Atma-Sphere MA-1 amps

Hello Pubul57,

My observations are made only about the Atma-Sphere MA-2 amps as I have not heard any of their preamps.

The reason why I wouldn't want a component that adds pleasant distortions is .... in my experience I find they mask other timbrel/textural subtleties at the frequencies being distorted as well as the frequencies just below and above. Any added coloration will get in the way of hearing the actual musical intent of the recording in question.

Where I feel most audiophiles disagree is deciding which aspect of accurate reproduction is most important. Some will say "dynamic linearity above all else" I don't think you'll find this audiophile with a Quad 57. But few would argue about a Quad 57's tonal accuracy. Much of this will be determined by the type of music one listens to. A person who listens to small jazz ensembles will have different needs then someone who listens to big orchestral works.

For me, I'm striving for a balance of all sonic virtues with no area severely lacking. In the long term I find this seems to be the most musically satisfying and sensible approach. From my experience there is no product that's best at everything.

Enjoy,
Tom

Agree on no best at everything. I tend to prefer neutral because euphonic coloration is alays there, though possibly always pleasant. With equipment on the neutral side of things, different recording sound quite different from each other acoustically. The tradeoff for me is that good recording sound better and poorer recordings sound worse. It is a tradeoff for sure, and one chooses between these two approaches.

Pubul57, I've had the great pleasure recently to spend some time listening to an MP-1 in a friend's system. I'm impressed: very neutral, very resolving and transparent, very quick and detailed. The virtues of the A-S amps in a preamp.

I've not been as similarly impressed with the MP-3 (heard elsewhere), but the MP-1 is a stellar unit that would fall among my top candidates if I were making a change.
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Rushton, are your feelings about the MP3 based on the phonostage and the linestage? I'm using the MP3 with the VCAP and Powersupply upgrade and it sounds very good to me. I've heard more universal praise for the MP1, but I'm wondering if that is based on phono performance. If the MP1 is that much better as a line stage I would consider it.

I was quite fascinated with what Trcnetmsncom had to say about his perception of a high end flaw in the MA-2s. Tom's likening this flaw to the high end rendering of the Martin Logan CLS 2Z made clear to me what he meant, because I auditioned those speakers a long time ago and I disliked them right from the beginning just because of that. I have the latest version of the Ma-2s, haven't rolled the 6SN7s so far and I just don't hear what Tom hears on my particular speakers, the big Sound Labs. Not that I doubt the sophistication of his hearing, nor his experience with live music. I share that with him, being a regular concert goer and intimately familiar with the sound of both violin and piano and just cannot find the flaw he mentions in my particular setup, which he obviously heard on several occasions on different rigs. This may well be a hearing impairment on my part, because I am advanced in age, however my wife, who plays the violin also cannot find anything wrong with the Sound Lab's/ MA-2 rendering of her instrument. We listened again extensively to Hilary Hahn's exceptional rendering of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas and could not find this particular shortcoming.
We then tried piano on LP: Martha Argerich's rendering of Liszt's b-minor sonata, an early DG 2530193, again the highs were clear, crisp, without a trace of harshness or brightness. So this is puzzling. The big Sound Labs are not an easy load, but obviously pair very well with Ralph's bigger amps. Possibly we have just struck it lucky with this combination and would have been equally unhappy, trying the MA-2s with the Avalons. No lack of "denseness" either, with our stators to our taste and ears.

Thank you Tom. I found your contributions both important and thought as well as "hear" provoking. Obviously we strive for the same thing, the best balance of all "sonic virtues" as you put it so well, with "no area severely lacking". Obviously your benchmark is your experience of the live event as it is mine. We may have different tastes and rigs, but it feels good not be alone in this.