Merrill Audio ELEMENT 118 on Tour
I thought the following new review of the Merrill Audio Element 118 mono amps from Hi-Fi Plus would be of interest on this thread. http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/merrill-audio-element-118-mono-power-amplifiers/ |
Typical no information review. No direct comparisons to other amps in its price range. Just a vague mention of Dartzeel.......and which Dart is he talking about? This is what is wrong with high end audio....It is all a big infomercial. When is a magazine going to review all the "touted best' amps in a price catagory? Imagine getting in 10 different amps.....burning them all in for a month and then A/Bing on several systems......Now, we would have some information. Of course, that magazine would go out of business doing that.....as all the losers would stop advertising....not to mention the crying of those who own products that just got put at the bottom of the list. I am sure the Merrill is a great amp......but how good we will not know until many, many people have A/Bed versus the natural competition.....and by the time they do that there will be more products out to A/B with. Never ending story of spending big money and then having to sell it when the next thing comes out. It is good to be wealthy and unattached to your money.....he he. What if a company comes out with an Class D amp for $5K that is as good (which will probably happen within a couple of years).......are you going to cry? There is no reason why a great amp should cost more than a few thousand dollars. Class D is not expensive. GaNs are only slightly more expensive than Mosfets.....you could raise the product $100 to compensate. There are reviews posted by those that owned the Merrill Veritas and compared with the new Merrills. They think the new (twice as expensive) amps are better. However, there is a review of the $5K Van Alstine mono balanced amps that were also A/Bed with the Veritas.......He said they were way better....in fact, his words seem more bold than the other reviews. So, is a stock $5K Van Alstine amp in the same league with the new Merrills? For certain, the Van Alstine amps are not classy looking at all......but you could have someone make you sexy faceplates for very little if you have to have it classy. http://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2018/10/13/audio-by-van-alstine-dva-set-600-mono-block-amplifier For sure, we are in a very exciting time. Audio has never been so good.....but how much do we need to spend? When new technology is first put out you pay through the nose. Remember the first basic calculator?...at $500 or whatever.....now they cost a $1. Remember the first 1 gig memory cards for your camera? $800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We don't know how many days we have left in this body.....so spend your money any way you like and enjoy the ride. This very moment is magical....that is for sure. "He who dies with the most toys wins".......does not bring happiness. Happiness is embracing this very moment. I was in ecstasy as a teenager listening to my AM radio in my 51 Chevy. |
Bill.
Thanks for the link. My local B & N no longer sells Hi-Fi+. Alas, the Merrill is not anywhere close to my budget, but it seems to be the current (npi) future of amplifiers. What will Putzy counter with? I think I read where he's totally rethinking it Ric seems to suggest that the only basic difference is ~ $100 for GaNs. Im guessing there is way more to it than that |
I am not suggesting that you can just throw some GaNs in any old class D module and get great sound. Merrill has a super power supply, has a custom zero feedback circuit, has copper plates inside, is damped, uses great jacks, etc. However, the GaNs themselves are not expensive. What I am saying is that we will have competition real soon from other way less expensive class D amps and maybe even the Van Alstine class AB amps now. By the way, if you tweaked the Van Alstine amps they would sound way, way better. He is no tweak. Just look at the crappy jacks, undamped heatsinks, fuses in line with the speakers, ordinary parts, etc. Putzy has already released his new module.....check out Purifi-audio.com. Suppose to be sonically way better than the NC1200 used in the Veritas. There will be $3K? amps available in a few months using these modules. No, they do not use GaNs nor are they zero feedback.....but I bet they will be really great. Will they be as good as Merrill? We won't know till a few manufacturers make amps the them and people compare.....months down the road. They certainly will be way, way less expensive......$3K versus $15K or more. There will be other manufactures using GaNs soon as well. Nuprime is working with GaNs right now. |
