New H20 Signature S250

Amandare:

Yep, and it'll get even better. Makes a very, very good amp into a great amp. Based upon my listening and the small price difference between the standard and Signature, I bet the the Sig will WAY out-sell the standard so I've been encouraging Henry to skinny down his product line to just two models, the mono and stereo Sigs, and offer upgrades to the existing fleet of standard units.

I still think a really interesting comparison would be between a pair of stereo sigs passively bi-amping and a set of sig mono blocks. The price points are the same.

I know everyone participating in this thread is very excited about the H2O. I have also heard a lot about H2O and other digital amps. How are they compared with the Antique Sound Lab Hurricane / 1009 mono blocks? I loved the ASL and they are presently my upgrade target. But I would like to leave my options open.
My humble system: Marantz SA-14 Ver 2 (modified superclock and Blackgate caps), Supratek Chardonnay pre-amp, Mirage M7 speakers, Audience power cable, IC and speaker cables. Listen mostly to vocals, jazz, live music, classicals. Thanks.

Hello Ethifi,

I have not heard the ASL but we have the same genre of music that we prefer or listen to. If you happen to read my review of the stock S-250, I had the opportunity to compared it to several tube amps.

I too have the Supratek (Chenin)and I can assure you that the preamp is a very good match to the ICE H2O amp. Come to think of it, all the amplifiers that spent some time in my stable sounds good with the Supratek. But that is another story.

One of the many strenghts of the Supratek is how good it delivers the bass even as a tube preamp. You know that, and I am pretty sure that you are confident to say that the preamp does everything well. With the ICE H2O being driven by it, it makes the qualities of the preamp shine to the fullest. The sound is so clean (noise floor) but not devoid of the subtleties that makes the voice enticing and warm. With the H2O, you will hear a different presentation of the bass as the amp projects it. For me, it is the best acoustic bass I ever heard my system can reproduced. With my Magnepan 1.6QR, I de-commisioned my two (L and R) Adire Audio Rava designed subwoofers because in two channels, I do not need it anymore.

Another thing is that the ICE does not produced any thump even if you turn it On ahead of the preamp or shutting the preamp Off while the amp is On. Try that with a tube amp and you will probably re-create a mini fourth of July.

ICE have a trial period. I would suggest to take advantage of it and see if it floats your boat.

best,

Abe

I share your feelings exactly regarding the sound of the H20. My sig stereo250 has replaced my tubed amp. There is simply no going back. The sound of this little amp is truly addicting into my ProAc sprakers. Before theH20, I was never able to listen to any amp that was not tubed as they all tended to bleach out the harmonics too much for my tastes. The H20 breaths life into the music. The H20 is a little gem in my opinion and is worth much more than its list price.

Man, it is good to have some affirmation here of others who have used good tube amps and now are satisfied with the Sig H2o's. I wasn't quite sure I was hearing correct, so I did listen well over 1,000 hours on the H2o Sig Mono's before posting a bit on them (if I recall correct, maybe a bit less) seemed like forever! But after that 500 or 700 hour mark when the vocals just seemed to flesh out and become more organic and liquid, that was it. Definately a keeper to me. Don't get me wrong... I knew what I was hearing was great - to my ears, however it does make you second guess when you are one of the first with a "new" product...

Happy listening... now I am wishing my system was together!