2. amps-preamps
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Ice h2O S250 digital amp vs Levinson 333.5

Does anyone have direct experience with the Ice h20 S250 amp as compared to the Levinson dual mono 333.5 solid state amp. I have read lots of threads.

I would like to hear from an experienced audiophile who has properly broken in the S250, uses high end components and cabels, and loves "Real Jazz." (not smooth)

I love all the required attributes including depth.

Thanks
levchappy
thesoundhouse
250 posts
 
I have tried the h2O S250 with a pair of Apogee Duettas Signatures and it was ok but my Pass Labs X350.5 blew it away! The Ice stuff still does not sound as good as most Class AB designs and if you can get lots of Class A power it is much more supperior over the ICE technology. I am not a fan of too much negative feedback and the ICE technology uses lots of it. The H20 is ok for CD and digital and the X350.5 was still significantly better but H20 with my turntable was not good. It could not produce the musical notes like the Pass X350.5. The H20 did not sound real. It is very weird because the H20 sounded very dynamic kind of high end car stereo like. The H20 had been used for several months before I got to try it.
dob
577 posts
 
if you want even semi-qualified answer then disclose the load the amp you serach will have to drive
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
If you do decide to go with any ICE amp, you will have to adopt a different cabling, sources and preamp strategy. So, it is more expensive than if you go with class AB, which the Pass 300.5 is.

I heard the Pass XA 100, and 300.5 on my speakers and they give a good sound, but don't at all challenge what I have here with ICE amps. Concerning ICE ampsvinyl, surface noise is amplified just like any other noisy component, like most preamps, sources and cables.

One more thing. A fellow in the recording industry, who had re-ribboned Duettas loved the ICE amp used with no preamp. He used an expensive CD player. In fact, it was a very evolved system He has moved to horns since, adopting SET amps for that purpose, as the ICE amp was too powerful for horns.
levchappy OP
64 posts
 
Hi Dob;

Yes, 2 minutes after I let the thread fly I realized I did not mention we are pushing Thiel 3.6's

Thanks
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
If you would like to write to the recording fellow I spoke about, he goes under the acronym chadeffect here:

http://forums.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1199909346

He can tell you how he did it. I use the H2O Fire preamp. It is expertly matched to the H2O amp. The rest to a spectacular sound is easy.
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