MF A300 to A308: notable improvement?

Bunker:

Your observations are pretty interesting. At the May 2004 NYC Audio Show, Musical Fidelity's representatives were recommending pairing the MF amps with Thiel speakers ... to the point of claiming that quite a few MF personnel owned Thiel speakers. In fact, they showcased the new kw500 amp with the Thiels 7.2. The sound was OK, but not $20 grand OK ... percussion was not impressive at all. I felt that MF could have demo'd their amps with much better results with different speakers ... trade show acoustics notwithstanding.

Regards, Rich

Well I will stand to what I say no metter what MF personel claims. A308 was clean as I said before but for sure not listenable in long time period or high volume. It was thin and with no body. Again - AVOID

Compared the A308 separates with the TriVista Intergrated. No contest. Bought the TriVista. I didn't realize that my N802s were this good until the TriVista.

Tom

Thank you everybody for great responses. Let me add one more information.

Over the weekend, my audiophile buddy visited me. He came with a tube pre (forgot the brand) and DIY tube amp. The tube pre/power added a significant amount of texture to the sound and the thin sound became pretty thick. However, both of us agreed that the thicker sound was not as accurate as the sound A300 made. Pleasing for sure, but I didn't think I wanted to replace A300 with the tube combo. (Of course expensive tube combos may change my mind...) The tubes made "extreme tube sounds" to quote my friend and the tightness of the base mostly disappeared. (Mind you, A300 does not control base that well, but the tubes were a lot worse) My friend's suggestion was to add a little bit of tube touch, e.g. tube CD player to add texture to the thin sound.

It seems that the CDM 9NTs can make thicker sound, although they tend to feel like a little bit bright (due to metal tweeter and non-rolling high frequency response). A300 is very good amp for the money, smooth, muscal, warm, and relatively neutral, but as Bunker suggested can sound thin. These statements are based on my experiments and I may be wrong.

Please share your experience with A300/A308, or other MF amps!

Ok Here you go again...
I listened in dealer room A300 with A3 Cd Player connected with Van Den Hul The First IC. Speakers were B&W 600-line, I do not remember the number but they were the biggest in the line. I could not say one negative word about this set-up. I really liked the sound. It was full bodied, rich and pleasant. Well ok, it might not be the last word in detail, bass extension or top-end ariness but still I found it very nice and pleasing.
I had not a chance to compare A308 in the same set-up. However I had it over a weekend in-house. That was bad, I tell you. Maybe Thiels 2.3 are just too hard load for A308, I do not know.
In my opinion MF changed the way they want their electronics to sound. Before it was organic, romantic and forgiving. Now they are for fast, detailed presentation.