Best Digital Amps

Muralman1...Long ago Rolls Royce could truthfully say "The Best Car in the World". Although other vehicles made the Rolls obsolete, and quality went to pot, people who had invested their money and reputation in owning a Rolls refused to admit that it no longer lived up to its sales slogan, and they went right on buying them. No: I don't expect the exotic high end amp owners to run out and buy an $800 ProSound amp. But I do think it's a good thing that people who have less than a grand to spend on an amp can have close to SOTA performance.

It is interesting to note that while the Tact did win a stereotimes award, the reviewer preferred the sound using the amp's ANALOG inputs drived by an external Zanden tube DAC!

This direct digital thing is not always a shoe-in for ultimate sound.

I'm sure many Tact users are very happy with the digital inputs. Just making an observation what one reviewer foun d after 3 months of use.

Loudandclear- I've been to CP's home and heard his TacT gear. He stopped using the Zanden tube DAC months ago after some cable/power supply improvements.

He does use a Apogee Big Ben processor to reduce jitter from his transport.

Once you get noise under control, a TacT system doesn't need any tubes in the circuit path. If you have a moment,
take a look at my ST article on digital tweaking. ;-)

Muralman,

Looking at the apogee users site, it would be easy to conclude you have a financial intrest in the H2O amps. This may not be the case but I beleive it would behhove you to clarify your realationship with H2O

The creator of the H2O is Henry Ho. Henry is a good friend of mine, though we live a continent apart. I had his fine class A monoblocks for a time. Henry tutored me through several component changes. I could say, I am returning the favor as a good friend. It's easy though, and self serving. I have heard many amps, and I have yet to hear the equal of the H2O at any price. Henry's amp will be the least expensive of my recent amp purchases. That is my reward. That, and the satisfaction of seeing a friend do good.

Henry is a lone entrepreneur now. He is presently pulling a pool of experts around him, to facilitate a quick amp turn around. My job of chief cheer leader isn't done yet. I will be giving a proper review of my system here within a couple of weeks.

Over time, I have made a lot of noise over other components, and took some flack for that too. It bothers me none. I can see how someone might misconstrue my enthusiasm for salesmanship.

I encourage any amp challenge to the H2O. So far well reviewed digital amps such as the eAR, PS Audio, Rowland, and Evo Gen2, have been compared, not to mention a good number of conventional amps. Owners of these amps have been voting unanimously with their check books for the H2O.