Best Digital Amps

Muralman1- "I use my hearing to compare the two."

You must have remarkable hearing to filter out/factor in the combined effect of a diferent preamp,dac,and different sytems(no dealer I'm aware handles the all these digital amps and eAR has no dealers), but hey, to each his own.

For a grand, maybe I'll pick on up as a back-up amp.

I look forward to reading the rave review on StereoTimes.

You know the TacT is a system, pre and amp. Knowing the speakers the TacT was playing on intimately, gives me a good clue what they are doing to the overall sound. Several of us heard the Llano 300 and the TacT on the same system. It was a toss up, according to likes and dislikes which one was like better. In the case of the eAR, there is no doubt about it's supremacy over those two amps.

Enjoy the review.

Kana, you have to take Muralman with a grain of salt. Not 6 or 7 months ago the Pass X600 was the best amp on the planet, just like the Scintillas he owns are the best speakers in the world (by his own words). It seems whatever equipment he owns at the moment is the BEST ever made! Maybe he can sub for Sam Tellig or H.P. if they get sick. It will be fun to see what next month's flavor is.

WELL SAID FIDDLER! In this world we all have biases and preferences and are free to make recommendations but when we start using "BEST" then there is always some second guessing going on. I have had my HCA-2 for a while now (always tired of people ripping this amp off) and find that for the money (even without the mods) is extremely musical and powerful (driving a pair of power hungry Martin Logans). All I can say is that as HCA-2 owners, we are very blessed and it is nice to be able to see that digital amps are carving a nice niche in the high end industry today.

Zen (Jason)

President
Martin Logan Club
http://www.martinloganowners.com

Well, we all need to take anything we say with a grain of salt. We can only comment on what we have personally witnessed. I'm always willing to admit I am wrong.

Said that, I still believe the X600 is the best solid state amp on this planet. I never believed it would trump the best tubed amps. They just weren't suitable for my speaker's needs.

As for class D amps, they are new to the field. The first digital amps, early EVOs and TacTs, did nothing to move me away from tubes and solid state.

The HCA2 is a marvelous amp. It has been tested by several members in our Apogee group. Certainly it has opened their eyes to the digital revolution.

Now we are talking about degrees of digital advancement. In my experience, the eAR surpasses all competition in construction, parts, and, to these ears, sound.

Oh yes, the Apogee... yes, the best ;)