Spectron Musician III MK.2 or Audio Research DS450

Ok, here is my 2 cents or IMHO.

First, the Mola-Mola are much less expansive then many other high end amps, many costing, on the low side $30,000, and into the low $100,000 mark. The new top end Classe, Bryston and others start at $16,000-20,000 and go up from there.

No, do not get me wrong, $14,000 is not cheap but it is not outrageous.

Also, just because some class D amps are light weight or have, what you can see, only a few parts, does not mean there is not a lot of R&D and Tech behind the design.

Have you heard a Hypex Ncore based amp (assembled properly)? Before I give you my take let me comment on the BelCanto, ARC and Spectron amps.

Of the Bel Canto amps that I have heard the Mono Blocks are the only ones I liked. The also seem to work better with some speakers, but not others. But when paired right they sound really nice.

The Spectron I liked a lot. It seems to play well with more speakers. Again I liked the mono version more but the stereo version had really good sound also.

The ARC, well, not so much. I have always liked their products and was looking foreword to their venture into class D. I thought if ARC was coming out with their own design it must be great. Now, I only heard the stereo version but I did not like it at all. I have heard others over the years describe the sound of Class D as "under glass" and after hearing the ARC I could relate to that statement. And I had high hopes of walking out owning it after the demo. Just my opinion.

I have heard the Ncore NC400 DIY amp and the Ncore NC1200 OEM.

The NC400 DIY mono blocks were in a word "WOW". They blew away other OEMs from $10,000 down. Now these were in solid cases and quality parts and vibration control. I heard them also in cheap stuff and they sound very good but much better "tricked out" and worth the extra cost.

The NC1200 OEM mono blocks were in a word, "MUSICAL". They are true "game changers". Fantastic amps. I bought a pair and I have been toe taping with a smile as I am listening to the best I have heard my system sound. I own B&W 802D speakers and the are very hard to drive and get the best out of them. They SING now. If you thought you heard these speakers before you have not till you hear them with the NC1200. The NC1200 I bought has two binding post outputs per mono block and I bi-amped the B&W 802D and WOW, did I tell you WOW! And yes I have bi-wired and with amps that have way more watts but the NC1200, WOW.
By the way they play well with just about any speaker type I know of. And yes I tried with friends, planar, horns, electrostatics etc.
The OEM I heard and bought are the Veritas by Merrill Audio. So all my comments on the NC1200 are only based on the Veritas.
They blow away amps costing many times their cost and that is also the opinion of the same people who have sold their $30-50,000 amps to buy the Veritas.

The Mola-Mola amps, IMHO, are true game changers and they probably have some tech they will add of their own and make the difference in price justifiable, unless the extra cost is for the dealers. Then we might see a MK II at a higher price in a few months to a year.

If you can get a chance to hear the Veritas in your system or in someone else's run do not walk, you will not be sorry you did. Just make sure you are ready to have a new pair of amps in your system.

I have no affiliation, financial interest or compansation in Hypex or Merrill Audio. Just a fan of how great they sound.

HiFial..I mentioned in another thread recently of the new Hypex Mola-Mola M1 mono amps coming out next spring. Weigh around fifteen pounds each. Bruno Putzeys, the owner/designer of Hypex, came over to New Jersey from the Netherlands just over two weeks ago to do the final Beta testing on the amps
at Bill Parish's GTT Audio store. Took two days for the final adjustments. Bill informed me the retail price is set at $15K a pair. Phew!! One thing that really impressed me in the review I read several days ago in 6Moons on the D-Sonic M2-1500M amps is that the review concluded stating "Some may find the D-Sonic amps too organic for their tastes"...Too organic?..thats exactly what has been missing with class D amps..is a very natural organic character..its about time..

Audiozen, hi.

I wish I had the chance to meet Bruno and hear the new Mola-Mola amps to see how they compare to the Veritas that I own. Though I can not afford the cost of the Mola-Mola right now.

Have not heard the new D-Sonic but now I will search for them to hear. I agree that "organic" should be a good thing that most amps should have but maybe too much of a good thing makes it bad. They say too much is not good for you. Maybe it is dark or slow when he says it is "too organic". Or maybe he can not let go of "class D" having to be inferior to class A/A/B.

If you want "organic" with transparency, speed, micro and macro detail, dynamics-both at low and high volumes, timbre and tone that is lifelike, control over your speakers like no other, no added color and dead quite you owe yourself a listen to the Veritas. I know Merrill has been doing home demos like some other Internet only companies or he might be able to set up a listen at a nearby owners house.

Not sure where you live but I believe he is going to show at the upcoming Audio Show in NYC in April.

Hifial..Go on the D-Sonic home page and click on the 6Moons
picture on the left which will take you to the review of the M2-1500M amps. Very impressive. One would conclude from the review the term organic should be taken as a positive.

I'm of the opinion that class d amps in general these days have raised the
bar on price/performance possibilities. Best results require careful
speaker matching, pretty much as is always the case.

I am really hard pressed to fault the pairing of the bel canto ref1000m
monoblocks with either pair of my ohm walsh series 3 speakers. I can
cite shortcomings with either my dynaudio or triangle monitors that i
would attribute mainly to their small size, though both still sound quite
good as small monitors go. .