TRL ST225 - Goodness anyone else own this amp

I just purchased the TRL D225 that was listed here on A'gon. I was kind of surprised that it was still available, it had already been listed for 9 days when I bought it.

I haven't heard the amps, but am familiar with Paul's work. I owned a Sony 900 modded by TRL [shouldn't have sold it], I still own TRL power cables and a TRL modded power strip.

Based on my experience with TRL and seeing the comments above and the list of amps that the TRL bested, I'm very excited to hear the D225 in my system. I imagine it will have no problem outperforming my Belles 150A Reference.

I'm hoping it will be the last amp I buy!

Just a quick update on the D225.

Keep in mind the amp is essentially brand new and not burned in at all.

There is no part of the spectrum that is exaggerated, it is smooth from top to bottom, like I haven't heard before. Even at really low volumes the amp sounds full. It sounds the same whether I'm at 1/8 volume or 3/4 volume, just louder or quieter. More so than any amp I've ever heard. The Nuforce Ref 9 V2 was the previous best I'd heard at this. The D225 blows it away.

This amp is absolutely, positively, dead quiet! Like, amazingly quiet. Like I have never really heard a quiet amp before in my life, quiet. Maybe because it's so quiet, details come thru like I've never heard before. By detail I don't mean the typical, more treble, etc, I mean, background sounds, breaths, movements on instruments, the recording environment. On Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, which I listen to all the time, at the beginning of the song there's the sound of waves hitting the shore. I've never heard any hint of these before, but with the D225 they were as clear as day. On Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes, in the beginning there is the sound of rain falling. Normally it sounds like a little trickle in the background. When I listened to it this morning, I actually paused the song because I thought someone had turned on the water in the bathroom above where I was sitting. That's how pronounced it was, it sounded like it was literally raining out the window.

At this point, I've only listened for a couple of hours total, so that's all I have for now. But it is clear this is the best amp I've ever heard and it's not even burned in yet.

Ecruz,

This is the very same experience I am having. Nice short review! The more time you spend with it the more amazed you will be.

Buckle up!

Bill

Has anyone heard or compared the TRL 225 integrated vs. the stereo or mono version with
a tubed preamp ?

From what I reading about, they seem as good or better sounding than the best stuff out there (no wars please) Dartzeel, Spectron, NuForce etc.

Currently running a slightly modded Audio Horizon TP 2.0 preamp and would like to keep it in the chain.

I have not done the comparison, but did use my TRL D-225 with both a Cary SLP-98 and Joule Electra LA-100 MkIII and can say that the solid state amp/tube preamp combination worked extremely well in my system.

From what I have read about the AH TP 2.0 the combination with a D-225 would be very interesting to hear.