New Digital Switching Amplifiers

Eldartford, yes I'm aware of that. In fact it seems as though very few do. My question was earnst. Which process involves the greatest amount of conversion? Perhaps a better question, might be which conversion is the least detrimental?

Just wanted to check in on the SOUND of these amps, as I currently have the Channel Islands 100 wpc monoblocks in my wife's system. No, it's not a permanent thing, just letting a friend demo his stuff at my home.

First, the obvious. Yes, they do run cool. Despite leaving them on 24/7, I presume they are impacting my electric bill in quite a benign way. Build quality looks better than good, they are quite solid. For those who care, while certainly not glamorous, they are not unattractive. I'll say my wife has not even noticed them; that can appeal to many of us.

In terms of the stuff most of us here actually care about, I find them to be fine sounding amplifiers. They seem to be capable of delivering the kind of power a demanding loudspeaker, which is currently a part of the setup, require. These speakers look to be a tough impedance load, one my Jadis DA30 was certainly not up to the task of handling - the result of which was really dead sound. With the Channel Islands monos, things really sprung to life.

Like most solid state, in my opinion - which is the polar opposite of the conventional wisdom, they present a rich, robust, and relaxed sound. They have no issue in sounding stout in the bass - where I do agree with most in terms of solid state. The amps are dead quiet, but I should add that seems to be a gift of the new room I'm in, as everything I've tried in there has also been dead quiet - do I dare tempt fate by installing dedicated lines??? Clarity and channel separation also seem fine. I don't hear them really doing anything wrong, and that in itself makes them worthy of an audition by anyone interested.

The only area of complaint I could level at them is the lack of the sweetness of my Jadis, but I could aim that at most amplifiers, solid state specifically. I can't disagree that a good tube amp brings out the emotion in music.

In the end, at $1600 for a pair, they certainly win my recommendation in spades. Were I in the market for this type of amplifier, I'd buy them, though it's probably apparent that I like them more with my head than my heart.

Unsound...The answer to your rhetorical question is that any digital-to-digital conversion can be done EXACTLY within the resolution of the digital data. Even Fractional bits, resulting from the conversion, can be represented by oversampling.

Positive Feedback just released their review of the CI DM 200s. This may answer part of the orginal thread. IMO, the review is accurate.

Thanks for the head's up on the review, Cellorover!

I will agree with most of the review. However, the area I think the review got completely wrong is that sonics of these amps to me is anything but tubelike. Again, for me, what I hear from a tube amp goes against the typical descriptions of such. These amps are as solid state sounding as they come. And, again, they certainly have garnered my recommedation - breaking out Kraftwerk last night showed the music up in excellent fashion.