Sound of chip amps / gainclones?
Here's a small preview of chip amps. Chip amps. "They are excellent at their price point". Reubuent you are too nice!LOL You know as well as the the rest of us .Price points are pretty much meaningless, when the chips amps are matched with the proper components.:-) Good listening |
Gmood1, good to hear from you. You got the patek from Peter Daniel's? From what I've read the LM3875 chips like a tube pre while a good T amp does better with a passive. I'm also looking at the Charlize amp. Which supposedly does not have the HF brightness that was mentioned in Stereophiles 47 Labs Gaincard review. TIC I would agree with you and think that 40 wpc chip amp would be better sounding than the "D" amp - as long as you don't need 100-200 wpc. I was surprised to read in the C-I thread here at A-gon that people preferred the "D" amp. |
Bemoptil23, I've got my Tang-Band W4-1320SA half way completed. They have a F-R designed for near-wall or O-B (open baffle). I also considered the FR-125 but has a 5dB boost to the bass and a correspondingly low SPL of 85 dB. Why loose efficiency for bass I don't want? People at diyaudio have complained about the bass being too boomy so I'm glad I didn't get them. I agree as the Fostex sounded bright to me and also a lot of people who have them. Alway with the phrase "but I think I can tweak out the brightness". Good luck, ain't gonna happen IMHO. |
Hi CdC, well I've tried the Chip / T amp both ways. There is no HF ringing. Maybe it's the way Peter Daniels implements the design. It also may have something to do with the caps. The Gain card did use Panansonic caps..not sure if they are used now or not. My amplifier uses the Blackgate N electrolytic caps.Definitely not bright at all. The T amps I've tried were very good. They don't have the 3D soundstage or the organic image density of the Chips . Also my Dac uses the same caps.The 1875 chips are brighter sounding but still very good. I believe the SN monos (not the newest version)I tried out had these but not sure. The tubed preamp did great with them. With or without tube preamp will depend on you speakers,front end and taste. My speakers also use a BSC.Which is designed to control the rising impedance and HF associated with most single drivers...So YMMV. You can see this in the response graph of the speakers your building as well.As the frequency rises so does the impedance. No doubt about it.This type of amplifier is designed for efficient or fairly efficient speakers. Put them on the wrong speakers ..like any other amp and your going to have problems. Cheers and good luck with the project! |
