in their audiophile products.
I visited Mr. Ho web site and he has there two type of power supplies driving the ICE output stage:
#1 M500 - Power Supply: Integrated Switching Mode; $3,000.00 USD a pair
#2 M250 - Power Supply: Integrated Switching Mode; $2.500.00 USD a pair
#3 S250 - Power Supply: Traditional Toroidal Transformer; $3,200.00 USD ea.
#4 M250SA - Power Supply: Traditional Toroidal Transformer;$6,000.00 USD a pair.
#5 S100 - Power Supply: Traditional Toroidal Transformer; $6,000.00 USD ea.
Thank you,
Simon
I would bet a treasure that it was the pair of MA250SA... |
Kijanki, please, you should not make those statements unless you have witnessed the actual application of the 500A module loaded working on 1 ohm. Here is another eye wakener, the H2O can not only do 1 ohm, it is stable on a third of an ohm as well. That has been proven multiple times. H Ho has the 1000ASP module, and since, like me, he has the 1 ohm Scintilla, he knows which is better. |
Henry has a 1 ohm scinnie , so i can see the amplifier being tailored for such a load .
Now my interest is peaked and definitely will have a listen to one. I know Bel canto has advised not to drive a 1 ohm load with there's.
|
Muralman1 - I'm not sure what statements you're talking about. Please read again second sentence of my post.
Again - Icepower modules are not rated for 1ohm (min load 2 ohm) nor H2O amps are. If they work fine - all the better. I just stated specifications. |
Weseixas - "Henry has a 1 ohm scinnie , so i can see the amplifier being tailored for such a load."
If that's the case the why his products are specified 2ohm minimum load. Am I missing something? |
Kijanki
If that's the case the why his products are specified 2ohm minimum load. Am I missing something?
Most manufacturers will not list the 1 ohm operation for liability reason, but for those of us who venture there we know the ones that can. According to Murlman his can and i do know Henry has a 1 ohm scinnie himself. |
Weseixas - So I understand that in general case manufacturer of the module and maker of the amplifier says that this amplifier is not guaranteed to perform with less than 2 ohm and we know that some speakers are exception.
Manufacturer does not recommend using amp for load impedances lower than 2ohm. We could keep guessing why (damage to amp, damage to speakers, not holding other spects etc.) but to me 2ohm is min. I also understand that Muralman has limited choice of amps capable of driving 1 ohm speakers so he tried Icepower and as I understand was very successful. |
Well Muralman comments were interesting to me , as i also have to drive a 1 ohm ribbon and have limited choices.
|
Are there any amps that publish specs regarding 1 ohm loads?
Not sure how common that is these days. The market must be quite limited. |
|
Interesting I know of one case of a discerning A'goner who is also a recording industry professional I believe that used Bel Canto ref1000's to drive at first Apogee and later Avangarde Trios in their system, with a high degree of satisfaction. The fact that this amp could drive two such radically different speaker designs at two ends of the spectrum to a high degree of satisfaction was one factor in my deciding to go that way, though I sprung for the more costly mkiis mainly as a result of their more tube pre-amp friendly specs and additional power supply refinements.
I may have said this earlier (can't recall) but the move to this amp has put my ystem in the same league at least with the best systems I have heard, and conquering playback of classical music to that level was the final and toughest
barrier to break through. |
Weseixas, Here I though The Scintilla was the only one ohm speaker. I am curious what ribbon speaker you have. I talked to Henry about this among some other things. If you want to know what a certain amp can do, call the builder.
There is a catch. The 250 watt H20, though 93% efficient, still needs the Fire preamp. It sends a boost to the H2O. With the two, I can drive my Scintillas to an in the room grand piano. As a warning, though, cables and source can react terrible with the H2O duo. With the right source and cables...... sky's the limit.
I am in N. California if anyone wants to hear what I have. |
Mapman, I can't say how happy I am to hear your testament. Class D has got such an undeserved bad rap over the last 7 years.
