"D" amps, general discussion who's 1 and why?

Hi Dcstep, Guidocorona and I have communicated prior and I have been following the Criterion 2-chassis battery pre thread.

I actually have interest in this pce along with the 301 mono blocks. I have not found anyone who actually owns the 301's to date. Reading the Rowland site and spec information regarding the 312 stereo Guido uses and the 301 mono blocks I have to say it has left me a bit confused and wondering are the mono's the preferred way to go. My set-up is not stereo friendly so unfortunately I need to go with mono blocks. Are you aware of anyone using the 301's or have you heard anything about these.

Muralman1, the H2O M250SA are very interesting product also, you just recently installed the H2O Fire preamp and seem to be enjoying. Have you done any direct comparisons to Rowland, Spectron latest version, Bel Canto latest version.

If so what are your thoughts.

I was just chatting with someone today and the new Bel Canto MKII is suppose to be a substantial improvement and right now allot of talk.

Dev,

ICE makes the modules. Great amp designers, the ones who understand the principles of good basic conventional amp design, have the best chance making great ICE amps.

Henry Ho works out of Texas building his amps and preamps there. If you look at the picture of the inside of my amps on my system, you will see this is far from being a module in a box. The analog power supply is more than just a transformer and caps.

Jeff Rowland has a proven his metal designing conventional amps. There is no question he is the master of great looks.

Spectron did offer a 30 day trial not sure if they do anymore but anyone knowing class "D" product and the break-in time is very long so that just doesn't work. Previous from above,,,, ,Yes and so did Bel Canto,then they went to 2 weeks,You sure cant evaluate these amps in 2 weeks no way no how.What do you think a manufacturer is going to say,of course they will say new and improved.These amps are so system dependent its almost funny and funny not in a good way.So in essence since a 2 or 4 week trial really isnt very revealing what is a person supposed to do?It just comes down to individual choice,but if you think these amps are going to part the red seas,you would be sadly mistaken.

Muralman1, I can only comment on the Rowland Cardas GR combination as working very, very well, with no hiss. I don't know what's wrong with your PS Audio that would cause a hiss. On the Rowland I've only heard it in balanced mode with the Cardas. There's similar no issues with Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval ICs, which I use, in balanced mode, but I've tried in RCA configuration with no issue.

Oh, the longest Cardas GR that I've heard is around 6-feet. You say yours are "long", how long? (I use 20" Klotz XLRs all the time as condenser mic cables and have no issues. I'll have to throw a pair into the audio system to see what happens).

Dave