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New Krell s300i vs. the older 400/300

I see that Krell has snuck in a replacement for the 400xi.
I know that there has always been debates over these
int amps.

Nothing on the Krell website yet. I have seen the specs and it looks like a good product. I have used a 400xi before and really liked it. My only complaint that it seemed hard to get the right sound at lower listening levels. No problem when you wanted to crank it up. I used different speakers.

Just curious if any Agoner's have used the new int amp.
Maybe I may look at the older 300xi. It seems that this is the sleeper.

Any opinions on the two different 300's from Krell would be helpful.
klaudio
lush
262 posts
 
I'm curious as well.
klaudio OP
113 posts
 
Excuse me 300Li/i not xi........
dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
I have a S300i which replaced my 400xi. As the unit has broken in it's capabilities have become clear. It is definately superior to the 400xi and the older 300i. The S300i is more open, focused and holographic. Dynamic gradations are more pronounced with a wonderfully vibrant and fleshed out midband. Bass is as killer as ever. Neutrality is the rule here vs the 400xi's warmer take on things (the 300i was quite fat and overly ripe). The S300i uses an evolution based class A preamp stage combined with a higher current/wider bandwidth designed output stage. The new toroidal is encased for greater isolation..a nice touch. The remote is massive and fully functional. The bottom line is that if you have heard the new evolution gear and wished you could afford that sound, you will get a very large serving of that sound with the S300i. In fact, in a system with 89db or higher efficiency speakers, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. All you need is a great CDP and some equally great cables and you have will have a state of the art system:)
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