It has been my experience that a great class D amp requires great everything else. By great, I don't mean expensive necessarily. The Fire preamp was made to work with the demands of a class D amp, but it also is superb with any other fine amp. Almost all tube amps match well to class D.
I still use Speltz's Anti - Cables for the ICs. I have found very thin ribbon SCs to be, by far, the best SCs. |
"a great class D amp requires great everything else"
I have no data points to weigh in on this in that the class D amp was the last upgrade I did once I felt everything else was in order.
My gut feel is that the Bel Canto Ref1000mkii will not be the bottleneck in most any system that a high power, high current, high damping factor SS amp is suited for, so at that point other weaknesses might be exposed if present.
Ironically in addition to classical music, modern "loudness wars" more pop oriented CDs are the other type that have benefited most from the Bel canto ref1000mkii introduction into my system. These CDs will expose the limits of an underpowered or poorly matched amp/speaker pair IMHO. With the proper muscle behind it, one can enjoy the things that these recordings do have to offer without having to lament about shortcomings which may be at least partially due to the playback system not having enough "muscle" and authority to deliver what these kinds of CDs are capable of sounding like, for better or for worse. |
Mapman,
What are you using for speakers and pre into the Bel canto's.
This weekend i will be doing a comparison between my S500 series 2 threshold and a pr of Bel canto mono's on 1.6 maggies
the results will be interesting for me as I'm still on the fence with class-d .
Muralman,
Mine are a 3 way hybrid. ribbons in the mid.high only dynamic bass driver for the bass. 4 ohm on the bass and 1.5 ohm on the ribbons from 250hz to 22K.
I will take you up on the NC offer, i have a very good friend that lives in Huntersville , big hi-fi nut 2 and is into class-d himself ( rotel ) with Logans , I'm sure he would love to hear the H2O as he is not happy with the rotels ( 2 prs) |
"Mapman,
What are you using for speakers and pre into the Bel canto's."
Pre-amp is Audio Research sp16.
Speakers are OHM Walsh 5 Series 3, OHM 100 Series 3, OHM L and Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkii.
All are shown in my system listing.
Each speaker pair is in a different room connected to the same core electronics (including Bel canto Ref1000 mkii mono blocks) via in-wall wiring that I had run when the house was built. I use a Niles speaker switch off the monoblocks to switch individual speaker pairs/rooms on and off as needed.
I used to have a pair of larger maggies in my system for years. The OHM Walsh 5s replaced those in my larger room. I would really like to hear those again now using the Bel Cantos. I used a 360w/ch Carver m4.0t with the Maggies back then an that was not a bad combo. The carver amp did not cut it with the OHM Walshes though. Not a lot of current and fairly low damping factor despite plenty of watts led to a comparably thin sound with those. |
I would urge all class D owners to find an AN DAC to try. My class D set up spits out all oversampling or up-sampling players. I haven't had one here that doesn't fall far short of a 1-sampling player or DAC. |
I've been more than quite musically satisfied (including a dozen or so listeners) with my AD1865N 1.0 NOS Dac to 6SN7-based TRL pre into NuForce monos, tons of reserve dynamics, liquid warmth and huge open staging. |
I'm very happy with the mhdt DACs as well. These also do no upsampling.
I do not regard up-sampling as categorically bad however. It can be hit or miss depending on how done like most things. |
One last caveat...... I don't know about any other NOS DACs, but Audio Note DACs have the worst diodes, and that goes for all their models. Both my aged PSA Lambda transport and my Audio Note DAC got new high efficiency fast recovery diodes. The model of diode is BYW80200 STMicroelectronics.
This upgrade must not be dismissed out of hand. That one change opens the gates for for all the information, far more than otherwise. |
Do you really need a great tube pre amp to get the best out of class D?
I can say that for cd playing I run balanced (DIY Neutrik/mogami)interconnects from an Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 direct into the Red Draggon Leviathans and to me this is as good as when I run the amps from my Audio Valve Eclipse(tube) pre amp.
