rowland 102 reviews? ice powered

i'ved heard the Model 102 thru a friend of mine on several occasions and a few times was able to try it in my system.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the product. The build quality is exemplary.

Plus side: its small, consumes less space, no heat, consumes less power.
Sonic quality: i've compared this to a Krell Kav 150p, bryston 3bsst. I preferred this unit to both. No grain, very quite floor noise, dynamics is incredible, powerful sounding, big sound. The mids are very open but its not as seductive as tubes. But pretty close. Not quite as liquid as tubes, but its very fluid. Smooth. Highly detailed but dependent on pre-amp and your source.

They are powerful enough to drive some inefficient speakers. We tried Totems, Proac, Dynaudios, Harbeths, and Vandersteens. No problem driving them.

Overall i heartily recommend it.

$1500 for the black finish is not a bad deal at all.

Nolitan - a review of the 102, not the 201, yes! Appreciate it.

Hi Angaria,

I have no access to the 201. My review is based on my friend's 102.

Hi, I tried Bel & Rotel Ice 100watters. I would rate them having huge huge soundstage, dynamic & excellent imaging. Comparing to some older solid state, I would not go back there again. I am waiting for the price to go down a bit more before jumping in.

Vicdamone, you make an excellent point. Digital amps are rapidly evolving designs worth watching. Some have achieved superlative performance for the price, while others are, well. . . just superlative in an absolute sense. I am thinking in particular about the new Rowland 312 -- not a budget amp by any stretch of the imagination -- which is one of the very finest amplifiers I have ever heard.