What are the advantages to a Class A amp & what are the trade offs?

Class A amps are like driving your car around with the gas pedal floored, and controlling your speed with the brakes. It is a rather inefficient method.

The class of the amp is only one criteria on which to make a buying decision. I have a mid 90's Krell KSA 300S that I dearly love but the Class A feature has its downsides. It weighs 185 lbs. and it runs so hot when I play it loud that I can't touch it. But it puts out 1200 watts at 2 ohms and it sounds gorgeous. It's a perfect match for my speakers (Mirage M3si) which are very low sensitivity (I routinely drive the amp into the highest bias level). This amp is a technology statement and there are very few new amps which can match it's performance, at least for under $50k. I am willing to live with the downsides of this amp because I admire the design philosophy and it sounds very good to me. It's kind of like owning a vintage Porsche that isn't very practical but it's just so fun to drive.

The Canary is a very different animal than the Krell but If the M70 flicks your Bic go for it but understand that the Class A feature is only one aspect of the amp.

check your in box.