As some may recall, I was outspoken and against Class D amps for many years, having heard only a pair of Rotel monoblocks at a local dealer about 13 years ago. My position was that there was no way a switching design could outperform Class A and A/B designs due to all that high frequency noise. Fast forward to late 2018...
I have owned amps (integrated, stereo and monoblocks) by conrad johnson (tubed and solid state), Parasound, Bryston, Krell, Musical Fidelity, Denon, Marantz, NAD and most recently, Manley Labs. After reading about PS Audio’s Stellar line, and in need of a dedicated preamp as I was downsizing, I decided to take them up on their trade-in and home trial offer and I am so very glad I did. The M700s "woke" up my Thiels in a way no other amps ever have. I know, that’s quite a statement, but I have had several of my audio buds come over for a listen. They were all familiar with my other amps through my Thiels. All said by far the best they’d heard. It’s not so much the power and oomph they provide, indeed they’ve got that, and certainly the Krell FPB 400cx had it, but it’s the quality of the music they produce. I don’t listen loudly anymore, typically peaking in the low 80s SPL by my ratshack meter. These sound like tubes, and I know what tubes sound like, but they are also very micro and macro dynamically revealing, very sweet once broken in, and best of all, I have never heard so much front to back and left/right resolution. I’m also a musician, and I have never heard in any of my systems, acoustic guitar that sounds like it’s in the room like that. If this is a good as it gets from here until the end, I’m totally satisified. There is zero noise, even with my ear up to the tweeters at a level that would be deafening. By far the highest value purchase I’ve ever made. Same with the Gain Cell DAC preamp. PS Audio absolutely rocks! Anyone who is in the market for a preamp/DAC, stereo amp or monoblocks really should consider their home trial offer. I’ll bet VERY few get sent back.