Truth be told the AA does have a couple of small 6021 tubes,so I do run my amps from tubes but it doesn't seem to be tube dependant as I would prefer one way over the other.
I don't think more(tubes)is always better, to me less is better.
I never tried my amps on demanding speakers that drop below 2 ohms,but I have run the amps on Tannoy Ardens, Merlin TSMMXe and now Ref 3a Grand Veenas, and the amps have never run out of steam and I am careful not to crank the amps for fear of damaging the speakers not the amps.
The smoothness and detail are there in the Dragons,my previous amp was the Cary 300bsei, and I never felt anything lacking in the smooth department going class D.
Maybe this was a characteristic of old D amps, or cheap ones,but my experience with Red Dragon amps (for over a year now)is nothing like that.
I've been at this for almost 40 years, and I've racked up a list of amps and speakers that would fill a high end salon,so I've got quite a good set off past experience to draw from, and from that I would have to say that D amps can be every bit as good if not better than any of the SET, OTL, solid state, class A, AB, and push pull tube amps from 6v6, el34 to 300B to 845 to kt 66 types of amplification devices.
If anything that my D amps are picky with it is the power.
I have gone to some lengths to improve on it over the last few years and the rewards have been great.
The Dragon amps seem to be more dependant on quality power than most of my other amps however.
Even to the point of them sounding better when driven off the Hydra 2(with Annaconda power cords)than of a Guardian two.
As far as speaker wire and interconnects, I just wenr thru a bit of a comparison of good examples of each and found that they really didn't affect the sound as much as doing the power upgrades.
As mentioned my DIY balanced cables were as good as a couple of name brand cables and my clear Day speaker wires were as good as several more costly cables, so I use them.
If i could add anythinge;lse to this ,it's that D amps performance can vary depending on how they get their power.Dirt in dirt out.
They won't sugar coat things like some warm ripe tube gear can.
And they won't rob you of all the music you paid to hear either in that sea of syrup. |
"... Class D amps performance can vary depending on how they get their power.Dirt in dirt out.
They won't sugar coat things like some warm ripe tube gear can.
And they won't rob you of all the music you paid to hear either in that sea of syrup."
Ah, golden words Lacee!
I happen to have chosen a class D amp, not because it is a 'good price-performer', but because it is purely a great sonic performer. . . I prefer its sound over any other amp I tried. Of course, the fact class D amps are green products is a huge bonus. . . I can play music 24/7 without the wife's complains about the power bill.
Like Lacee, I have found a high degree of synergy between my Rowland Model 312 stereo amp and Shunyata power cords... in particular the new King Cobra CX, a 5-gager which appears to me a blazingly nimble deliverer of current on demand without artifacts or flaws that I could detect.
Interestingly, in spite of 312's multilevel power supply regulation and PFC front end, the amp does benefit from top notch power conditioning. . . I have not tried any Shunyata power conditioners yet on 312, but have this far had most desirable results with 312 plugged into Furutech Daytona ETR-303, plugged in turns into a dedicated outlet.
In my experience with 312, BC Ref 1000M, and even NuForce, , a good class D amplifier definitely needs a good pre, yet this pre needs not be tubed for my ears. For driving class D amps, I have preferred SS Roland Capri and even more SS Rowland Criterion over my tubed ARC Ref 3.
On the subject of ICs and speaker wires, my entire system (with both JRDG 312 and BC Ref 1000M) appears to be quite sensitive. . . for me most desirable results from very good to fabulous have been in ascending order with Furutech Evolution II, Furutech Hi Performance custom wires, and--with a significant performance leap over the previous--Shunyata Aurora.
G. |
Class D amps are for all types of music.
Clean AC and a solid, musical source with other matching components / cables etc, put my system much further ahead than my previous, and I transcended outta Class A and Tube mono amps,
no looking back. |
